Wen 丨 Robinson's diary
Edit 丨Robinson's diary
"Tragedy is one of the aesthetic categories that aesthetic researchers pay great attention to, which refers to the fact that characters and things with positive values are violated or destroyed in the inevitable conflict of social history, causing people to suffer intensely, and at the same time being moved by their noble spirit, so as to experience the special form of beauty from pain to pleasure experienced by the sharp shock of emotions."
"Daisy Demona is the embodiment of truth, goodness and beauty, a new woman who dares to rebel against feudal rites, the tragic beauty of this perfect woman lies in the pain and sympathy brought to people by the injustice she suffered, people can feel the pain in her heart in the process of the deterioration of Othello's attitude towards her, from the beginning of the misunderstanding to the moment when the truth is revealed, people have suffered from being misunderstood and insulted with Daisy Demona.
When Emilia told the truth, people expected that Daisy Demona's desire to be revealed was finally satisfied, but the lovely, kind, and loyal Daisy Demona could no longer open her beautiful eyes, this regret and pity shocked people's hearts, at this moment, no one was stingy with emotions and tears, the tears that had been suppressed for a long time came out, the deep emotions in people's hearts were vividly vented, and the pleasure and beauty brought by the tragedy reached a climax.
At the same time, people also feel the noble spirit of the characters from the grief, and death makes the already perfect Daisy Demona even more noble. When Emilia pressed for who the murderer was, the dying Desdemona replied, "No one did it myself." Goodbye. My good husband came to say hello to me...", at this moment, her sublime and greatness were immediately highlighted, and Desdemona's death was magnificent, an indictment and rebellion against evil.
Therefore, the real value of her tragic fate is to make people feel what is true, good, and beautiful, what is sublime and great, tell people to trust each other, do not listen to rumors, and stifle precious happiness and love, thereby deepening people's hatred of fake evil and ugly, asking people to be vigilant against the existence of evil, and not allowing evil people to do whatever they want.
The purpose of tragedy is not to make people pessimistic and disappointed, but to inspire people to dare to challenge the forces of evil and eventually defeat evil, so as to achieve the purpose of promoting good and punishing evil, optimizing human nature, and purifying the world.
Analysis of the musical image of Daisy Demona
The success of Shakespeare's play Othello laid a solid theatrical foundation for Verdi to write the opera Othello. Verdi paid great attention to the in-depth study of the script and characters in the creation of opera, he never took the script and wrote it in a hurry, and after carefully studying the script, a living character has been formed in his mind.
He imagined Yago in Othello to be a face with a priest-like expression, so he asked the painter Morelli to paint a portrait of Yago according to his description, which shows that Verdi's music for the characters is based on a deep understanding of the characters. Desdemona is Shakespeare's successful theatrical image, and her theatrical image has been quite mature and rich after countless theatrical stage shaping.
In the opera, choosing the right timbre for Desdemona, a gentle, beautiful, graceful and noble lady with a soft and not shrill timbre, clear and not dignified, so Verdi chose the timbre of a lyrical soprano to match her character and identity.
Her brilliant timbre like Othello metal creates a stark contrast between rigidity and softness. The overall characteristics of Desdemona's music are full of rich lyrical colors, and the lyrical melodic lines stretch and soften, showing the sincerity and tenderness of Desdemona, and she and Othello interpret the emotional entanglement and change of rigidity and softness.
Under Verdi's pen, Desdemona was dressed as music, and music gave Desdemona a second artistic life with its unique expressive techniques. This article starts with the musical singing passages of women's fathers in different emotional states, and explores the Daisy Demona in Derdi's mind.
Daisy Demona in pain and sadness
At this stage, the relationship between Daisy Demona and Othello changed radically, and the reason was that Othello fell into Yago's trap and suspected his wife of infidelity.
In Yago's words, Othello has been hit by the "poison" he cast, and this "poison" gradually deepens in the step-by-step trap set by Yago, causing Othello's attitude towards his wife to deteriorate more and more, and Daisy Demona's sadness is getting deeper and deeper. Although Othello has been "poisoned", there is a fuse before each attack, that is, the innocence and unworldliness of Daisy Demona, who endlessly intercedes for Casio.
Every mention of Casio inevitably leads to Othello's rage, but the simple Daisy Demona knows nothing and does not feel that Casio is a threat to their relationship. Therefore, the drama between Othello and Daisy Demona at this stage mainly revolves around this line: intercession - fierce conflict - sadness.
The sadness after the first plea is the lyrical passage between Othello and Daisy Demona in the fourth quartet in Act II, and the duet about "white hands" between Othello and Daisy Demona at the beginning of Act III; The sadness caused by the second plea is the first time that Daisy Demona weeps after Othello questions chastity in Act III; The third sadness is the second cry after Desdemona's public humiliation in Act III, Scene 8.
Due to the need for plot progression and the sudden change in the relationship between the two, these passages have a heavier lyricism, and in order to express the pain, sadness and fleeting sense of happiness of Daisy Demona, some dramatic tension is added compared to the lyrical passages in happiness. First of all, the writing of the melody is different from the previous stage.
The treble is no longer weakened, but the interval of the big jump, the sudden burst of strong tones, and the strong contrast of dynamics are used to express the heartache of Daisy Demona after being insulted and hit. For example, in Act III, Daisy Demona cries for the first time after being cursed by Othello
The ninth-degree large jump interval from the e' in the second bar to #f² highlights the explosiveness of the treble, emphasizing the word "Furia"; The "b²" from e² to bar 7 is a minus fifth-degree interval, and the strongest note of the whole sentence falls on the highest note b², which fully expresses the extreme pain in Daisy Demona's heart. The highest note is followed by a progressive descending scale, the dynamics gradually decrease, and the last phrase lepremelagreme is completed with a very weak force in the middle voice, a strong contrast of dynamics that portrays Desdemona's pain and helplessness.
In addition, the original form of the melodic theme of the lyrical passage of the two crying lyric passages comes from the love theme in the love duet.
The two crying melodies are four sentences each, the first and second of which use the core notes of the duet, f², e², and c², and you can see the shadow of the duet's theme. The last two sentences develop and change the theme, and the four sentences are gradually pushed to the high register, the highest note of the first cry 'b², the high point of the second cry is 'c³,
The intensity gradually increased to the extent that it was enough to vent Daisy Demona's heart-wrenching pain. Verdi's adoption of a theme core in different plots and different environments before and after is carefully designed, the same love theme in the front is the love vow made by the two, and the back becomes the sadness and confession of Daistelmona after losing love. The shadow of the theme of the love vow appears here, which makes people nostalgic for the beautiful love life in the past, and also evokes people's deep sympathy for Daisy Demona.
Second, Verdi uses many means to bring out the lyrical intensity and intensity of these two sad and weeping passages. On the one hand, he accentuates the lyrical heaviness by increasing the concentration of the orchestration and the dynamic rhythm of the orchestra, taking the music of the second cry as an example, the dense tremolo of the band is like a chromatic scale that portrays the rapid descent of the wounded and trembling heart of Daisy Demona to express the heroine's tormented complex mood;
Verdi, on the other hand, used the interweaving of choral and multiple singing to render the dramatic atmosphere. Verdi uses this form in a scene where Desdemona cries for the second time at the end of Act III. The number of characters involved in this music, the number of singing forms, and the complexity of multiple intertwining can be said to have developed multiple choruses to the extreme. Each character on stage has his or her own theatrical mission:
The duets of Casio, Emilia, and Rodovico are accompanied by choruses to express sympathy for Daisdemona and incomprehension for Othello's rude behavior;
Against the backdrop of choruses and duets, Yago, Rodrego, and Othello plot revenge and murder in the form of a narrative; Desdemona has been repeating melodies morphed by the theme of love to express her grief after being humiliated in public, the last repetition was sung by all the singers on stage, and the band also added brass and percussion instruments, which is magnificent and shocking, and is a strong emotional catharsis.
In these fierce emotional conflicts between Othello and Desdemona, Othello was very painful because of his wife's infidelity, he did not expect that the seemingly angelic Desdemona could do such a shameless thing, which caused his self-esteem to be hit hard, he thought that such an insult ruined his heroic career and ruined his life, and he was in such a painful and extremely humiliating mentality.
Like a wounded beast, it scolds and growls at Desdemona, insulting her with snarky words. Daisy Demona was stunned by her husband's reaction, she was innocent, she didn't know what she had done, in addition to confessing her love and loyalty to her husband, she could only express her inner pain to win Othello's sympathy.
This kind of heart-wrenching pain caused by the framing of the wicked to make a loving couple suffer so heart-wrenching pain deeply moved the appreciators, and people especially developed a strong sympathy for the innocent Daisy Demona, and after the dramatic climax caused by this conflicting scene, there must be an emotional climax triggered by these lyrical passages, and people can experience her pain, experience her innocence, and experience her injustice in Daisy Demona's confession and sadness. People can vent their excitement with tears that they shed freely, and their hearts are shocked and baptized again and again.