musicians of old

Chapter 725 "Philosophy of Night"

At this moment, all the audience gets in response is endless darkness.

Suddenly, a descending scale was heard from the orchestra pit.

This is the prelude to Act II.

It is very short, and it first moves in the opposite direction of the previous "Tristan Chord" and "Desire Motive", forming a confrontation

But after just two bars, it turns into more rapid eighth notes, changing and developing upward uncontrollably, suggesting that the desires of the hero and heroine, which had been constrained by worldly constraints, are showing signs of getting out of control.

This undoubtedly cleverly achieves the function of "reviewing the previous situation" of the two drinking the potion together.

The curtain opens.

The palace is falling at night, the garden is dark and dangerous, and the torches are burning.

As well as the "moonlight" that occasionally appears in the clouds, and the strong light like a "searchlight" from the patrolling Royal Guards that occasionally sweeps over from the black fog in the distance!

It turned out that when the wedding sailboat arrived at the Kingdom of Connar that day, everything seemed normal. King Mark held a grand welcome ceremony for everyone who came from afar and accommodated everyone with the best conditions.

Of course, it is not logical that the envoy and the princess would have any connection.

Although the two lived in the same palace, they had been separated for many days, enduring the pain of missing each other and the moral torment.

But this night, the opportunity came and I could no longer endure it!

King Mark went out hunting at night, and the two of them agreed to meet secretly in the garden where Isolde was given to live, using the extinguishing of torches as a signal!

This is the plot of Act 2!

The richness of depth and detail of the setting of this scene also amazed the audience.

Just in terms of the lighting settings, there are cold light sources that simulate natural moonlight, gas lamps + sprays that simulate water vapor in the garden in the dark, patrol lights of the Royal Guards that symbolize the oppression of secular forces, and signal torches for the two people's tryst, and so on!

Marley remembers Fanning's unique instructions for this scene very clearly.

“Grasp two key points.”

"One is the philosophical image of night/day; the other is the metaphor of 'fire', or 'torch'!"

"Your design concept must incorporate the philosophical thinking of 'night/day' throughout this scene. Well, in fact, according to the tradition of Janus religious culture, 'endless night' is more or less negative, but this musical that is enough to define the Romantic era must go against tradition - 'night' becomes a positive image that can accommodate the love and 'self-will' of the hero and heroine, while 'day' symbolizes social responsibilities and moral evaluation standards, and is a projection of the 'world will'."

"As for 'fire', or 'torch', fire is one of the greatest achievements of our ancient ancestors. In the early Second History, when the shell species and dragons existed, humans were of humble status, living in darkness, eating and drinking on their knees. Later, the Lord of Witnesses taught them to pursue enlightenment, and they had fire."

"But fire is also a subtle thing. From a functional point of view, it is used to illuminate the 'night'. The illuminated 'night' may no longer be 'night', but it cannot be considered 'day' either. It has become another more mysterious state. Fire not only provides light and warmth to human beings, but also, because of the society it establishes, it may present another kind of oppression, pain, or even destruction under the civilized order. It is both a helper and an accomplice."

In Marley's opinion, his boss Fanning seems to be extremely interested in the philosophy of "night and day", or if he simply regards "day" as an appendage or a contrasting state, this philosophy is called the "night" philosophy!

Marley remembered that Fanning was so excited at the time that he even said that if he had the interest and opportunity in the future, he might write a symphony to explore the philosophy of "night"!

Therefore, based on the above criticisms, in Act II, Scene 1, "Warning of the Torches", Marley gave two clearly different symbolic meanings to the burning and extinguished torches!

"Put out the torches" is the code for Isolde and Tristan to meet in secret. Through a series of settings and light and shadow revelations, the audience quickly grasped the subtle contradiction in it! ——

The stage at night is invisible. If the darkness persists, the two will not be able to have their tryst. But if they light torches and have their tryst under the firelight, they will be discovered soon!

The only way is to light it up and then extinguish it.

So on the one hand, the lighting of the torches is the hope of their love, but at the same time, the signal of extinguishing the torches is a sign of shattered hope!

A certain irreconcilable dualistic philosophy can actually achieve a deep unity between the activation and destruction of such a simple prop!

The band imitated the echo of a hunting horn, which came from far away and then from near to far away.

The French horn uses the reverse canon technique to infinitely extend the depth of the space.

"Can you still hear them? The sound is far away from us." Isolde asked impatiently while standing in the garden.

"They're still nearby, and their voices can be heard clearly here." There was a hint of alertness in Brownganni's mellow mezzo-soprano.

As the band's counterpoint surged, the two looked around again. Seeing the heroine's increasing obsession, Brown Ganni sang again pleadingly:

"If the insidious potion of the god of love extinguishes the light of your reason,

If you really cannot see the warning I give you,

Now, just this once, hear my plea!

That light can herald danger, today, today! Do not put out that torch! "

Following Brangani's plea, the orchestra once again burst into the "Tristan Chords", and Isolde sang praises to the goddess of love and the desires in her heart -

“She lit the embers in my chest, and made my heart burn like a flame;

As the day she laughs in my soul;

The goddess of love looks forward to the night;

There she shines brilliantly!"

She first opened her arms with a burning look in her eyes.

When the voice moves in the high pitch range, it can still maintain a stable and silky texture.

Then he leaned down again and gave the maid a firm order:

“You go to the tower over there and keep an eye out!

Even if this light is the light of my life, I will smile and extinguish it without hesitation! "

As the soprano soars to an exciting climax, the oboe begins to play the "Torch Motive" in the high register.

The eerie and erratic musical pattern transitions the music to the prelude of Act II, Scene II - "Night Duet"!

At the far end of the stage, Tristan bent over and looked around, quickly moving through the woods under the cover of night!

In the band, a large number of leading motives representing the gradually growing love between the two appear one after another!

"Isolde's Anxiety Motive", "Night Call Motive", "Revealer Motive", "Love's Peace Motive".

Despite the many forms, they can never escape the fate set by the "Prelude", and are all extensions of the lines before and after the "Tristan Chord"

Yes, in all the key parts of the whole play, this chord always appears at the right time, either in the foreground or in the background, coordinating with the changes in the dramatic situation, constantly changing its pitch, range and instrumentation color, either anxious, or sad, or carrying an ominous warning, or, implying sweetness in the sadness!

Using the "Tristan Chord" as a starting point, the audience gradually understood more and understood the historic innovation of the "leading motive" composition technique!

"In short, each 'leading motive' achieves the goal of summarizing a specific character image, thought or emotion with a group of concise and short notes!"

Composers and critics were writing rapidly in their notebooks.

"In this way, when a certain 'dominant motive' sounds in the play, the audience can immediately associate it with a specific character image or emotion. And if multiple 'dominant motives' are combined using polyphonic techniques, then the interaction between these characters will inevitably come alive!"

"How did this technique come about? Can I understand that Fanning is trying to find a set of 'world will' language for every 'world representation' thing - as the essential musical symbol - to highly and mysteriously summarize it!?!?"

The next moment, the lines of the cello and double bass overlap and climb up two degrees in a scale-like progression.

When the "Isolde Anxiety Motive" is repeated for the fourth time with an upward change, the anxious mood of longing for a meeting is portrayed more and more intensely, and the violin part presents a tense and dangerous syncopated rhythm.

When repeated upward for the 12th time, this dangerous syncopated rhythm gradually spreads to the viola, cello and double bass. The voice part joins the "Isolde Anxiety" motive, and Isolde's anxious desire is further escalated!

At a certain high point on the verge of collapse, the whole band's powerful performance suddenly ended -

"Isolde!" "Tristan!"

The call of human voice finally came in, and the hero and heroine met on this night!