2016年12月15日 星期四

【音樂引領人心遇見上帝- 亨德爾 】




1741年,一位飽受生命挫折、人生陷入低潮的音樂家──亨德爾,被彌賽亞的故事深深感動,於是提起筆來,日以繼夜在樂譜上渾灑他澎湃洶湧的靈感。

「我看到了!」亨德爾在不眠不休的創作狂熱中,不由自主地雙膝跪倒,無法遏止的眼淚,滴落在剛完成的譜表上,他雙手顫抖地向上舉起,大聲呼喊:「主啊!主啊!我看到天開了!」

從那時開始,兩百七十五年來,《彌賽亞》這齣由亨德爾創作的神劇,一直歷久不衰地在世界各地反覆傳唱演奏。1743年,這齣神劇在英王喬治二世御前演出,當聽到〈哈利路亞〉大合唱時,喬治二世不由自由從座位中恭敬地站起來,聆聽完全曲。從此奠下在所有演唱會中,只要唱到〈哈利路亞〉大合唱時,聽眾都會站立聆聽,以示崇敬的傳統。 

《彌賽亞》這齣神劇的內容多直接引用聖經,譜寫出基督降生的神聖與莊嚴。在〈有一位嬰孩為我們而生〉那首合唱曲中,亨德爾直接引用聖經〈以賽亞書〉的記載,將耶穌降生後的身分與地位,輕快有力卻肅穆莊嚴地宣示出來:

必有童女懷孕生子,給他起名叫以馬內利(就是「上帝與我們同在」的意思)。 因有一嬰孩為我們而生;有一子賜給我們。政權必擔在他的肩頭上;他名稱為奇妙策士、全能的上帝、永在的父、和平的君。(聖經:以賽亞書7章14節、9章6節)



在巴羅克時代多如繁星的音樂作品中,有三部以聖經中的救贖故事為題材的神劇,在音樂史上公認是永垂不朽的曠世巨作。他們分別是《約翰受難曲》(1723年)、《馬太受難曲》(1729年)和亨德爾的《彌賽亞》。因為創作者的音樂理念不同,這些傑作也呈現出不同的面貌。

亨德爾的彌賽亞是可以在劇院演出的大眾化作品,它客觀地描寫耶穌出生、受難和救贖的過程,將福音置於想像的舞臺,並使聖經故事推向戲劇性的高峰。

音樂權威人士說:「亨德爾是所有音樂大師中的大師,我對他只有五體投地,因為他能以最簡單的音符達到最偉大的效果。」單純而大眾化和精美而嚴整原來是對立的兩個因素,彌賽亞最大的魅力在於將超越性的宗教理念與世俗化的美感圓滿融合為一,使它在兩個半世紀之後,仍能普受歡迎,弦歌不絕。

於1759年4月,這位偉大的音樂家不顧久病和失明,再度站上了倫敦皇家劇院的舞臺,親自主持指揮《彌賽亞》的演出,亨德爾昏倒了在指揮臺上,8天后,與世長辭,享年74歲。他被熱愛他的英國人按其遺願安葬於倫敦威斯敏斯特大教堂,墓碑上刻著 《彌賽亞》
我知道我的救贖主活著。在亨德爾死後英國沒有出現什麼大音樂家,在他死後所掀起的亨德爾熱持續一個世紀。

Music leads a man’s heart to meet God - George Frideric Handel was born in 1685 -1759

In April 1759, a great music composer, Handel despite his long illness and blindness attended for the last time the performance of the Messiah at Royal Opera House in London. He fainted on stage and passed away eight days later at the age of 74. He was buried in Westminster Abbey in London with his tombstone engraved “Messiah” with “I know my Redeemer lives”. After his death, there was hardly any greater music composer emerging in Britain and an upsurge of Handel lasted for a century.

During the Baroque era, there were as many music pieces as stars. Amongst them was three pieces of Oratorio with the theme on the story of salvation from the Bible. In the history of music, Johnpassion 1723, Matthäuspassion 1729 and Messiah by Handel are publicly known and accepted as imperishable masterpieces. Due to different philosophy of composers, these pieces were presented in various faces.

Handel’s Messiah are popular in theatres; it objectively describes the life of Jesus and the process of crucifixion and salvation making the gospel performance on stage and the biblical stories to reach dramatic new heights. An authoritative figure in the music industry said, “Handel is the musical master of masters. I am in total submission to him because he made use of simple notes to produce the greatest effect”. Simple but popular and exquisite but thorough are two contrasting elements. Handel’s greatest charm was to be able to combine the transcendence of religious faith and the aesthetic of secular beliefs together as one. Such music still remains universally popular without a break even after two and half century.


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