美国国家公共电台 NPR Opera For Newbies: Busting Myths And Belting High Notes : De

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

We've been starting this new year off with some music.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CELESTE AIDA")

ANDREA BOCELLI: (Singing in Italian).

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SICKO MODE (FEATURING DRAKE)")

TRAVIS SCOTT: (Rapping) Made this here with all the ice on in the booth.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BLUE")

LEANN RIMES: (Singing) Blue.

(SOUNDBITE OF SLOVAK RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA'S "WELLINGTONS SIEG ODER DIE SCHLACHT BEI VITTORIA, OP. 91"

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Genres¹ of music you might not listen to or say you're not a fan of. Today, we're joined by NPR's Tom Huizenga. Hi, Tom.

TOM HUIZENGA, BYLINE²: Hey.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: All right. We brought you in to help us with the style of music people love to say they hate, opera.

HUIZENGA: Well, all I can tell you, Lulu, is in the next few minutes, we're going to spread an awful lot of opera love.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: (Laughter) I'm down with it.

HUIZENGA: (Laughter).

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So I guess when people think about opera, they're often imagining someone, you know, all dressed up, standing³ in the middle of a stage, belting out an incredibly high note. What do you love about opera?

HUIZENGA: Well, there's a lot to love about opera. For one thing, it's one of the most complicated art forms because, if you think of it, you've got drama. You've got music. You've got singing. You've got costumes. You've got lighting⁴. You've got ballet sometimes. You've got all kinds of stagecraft. When all the cylinders⁵ are firing, it can be mind-blowing. But for me, it ends up being all about the voice. And to get us started, let's listen to Leontyne Price sing a little bit from this opera called "Louise" by Gustave Charpentier.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DEPUIS LE JOUR")

LEONTYNE PRICE: (Singing in French).

HUIZENGA: They've got to do it without a microphone, over top of an orchestra. And they've got to project that voice even if it's soft. Here's a good example of that with this singer named Montserrat Caballe. She's a soprano from Spain. She died a couple years ago.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: One of the greats.

HUIZENGA: Oh, totally. And listen to how she sculpts⁶ this line from this Verdi opera. And she does it all in one breath - 23 seconds. You think she's going to stop, but she keeps going.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "D'AMOR SULL'ALI ROSEE")

MONTSERRAT CABALLE: (Singing in French).

HUIZENGA: Yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah, it's extraordinary.

HUIZENGA: (Laughter).

GARCIA-NAVARRO: We've been hearing a lot about the female singers. But I mean, there is a huge cadre of amazing male singers.

HUIZENGA: Oh. And I love the over-the-top tenors⁸, too. And there are few tenors more over the top than Franco Corelli, this kind of muscular-voiced Italian. You can kind of think of him as the Ferrari of tenors.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: (Laughter).

HUIZENGA: His heyday⁹ was the 1960s. And let's hear a little bit of one of opera's biggest hits, "Nessun Dorma."

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Indeed, it is. Closely associated with Luciano Pavarotti - but it's really Corelli who knocks it out of the park.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NESSUN DORMA")

FRANCO CORELLI: (Singing in Italian).

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean...

HUIZENGA: (Laughter).

GARCIA-NAVARRO: ...You know, I want to immediately sort of start, like - yes. Yes (laughter).

HUIZENGA: What's not to love, right?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Well, what's not to love? I mean, I grew up listening to opera. So I'm a fan. But there is a laundry list of problems people say they have with opera. And I'm wondering how true these really are. Let's start with price.

HUIZENGA: All right.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, aren't operas expensive?

HUIZENGA: It's all relative, really. The average price of a ticket for the Rolling Stones' 50th anniversary tour was $624. And you can go to the Met and get in for as cheap as 25 bucks¹⁰. So...

GARCIA-NAVARRO: You know...

HUIZENGA: There you have it.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah. OK. All right - fine. The other thing - operas are long, aren't they? - I mean, if you're sitting through "The Ring" (laughter).

HUIZENGA: If you're sitting through "The Ring" without a sandwich or two...

GARCIA-NAVARRO: (Laughter).

HUIZENGA: ...You've got problems. It is a 15-hour-long opera. But it's divided into four sections and four evenings. So that's one thing. Operas are really only about 2 1/2 or three hours long. And, I mean, listen. If you can watch 10 episodes of "Fleabag" in a row, you can watch an opera that...

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Or "The Witcher" - yeah.

HUIZENGA: Exactly.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: You can go see "The Ring." All right. The other thing people say is that they're in a foreign language.

HUIZENGA: Well, OK. We have to get rid of this American thing where we only speak one language. We only care about one language. And I would say...

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Hear, hear.

HUIZENGA: ...All operas are subtitled, whether you see them in the theater, whether you're watching them on DVD or on television. And here's a case in point. You don't need to know a word of Italian to know that the character is sad and he's lost his love, a love that he can't have.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FEDERICO’S LAMENT")

JOSEPH CALLEJA: (Singing in Italian).

HUIZENGA: That was the tenor⁷ Joseph Calleja, who's an amazing singer from Malta.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So how can someone who hasn't given opera a chance try it out? What should they listen to?

HUIZENGA: Well, I think the first thing is, like, don't stress out about it. Don't stress out about the language and about not knowing about it and just listen. And I think today, it's easier than ever to listen because you've got streaming services. You've got YouTube. And there are a lot of innovative¹¹, small opera companies, especially in the last 15 years, popping up here in the United States. So I would suggest going out and maybe starting with some very traditional operas like "La Boheme" or "La Traviata" or "Carmen" or "The Magic Flute¹²." Those are tremendous operas that tell tremendous stories. But then it's also important to realize that opera is really a living, breathing, evolving, malleable¹³ art form.

Just take, for example, last year's Pulitzer winner for music - was this amazing opera by Ellen Reid and Roxie Perkins called "Prism." And it tells a very arresting story about the kind of - the shape-shifting reality of a young woman who's recovering from sexual assault. And the music is, at turns, menacing, mysterious and, as we hear in this excerpt¹⁴, just luminously¹⁵ gorgeous.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LOST IN THE BLUE")

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Vocalizing).

HUIZENGA: What do you think about that?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: It's amazing. That's amazing. It's a good note to go out on. That's NPR's classical music producer Tom Huizinga. Thank you so much.

HUIZENGA: Thanks, Lulu.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LOST IN THE BLUE")

UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Vocalizing).

1 genres   

（文学、艺术等的）类型，体裁，风格( genre的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Novel and short story are different genres. 长篇小说和短篇小说是不同的类别。
• But confusions over the two genres have a long history. 但是类型的混淆，古已有之。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

4 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

5 cylinders   

n.圆筒( cylinder的名词复数 )；圆柱；汽缸；（尤指用作容器的）圆筒状物

参考例句：

• They are working on all cylinders to get the job finished. 他们正在竭尽全力争取把这工作干完。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• That jeep has four cylinders. 那辆吉普车有4个汽缸。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 sculpts   

雕刻( sculpt的第三人称单数 )； 雕塑； 做（头发）； 梳（发式）

参考例句：

• The Tennessee River sculpts the east side of the Cumberland Plateau. 田纳西河刻蚀着坎伯兰高原的东部边缘。
• Stress sculpts the brain to exhibit various antisocial, though adaptive, behaviors. 压力陶铸下的大脑，虽能表现出各种适应性的行为，但却有碍人际关系。

7 tenor   

n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意

参考例句：

• The tenor of his speech was that war would come.他讲话的大意是战争将要发生。
• The four parts in singing are soprano,alto,tenor and bass.唱歌的四个声部是女高音、女低音、男高音和男低音。

8 tenors   

n.男高音( tenor的名词复数 )；大意；男高音歌唱家；（文件的）抄本

参考例句：

• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration. 3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His one -- a-kind packaging thrilled an opera world ever-hungry for tenors. 他一对一类包装激动世界的歌剧以往任何时候都渴望的男高音。 来自互联网

9 heyday   

n.全盛时期，青春期

参考例句：

• The 19th century was the heyday of steam railways.19世纪是蒸汽机车鼎盛的时代。
• She was a great singer in her heyday.她在自己的黄金时代是个了不起的歌唱家。

10 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

12 flute   

n.长笛；v.吹笛

参考例句：

• He took out his flute, and blew at it.他拿出笛子吹了起来。
• There is an extensive repertoire of music written for the flute.有很多供长笛演奏的曲目。

13 malleable   

adj.(金属)可锻的;有延展性的；(性格)可训练的

参考例句：

• Silver is the most malleable of all metals.银是延展性最好的金属。
• Scientists are finding that the adult human brain is far more malleable than they once thought.科学家发现成人大脑的可塑性远超过他们之前认识到的。

14 excerpt   

n.摘录，选录，节录

参考例句：

• This is an excerpt from a novel.这是一部小说的摘录。
• Can you excerpt something from the newspaper? 你能从报纸上选录些东西吗？

15 luminously   

发光的； 明亮的； 清楚的； 辉赫

参考例句：

• an alarm clock with a luminous dial 夜光闹钟
• luminous hands on a clock 钟的夜光指针