让音乐散播亲情、乡情、爱情——浅析舞剧《仓央嘉措》的音乐特色

Spread Familial Affection, Nostalgia, and Love through Music:A Brief Analysis of the Musical Features of the Dance Drama Tsangyang Gyatso

"第十届中国舞蹈‘荷花奖’舞剧·舞蹈诗评奖"获奖作品《仓央嘉措》,是一部具有冲击力的舞剧作品。该作品生动地描绘了一位距今三百多年的活佛、民歌诗人—仓央嘉措的传奇。舞剧《仓央嘉措》的音乐创作同样表现出创作者认真的艺术态度和作品精湛的艺术价值。笔者在对舞剧音乐进行一系列分析的基础之上,指出对于"亲情之爱"的渲染、对于"乡情之爱"的贯穿、对于"爱情之爱"的升华,以及基于"藏族音乐"传统之上的继承与创新,是这部舞剧音乐的特点。舞剧音乐创作的成功毋庸置疑地为舞剧艺术的成功起到了推波助澜的作用。

The winner of 'The 10 th ‘Lotus Awards’ China National Dance Competition' Dance Drama and Dance Poetry Awards Tsangyang Gyatso is an impactful work. Based on the poetic texts of Tsangyang Gyatso, this dance drama is about the selective life stories of Tsangyang Gyatso’s childhood and youth. It presents the hero Tsangyang Gyatso’s genuine emotions toward his hometown, mother, and lover on the stage through exquisite dance vocabulary, delicate music, unique costume with snowfield features, and elaborate stage design. The dance drama vividly portrays a legend of the living Buddha and folk poet Tsangyang Gyatso some three hundred years ago. The success of a dance drama is inseparable from its tailor-made, creative, and original music. The music composition of the dance drama Tsangyang Gyatso embodies the serious artistic attitude and exquisite artistic value. Analyzing the music of the dance drama, this paper points out that the music features in the pathos of 'familial affection,' pervasiveness of nostalgia, sublimation of 'love,' and the inheritance and innovation based on the tradition of Tibetan music.Firstly, to represent the 'familial affection' between Tsangyang Gyatso and his mother, there are three duets. Each of them is like a touching love poem, to which the pathos of music is a complement. The subject for mother-son duets varies in different parts of the dance drama, representing the emotional changes between Tsangyang Gyatso and his mother in different phases and leaving strong artistic effects. The first duet is after the scene of 'aga soil stomping process' in Act One 'Spring in Shannan.' Accompanying with the duet, the music shows the intimate relationship — blood is thicker than water — between mother and son. As the main instrument, Erhu plays the minor mode melody, beautiful, smooth, and yet sad, with rich Tibetan music flavor. The second duet is in Act Two 'Temple in a Few Years.' When he was 15 years old, Tsangyang Gyatso started to live in a temple, which changed his life entirely. The music for this part repeats the first one, expressing the bitterness of longing and the huge differences between mother and son’s lives, situations, and statuses. The third duet is in Act Three 'Palace in a Few Days.' After the enthronement, Tsangyang Gyatso resides in the Potala Palace with the title of Dalai Lama. At this point, the music represents the feeling between mother and son that they are reluctant to be separated but they have to. The contradiction between the familial affection and enthronement makes the audience grieving.Besides, the 'nostalgia' of Tsangyang Gyatso is represented as his great love to the world in the dance drama by the creative team. It is the soul of the dance drama, and the subject pervades the whole work. Analyzing the music, it is not difficult to find that the subject firstly appears in Act Two 'Temple in a Few Years,' with flute as the main instrument. It appears for the second time after Tsangyang Gyatso has dreamt of his mother. Accompanying the solo, the music depicts that he is growing lonely in the temple. For the third time, the key of the subject music is changed: the song 'White Crane' is performed by a male solo singer in Act Three 'Palace in a Few Days,' which is a highlight of the whole dance drama music. In Act Four 'Barkhor in Lhasa,' a variation of the subject is used, performed by a male solo artist and mixed choirs. In Act Five 'Palace in a Few Days,' the variation of the subject is realized through the commutative sentences between the male solo singer and violin, using the modulation of the parallel keys as the music composition technique. At the end of the dance drama, the theme song 'White Crane' is used when Tsangyang Gyatso takes off his kasaya. By repeating the subject, it intensifies the poet Tsangyang Gyatso’s inner world of being lonely and lost.Moreover, Tsangyang Gyatso is not only a legendary character but also a living Buddha who composes excellent love poems. For this reason, the dance drama Tsangyang Gyatso does not shape his image as a god. Rather, the character is represented as a human being, an ordinary person with family, friends, and hometown, with both 'familial affection' and 'love.' In the dance drama, young Tsangyang Gyatso falls in love with the girl whom he meets in Barkhor.However, he can do nothing but hide his feelings, as he is a monk. The duet without physical contacts represents their neither close nor distant relationship, demonstrating his longing for freedom and love. He is torn between the affection that he feels for the beautiful woman and principles of Buddha. To accompany the contactless duet and represent Tsangyang’s human nature side, the leitmotif of the subject is used to express the sublimation of love, featuring abstract, embellished, and indistinctive music phrases. Undoubtedly, the success of music composition helps the realization of the art of dance drama.