第二十一期：What is Melody

概要
这一期讨论的是什么是旋律这个问题。旋律自然是音乐中非常重要的元素，如果根据旋律就是一串在时间轴上的音符的定义，大概音乐是不可能没有旋律的。但是还是会有很多人会说：“这首歌旋律性不是那么强”之类的话。伯恩斯坦说，这是因为旋律有很多类型，它可以是tune（曲调），theme（主题），motive（动机），它可以出现在高声部，内声部，低声部，它可以有复杂的counterpoint使人难以分辨等等，而很多时候人们说的“没有旋律性”可能只是局限于曲调，高声部中。然而在交响乐中，正如他之前提到的，development（发展）才是最重要的元素，因此我们熟悉的tune在交响乐中不太常见，因为它已经“完成”了，很难再发展下去。伯恩斯坦总结道，其实对于旋律性的判断最重要的因素在于我们的耳朵期待的是什么（也就是taste），他举例道自己年轻的时候就没有体会到Bach的Italian Concerto第二乐章中绵绵不绝的melody的美，因为他当时觉得有重复的更具有旋律性，不过随着年岁的增长和对音乐更深刻的理解，他现在更能appreciate那段旋律的美了。之后，他还引申到，和我们自身taste的develop相同，历史上大家认为不具有“旋律性”的作品在现在看来可能也成为很有旋律性的代表了。总体来说这期蛮精彩的，一如既往的举了很多例子，还提到了一个很常见的melody的模式1-2-3，大概就是1是一个idea，2是对1这个idea的稍微有一点变化的重复，然后3起飞，还蛮有趣的哈哈哈～

喜欢的Quote
But don't you ever be scared of counterpoint; counterpoint is not an absence of melody, it's an abundance of melody; it doesn't erase melody, it multiplies it.

Well, so far we've discussed a few of the reasons why some people find certain kinds of music unmelodic -- like melodies going against each other, as in counterpoint, or a melody singing away down in the bass, not easily recognized, or buried in the middle of a sandwich, which is hard to find; or a melody constructed out of tiny motives, which is not exactly a tune. But the really important reason -- and I guess this is what I've been coming to all this time -- is the question of what our ears expect -- in other words, what we call taste. And that, in turn, is based on what our ears are used to hearing.

In exactly the same way that our tastes change with growing up, and hearing all kinds of different music, so people's tastes change from one period of history to another. The melodies people loved in Beethoven's time would have shocked and startled the people of Bach's time, 100 years earlier, and I'm equally sure that some of today's modern music, which people complain about as ugly and unmelodic, will be perfectly charming every-day stuff to the people of tomorrow.

And if you're still wondering what is melody, just listen to this movement and you'll realize that melody is exactly what a great composer wants it to be.

曲目
1. Mendelssohn - Wedding March
2. Cesar Franck - Symphony in D minor
3. Mozart - Haffner Symphony
4. Beethoven - Symphony No.5
5. Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 6
6. Wagner - Tristan and Isolde Prelude
7. Mozart - G minor Symphony
8. Bach - Italian Concerto
9. Paul Hindemith - Concert Music for String and Brass
10. Brahms - Symphony No.4

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1jJ411L71Y

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