Metaphysical Music 形而上音乐
In 1916, the composer Ethel Smyth wrote that England was “conservative to the verge of imbecility.”
1916年，编曲家埃塞尔史密斯将英格兰描述为“保守到濒临愚蠢”。
Metaphysical Music 形而上音乐
A composer finally gets her due. 一位作曲家最终众望所归
The British composer Ethel Smyth’s music is often vigorous and dramatic; it can also sometimes be ponderous, even in moments of inspiration. Mostly, it’s unheard, largely because in Smyth’s day, as she herself observed, “a critic’s first and last thought in connection with a woman’s work”—whatever virtues it possessed—was “her sex.”
英国的作曲家埃塞尔 史密斯的音乐总是充满力量与戏剧性；有时迟缓沉闷，亦或在某刻曲调激扬。但在当时它的作曲不为大多数人所知，绝大部分原因是源于她所处的时代，正如她自己所诉，“不管一个女人的作品如何优秀，批判家至始至终关于她的看法，都取决于她的性别。”
Though Smyth achieved some fame during her lifetime (her opera “Der Wald” was performed at the Met in 1903, more than a century before another woman received the same recognition), she was often relegated to the status of a novelty: a lady composer, a lesbian, a suffragette. Since her death, in 1944, her music has languished in obscurity. So she would surely be pleased to know that her last major work, “The Prison,” will be performed on May 11 at Carnegie Hall, by the Cecilia Chorus of New York.
虽然史密斯在生前获得了一些名气（她的歌剧《德瓦尔德》于1903年在大都会戏剧院上映，比之后取得同样赞誉的女性早了一个多世纪），但是当时的人总是以一种看新鲜事物的方式来贬低她的身价：女性的曲作家，女同性恋者, 女权主义者。自1944年史密斯逝世以来，她的音乐一直无人问津。因此，如果史密斯知道自己生前的最后一部主要作品《监狱》将于4月11日由纽约的塞西莉亚合唱团在卡内基音乐厅演绎，她将会倍感欣慰。
For “The Prison,” Smyth adapted a metaphysical text by her friend Harry Brewster, in which a condemned man communes with his own soul. In tones that oscillate between solemnity and fierce ecstasy, the baritone Prisoner and his soprano interlocutor (sung here by the able soloists Tobias Greenhalgh and Chelsea Shephard) discuss, along with the chorus, the inextinguishable nature of human passions. The piece, which draws on British and Continental traditions—Smyth was a committed cosmopolitan—is hard to categorize: Smyth called it a “symphony,” but it’s closer to a tone poem, with elements of cantata and oratorio. Mark Shapiro, the Cecilia’s director, presented a piano reduction of the work two years ago, but the orchestrated version, demonstrating the full breadth of Smyth’s talent, is only now receiving its American début.
在《监狱》中，史密斯采用了其朋友哈里 布鲁斯特的形而上学文体，这段文字描写一个入狱的人与自己的灵魂相互交流。在庄严肃穆与高亢激昂间的曲调回旋中，狱中的男高音与他的女中音对话者伴随着副歌，共同叙述着人类激情之中不可磨灭的本性。史密斯是个坚定的世界主义者，她的作品吸纳了英国和欧洲大陆的传统作曲方式而难以归类：史密斯称之为“交响乐”，但它又近似于音诗，包含康塔塔与清唱剧的元素。塞西莉亚合唱团的指挥者马克夏皮罗在两年前曾演绎过钢琴简化的版本，但是真正包含史密斯的才华之作，也就是管弦乐改编版，现在刚迎来美国的首演。
By the time Smyth completed “The Prison,” in 1930, she was almost deaf. Undaunted, she conducted the first performance herself, at the age of seventy-two. Her composer’s note describes “The Prison” as “a record of a struggle to escape from the bonds of self,” and though Smyth wished to be viewed as an artist among artists, she knew that she faced an uphill battle: England, she wrote in 1916, was “conservative to the verge of imbecility.”A century later, a concert of Smyth’s work is an avowedly revisionist statement. By challenging the white-male canon of classical music, it issues a call to her successors. As “The Prison” has it, “We are full of immortality.”
在史密斯完成《监狱》之时，正是1930年，72岁的她当时几乎全聋。然而她不愿臣服于命运，亲自指挥了自己的第一场音乐表演。她的作曲说明里将《监狱》描述为“奋力挣脱自我局限的过程”。虽然史密斯希望世人将他看作艺术家中的艺术家，但是她明白眼前的艰苦斗争—她在1916年将英格兰描述为“保守到濒临愚蠢”。一个世纪过后，她的作品在音乐会演奏，其将是修正主义者立场的公开表明。通过挑战古典音乐的白人男性准则，史密斯的音乐得到后世的共鸣。正如《监狱》所体现的那样，“我们充满着不朽的生命力。”
