全世界最受喜爱的男高音歌唱家鲁契亚诺·帕瓦罗蒂 | 经济学人讣告

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英文部分选自经济学人20070913讣告

Luciano Pavarotti

讣告|鲁契亚诺·帕瓦罗蒂

Luciano Pavarotti, the world's favourite tenor, died on September 6th, aged 71

鲁契亚诺·帕瓦罗蒂，全世界最受喜爱的男高音歌唱家，于2007年9月6日逝世，享年71岁

HE REMEMBERED the moment it began, at four years old: jumping on the kitchen table, setting the lamp swinging, singing “La donna è mobile” to an audience of adoring women. His father sang, beautifully, as a tenor in the church in Modena; the soaring voices of Gigli and Caruso filled the house from the crackling gramophone; at the cinema Mario Lanza sang and young Luciano Pavarotti copied him, warbling and gesturing into the mirror. To sing was to be loved.

他还记得初次“登台”的情景：那时他四岁，他跳到饭桌上，碰得头顶的吊灯来回摇晃，面前的女性观众满脸宠溺，听他演唱《女人善变》。他的父亲是摩德纳教堂的男高音，歌声动人；嗞啦作响的留声机里传出吉利和卡鲁索激昂的歌声，填满了整个屋子。马利奥·兰沙在剧院放声歌唱，年幼的帕瓦罗蒂对着镜子模仿他的姿势，练习同样的高颤音。歌唱，就是被爱。

注释：

1. Gigli：即Beniamino Gigli，贝尼亚米诺·吉利（1890-1957），意大利男高音歌唱家；

2. Caruso：即Enrico Caruso，恩里科·卡鲁索 （1873-1921），意大利男高音歌唱家。

Football was still his chief obsession. Yet as his musical career unfolded, it crossed paths with the Beautiful Game. He performed in stadiums, in front of thousands. The final of the 1990 World Cup in Rome was marked by a concert with Plácido Domingo and José Carreras, “The Three Tenors”, who then sang together for 13 years. Pavarotti's version of “Nessun dorma” from Puccini's “Turandot”, the anthem of that World Cup, came to epitomise all the drama, glory and pain of football, with his three climactic “vinceros” at the end of the aria like a perfect free kick, rising, arching, landing sweetly on the very note, safe in the corner of the net.

他最爱的仍然是足球。但是随着他逐渐走上音乐的道路，两个爱好也逐渐相互交融。他在各大体育场为成千上万名观众表演。1990年意大利世界杯决赛前夕，“世界三大男高音”帕瓦罗蒂、多明戈和卡雷拉斯联袂献唱；自那以后，三人同台演出了13年之久。帕瓦罗蒂演唱的普契尼歌剧《图兰朵》插曲《今夜无人入睡》成为那届世界杯的颂歌。这曲咏叹调唱尽了足球运动的刺激、荣耀和痛苦，结尾高潮处连续三遍“我必获胜”犹如一记完美的任意球：升空划出一条弧线，当歌声在最佳的那个音符上收尾时，球也稳稳入网。

注释：

The Beautiful Game: 是足球（Football）的代称。这种说法最早出现于1958年，后经球王贝利发扬光大。

Pavarotti made it seem so easy. “Natural” and “effortless” were the words most often applied to that smooth, honeyed, gorgeous voice, which made skin break out in goose-bumps and raised the hairs on the back of the neck. Lasciare andare, pouring it forth. No matter that the singer was huge and almost immobile, his beard blackened with burnt cork and his face running with sweat mopped away with an enormous white handkerchief; the smile was ecstatic, and the voice was from heaven. His biggest break had come, in 1972, when he hit nine high Cs in Donizetti's “La Fille du Régiment”; he was dressed then like a fat toy soldier, patently unable to act, but the crowd adored him. He took 17 curtain calls and, by his death, held the world record for them.

帕瓦罗蒂演唱起来显得如此轻松。人们常用“浑然天成”、“毫不费力”来形容他那圆润、甜美而动人的嗓音，他的歌声仿佛倾流而出，令听者激动得浑身起鸡皮疙瘩，后颈汗毛直立。身材高大的帕瓦罗蒂站在舞台上几乎一动不动，胡子像是被烧焦的软木塞染得黢黑，时不时掏出一块白色大方巾擦掉脸颊上淌下的汗珠。尽管如此，他的笑容欢喜若狂，嗓音仿佛天赐一般动人。1972年，他在演唱多尼采蒂的《军中女郎》时连续唱出九个高音C，成就了个人歌唱史上的最大突破。彼时的他打扮得像个胖胖的玩偶士兵，明显不具有舞台观赏性，但是观众都喜爱他。那一场演出他返场谢幕17次，而且直到去世，他依然是返场谢幕次数最多的世界纪录保持者。

The easiness and naturalness were deceptive. He was terrified of the high notes, full of the usual performer's superstitions: a bent nail kept in his pocket, and a quick cry of “Malocchio!” if anyone mentioned bad luck. Though his voice showed no strain, he could be seen rising on the balls of his feet in recital, using every sinew and nerve to produce the sound. Wherever he went, he made sure to surround himself with home comforts: espresso machines, prosciutto-slicers, bottles of Lambrusco, his blotter and pens laid out exactly as they would be on his desk in Modena, and a secretary—nubile, pretty, obliging—who would hold up cue cards for him in the wings and who, when needed, would warm his extra-marital bed.

这种轻松和自然是装出来的。实际上，他害怕高音，内心也充斥着普通表演者都会有的迷信：他会在口袋里放一根弯曲的钉子；如果有人提到“坏运气”，他马上会喊一声“马洛基奥！”虽然他的声音听起来轻松自如，但人们可以看到他在独唱时踮起脚，调动全身的体力和精力来演唱。无论到哪，他都要让自己仿佛在家一般舒适：意式浓缩咖啡机、帕尔马火腿切片机、蓝布鲁斯科瓶装葡萄酒；吸墨纸和笔摆放的方式也与摩德纳家中写字台上摆放的方式如出一辙。另外，他还有个性感漂亮又热心肠的秘书，会在舞台侧翼为他高举提示牌；有需求时，她也会温暖他的婚外之床。

注释：

1.Malocchio：意大利语，意为“邪眼”。欧洲人常把邪眼作为驱散厄运的护身符。

2.espresso（意式浓缩咖啡）, prosciutto（帕尔马火腿）, Lambrusco（蓝布鲁斯科红酒）：均为意大利特产。

Critics and other singers often called him lazy. He seemed as undisciplined in singing as he was about food, abandoning diet after diet in favour of porterhouse steaks or caviar scooped up with a tablespoon. Certainly he was unintellectual, without conservatory training and barely able to read music. Learning from a score, he once said, was “like making love by mail”. Words—even those of “O sole mio”, every tenor's meal-ticket—were hard to drum in; in opera or recital he almost never ventured out of his crisp, supple Italian. Narrow as his repertoire was, he was choosy in it: “Tosca”, “Rigoletto”, “Un Ballo in Maschera”. His tendency to cancel got him banned from several houses and soured his farewell at the New York Met.

评论家和其他歌唱家经常说他懒散。他的演唱似乎毫无章法，饮食也同样随心所欲，不断尝试节食又一再放弃，喜欢吃上等丁骨牛排或用大汤匙舀起鱼子酱大快朵颐。他没有上过音乐学院，几乎不会识谱，也确实不算聪慧。他曾说，从乐谱中学习唱歌就像“通过邮件做爱”。他常常记不住歌词，就连《我的太阳》这首男高音入门曲目的歌词也不例外。在歌剧或独唱会上，他几乎一成不变地唱一口清脆灵活的意大利语。即使他会的曲目并不多，他也要挑挑拣拣，无非是《托斯卡》、《弄臣》和《假面舞会》。他频频取消演出，因此好几家歌剧院都禁止让他参演，他在纽约大都会歌剧院举办的告别演出效果也不尽如人意。

Macaroni for the masses

大众通心粉

Yet Pavarotti knew what he was doing. He took things easy, hid throat lozenges in his handkerchief, and looked after his instrument. His voice was “gifted from God”; he sang purely by instinct, aware of “how it should go”, and trusting that a good conductor could follow after him. The sheer beauty of his sound, without acting and without musicianship, could bring the audience to its feet, and he would earn the hard-negotiated money that made him the highest-paid singer in opera.

不过，帕瓦罗蒂很清楚自己在做什么。他不动声色，把润喉片藏在手帕里，好好爱护自己的嗓子。他的声音是“上帝赐予的”，演唱完全凭直觉，就是知道“应该怎么唱”，并相信优秀的指挥会配合他的节奏。他的嗓音美得纯粹，没有丝毫的矫揉造作和音乐技巧，让观众情不自禁站起来欢呼鼓掌。而他则会赚取通过艰苦谈判换来的酬金，成为歌剧界演出费最高的歌唱家。

He was also a natural populist in a field that was sniffy and exclusive, bringing to the Met and Covent Garden a sense of opera as Italian peasant fare, “macaroni” for the masses. Larry King once asked him about singing for the elite. “Why should be elite, music?” came the reply. Pavarotti went on “The Tonight Show” and “Saturday Night Live”; in his charity concerts he performed with Elton John and the Spice Girls. When critics sniffed about “popera”, he fought back stoutly: “If you call pop singer, you can sell the ticket.” The numbers backed him up: live audiences in the hundreds of thousands, TV audiences in the millions, more than 50m albums sold, five Grammys. “The word ‘commercial' is exactly what we want,” said the maestro, who also starred in TV ads for American Express. “If you want to use...something more derogatory, we don't care.”

帕瓦罗蒂也为向来高高在上、恃才傲物的歌剧界增添了一股平民气息。于大都会歌剧院和伦敦皇家歌剧院的观众而言，帕瓦罗蒂演唱的歌剧就如同意大利的乡野馔食，是最家常的 “通心粉”。著名主持人拉里·金（Larry King）曾就“歌剧是否属于精英艺术”的问题采访过他，得到的回应是“音乐怎么就是精英专属了？”帕瓦罗蒂不仅登上过《今日秀》和《周六夜现场》的舞台，还曾与艾尔顿·约翰（Elton John）、辣妹组合（Spice Girls）等流行音乐人共同献唱慈善音乐会。即便评论家对“流行歌剧”的表演形式嗤之以鼻，他也照样霸气回怼：“有流行音乐人加盟，演唱会门票自然畅销”。相关数据也证实了他的说法：帕瓦罗蒂演出的现场观众人数达数十万之巨，电视观众人数数以百万计，唱片销量破5千万，他本人还5次荣获格莱美奖。他曾说：“商业化恰恰就是我们想要的”“即便你对此愈加贬低，我们也毫不在意”。他也的确说到做到，曾为美国运通拍摄电视广告。

To the frustration of his rivals, though they were gentlemanly about it, Pavarotti became the world's favourite tenor. He was the first opera star to be imitated, drunkenly, by legions of joyful or heartbroken football fans. Still crazy for football himself, he never minded. For all his frustrations, sulks and cancellations, a life spent bringing music to mankind was the greatest joy imaginable: singing, and then the crowd's adoration for his singing, as he jumped from the kitchen table and the cheese, the wine, the pasta and the sausages were lavishly spread before him.

尽管表现得心平气和，但帕瓦罗蒂的对手肯定颇为恼火，毕竟昔日的劲敌摘取了全球最受欢迎男高音的桂冠。帕瓦罗蒂还是足球迷醉酒时模仿的歌剧明星首选。他本人也痴迷足球，所以从不介意被这群时而欢欣鼓舞、时而心碎痛苦的“球友”模仿。纵观帕瓦罗蒂此生，有遗憾，也有失落，演出临场取消更是家常便饭。可为他人献唱的一生，不也是最为幸福的一生吗？他将歌声献给世界，世界报之以爱慕，一如儿时他初次“登台”。餐桌上的一曲唱罢，奶酪美酒、香肠意大利面等珍馐美食便已纷纷送至他面前。