丽影与乐音:巴黎圣母院850岁生日快乐

2013-06-20 10:37

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丽影与乐音:巴黎圣母院850岁生日快乐
 

欧洲大陆的“浪漫之都”,单单巴黎这个名字就足以让人产生无数美好的遐想和期盼。埃菲尔铁塔、香榭丽舍大街、凯旋门……这些风景虽美却不及巴黎圣母院的故事荡气回肠。雨果笔下的故事,为这座哥特式建筑风格的杰作蒙上了一层神秘而幽美的面纱。迎来了850岁的生日,这位历史繁华中的静穆者要迎来新鲜的气息与活力。

She stands in effortless command of the small island where medieval Paris was re-founded. Centuries of history have flowed past Notre Dame with the grey waters of the River Seine.

The mighty cathedral is neither the tallest, oldest nor biggest in the world, but it can rightly claim to be the best-known.

For centuries it has witnessed the greatest events in French history: 80 kings, two emperors, five republics——and two world wars.

Its famous gargoyles , there to guard against the evil spirits, have faced both glory and tragedy over the centuries.

The cathedral, with its original 13th-Century rose window, was pillaged and nearly demolished in revolutionary France.

She survived, and 2013 sees a year of special events celebrating the landmark 850th anniversary of "Our Lady of Paris".

Holy Wars

The first stone was laid in 1163. It took them 180 years to complete it. Yet as the magnificent structure took form, history was already playing out in its shadows. Crusaders prayed beneath the world's first flying buttresses as they set off on holy wars.

Within the walls, in 1431, a sickly boy of ten, King Henry VI of England, was crowned King of France.

And in 1804, to the sound of the 8,000 pipes of the cathedral's Grand Organ, Napoleon was crowned emperor.

Music is integral to the life of the cathedral; in the archive , the medieval manuscripts reveal it always has been.

Fittingly, then, the great sounds of Notre Dame will be at the heart of the anniversary celebrations.

Throughout this year, three choirs will bring to life some of the earliest sounds of Christianity.

Choir director Sylvain Dieudonne told me that, “in 1163, when they started building the cathedral, Paris became a centre of great intellectual, spiritual and musical development.”

Quasimodo's bells

“The musical school was hugely influential,” he said. “We know from the manuscripts we have recovered that it influenced music across Europe - in Spain, Italy, Germany and in England.”

Why Notre Dame is getting new bells.

But there is another sound for which the cathedral is well known. The bells and "the grand peal" that so enthralled the hunchback, Quasimodo.

The biggest of them all is Emmanuel, installed in the south tower in 1685. It tolls to mark the hours of the day, as it tolled to mark the liberation of the city in 1944.

But this year, the smaller bells from the north tower were recast; they are not the originals. Those were melted for cannon balls by the revolutionaries.

Their 19th-Century replacements were “discordant”.

Eight of the new bells were made in Normandy, using ancient Egyptian methods; the moulds were fashioned from horsehair and manure.

“It gives the bell a perfect skin, far better than if you made it with sand and cement,” said Paul Bergamo, the foundry president.

The ninth new bell– a "bourdon," or Great Bell, named Marie – was cast in the Netherlands and then sent to Normandy to join the others.

“Best bells in France”

“But we are also using a lot of computerised techniques to hone the sound of the bell.

“We will use a spectral analyser to check the final tone. They will all be tuned to the great bourdon bell Emmanuel. It's really a mixture of the best technology - and the best of traditions. And I am confident that when we have finished this will be the best set of bells in France”

The year-long festival would not be complete without a celebration of the architecture. And to mark 850 years they will be improving the lighting.

The building was not originally designed to include the flying buttresses around the choir and nave, but after the construction began, the thinner walls grew ever higher and stress fractures began to appear as the walls pushed outward.

In response, the cathedral's architects built supports around the outside walls, and later additions continued the pattern.

Today the cathedral stands as a gothic masterpiece.

In his book The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo encapsulated that power.

“When a man understands the art of seeing,” he wrote, “he can trace the spirit of an age, and the features of a king, even in the knocker on a door.”

 

在中世纪巴黎重建的这座小岛上,巴黎圣母院傲然挺立,自成威严。

几个世纪的历史,伴着塞纳河青灰色的流水,匆匆划过。

这座雄伟的大教堂并非世界上最高的,也不是最古老的或是最大的教堂,但她却名副其实地是最著名的教堂。

几个世纪以来,巴黎圣母院见证了法国历史上最重大的事件:80位国王,两个皇帝,五个共和国和两次世界大战。

巴黎圣母院(哥特式建筑)上著名的怪兽雕像,是用来防卫抵挡邪灵的,他们同样见证了几个世纪的荣耀和悲剧。

巴黎圣母院装饰有13世纪的玫瑰色玻璃,整个建筑在法国革命时期遭到抢掠,差点被毁坏。

然而,她还是度过劫难,2013年巴黎圣母院850岁了,(巴黎)全年都有庆祝活动来纪念这一具有历史意义的时刻。

神圣战争

巴黎圣母院的建造始于1163年,历经180年完工。然而,当这一宏伟建筑成型时,历史的阴影已经隐隐显现。十字军圣战出征之前,将士们在世界上最早的飞扶壁下祷告。

在高墙之内,1431年,一个年仅十岁,体弱多病的男孩,也就是英格兰的国王亨利六世被册封为法国皇帝。

1804年,伴着圣母院内大管风琴8000个管子的弹奏声,拿破仑加冕成为法国皇帝。

如今,音乐是构成巴黎圣母院的一部分,据记载,中世纪的手稿显示,音乐历来是圣母院不可或缺的有机元素。

因此,把圣母院的伟大乐音作为周年庆典的核心部分再合适不过了。

今年一整年,三个唱诗班会精彩演绎基督教最早期的音乐作品。

唱诗班的指挥沙利文•迪厄多内告诉我:“1163年,他们开始建造巴黎圣母院之时,巴黎成了伟大学术、精神和音乐发展的中心。”

卡西莫多的钟

“音乐学校有巨大的影响力,”他说道,“我们从恢复的手稿中得知,这里音乐的影响力远及整个欧洲——西班牙、意大利、德国和英国。”

为什么圣母院要换新钟呢?

巴黎圣母院的另一个著名声音就是小钟和“大钟”的声音,也就是驼背敲钟人卡西莫多所着迷的声音。

圣母院里最大的钟当属1685年安放在南塔楼的大钟“埃马纽埃尔”。平时敲响这口钟提醒一天中的整点时间,而1944年这口钟的钟声被作为巴黎解放的标志。

但是今年,北塔楼内的小钟会被重铸,现今摆放的这些钟也并非初建时的陈设。当年的那些钟已经被革命者融化掉用来制作炮弹了。

19世纪替换的这些钟的声音并不和谐。

八个新钟正在诺曼底进行制作,制作过程运用古埃及的工艺,磨具由马鬃和粪肥制成。

“这种工艺制成的钟外表很完美,比沙子和水泥制成的好很多。”铸造厂的厂长保罗•贝加莫说道。

第九座新钟,也称作“低音钟”或大钟,被命名为“玛丽”,是在荷兰制造的,后被运到诺曼底与其它八座钟相聚。

全法最好的钟

“同时,我们还运用了大量的计算机技术来调试钟的声音。”

“我们运用一种光谱分析仪来核对最终的音调。他们都会被调整,与大低音中埃马纽埃尔相一致。这真是最先进的技术和最优秀的传统的结合。我有信心,这项工作完成之后,这批钟会成为全法国最棒的。”

长达一年的庆祝活动自然少不了建筑这一项。为了庆祝圣母院850岁生日,工作人员会对灯光进行改善。

最初设计时,高坛和中殿周围并没有飞扶壁,但是开始建造之后,较薄的墙越建越高,突出的墙体开始出现断裂。

为了应对这种情况,圣母院的建筑师在外部墙体建造支撑物,之后的建筑部分也延续了这种做法。

如今,巴黎圣母院被奉为哥特式建筑风格的杰作。

维克多•雨果在他的作品《巴黎圣母院》中概括了这种力量。

“如果一个人懂得观察的艺术,”雨果写道,“他甚至可以在一扇门的门环上洞悉出一个时代的精神和一个君王的特点。”

(来源:《英语学习杂志》  编辑:Julie)

 

Vocabulary:

1. gargoyle: (伸出的)怪兽饰,怪兽状滴水嘴。

2. landmark: 里程碑,具有划时代意义的重大事件;Our Lady of Paris: 专指巴黎圣母院。

3. buttress: 扶壁,扶垛。

4. archive: 档案。

5. Quasimodo: 卡西莫多,雨果名著《巴黎圣母院》中的驼背的敲钟人。

6. fashion: 制作,把……塑造成。

7. hone: 磨练,训练。

8. bourdon: 钟琴的最低音。

9. choir: (教堂内的)高坛(即唱诗班或教士席位的所在部分)。

10. encapsulate: 概括,压缩。

11. The Hunchback of Notre Dame: 《巴黎圣母院》,雨果著名的长篇小说,以巴黎圣母院为主要故事场景。Victor Hugo: 维克多•雨果,法国浪漫主义作家,著有《悲惨世界》、《巴黎圣母院》、《九三年》等。

 

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