日暮之时 | 昆杜播客

朗读者：James Miller

文字来源：James Miller

James Miller博士是昆山杜克大学本科生项目跨学科规划副院长

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At Sunset 日暮之时

One of the things I remember most clearly about being an undergraduate student was being introduced to great works of classical music that changed my life. I had always been very active musically — as a teenager I was the organist at my local church—but my parents had fairly narrow musical tastes and I had never much listened to opera or secular vocal music. But when I went to university, I met people from many different backgrounds and my encounter with music broadened and deepened.

在大学本科生涯中最让我记忆犹新的事情之一，就是我在这个阶段接触到了伟大的古典音乐作品，这些音乐改变了我的人生。我一直爱好音乐——十几岁时，我曾任家乡本地教堂的风琴手——不过因为父母的音乐品味相当固定，我很少听到歌剧或非宗教声乐。上了大学后，我结识了来自不同背景的同学，从此拓宽和加深了我与音乐的接触。

Tim Gouw/Unsplash

The piece of music I want to share with you today is regarded by many people as the apotheosis of the Western classical music tradition. It is the fourth of Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs, called “At Sunset.” Strauss wrote this music in 1948 when he was 84 years old. In the aftermath of the second world war, Germany was in ruins, divided in two, and occupied by the Soviet Red Army in the East and the American-led allied forces in the West. Strauss died the year after composing the music and before hearing its premiere in London in 1950.

今天我想和大家分享的作品被广泛认为是西方古典音乐的传统典范。这是理查·施特劳斯创作的《最后四首歌》中的第四首——《日暮之时》。1948年，84岁的施特劳斯完成了这部作品。当时正值第二次世界大战结束不久，德国仍是一片废墟，领土被一分为二，东部被苏联红军占据，西部被美国领导的盟军占领。施特劳斯在完成这部作品后的一年去世，未能亲耳聆听1950年于伦敦举行的首演。

Three of the four last songs are about death, and of these two were written by the great German novelist Herman Hesse. But the fourth, which I would like to read to you, was written by Joseph von Eichendorff, who was also very famous inside Germany, but less well known internationally. Von Eichendorff had been deeply influenced by the philosophy of Schlegel, a Romantic who had criticized the modern rationality that had brought about the objectification and disenchantment of nature. Schlegel argued for a Romantic view that nature was alive with a kind of creative poetry or poetic creativity, and that through human creativity we could participate the wider poetry of the natural world. We can never fully understand nature, thought Schlegel—it lies always partly beyond our mind’s reach—but we can participate in it through our own creativity.

《最后四首歌》中有三首关于死亡，其中两首的歌词来自伟大的德国小说家赫尔曼·黑塞的作品。今天我想给大家朗读的第四首歌词是由约瑟夫·冯·艾申多夫创作的诗歌《日暮之时》，他在德国也久负盛名，不过国际知名度略逊。冯·艾申多夫深受施莱格尔的哲理的影响，施莱格尔是德国早期浪漫主义大师，批判导致自然物化和祛魅的现代理性。施莱格尔提出浪漫主义的观点，认为大自然因创造性的诗歌或诗意的创造力而充满活力。施莱格尔认为，通过人类的创造力，我们可以参与到自然世界的广泛诗意中。我们永远无法完全理解大自然——它的某个部分超出了我们的思维能力——但我们可以通过自身的创造力参与其中。

It might seem strange for such a life-affirming philosophy to result in a poem about sunset, about death, but I have to say that to me at least, “At Sunset” or “Im Abendrot,” literally “the evening red” in the original German, is an immensely uplifting poem and this is movingly reflected in the lush orchestration that Strauss brings to the text. Unfortunately, we can’t share the recording in this podcast, but let me read it to you, first in the original German (with apologies for my English accent) and then in the English translation.

从如此积极向上的哲理中孕育出一首关于日暮、关于死亡的诗，似乎有些不可思议。但我必须说，至少于我而言，《日暮之时》 或是 “Im Abendrot”，德语原文的字面意思即“夜晚的红色”，是一首非常令人振奋的诗，这个意境在施特劳斯的丰富谱曲中得到了充分的体现，让人感动。遗憾的是，我们不能在播客中播放这首歌曲，但是让我给大家朗读这首诗，先用德语原文(请原谅我的英语口音)，再朗读英语译文。

Wir sind durch Not und Freude gegangen Hand in Hand; vom Wandern ruhen wir beide nun überm stillen Land.

Rings sich die Tler neigen, es dunkelt schon die Luft. Zwei Lerchen nur noch steigen nachtrumend in den Duft.

Tritt her und lass sie schwirren, bald ist es Schlafenszeit. Dass wir uns nicht verirren in dieser Einsamkeit.

O weiter, stiller Friede! So tief im Abendrot. Wie sind wir wandermüde-- Ist dies etwa der Tod?

Through sorrow and joy we have gone hand in hand; we are both at rest from our wanderings now above the quiet land.

Around us, the valleys bow, the air already darkens. Only two larks soar musingly into the haze.

Come close, and let them flutter, soon it will be time to sleep - so that we don't get lost in this solitude.

O vast, tranquil peace, so deep in the afterglow! How weary we are of wandering-- Is this perhaps death?

我们曾手牵手

走过欢乐与悲伤；

现在让我们静静休憩，

不再于田野流浪。

群山环绕我们，

天空已经暗淡；

两只云雀飞上天空，

做着夜的梦幻。

来吧，让鸟儿去飞翔，

现在是我们安睡的时光；

在这孤寂中

我们不要迷失方向。

来吧，温馨的宁静，

深沉的夕阳之光！

我们旅行得多么疲倦；

这也许便是死亡？

Anton Darius/Unsplash

There are many famous recordings of this piece of music, and I encourage you to seek them out. The first one I heard, when I was a student, was by the great African American soprano Jessye Norman who sadly passed away last September, and it is still probably my favorite. Most people also think that the recording by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra is one of the best, if not the best, recording of this piece.

这首曲目有许多著名的演奏和演唱版本，我鼓励大家去找来欣赏。在学生时代，我听到的最初版本由伟大的非裔美国女高音杰西·诺曼演唱，她于去年9月不幸去世，但她的演唱迄今可能仍是我最喜欢的版本。很多人认为，伊丽莎白·施瓦茨科普夫与柏林广播交响乐团的合作演出是这首曲目的最佳演绎版本之一，或者就是无可超越的最佳演绎。

To me there are three key elements that make this such a wonderful poem about death. The first is that it’s written in the first-person plural, “We.” The “sorrows and joys” of life are things that the poet has shared with someone, “hand in hand.” It’s a beautiful and simple expression of intimacy. At heart I am a hopeless romantic and I never fail to be moved by these lines.

对我来说，有三个关键因素使得这首关于死亡的诗如此美妙。首先，它是用第一人称复数“We”来写的。生命中的“欢乐与悲伤”是诗人与亲密之人“手牵手”分享的。这是一种美丽而简单的亲密表达。在内心深处，我是一个无可救药的浪漫主义者，总是被这些诗句所感动。

The second element is that the poet’s life and death are imaged both through the grandeur and transience of nature. Little birds soar and flutter, seemingly inconsequential, in the face of the majesty of the setting sun. Our life is sometimes so tiny and fleeting, like the little birds, but is also magnificent like the blazing fire of sunset.

第二个元素是诗人的生与死都是通过大自然的壮美与无常来表现的。小鸟在壮观的夕阳下，振翅高飞，这似乎无足轻重。我们的生命有时是那么的渺小和转瞬即逝，就像这里的小鸟一样，但同时也像落日的炽热之火一样壮丽。

Mathias Reding/Unsplash

Finally, death is peace. In Strauss’s orchestration the music moves so slowly towards the end, but after the singer sings the word “death” the music continues on letting us sink deeper into the feeling, and as we get towards the end of the low somber chords, the piccolo trills high up in the register, like the larks flying in the sunset. Yes, death is peace, but Strauss’s music hints that it is also the beginning of something new.

最后，死亡带来宁静。在施特劳斯的谱曲中，音乐如此缓慢地走向终点，但在歌手唱出“死亡”这个词之后，配乐继续让我们沉溺在更深的感受中，当接近低沉的和弦尾声时，短笛的高颤音就像夕阳中飞翔的云雀。是的，死亡带来宁静，但施特劳斯的音乐暗示着死亡也是新生的开始。

Word Box

1.secular：世俗的；非宗教的；在俗的；现世的；不朽的，这里的 secular music 主要指世俗音乐

2.apotheosis：鼎盛时期；发展顶峰；也可指人生或事业的完美阶段

3.uplifting：令人振奋的；鼓舞人心的；催人奋进的。例如 uplifting stories 具有指向上提升力量的故事

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昆杜播客（DKU Podcast）旨在用诗意的方式传递生活中点滴的美好。欢迎喜爱生活的你带着诗意的心加入我们。用中文、英文或其他任何一种语言，朗读那些打动了你的文字，与我们分享它如何抚动你的心扉。

来稿请将自我介绍、音频与文本投送至dkusocial@dukekunshan.edu.cn。

DKU Podcast aims to convey the beauty of life in a poetic way. Everyone who loves life is welcome to join us to read the wordsin any language that move you the most, and share with us how it touches your heart.

Send your self-introduction, audio,and message on email todkusocial@dukekunshan.edu.cn.We look forward to your participation.

音频制作：陈孛

策划&翻译：李蔚然

编审：陆文蝶

出品：昆山杜克大学传播部、昆山杜克学生媒体中心

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