The ‘Flower Duet’

ELITE ARTS

THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN RADIANT LIFE MAGAZINE.

且聽〈花之二重唱〉

By Pete McGrain

If there is a world’s second-most beautiful piece of music, then which is the first, and who says so? Of course, that ranking would be entirely subjective, right?

I learned to compose by listening. When I need inspiration, I also listen. It doesn’t pay very well, as they say, but the benefits are great—I get to listen to a lot of incredible music.

您曾否想過世界上第二優美的音樂是什麼？畢竟要討論世 界第一有太多的選擇與爭議，這些排名需考量眾多因素。 透過聆聽音樂來尋找靈感與學習創作期間，我發掘了許多 美妙的樂曲，這些樂曲豐富了我的內心世界。我記得，有 位朋友知道我是音樂家後，雙眼為之一亮，興奮地告訴 我：「我知道一首世上最美妙的音樂作品！」我微笑應答：

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May, 1909, by John William Waterhouse. Oil on canvas. _ PD-US

I remember a dear friend, who knew I was a musician, rushing breathlessly to my side and proclaiming, “I have found the most beautiful piece of music ever written!” There were some flourishes of her arms and flashing of her eyes as she prepared to enlighten me with her revelation.

I smiled and answered simply, “The ‘Flower Duet’?” Her eyes widened as if I had actually been able to see into her soul, and she asked, “How could you possibly know that?”

The “Flower Duet” is one of those compositions that aficionados would say has been overused. It has been featured widely, in advertisements by British Airways, movies such as Taranti-

「是〈Flower Duet〉嗎？」她驚訝表示，我竟能如此準確 地說出他心中的答案。 〈花之二重唱〉（Flower Duet）是一首廣受喜愛的 音樂作品。 1883 年的巴黎，法國作曲家里奧 · 德利伯 （Léo Delibes，1836~1891）創作了名歌劇《拉克美》 （Lakmé），〈花之二重唱〉是劇作中的其中一曲。這部 歌劇在法國的喜歌劇院（Opéra-Comique）首演， 不到 40 年時間，1921 年 5 月，迎來第一千次演出。 在當代，這首曲子則出現在英國航空廣告、電 影《浪漫風暴》（True Romance， 1996

no’s True Romance, and even in The Simpsons— so I am not sure whether the aficionados are being snobbishly superior or overprotective. Either way, the first hearing of the duet seldom fails to bring people to their knees.

Regardless, I informed my friend that the “Flower Duet” was the second-most beautiful piece of music ever written. At which point her eyes widened even further.

Léo Delibes, the genius the gods chose to compose the “Flower Duet,” was born in France in 1836—before the car, the telephone, or the airplane—yet the music is timeless. Yes, it is classical music, but even today’s classical composers struggle to achieve that level of complex elegance and beauty.

Upon hearing the opera Sylvia, an earlier work of Delibes, Tchaikovsky was noted for saying: “What charm, what grace, what melodic, rhythmic and harmonic richness. I was ashamed. If I had heard this music earlier, then I would not have written Swan Lake.” After Sylvia, Delibes confounded everyone by going on to write the opera Lakmé, from which the famed “Flower Duet” was born.

Lakmé premiered at the Opera Comique in Paris in 1883. By May 1921, it had reached its 1,000th performance there.

年）以及動畫《辛普森家庭》裡，因為 這首曲子的旋律能輕易收服聽眾。 這位受上天眷顧的天才作曲 家德利伯，出生於 1836 年， 一個現代汽車、電話與飛機都 尚未發明的年代，但作為一 名古典音樂家，他創作了超 越時空的作品，在歌劇與芭 蕾舞音樂上頗有建樹。同時 代的俄國作曲家柴可夫斯 基（Tchaikovsky，1840~ 1893）聽過德利伯創作的歌 劇《西爾維婭》（Sylvia）後， 他說：「如果我早一點聽過這 部作品，我便不會創作《天鵝 湖》（Swan Lake）」，他對德利 伯作品的音樂性給予極高評價。 歌劇《拉克美》講述一段淒美的愛 情故事。拉克美是一位於印度婆羅門大祭 French Romantic composer 司的女兒，在歌劇的第一幕，她和她的女 Léo Delibes (1836–1891) was 僕瑪莉卡在河岸邊唱二重唱，她倆天真浪 best-known for his ballets and operas. _PD-US 漫地想像白色茉莉花正順著水流而下，同 時有美麗鳥鳴相伴。正是這首歌，讓躲在 岸邊的英國年輕士兵魂牽夢縈。 〈花之二重唱〉裡的管弦樂，用 6/8 拍的節奏演 奏，如微風般輕盈優雅。這樣的節奏配置，在後三分之 一拍的部分會有緊密和聲，聽起來就像是鳥鳴與河流 相唱和。當音高緩緩上升，甜蜜氣息的和聲相呼應，不 知不覺旋律來到最高點。這段和聲，分別是由女高音與 女中音構成，音符爬升的過程令人熱血沸騰，跟著音符 盤旋前進，不同地漸強令人屏氣凝神，最後的音符似乎 帶著聽眾飄浮在空中，停留一會後，才由柔和的副歌帶 領觀眾重返地面。此時聽眾早已被音樂點燃情緒，這 部作品用音符走進了人們的內心。筆者在此推薦 Anna Netrebko 和 Elina Garanca 的合唱版本，她們的演繹 不會讓人失望！ 儘管德利伯的作品《西爾維婭》、《科佩利亞》 （Cop-pélia）和《拉克美》在當時獲得極大好評，但它並

The opera is a tragic love story, like many others of its time. During the first act, Lakmé, the daughter of a high priest, and her handmaid, Mallika, gather flowers at a riverbank. They sing the duet, imagining floating down the river beneath a white dome of jasmine flowers while listening to a beautiful birdsong. It is this song that enchants the young soldier who is hiding by the riverbank, and it is little wonder he is enchanted.

The orchestra plays in 6/8 time, which lilts like a breeze, almost a gentle waltz. The close harmonies of the voices quite literally shimmer at just a third apart, singing a melody that seems to echo the birdsong and the waters of the river. They rise and fall with a sweet yearning before soaring impossibly into the chorus section. The two voices, a soprano and a mezzo-soprano, seem almost to take flight in a melody that is both searing and fragile, thrilling and uplifting, but with a longing that brings real flesh and blood to a melody that could almost be too beautiful.

The structure of the melody and vocal counterpoints continue upward to one of opera’s most sensational and heart-stopping crescendos. The last notes seem to hang, frozen in the air for a long moment, before the motifs are repeated in a soft refrain that finally allows the listener to bathe in exquisite, liquid rapture. It is a breathtaking affect that shatters the intellect and cuts deep to the core, leaping the gap between stunning musical accomplishment and pure human emotional experience.

I recommend searching online for a performance of the piece by Anna Netrebko and Elina Garanca. It will not disappoint, I assure you.

While Delibes’s three main operas, Sylvia, Coppélia, and Lakmé, were received to great critical acclaim, they have not stood the test of time in the same way as some of the Italian compositions of that era, like Tosca or Madame Butterfly. Lakmé, for example, is set during the English colonial occupation of India. When that occupation ended, the world moved on, and modern politics and social mores, perhaps rightfully so, have left many such works begging for continued relevance.

However, while some operas and ballets might have lost favor, the arias from those works often go on to have lives of their own, and thankfully, such is the case with the singular “Flower Duet.” It has rightfully earned its place at the center of the canon of classical repertoire and is performed around the world to this day. There probably isn’t a soprano alive who does not dream of performing this iconic piece.

As a composer, I would feel blessed beyond words to pen just that one melody and retire, content that I had made a miraculous contribution.

And yet, as startlingly wonderful as the “Flower Duet” is, it might surprise you to know that there is always another piece of music, hiding just around the corner, waiting for a curious ear to find it. That is how blessed we are. For every act of mindless madness we can attribute to the human race, we can look back at a reservoir that is positively brimming over with our higher expressions, with incredible wisdom and beauty, expressed through literature, art, and music. That treasure trove is deep and wide.

So I assured my dear friend that it was a mathematical certainty that she would find yet another incredible melody that she would be sure was “the most beautiful piece of music ever written.” Ergo, the “Flower Duet” would become the second. But how incredible would that be!

沒有像那個時代的意大利歌劇，例如《托斯卡》（Tosca） 或《蝴蝶夫人》（Madame Butterfly）一樣通過時間的 考驗，廣為後世傳唱。《拉克美》的作品設定在英國殖民 印度時期，然而隨著殖民階段的結束，許多政治生活與 社會風俗的改變，如今只能透過當時留下的這些音樂創 作，讓後人有機會一窺那個時代。 或許有的歌劇或者是芭蕾舞劇盛極一時後，逐漸失 去熱度，但這些作品裡的某些詠嘆調旋律仍能倚靠實力 延續自己的生命，〈花之二重唱〉便是這樣的作品。時至 今日，該作品在古典音樂界仍占有一席之地，並成為所 有女高音家夢寐以求的演出之作，別具指標性。身為一 位作曲家，我能體會當曲作完成後，仍在世人心中傳唱 的那種幸福與喜悅。 〈花之二重唱〉當之無愧是一首數一數二的驚豔之 作，但世上總有另一段美妙的音樂在不遠處與你相遇， 等待它的伯樂降臨。我們何其有幸？音樂是人類生活的 寶庫，濃縮了美學、文學、藝術的智慧，深不可測。就 理論而言，我向我的朋友保證，他將會再找到另一段「世 上最美秒的」旋律，屆時，〈花之二重唱〉會成為第二， 而這一切能讓我們稱之為美妙的作品，都是令人難以置 信的美好啊！