解讀《彌賽亞》(三之一)

麥克萊瑞教授(Prof. Edward Maclary)，現任馬里蘭大學音樂學院教授，主要指導研究所合唱指揮課程。同時擔任馬里蘭大學音樂學院合唱總監，合唱團指揮。時常受邀擔任全美各合唱團與合唱藝術節的榮譽(客席)指揮。

曾經擔任知名的指揮大師羅伯蕭(Robert Shaw)、史班諾(Robert Spano)、麥克費林(Bobby McFerrin)等人之助理指揮。並曾任較歐伯林音樂學院(Oberlin College Conservatory of Music)及寶琳坪州立大學(Bowling Green State University)。

每年十二月前後，總有許多的合唱團及樂團會選擇韓德爾的神劇－－《彌賽亞》來作為其音樂會的曲目，大家似乎也習慣了在聖誕節的前後有哈利路亞大合唱的音樂聲相伴。然而，《彌賽亞》 這部偉大的神劇作品不只談到耶穌基督的降生，也描述了祂的受難以及復活，整部作品中充滿著韓德爾對上帝的頌讚及感恩，其實，《彌賽亞》的首演日期是1742年4月13日，這個日期在四旬期末，相當接近復活節，所以，是不是只有聖誕節才是聽彌賽亞的「正確」時間？那可不一定！

1742年的夏天，韓德爾只用了三個星期多的時間就完成了《彌賽亞》。在如此短的時間內完成這樣一部巨作所需要的泉湧創意和無窮活力，令人難以想像。一如英國學者布羅 (Donald Burrows) 在其關於《彌賽亞》 的專著中指出：「……光是在那段時間內將譜謄寫到紙上所需的努力就已十分驚人。」此作曲速度更驚人的，是整部作品內在的高度統一性。正因為這種統一性，使得《彌賽亞》一推出就造成轟動，且經久不衰。要了解這種統一性的源頭，我們首先應該檢視韓德爾所使用的文本。

《彌賽亞》的作詞者是堅農士(Charles Jennens)，他雖比韓德爾年輕十五歲，但兩人早就彼此熟識。在《彌賽亞》之前，兩人已有合作《掃羅》的經驗。雖然無法確定，但《以色列人在埃及》可能也是兩人合作的產物。堅農士不但懂音樂，對聖經更是極有研究。證據顯示，韓德爾寫《彌賽亞》是以堅農士已有原劇本之詞，而且一揮而就，極少更改。歌詞本身是一部精心編排的短文總彙，直接取材自欽定本(譯註：Authorized Version，亦即1611年版的King James Version)聖經，長度通常不過數句，中間也不穿插多餘的宣敘調。所有「人物」的動機與結局都十分清楚，毋須多做說明。作品全部的張力，就在於神與人的關係之間。

 雖然在聖誕節期間演出《彌賽亞》已有很久遠的傳統，但從堅農士與他人的通信中，以及從《彌賽亞》選在1742年四月於都柏林首演這一事實，都可以清楚看出該劇原是為四旬期(Lenten)〈注〉末的演出所作。同樣的道理，《彌賽亞》也不若一般所想像的，只是由耶穌生平所擷出的浮光片影編綴而成的章回說部，而更像是如音樂歷史學家史菲德(R. A. Streatfield) 所說，是「音樂史上首次從藝術角度來審視〝人類的救贖〞這齣劇力萬鈞的大戲。」

巴洛克時期神劇的經典之作
韓德爾生於1685年，卒於1759年，與巴哈(1685-1750)同為巴洛克晚期最偉大的作曲家。韓德爾曾先後負笈德國及義大利，因此既受啟蒙恩師薩蕭(Zachau)嚴格的對位訓練於前，又受柯瑞里(Corelli)及史卡拉第(Scarlatti)等義大利名家自由旋律風格的影響於後。在青年時期的義大利學徒生涯結束之後，他遷居英國，並成為倫敦的首席作曲家。他的主要任務是創作當時最流行的樂種－－義大利歌劇。時光流轉，歲月遷移，義大利歌劇作為樂壇主流的地位逐漸開始動搖，韓德爾也意識到必須給聽眾提供一些不同的新花樣。有關他發揚巴洛克晚期神劇(oratorio)的事蹟，不在本文討論的範圍之內。讀者只須了解，在1730年代晚期，神據這種新的音樂形式已將精彩劇情和明星歌手等各種義大利歌劇的要素融合在內。所不同者，是其劇情完全出自聖經，主要是舊約；獨唱者的份量也大為減輕，合唱部份則相對被賦予比過去更具體的角色。在1741年《彌賽亞》寫就之時，韓德爾已有《掃羅》( Saul )、《以色列人在埃及》( Israel in Egypt )及《亞歷山大的饗宴》( Alexander's Feast )等神劇傑作問世，他駕馭獨唱、合唱及器樂作曲的技巧，他戲劇化和饒富詩意的表現能力，至此已經完全成熟。

三大部分，歌頌上帝的救恩
《彌賽亞》的大輪廓，可以總結如下：
第一部分  神的預言，以及神差遣彌賽亞救贖人類的計畫。
第二部分  耶穌犧牲完成救贖，人類對神恩的抵拒，以及人類對神能的忤逆所遭致的全面失敗。
第三部分  最終超越死亡的感恩頌讚。

以上三大段落，每一段都還可再細分為幾個小段落。這可以清楚地由文本和對歌詞的音樂處理中看出。丹麥籍的當代音樂學家拉森(Jens Peter Larsen)曾在他研究《彌賽亞》的著作中總結指出，《彌賽亞》的段落區分，基本遵循以下三大原則：
    ‧把文字分成幾個小節，每一小節都以一段關鍵句為中心，劇中所有的關鍵句，即為全劇戲劇張力之所在。
    ‧塑造每一小節的獨立性，並常以由宣敘調而詠嘆調而合唱，或直接由詠嘆調而合唱的方式，逐步加大張力的強度；有時也以數組互相衝突人物的詠嘆調或合唱，進而達到相同的效果。
    ‧以開頭和結尾的合唱彰顯上述三大段落各自的特性。這些合唱部份不僅直接和上下文相關，更有做為各大段落前言與尾聲的功能。

當我們進一步研究這三大段落和他們的構成，就可以了解韓德爾是如何用其天衣無縫的對位技巧、明快清晰的聲部齊唱、令人驚豔的音樂旋律及色彩紛呈的配器技法，替這齣「人類救贖的大戲」注入了生命。這三大段落都有各自的內在邏輯，其內的小段落也都有緊湊的結構。對作品本身有完整的了解，可以讓指揮及演出者對如何正確地表達原作內涵，有更深入的體會。速度、強弱以及斷句，其實都與結構分析息息相關，這部分的內容，下期會有更深入的探討。

注：每年春分月圓之後第一個主日就是「復活節」，將這個日子推前四十六天，減除其中六個主日不計(因為主日是慶祝基督死而復活的日子)，這四十天的時間就叫做「四旬節」。在此時期內，基督特別祈禱、刻苦作補贖，尤其守齋，故此舊名稱又叫「封齋期」。

    Messiah was composed by Handel in a little over three weeks during the summer of 1741. It may be hard to imagine the burst of creative activity required to produce such a work in so short a time. As the scholar Donald Burrows has written in his book on Messiah, "...even the physical labour of committing the notes to the pages during that period is remarkable." Even more remarkable than the speed of the composition is the extraordinary degree of unity within the work; a unity that is to a large degree responsible for its immediate and lasting popularity. To find the source of that aspect of the oratorio, we should turn first to the text.
    The librettist for Messiah was a man named Charles Jennens was fifteen years younger than Handel, but had known the composer for a long period of time prior to this collaboration. The two had already worked together on Saul and possibly, though we are not certain, on Israel in Egypt. Jennens was musically literates as well as having a thorough knowledge of the Bible. The evidence suggests that Handel composed Messiah to Jennen's original libretto with little or no changr. The libretto is an ingenious assemblage of short literary units taken directly from the Authorised Version of the Bible that rarely exceed a couple of verses with no extended passages of recitative. There are no 'characters' whose motives or outcomes are unknown and in need of elaboration. The drama of the work is contained solely in the arc of the relationship between God and mankind.
    Despite the long tradition of Messiah performance during the Christmas season, it is clear from Jennen's correspondence and the timing of its premiere in Dublin, April 1742, that the oratorio was intended for performance towards the end of the Lenten season. Likewise, Messiah is not, as is often popularly supposed, a number of scenes from the life of Jesus linked together to form a dramatic narrative, but rather as R.A.Streatfield wrote, "the first instance in the history of music to view the mighty drama of human redemption from an artistic standpoint."
    George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759) was, along with Johann Sebastian Bach(1687 -1750), one of the two greatest composers of the late Baroque era. Educated in Germany and later in Italy, Handel absorbed both the strict contrapuntal discipline given to him by his first teacher, Zachau, and the freely melodic style of the Italians, such as Corelli and Scarlatti. He traveled to England after his youthful Italian apprenticeship and established himself in London as that city's premier composer in the most popular genre of the day, Italian opera. Over time, the success of Italian opera become less secure and Handel found himself in the position of having to give his audience something new. The story of his development of the late Baroque oratorio is beyond the scope of this brief introduction. Suffice it to say that by the late 1730's the elements of the Italian opera were incorporated into this new form; dramatic story telling and virtuoso solo singing chief among them. The stories however, were drawn almost exclusively from Biblical sources, mainly the Old Testament, and the prominence of the solo singing was significantly reduced. Ensemble and choral singing were given a much more substantial role to play. By the time of the composition of Messiah in 1741, Handel had already produced such choral masterpieces as Saul, Israel in Egypt, and Alexander's Feast. His mastery of solo, choral and instrumental composition, of dramatic and poetic expression, and of formal structure was complete.
    The outline of Messiah can be summarized in the following manner:
    Part I  The prophecy and realization of God's plan to redeem mankind by the coming of the Messiah;
    Part II  The accomplishment of the redemption by the sacrifice of Jesus, mankind's rejection of God's offer and mankind's utter defeat when trying to oppose the power of the Almighty;
    Part III  A Hymn of Thanksgiving for the final overthrow of Death.
    Each of these three main parts can be divided into a number of sections. These are clear in both the text itself and the musical treatment of the text. Jens Peter Larsen, in his study of Messiah, summarized the plan as being formed by three guiding principles:
    1) A division of the text into shorter sections, each centered around a particular textual link in the overall dramatic arc;
    2) The shaping of each section as an independent group, often increasing in tension from recitative through aria to chorus, or simply aria to chorus, or sometimes in groups of several arias and choruses of contrasting character;
    3) The emphasis of the special nature of the three main parts listed above by opening and final choruses which are not only connected with their immediate surroundings, but act as Prologue or Epilogue to that part as a whole.
    As we study more closely the three parts and their construction, we can observe Handel's technical skill in giving life to this "mighty drama of human redemption" by means of seamless counterpoint, homophonic declamation, soaring melody and highly colorful orchestration. Each part of the oratorio has its own logic and each number within those parts is tightly structured as well. A thorough understanding of this will give the conductor and the performers much keener insights into the proper performance of the work; the choice of tempos, dynamics, articulations are all dependent on structural analysis.