歌剧笔记(六)

Opera Notes(6)

娜塔莉·德赛的《夜莺》 斯特拉文斯基一共写了四部歌剧，但除了《浪子的历程》以外，其他三部都不长，《玛芙拉》是独幕剧，带有清唱剧风格的二幕歌剧《俄狄浦斯王》不到一小时，而三幕歌剧《夜莺》则更短，只有45分钟，搞不清楚斯特拉文斯基为何要将这么短的一个歌剧分为三幕。这其实是一个非常简单的故事，情节来自于安徒生的童话，但故事却有着中国的元素。它讲述了一个生病的国王，或许是患了忧郁症，整天愁眉不展的。这时，有一只夜莺飞来为国王唱歌，但正当国王病情开始缓解的时候，

More and more opera pro- ductions tend to present dazzling grand tableaux,sometimes even adopting up-to- date technology to enhance stage effects. These production elements,however,are not always welcome by the audience.Oc- casionally,excessive trendiness or technol- ogy for its own sake can ruin an otherwise sound musical performance.As our world becomes more commercialized,we can safely say it's more and more difficult to find pure art.The film version of Igor Stravinsky's The Nightingale,which fea- tured popular soprano Natalie Dessay,is among those productions that has fallen prey to the technological fad.