Wen 丨 Xiaoyu Begonia
Editor丨Xiaoyu Begonia
introduction
In 19th-century France, a magnificent epic of music bloomed on the stage, like the brightest stars in the starry sky.
This is a masterpiece of history and full of romantic feelings - Berlioz's "The Troy".
At that time, the Second French Empire was on the rise, and the main theme of state policy was the flourishing of capitalism, heavy industry, transportation and finance.
The empire not only radiated with revival, but also inspired in people's hearts a beautiful vision of the future of the country, fantasizing about returning to the glory of the Napoleonic era.
At this great and crucial moment in history, the composer Berlioz conceived and composed an opera.
To celebrate the great image of the national hero, his goal is not only to celebrate the wisdom of those in power, but also to reflect the general public's reverence for government leaders and their pursuit of a better future for the empire.
Among the many subject choices, he finally locked on the theme of "The Trojans".
The background of the creation of The Trojans
Around the 16th century BC, the ancient Greeks founded Troy, the site of this colonial city in present-day Turkey.
In the early 12th century BC, a decade-long war took place in the area, culminating in the capture of the city with the famous "Trojan horse" strategy of the ancient Greeks, which also indirectly created the historical background for the rise of the Roman Empire.
The opera "The Trojans" is based on Homer's epic works, constructing its creative background, and artistically recreating the story of this war.
As a literary masterpiece created in France, The Trojan was born in the heyday of French romantic literature.
The literary script was heavily influenced by the Romantic writers represented by Hugo, and from the beginning showed a typical poetic opera style.
The author fully borrowed from the creative techniques of Romanticism in the creative process, and the emotions running through it were full of melancholy and dreamy elements, and adopted a variety of poem lengths to express themselves, laying a solid foundation for the successful creation of "The Trojans".
The creator of this opera is the famous French composer Berlioz of the 19th century.
The project began in 1856 and took four years of hard work to complete it.
It is not only an important work of art in France, but also a great creation full of twists and turns.
The so-called bumpy fate is not only because Berlioz spent four full years planning and composing the opera "The Troy", but also because it took 27 long years from the initial performance to the complete presentation of every act and performance.
And that's not all, the publication of the score of this great opera has also had twists and turns.
All these events come together to make the opera The Trojans even more legendary.
Screenwriting for The Trojans
The librets for Berlioz's opera The Trojans were mainly inspired by the epic poem Aeneid written by Virgil BC.
These materials come from ancient historical themes, but Berlioz's creation is influenced by French classical literary epics and romantic poets, thus presenting a relatively free language and form, which is the embodiment of the characteristics of the era.
Due to the needs of the plot, Berlioz was not limited by chapters and syntax when creating content.
A large number of verses of different lengths were created, breaking away from the tradition of repetitive structures in the classical period.
In the opera The Trojans, a large number of six-syllable, eight-syllable, ten-syllable and twelve-syllable verses can be seen, an unconventional syntactic arrangement that gives the playwriting a beautiful character.
This literary work not only shows Berlioz's literary talent, but also highlights his outstanding artistic accomplishment.
The clever blend of screenwriting and music creation makes The Trojan the pinnacle of Berlioz's musical composition.
The Trojans is divided into five acts, presenting the Tropic Battle and the historical events of the Trojans in Carthage with epic spirit.
This opera not only shows Cassandra, a prophetic princess in the city of Troy, about the fate of the Trojans.
It also vividly depicts the plot of Queen Dido and Aeneid from their first acquaintance to the final self-immolation of Dido, and the plot of Aeneas being guided by the ghost of Trojan to meet Dido.
Acts I and II focus on Cassandra's tragic fate.
Acts III, IV and V depict the tragic situation of Queen Dido in more depth.
Through this arrangement, Berlioz carried the theme of epic tragedy throughout the opera, and through superb performances and grand productions, the work became the pinnacle of 19th-century music.
The musical composition characteristics of The Trojans
Berlioz's opera The Trojans is a magnificent work that encompasses multiple artistic elements.
Depending on the plot, conductors, singers and audiences often divide the opera into two main parts, The Fall of Troy and Trojan in Carthage.
This opera is both in the lineup of the performance, the stage set, and the structure of the music.
All of them are characterized by large-scale, high-level production and frequent sub-songs, and the music part alone contains 52 sub-songs.
The Trojans seems to be seen as an opera composed of multiple fragments, with no close connection between the various acts, between scenes, or even between the music.
After in-depth analysis, it is found that although the opera presents a structure of 52 parts, the overall music still presents the characteristics of interconnection and unity.
Berlioz sets multiple motives in his works, fusing them into a unified and diverse musical character through rich variations and tonal variations.
While the first hearing may feel incoherent between the music, these motivations and techniques actually give internal consistency to the opera.
In the face of this huge work, the dominant motive plays a crucial role in maintaining the unity of the whole song.
The continuation of motivation helps to build the character and image of the various characters in the opera, while making the music more unified and coherent.
When Berlioz wrote his opera plays, he incorporated an irresistible view of destiny into them.
This view of destiny has great power, cannot be violated, cannot be escaped, and everyone must accept that it is an inevitable endgame. This idea reflects Berlioz's elusive thoughts at heart.
In the musical composition of the opera The Trojans, Berlioz presents this view of fate through the form of musical motives.
He designed the motive of fate and changed it many times, showing the tension of fate through different interpretations.
For example, in the first act, the destiny motive creates a sense of urgency in two octaves ascending consecutively, while the destiny rhythmic motive runs throughout the piece.
The fixed rhythm of eighth notes, the gradually rising pitch, and the repetitive pattern design all directly convey the theme of destiny.
The application of this musical motivation makes the view of fate in the entire opera prominently presented.
Berlioz's creations place the irresistibility and unpredictability of fate at the heart of the music, enhancing the dramatic and emotional depth of the work, exemplifying:
In the orchestra performance that presents the motivation of fate, Berlioz uses a variety of orchestrations.
Given that the basic rhythmic pattern of the destiny motive is a fixed eighth note rhythm, its display and variation are mainly influenced by other factors such as speed, volume, range, and the timbre of the instrument.
Berlioz's skillful use of variation techniques to interpret the motives of fate changes the emotional atmosphere of the overall music.
A symbolic melody, the Trojan March, was also designed for the main character, Troy.
This theme is presented four times throughout the opera, and each time in B major, which shows the composer's unique conception of the character's musical characteristics.
Through this approach, Troy's character not only gets a unique musical expression, but also highlights the importance of B major throughout the opera.
This strategy reinforces the consistency and integrity of the overall tonality, and also deepens the audience's impression of the main character of Troy.
Berlioz's sheer scale in the composition of the opera The Trojans forced him to create magnificent acoustics.
To achieve this, Berlioz mainly used large-scale choral singing.
Throughout the opera in five acts, the chorus is given a prominent place and takes on a variety of forms.
This practice echoes the tradition of French opera, which often features large-scale choruses, which Berlioz continues in this work.
Berlioz focused on incorporating the choir into theatrical performances, preferring to place the choir in the back center of the stage to ensure that the acoustics of the chorus were fully conveyed throughout the performance hall.
In The Trojans, choral singing not only appears frequently, but also plays an important role in the expression of music.
Although the arias are a means of expressing the emotions of the main characters in the opera, in reality, the remaining 17 pieces of music are in the form of a chorus, except for the four arias.
This quantitative comparison highlights the importance of choral singing in this work.
Berlioz used many different forms when designing the chorus.
Such as quartet, trio, duet, female chorus, male chorus, mixed chorus, etc.
These different forms of choral singing are closely related to the plot of the opera, and Berlioz designed the corresponding choral form for different characters and situations, thus enriching the expression of the choral singing.
In the opera The Trojans, Berlioz's meticulous treatment of the orchestra reflects his masterful pursuit of musical expression.
The first act begins with the composer creating exhilarating acoustics through the dissonant homophonic repetition of woodwind instruments.
This not only shows a striking sound on the vertical pitch superposition, but also subtly sets the stage for the opera's situation and musical atmosphere.
The sound transition of woodwind instruments to the fast ascending scale of baswind instruments and cornets, the firm melody and solemn melody give the first act a deep tragic emotion.
Immediately afterwards, the enthusiastic chorus of the Trojan people quickly infected the entire venue.
This idea not only became an innovation in Berlioz's opera because of the absence of an overture, but also made the musical emotions of the opera tense through the orchestra's woodwind, brass and string dotted arrangements.
Entering the beginning of the second act, Berlioz designed a large wind instrument and bass strings to play a common ascending scale.
Intertwined with tight rhythms and dark melodies, forming the "smell" of the atmosphere of war.
The fast-moving scales of strings and bassoons, the rapid intermittent repetition of brass timbre, and the concerted cooperation of the whole orchestra are stimulated, revealing emotions of fear, tension and collapse.
Fast semitone movements, rhythmic repetitions in unison, and careful plucking of strings, intricate "bell" timbre of horns and timpani, vibrato of strings, orchestral coordination, and much more.
Together, they imbue the music of The Trojans with dramatic emotions.
Berlioz skillfully mobilized the entire orchestra, choir, and various vocals to recreate the scenes depicted in Homer's epic poem and the emotions of Virgil's Aeneas.
summary
After the aforementioned series of analyses, it can be clearly observed that Berlioz has achieved historic breakthroughs in script conception, music design, and stage arrangement in the creation of "The Troy".
This breakthrough was due to Berlioz's adoption of poetic ideas for music composition, and he was praised as a "musical genius".