How we listen to music中文翻译

这是我们组Critical Reading要讲的文章,苦于没有完整版的翻译(或许是我没有找到。。。),就自己尝试着翻了一下。因为涉及很多音乐方面的专业知识,翻译中会出现一些bug,希望读者见谅并及时指正。谢谢大家!

How we listen to music

Aaron Copland

1. We all listen to music according to our separate capacities. But, for the sake

of analysis, the whole listening process may become clearer if we break it up into its component parts, so to speak. In a certain sense we all listen to music on three separate planes. For lack of a better terminology, one might name these: (1) the sensuous plane, (2) the expressive plane, (3) the sheerly musical plane. The only advantage to be gained from mechanically splitting up the listening process into these hypothetical planes is the clearer view to be had of the way in which we listen.

我们都根据各自的能力来听音乐。但是，为了便于分析，如果我们将听的整个过程分成几个组成部分的话，那就会更加清楚了。在某种程度上，我们听音乐分成三个不同的层面，因找不到更好地术语，我姑且把他们命名为：（1）感官层面（2）表义层面（3）纯音乐层面。我把听音乐的过程机械地分成以上假设的三个层面，纯粹是为了更清楚地了解我们是怎样听音乐的。

2. The simplest way of listening to music is to listen for the sheer pleasure of

the musical sound itself. That is the sensuous plane. It is the plane on which we hear music without thinking, without considering it in any way. One turns on the radio while doing something else and absent-mindedly bathes in the sound. A kind of brainless but attractive state of mind is engendered by the mere sound appeal of the music.

最简单的听音乐的方式就是听乐声给我们带来的纯粹的愉悦，这是感官层面。在这个层面上，我们只听音乐而不用思考。打开收音机，一边忙别的事情，一边心不在焉地沐浴在音乐声中。这种心不在焉但美妙的身心状态是由乐声的魅力引起的。

3. You may be sitting in a room reading this book. Imagine one note struck on

the piano. Immediately that one note is enough to change the atmosphere of the room——proving that the sound element in music is a powerful and mysterious agent, which it would be foolish to deride or belittle.

你可能正在房间里读这本书。想象着一个音符敲击在钢琴上。瞬间整个房间的氛围都随之改变——这表明了声音在音乐中是强大而神秘的元素，谁嘲笑或轻视这一点，谁就显得愚蠢。

4. The surprising thing is that many people who consider themselves qualified

music lovers abuse that plane in listening. They go to concerts in order to lose themselves. They use music as a consolation or an escape. They enter an ideal world where one doesn't have to think of the realities of everyday life. Of course they aren't thinking about the music either. Music allows them to leave it, and they go off to a plane to dream, dreaming because of and apropos of the music yet never quite listening to it.

令人奇怪的是，很多自认为合格的音乐爱好者在听音乐时滥用了这一层面。他们去音乐厅是为了忘却自我。他们把音乐作为一种安慰或解脱。

这是我们组Critical Reading要讲的文章,苦于没有完整版的翻译(或许是我没有找到。。。),就自己尝试着翻了一下。因为涉及很多音乐方面的专业知识,翻译中会出现一些bug,希望读者见谅并及时指正。谢谢大家!

他们进入了一个理想的境界，在这个境界里他们不必考虑现实生活。当然，他们同样也没有考虑音乐。音乐允许他们逃离现实，到另一个地方去做梦，因为音乐而做梦，做有关音乐的梦，却从没真正欣赏过音乐。

5. Yes, the sound appeal of music is a potent and primitive force, but you must

not allow it to usurp a disproportionate share of your interest. The sensuous plane is an important one in music, a very important one, but it does not constitute the whole story.

的确，音乐的声音魅力是一种强大而原始的力量，但是千万不要让它不合比例地侵占你的兴趣。感观层面是音乐中重要的一层——非常重要——但并不是音乐的全部。

6. There is no need to digress further on the sensuous plane. Its appeal to

every normal human being is self evident. There is, however, such a thing ① as used by various composers. For all composers do not use that sound stuff in the same way. Don't get the idea that the value of music is commensurate with its sensuous appeal or that the loveliest sounding music is made by the greatest composer. If that were so, Ravel would be a greater creator than Beethoven. The point is that the sound element varies with each composer, that his usage of sound forms an integral part of his style and must be taken into account when listening. The reader can see, therefore, that a more conscious approach is valuable even on this primary plane of music listening.

没必要在感官层次上再扯远了。声音的魅力对每一个正常人来说都是不言而喻的。然而，不同的发音材料①被不同的作曲家所使用时就变得更加有感染力，所有的作曲者不可能按同一种方式组织材料。不要以为音乐的价值就与他的感官感染力相称，不要以为最美丽动听的音乐是由伟大的作曲家创造的。如果你认为以上观点可能的话，那么拉维尔是比贝多芬还要伟大的创作者。重点是，声音要素因作曲者不同而不同，他对声音形式的使用方式组成他风格的不可分割的一部分。在听音乐时，所有这些都必须考虑在内。因此，读者可以看到，即使在听音乐的这个最基础的层面上，也值得采取更有意识地聆听方式。

7. The second plane on which music exists is what I have called the

expressive one. Here, immediately, we tread on controversial ground. Composers have a way of shying away from any discussion of music's expressive side. Did not Stravinsky himself proclaim that his music was an "object", a "thing", with a life of its own, and with no other meaning than its own purely musical existence? This intransigent attitude of Stravinsky's may be due to the fact that so many people have tried to read different meanings into so many pieces. Heaven knows it is difficult enough to say precisely what it is that a piece of music means, to say it definitely, to say it finally so that everyone is satisfied with your explanation. But that should not lead one to the other extreme of denying to music the right to be "expressive".

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