Леонард
Бернстайн (1918 - 1990) - американский дирижёр, композитор, пианист,
музыкальный лектор. Он был одним из первых американских музыкантов,
получивших международное признание.
Ever
since I can remember I have talked about music, with friends,
colleagues, teachers, students, and just plain, simple citizens. But in
the last few years I have found myself talking about it publicly, thus
joining the long line of well-meaning but generally doomed folk who have
tried to explain the unique phenomenon of human reaction to organized
sound. It is almost like trying to explain a freak of nature (whatever that may
be). Ultimately one must simply accept the loving fact that people enjoy listening to organized sound (certain
organized sounds, anyway); that this enjoyment can take the form of all
kinds of responses from animal excitement to spiritual exaltation; and
that people who can organize sounds so as to evoke the most exalted
responses are commonly called geniuses. These axioms can neither be
denied nor explained. But, in the great tradition of man burrowing
through the darkness with his mind, hitting his head on cave walls, and
sometimes perceiving a pinpoint of light, we can at least try to
explain; in fact, there’s no stopping us.
There have
been more words written about the Eroica symphony
than there are notes in it; in fact, I should imagine that the
proportion of words to notes, if anyone could get an accurate count,
would be flabbergasting. And yet, has anyone ever successfully
“explained” the Eroica?
Can anyone explain in mere prose the wonder of one note following or
coinciding with another so that we feel that it’s exactly how those
notes had
to be? Of course not. No matter what rationalists we may profess to be,
we are stopped cold at the border of this mystic area. It is not too
much to say mystic or even magic:
no art lover can be an agnostic when the chips are down. If you love
music, you are a believer, however dialectically you try to wriggle out
of it.
The
most rational minds in history have always yielded to a slight mystic
haze when the subject of music has been broached, recognizing the
beautiful and utterly satisfying combination of mathematics and magic
that music is.
(...)
------------------------------------------------------------ a freak of nature: [fri:k] - каприз природы
man burrowing through the darkness: - человека, прокладывающего путь в темноте
hitting his head on cave walls: - (который) бьётся головой о стены пещеры
a
pinpoint: [‘pinpOint] - остриё булавки; что-л. очень маленькое;
безделица, пустяк; место, которое можно увидеть и идентифицировать с
самолета
to flabbergast: [‘flEbэga:st] - разг. изумлять, поражать, удивлять
to coincide: [,kэuin’said] - совпадать, совмещаться (о точках, линиях); происходить в то же самое время, совпадать; соответствовать; быть одинаковым, совпадать; соглашаться, сходиться
во мнениях
when the chips are down: - когда наступает решающий
момент
to wriggle out of … : [‘rigl] - вырваться
из …
when the subject of music has been broached: [‘brэutшt]
- когда затронута тема музыки ------------------------------------------------------------
