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朝闻道,夕死可矣!

《花非花》

《花非花》是最近在练的一首曲子,虽然曲子的旋律听着熟悉,但我一直也不知道这首曲子到底是为什么谱的。看到曲作者的名字“黄自”,没来由的就让我觉得《花非花》应该是首革命歌曲。前天读《未央歌》的时候里面提到了黄自谱曲的另一首歌《玫瑰三愿》,这个听起来就离着革命歌曲太遥远了。要是《花非花》真的是一首革命歌曲,那这个黄自倒是很引起我的兴趣,能够有这么广泛的创作范围,值得诂苟之。

去诂苟大学学习之后发现,这个错误犯的简直和当初对《江河水》的猜测有的一拼了!《花非花》原来出自白居易的一首诗,而且很朦胧、缠绵,完全和革命不搭界的。不过,“黄自”这个名字所引起的革命联想倒是对的。《抗战歌》、《旗正飘飘》、《中华民国国旗歌》都是黄自所作。而且读了维基上“黄自”的条款才晓得原来人家很是个人物的,只是自己孤陋寡闻了。不过,造成这种结果当然少不了党的贡献。正是Denovo的日记里那句话“I don't need sex, the government fucks me everyday.”

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百度上的《花非花》条款:

花非花

作者:【白居易】 年代:【唐】 体裁:【词】 类别:【未知】

花非花,雾非雾,
夜半来,天明去。
来如春梦不多时,
去似朝云无觅处。


【注释】:
①花非花、雾非雾:说它是花么?不是花,说它是雾吗?又不是雾。
②来如句:来的时候像一场春梦,停留没有多时。
③去似句:去了以后,如早晨飘散的云彩,无处寻觅。
这是一首情诗。说花非花,说雾非雾,本不是花,本不是雾,花有所指,雾有所喻。欲言又止,但止不住又说出真情——夜半来,天明去,既非花,又非雾,说明确有人来。谁来谁去?隐而不吐。为什么来?春梦无多,回味无穷;朝云遽散,惋惜惆怅。春梦者,春情也;朝云者,“旦为朝云,暮为行雨,朝朝暮暮,阳台之下”事也。此诗由一连串的比喻构成,描述隐晦而又真实,于朦胧中有节律整饬与错综之美,是情诗的一首佳作。后人曾谱为曲子,广为流传。
--引自李济洲编著之《全唐诗佳句赏析》http://tshjj.yeah.net/

白居易诗不仅以语言浅近著称,其意境亦多显露。这首“花非花”却颇有些“朦胧”味儿,在白诗中确乎是一个特例。

诗取前三字为题,近乎“无题”。首二句应读作“花——非花,雾——非雾”,先就给人一种捉摸不定的感觉。“非花”、“非雾”均系否定,却包含一个不言而喻的前提:似花、似雾。因此可以说,这是两个灵巧的比喻。苏东坡似从这里获得一丝灵感,写出了“似花还似非花,也无人惜从教坠”(《水龙吟》)的名句。苏词所咏为杨花柳絮,而白诗所咏何物未尝显言。但是,从“夜半来,天明去”的叙写,可知这里取喻于花与雾,在于比方所咏之物的短暂易逝,难持长久。

单看“夜半来,天明去”,颇使读者疑心是在说梦。但从下句“来如春梦”四字,可见又不然了。“梦”原来也是一比。这里“来”、“去”二字,在音情上有承上启下作用,由此生发出两个新鲜比喻。“夜半来”者春梦也,春梦虽美却短暂,于是引出一问:“来如春梦几多时?”“天明”见者朝霞也,云霞虽美却易幻灭,于是引出一叹:“去似朝云无觅处”。

诗由一连串比喻构成,这叫博喻。它们环环紧扣,如云行水流,自然成文。反复以鲜明的形象突出一个未曾说明的喻意。诗词中善用博喻者不乏其例,如《古诗十九首》(明月皎夜光)之“南箕北有斗,牵牛不负轭”,贺铸《青玉案》的“一川烟草,满城风絮,梅子黄时雨”。但这些博喻都不过是诗词中一个组成部分,象此诗通篇用博喻构成则甚罕见。再者,前一例用南箕、北斗、牵牛等星象作比,喻在“嘘名复何益”;后一例用烟草、风絮、梅雨等景象作比,喻在“借问闲悉都几许”,其喻本(被喻之物)都是明确的。而此诗只见喻体(用作比喻之物)而不知喻本,就象一个耐人寻思的谜。从而诗的意境也就蒙上一层“朦胧”的色彩了。

虽说如此,但此诗诗意却并不完全隐晦到不可捉摸。它被作者编在集中“感伤”之部,同部还有情调接近的作品。一是《真娘墓》,诗中写道:“霜摧桃李风折莲,真娘死时犹少年。脂肤荑手不坚固,世间尤物难留连。难留连,易销歇,塞北花,江南雪。”另一是《简简吟》,诗中写到:“二月繁霜杀桃花,明年欲嫁今年死”,“大都好物不坚牢,彩云易散琉璃碎”,二诗均为悼亡之作,它们末句的比喻,尤其是那“易销歇”的“塞北花”和“易散”的“彩云”,与此诗末二句的比喻几乎一模一样,连音情都逼肖的,它们都同样表现出一种对于生活中存在过、而又消逝了的美好的人与物的追念、惋惜之情。而《花非花》一诗在集中紧编在《简简吟》之后,更告诉读者关于此诗归趣的一个消息。此诗大约与《简简吟》同时为同一目的所作吧。

此诗运用三字句与七字句轮换的形式(这是当时民间歌谣三三七句式的活用),兼有节律整饬与错综之美,极似后来的小令。所以后人竟采此诗句法为词调,而以“花非花”为调名。词对五七言诗在内容上的一大转关,就在于更倾向于人的内在心境的表现。在这点上,此诗也与词相近。这种“诗似小词”的现象,出现在唐代较早从事词体创作的诗人白居易笔下,原是很自然的。

时过而后学,则勤苦而难成

这句话是最近读《未央歌》的时候看到的,原出于《礼记•学记第十八》。当时读了觉得真是―――一句话撞到了心坎上,说得正是我呀!

那时候弹《世上只有妈妈好》已经有四个星期了。不敢说练习过上百遍至少也有七八十遍了,可是节奏总是弹不好。有节拍器辅助的时候还好,一离了拐棍就一会儿快了一会儿慢了的,真是跟小孩子学走路一样磕磕绊绊。幸好邻居们都是美国人,大约没人知道《世上只有妈妈好》这样一首中文歌,要不然大家得觉得多好笑呀!一个三张大的老学生在这里没完没了的弹“世上只有妈妈好”,说您“天真可爱”吧,您隔着半个地球打电话回家还跟老妈拌嘴;说您自恋吧,您也没当上妈呢,没资格呀!备受挫折之后看到这句话,不知是该些微有些安慰呢还是更加绝望?安慰是因为,圣人已经说了“时过而后学,则勤苦而难成”,所以自己弹得不好不是因为资质太差,或者不够用功,而是“时过”了。可是如果真的就这么接受这个真理,又忍不住绝望―――难道我真的就学不成了么?一点可能也没有了么?

接下来的一个周末又去上课,下课的时侯一个意外的惊喜让我又重新拾回了信心。接在我下面上课的是一个年纪比我更大的学生。老师为我们介绍的时候才认出来她就是在6月份的音乐会上和夏冰老师一起演奏过二重奏的那个人。我不好意思问人家“芳龄几何”只是问了她学琴几年了,她说9年了。我想9年前她刚开始学琴的时候大约比我年青不到哪去,既然前辈已经证明了“时过而后学,虽勤苦仍可成”,那咱们就不怕了。勤苦是学任何东西都要经历的,当然时过之后的勤苦可能会成倍增长,可是好在这多出来的几十岁年纪也不是白长的,至少成年以后的毅力比五六岁的小孩子强多了,虽然不免有时信心脆弱,可是承受打击的能力还是有的。那咱就以有余补不足,不要被圣人的一句“时过而后学,则勤苦而难成”给吓趴下了。

再接再厉,继续假装天真可爱,天天以《小燕子》、《小虾游来了》骚扰邻居。:))))))))))

From 《The Music of Man》 (10)

But it is not wise for us to ascribe everything about the discovery of harmony, overtone, and scales to man alone. Not long ago I had an extraordinary experience on the island of Mykonos, in the Aegean Sea south of mainland Greece. Outside the harbor of Mykonos, there is a tiny island, uninhabited except for many, many bees. There is one small sloping beach, and at the topmost point of the isle, a little stone chapel for the rare visitor. The terrain is rather rugged, with a steep cliff rising sharply where the beach ends. One day in April when I was walking on the flowering cliff top, listening to the buzzing of the bees on their honey-making rounds, I distinctly heard one sound, which I will call the fundamental, and another sound exactly a fifth above. When I came closer, it seemed to my eye and ear that a larger bee was producing the lower sound and a small bee the upper one. It struck me as quite extraordinary that such an adjustment of sounds should be achieved by two bees. Then they were joined by another, making a sound that fell exactly in between the other two, which was in fact a third above the fundamental, establishing a full major chord. I was so surprised I had to go back in the afternoon to make sure; and there is was still, that same sound.

From 《The Music of Man》 (9)

That sense of tension and relaxation is in fact built directly into Western harmony, in the alternation between the major and minor. The major chord is the first and only pure one we encounter in natural overtones, and the major is generally regarded as happy, the minor as sad. I think this has to do with the fact that the minor has dropped the natural interval of the middle note in the chord by an artificial semitone. In C major the natural middle note is E, and in C minor that note becomes E-flat, where it conflicts with the implied E. The conflict is not so strong as to upset the strength of the basic three-note chord, but it is disturbing to the natural overtone series bey9ond. And what is sadness? It is a division, a sense that things are not right, that you want what you cannot have or lament what you have not done. You bewail the loss of something, you are not at one with yourself or the world. In that minor chord, that loss is the purity of the middle note, which wants to rise, to become major, to unite again with its natural series.

From 《The Music of Man》 (8)

For music to speak to us, it needs more than the structure of a scale, of intervals, or even of our emotions. It needs a recognizable form corresponding to something in our own being. I have often thought that the earliest musical form must have been a simple repetition, a double image rather like the right and left halves of a leaf when folded upon each other. We recognize the repetition of two roughly equal halves in a rhythm or melody, and this gives us a sense of security and completion, and with that musical memory we begin to build. Once we hear a sound we can repeat it, creating a simple rhythm at first. When we put a few sounds together in groups or phrases of related tones, we have the beginnings of melody, a blend of feeling with logic. We can also turn these phrases or rhythms upside down or backwards, for one of the basic tools of conceptual thinking is to consider a situation in its reverse.

From 《The Music of Man》 (7)

The circle of fifth is a human deduction, not a natural phenomenon. Nature always has its loose ends, elements that appear to our minds as mistakes, as if they simply should not happen. In our arrogance we feel that we should offer nature a correction, squaring the circle. The beauty of nature is that there is always an element that allows for mystery, for development or evolution. So it is with the circle of fifths, for when you come back to the note with which you started, providing the fifths have all been perfectly tuned, you find that this note has gone a little sharp. It is one of the mysteries of nature, as the Chinese knew by observation. We had to wait for Pythagoras to establish the precise mathematics of the difference, and it is now known as the Pythagoras to establish the precise mathematics of the difference, and it is now known as the Pythagorean Comma. Its existence is an important aspect of the difference between Western music and that of much of the rest of the world --- our music has always been based on pure or natural intervals (at least until this century). As we shall see, the rise of the keyboard instruments --- the organ, harpsichord and piano --- brought on a crisis in tuning precipitated by the conflict between pure intervals in one key and those in another. As with so much else in Western life, we adjusted the tuning to an uncomfortable compromise, a homage to the keyboard with which the voice and the string player are never totally comfortable.

From 《The Music of Man》 (6)

五声音阶的来历:

The overtone principle is like that of the skipping rope we all turned as children. We discovered quickly that by turning the rope faster, it could be made to divide into two or three loop segments, perhaps even five or six if the rope was long and was wielded with a strong wrist. These extra loops appeared because the rope had to follow the laws of tension and inertia, like molecules of vibrating air. When the loop segments multiplied, they turned in opposed waves, forming a continuous peak and trough. Ripples on a lake and sound waves in the air follow the same laws of the balance of opposing forces.

A string player constantly uses the overtone phenomenon, for he can produce the same effect on his vibrating string as the multiple loops in the jump rope. By touching the string at exactly its midpoint, he makes it vibrate in two opposed halves, producing a sound exactly an octave above the note to which the string is tuned. Touching the string lightly at one-third its length makes it vibrate in three equal parts, producing a sound a fifth higher still. At the quarter length, the string vibrates in four parts, giving a note two octaves above the fundamental. Those are the first three overtones. But touch the string at one-fifth its length and a critical new note appears, a major third above the fundamental, though two octaves higher up. This note completes the components of a major chord, the foundation of western harmony. It is also nature’s great secret, hidden for so long because that fourth overtone is so far above its parent. The overtone series continues upward in smaller steps, maintaining an unvarying sequence of mathematically pure ratios.

Although we can derive the entire scale, the twelve semitones of the octave from the overtone series, scales probably originated as social conventions, and there are many scales in the world that do not maintain pure intervals. Some scales may have arisen from a desire to produce evenly spaced holes on a flute or frets on a string instrument. The resultant scales sound quite unnatural to Western ears.

Such words as “octave” and “fifth” are themselves only convenient Western labels that have come into common usage because of our widely adopted seven-note major and minor scales. In this system, the note vibrating at twice the speed of another is always to be found eight notes up the scale. The fifth is another matter, for the Western scale is built of whole and half steps, again handy labels, and the distance between any five steps in the scale is not always a perfect fifth. Our scale system was probably derived from the circle of fifth, rather than from the overtones, and that circle is a closed one --- almost.

So far as we know the Chinese were the first to examine the relationship between fifths. Surviving documents, predating 3000 BC, show the importance to them of these relationships. They found that a series of fifths in a row will produce twelve separate notes before the notes begin repeating. Those twelve notes put in a series include all the semitones of our Western scale. Starting at the bottom on the piano, the circle can be played. You will find the thirteenth note at the top, seven octaves higher, is the same as the one on which you started.

They discovery of the circle of fifths was a great one to the Chinese, for they honor the number five as sacred, dividing the basic elements into five, namely earth, fire, water, wood, and metal, as they also recognize five basic human relationships and five basic kinds of grain. The Chinese used the circle of fifths to establish the five-tone pentatonic scale. Extending this series by two more intervals produced the notes needed to complete a major scale as we know it in the West. Music based on this seven-note scale did become popular in China, and later Chinese music used a scale with all twelve of the semitones we know. The Chinese also evolved a form of musical notation. Yet the five-note scale remained sacred, and was maintained for music expressing the highest moral, ethical or spiritual ideals, while the seven-note scale was designated to serve the music of the court or street.

For the Chinese, music was a tool to govern the hearts of the people. It is said in China that when there is music in the home, there is affection between father and son, and when music is played in public, there is harmony among the people. Their standardized scale was one they could duplicate on many kinds of instruments, for instances the zither-like ch'in, ancestor to the Japanese koto, both still in current use. By the seventh century BC, the Chinese poet Le Ly Kim could write, “Virtue is our favorite flower. Music is the perfume of that flower.”


呵呵,还是五声音阶的精神境界高呀!

这个Le Ly Kim 是谁?这个蹩脚的“Virtue is our favorite flower. Music is the perfume of that flower”怎么翻译回原文呢?