Four songs dedicated to the longest love

Wandering on the shores of Hamburg's Ulster Lake, looking at the Elbe in the distance, I overheard someone in the central square playing music with a trombone - "because it goes to earth", one of the four solemn songs, Brahms's swan singing. Although it is nearly dusk, I still can't help but sit down on the steps by the lake, let the low and melodious music slowly come, floating into the lake, stepping on the rhythm of the water swans floating softly over their feathers. Suddenly thinking that hamburger is the birthplace of Brahms, it is no wonder that he is remembered. Overwhelmed by the dim melody, the exhaustion of a day's wanderings hurried back to his residence to re-listen to the song, only to find the English soprano Catherine Ferrier's version.

Soft voice, dark gray tones, accompaniment piano is a gentle bass, the piano and vocal dialogue are gray and hazy, mournful and undulating, fragmentary, but smooth, dragging your heart palpitations forward - a train from Switzerland, north to Frankfurt; The solemn and mournful melody is so steady, can it really hide Brahms's urgent mood? The lover he has had a crush on for 40 years is not going to the world, but dying, Clara, you go all the way. The great sorrow is like a hurricane, wrapped in the wheel rolling forward, the music is pushed up by the arpeggio of the piano, the nile slides down to the bottom, the female voice is thick and deep only at the end of the first song to burst out a bright color, the life given to us by the emperor contains death, and rest is not a blessing? This theme stretches in the second song, brahms should have written it before boarding the train, otherwise how can it be so perfect and seamless? But what was he doing on the train to the funeral, leaving only fragments of sorrow in his heart?" How cold death is" - the third song still can't stop the afterglow of sorrow, like a cold stone in a minor key of color to present a downward tone, melancholy and obscure, but also revealing a nostalgic luster and sweetness. At this time I heard the muffled bells coming from the bell tower of the square church, and the solemnity of religion was solemn and introspective, that is, Brahms was devoutly eulogizing Clara, and the priest pointed the way to heaven for her, and the emotion was solemn and philosophical. Death is not so terrible, there is love in his heart, he can speak the language of thousands of people, the words of angels, and a bright beam of light finally flashes through the beginning and end of the fourth song. Brahms incorporated his own bitterness into the various perceptions of the artistic life and the desire for love. Was his heart released like this? No, the following year, in 1896, he also followed the angelic language of immortality.

Even if there is no vocal, the piano accompaniment or trombone playing of this work is enough to be heartbreaking. Brahms broke the rules of the Romantic school, did not let the poems into the song, but took the holy scriptures, the piano and the dialogue between people in religious lamentations, the distinct piano texture renders the atmosphere of the song, sets off the emotion of the song, shapes the background of the song, and from time to time presents a different mood and mood from the voice. The divine transcendence of religion makes people cry without tears, and ultimately establishes a balance with fate.

More than half a century has elapsed since Schubert and Schumann laid the foundation for German art songs, and its lyrical nature has been perfected. This kind of song is sung from the inside out, that is, the "sentimental" type of Schiller's name, its tone is soft and lyrical, strong and weak, light and dark, in order to impress the audience, the words must be clear and easy to understand. German songs rely on the friction of consonants rather than bright and exaggerated vowels, soothing and smooth with breath, and delicately expressing emotions through consonants. Germany did not unify the country until the 19th century, and there are nearly 100 dialects, so it is difficult to sing in German for a period of time, and the singers basically sing Italian operas, exaggerated expressions, posture Mannerism, and show off gorgeous voices to strengthen dramatic conflicts, without taking into account the inner feelings of the characters. To this end, German singers who were accustomed to Italian vowels did not know how to pronounce their own art songs, so the pronunciation school came into being to establish a standard German pronunciation, and at the same time, under the inspiration of Wagner's strong promotion of German music drama, the German art performance form was gradually perfected. Unfortunately, occasionally listening to some Chinese or music school students singing German art songs, still equating them with the arias of Italian opera, displaying them with exaggerated limbs and flaunting vowels, a look of pointing out the country and excites the text, which is ridiculous. The purpose of opera is to please the public, usually performed in theaters, and the early German art songs are salon darlings, a group of literary artists gathered around individual aristocrats, artists holding the piano, singing for this group of minorities, his voice must be ups and downs, delicate emotions, sincere expressions, voice colors alternate between light and dark, strong and weak, lead and Mannerism, singing is not a dramatic conflict, but the forest of nature, the separation of lovers, this is the true meaning of listening to four songs, four songs dedicated to the longest love.

Wang Qiuhai