Whenever I hear Butterfly Lovers, I always think of that ancient and touching legend. Beautiful and smooth melody, such as weeping melody, always fascinates me, and sometimes touching sad places will make my heart tremble. This paper intends to talk about my own views on how to appreciate butterfly lovers.
I. Historical background and storyline
First of all, combine the story of Liang Zhu to understand the historical background of the story. The story took place in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (about the middle of the 4th century). During this period, there was a clear boundary between nobles and civilians. In order to maintain their special status, the gentry opposed the intermarriage between the gentry and civilians, and formed the hierarchical gentry system. The story tells that in Zhujiazhuang, a hometown in the south of China, Zhu Yingtai, the daughter of a clever literacy volunteer, broke through the shackles of feudal tradition and disguised herself as a man to study in Hangzhou. There, she established a deep friendship with Liang Shanbo, a kind, simple and poor young scholar. When breaking up, Zhu Yingtai found herself in love with Liang Shanbo, but she was embarrassed to say it, so she confided her love for many years to Liang Shanbo with various wonderful metaphors, but the sincere Liang Shanbo didn't understand. A year later, Liang Shanbo learned that Zhu Yingtai turned out to be a woman and immediately proposed to Zhu Yingtai. However, Zhu Yingtai has been betrothed to a rich man's son, Ma Wencai, the son of Ma Taishou. Liang Shanbo died of grief and anger soon after he got an unfree marriage. After learning the bad news, he came to Liang's grave and complained to the sky about feudal ethics. Liang Shanbo's grave was suddenly opened by thunder, and Zhu Yingtai resolutely jumped in. Both of them became colorful butterflies, dancing in the flowers, inseparable. Only by understanding this eternal love story can we truly understand the work and its artistic value.
Second, the author's brief introduction, representative works and their creative characteristics
The violin concerto Butterfly Lovers was written by He and Chen Gang.
He, 1933, was born in hejia village, Zhuji, Zhejiang. I loved music since I was a child, and later I was admitted to Zhejiang Cultural and Art Troupe as an actor. 1957 was admitted to Shanghai Conservatory of Music to explore and practice the nationalization of violin performance. 1959 collaborated with Chen Gang, a classmate, to create the violin concerto "Butterfly Lovers" based on the tone of Yue Opera, and has since become one of the famous figures in China music scene. After butterfly lovers, he created a large number of musical works, such as string quartet Diary of a Martyr, String Choir's Oblivious Memories, Symphony Poem Longhua Pagoda, Farewell, Female Militia on the Grassland, Peacock Flying Southeast and so on. His works not only pay attention to drama and lyricism, but also have a strong national style.
Chen Gang was born in Shanghai, 1935. In his early years, he studied composition and piano with his father Chen Gexin and Hungarian pianist Vara. 1955 after he was admitted to Shanghai Conservatory of Music, he studied composition and theory with alzas Manof, president of Ding Shande and a Soviet music expert. From 65438 to 0959, the violin concerto "Butterfly Lovers" with He was well-known in Chinese and foreign music circles. Since then, his violin solo "Morning in Miao Ling", "Golden Stove", "Sunshine in Tashkurgan", "Kindness" and his violin concerto "Wang Zhaojun" written in 1980s have also become famous violin music documents in China. He also composed China's first harp concerto and the first oboe concerto. Chen Gang's works include symphonic poems, chorus and chamber music ensemble. His works are famous for their strong national ancestral feelings and rich contemporary composition techniques.
Butterfly lovers was written in the winter of 1958. He and Chen Gang were studying in Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In order to explore the nationalization of symphonies, they borrowed the creative techniques of western symphonies and successfully created this violin concerto with a title. 1959 In May, Lina Yu made his violin solo debut in Shanghai, which received enthusiastic response. They take well-known folk stories as the theme, the singing of Yue Opera as the material, comprehensively adopt the expression techniques of western symphony and China folk opera music, carefully conceive the layout according to the plot development, and adopt sonata structure, single movement and subtitles; Liang Zhu's love, anti-marriage and become a butterfly's feelings and artistic conception are described in detail.
Third, the genre and form of the work.
(A), genre-concerto
As far as genre is concerned, this work is a concerto. Concerto is a large-scale instrumental work played by solo instruments and orchestras. Its characteristic is that the solo part has a distinct personality and a high degree of ingenuity. In the process of musical works, soloists and bands often appear in turn, answering each other, echoing each other from afar and playing unexpectedly. "butterfly lovers" is a violin concerto, which is a cooperative performance of violin and band. Among them, the violin has many difficult playing skills. Concerto is generally divided into three movements: one movement is allegro enthusiasm; The second movement is a lyric adagio with narrative style; The third movement is cheerful dance music. "butterfly lovers" is a concerto with one movement, including passionate allegro, lyrical adagio, and China opera music. So when this work first came out, some people called it "novel and charming".
(2) Form-sonata form with the auxiliary part omitted.
Musical form refers to the structural form of music. "butterfly lovers" adopts sonata form, following the most commonly used sonata writing logic in western classical concertos. Sonata form is the most common and important form of various large-scale instrumental music genres since the second half of18th century. It consists of presentation part+expansion part+reproduction part; Among them, the presentation part must have two contrasting themes (putting forward contradictions), the unfolding part is drama conflict (contradictory struggle), and the reappearance part is the reappearance of the presentation part (preliminary conclusion). This "contrast-development-unity" structural layout is very suitable for expressing complex drama content. Therefore, the composer appropriately adopted the sonata form to show the scene that Liang Zhu fell in love-rebelled against marriage-turned into a butterfly.
Fourth, the structure and theme of the work.
(1) Presentation Department
First of all, this part should be able to distinguish the sounds and playing methods of flute, oboe, harp, violin and cello.
1, Introduction: At the beginning of the music, there are a few ethereal and distant plucked pieces, which seem to remind people of stories from a long time ago. On the soft string vibrato background, the melodious long flute sounded, like the colorful melody of birds singing. Then, the oboe and the band presented beautiful scenery beside the grass bridge with soft and lyrical introduction themes, with birds singing and flowers fragrant, fresh and elegant, pink and green.
2. Love theme (main theme): Next, accompanied by the harp, the violin plays a simple and beautiful "love theme" with melodious tunes. This piece of music plays an important role in the whole work. How many people are intoxicated by this melody. The author took great pains in choosing this topic. He, one of the founders, was an actor of Hangzhou Yue Opera Troupe. He is familiar with and loves Yue Opera music. When he wrote "butterfly lovers", the story spread all over Zhejiang, and Yue Opera is a representative opera in Zhejiang. He is determined to draw material from Yue Opera music. According to the usual observation, many famous actors of Yue Opera, no matter what repertoire they perform, will win warm applause from the audience as long as they sing a aria. The author takes this aria as the basic tone of "Love Theme" in Butterfly Lovers. This theme is the keynote of the whole song. The solo violin begins with a soft and simple A string, and plays a poetic love theme with charm in a clear high-pitched area.
3. Grass Bridge Worship: After repeated on the G string with rich timbre, the music is fine-tuned, and the cello forms an answer with a unique tone with the solo violin (middle section). After playing the theme of love, the band fully demonstrated Liang Zhu's sincere and pure friendship and mutual affection.
4. Sub-theme: After the free cadenza of violin solo, the music enters the sub-theme. This theme is adapted from Yue Opera, with violin solo (including repeated variations). This sub-theme is in sharp contrast to the soft and lyrical theme. The music turned into a lively and cheerful Rondo, and the melody was relaxed and lively. The solo violin imitates the guzheng, and the harp and strings imitate the pipa. The author skillfully absorbs the playing skills of China national musical instruments and enriches the expressive force of the symphony. Solos and bands appear alternately, describing the life scenes of Liang Zhu's students when they are studying. Legend has it that Zhu Yingtai disguised herself as a man to go to school. On the way, she met Liang Shanbo, and they hit it off and became brothers. The theme of this song is to show the scene of Liang Zhu's students studying and playing for three years.
5. Ending part (Farewell to the Pavilion): After this allegro, the music is transferred to Adagio, the ending part of the theme of the sub-part. The lyrical and slow tone is intermittent, showing Zhu Yingtai's wordless and embarrassing feelings. The answer between "Liang" and "Zhu" on the background of string vibrato, faint harmony and orchestration, will be separated from classmates for three years under the background of string vibrato, and the music shows the attachment of the 18th farewell party and the Changting. Legend has it that when they left, Zhu Yingtai pretended that there was a sister at home who was willing to marry Liang Shanbo and invited him to visit. And the low voice at the end of this part indicates that something ominous is about to happen.
(2) Development Department
Suddenly, the gruesome gong, timpani and frightened violin brought us to this tragic struggle. Music enters the development department, and this melody consists of three parts, namely, anti-marriage, balcony meeting and mourning for the grave.
1. Anti-marriage: In the original book, Zhu Yingtai's father forced Zhu Yingtai to marry Ma Wencai, the young master of the bureaucratic groom, while Zhu Yingtai refused to marry. In the music, brass music played the cruel theme of feudal forces with its harsh rhythm and gloomy tone. Then the solo violin used the rhythm of the national drama "Sanban", which showed the anxiety and pain of Yingtai. With a strong and full performance, the band played the theme of violent syncopation and chords against the main violin, which fully demonstrated the heroic spirit of Zhu Yingtai who dared to fight tenaciously against feudal ethics. They constantly appear in different tonality, and finally reach the climax of the struggle-a strong anti-marriage scene, reaching the climax of contradictions and conflicts.
2. Lou Daihui: At this time, the music suddenly stopped and turned to Adagio-Lou Daihui. Legend has it that at this time, I came to visit Zhu's family and learned that it was a woman's pain, so they met on the balcony and told each other what they wanted. At this time, the cello and violin began to "question and answer". This melody is lingering and makes people cry; The answer between violin and cello is timely, which shows Liang Zhu's mutual affection.
3. Crying, accusing, and throwing graves: Next, the music takes a sharp turn and turns to the section of "Crying and throwing graves". The music uses the technique of tight-pulling and slow-singing in China traditional opera to express Zhu Yingtai's sadness to the fullest. Legend has it that Liang Shanbo died shortly after returning to China. Zhu Yingtai was very sad when she learned that she had decided to choose a path. She and her father agreed to wear plain clothes and sit in a sedan chair to pay homage to Liang Shanbo's grave, and his father agreed. On that day, Zhu Yingtai came to the grave, cried to the sky, then struck the stone tablet and committed suicide. In this melody, the fast syncopation rhythm of strings is passionate and decisive, and the soloist's scattered board and the allegro played by the band appear alternately. The banjo was added here, which changed the techniques of Peking Opera and Yue Opera, and profoundly showed the scene that Yingtai accused feudal ethics with blood and tears in front of the grave. Here, the violin draws lessons from the performance techniques of national musical instruments, and uses more expressions of China traditional operas in harmony, orchestration and the whole process, which deeply depicts the image and sadness of Yingtai. She has been crying, heartbroken, sometimes whispering, tears streaming down her face. When the music developed to change the beat (from two beats to three beats), Yingtai sent a final complaint to heaven with its young life. Then gongs and drums roared, Yingtai threw herself at the grave and the music reached its climax.
(3) Reproduction Department
Music has the music material of introduction, which is no longer the beauty of the world. The flute and the harp play a light and ethereal fairyland-like note, as if two butterflies lingered on the grave for a long time in a faint light smoke. Accompanied by the violin, the theme of love reappeared in a weak voice, such as regret, meditation, sympathy, chanting, played with the band, accompanied by those two dancing butterflies, carrying people's good hopes and wishes for flying high. We heard the familiar "love theme" again. On the background of silent strings, both the first violin and the solo violin are silenced, recreating an unforgettable love theme. Then, the colored piano gently plays the ups and downs of five tones in the high-pitched area, shifting the tune many times, as if Liang Zhu were dancing in the sky and singing their faithful love. ...
Rainbow Wan Li bloom.
Butterflies in the flowers are in pairs.
Thousands of years cannot be separated from generations.
The Butterfly Lovers
Verb (abbreviation of verb) conclusion
The success of butterfly lovers lies in its multi-level, diversified and aesthetic characteristics, which shocked the soul of the appreciation subject with its multiple aesthetic feelings; Only on the basis of perceptual knowledge and scientific analysis can we truly understand and evaluate the artistry of butterfly lovers. Only by mastering the method of music appreciation can we get artistic enjoyment from it; To appreciate butterfly lovers, we should not only listen more, think more, but also feel it attentively, so that there will be a process from quantitative change to qualitative change. Of course, interest is also very important because interest is the best teacher.