理查德·瓦格納（Richard Wagner），1813～1883，德國著名作曲家、指揮家。主要作品有：歌劇《尼伯龍根的指環(huán)》、《帕西法爾》等11部，9首序曲、1部交響樂、4部鋼琴奏鳴曲及大量合唱曲、藝術(shù)歌曲等，著作《藝術(shù)與革命》、《歌劇與戲劇》等。

On Christmas Eve， 1870， Richard Wagner and his wife， Cosima， had agreed not to give each other Christmas presents. They were simply too poor. But Wagner was planning a surprise gift.

1870年的平安夜，理查德·瓦格納和他的妻子柯西瑪說好了不互送對方禮物——他們實在是太窮了。但瓦格納還是計劃準備一份驚喜禮物。

For more than two months he had been crafting a piece of music to be performed outside Cosimas bedroom door on Christmas morning. He had based it on themes1 later to be used in his opera Siegfried， plus2 a little nursery song3 he had written for their children two years earlier. He completed the Siegfried Idyll4 three weeks before Christmas and arranged for5 conductor6 Hans Richter to recruit7 the members of the small orchestra8. Richter did secret rehearsals9， first in Zurich then at a hotel in Lucerne.

兩個多月來，瓦格納一直在創(chuàng)作一首樂曲，準備圣誕節(jié)那天早晨在柯西瑪?shù)呐P室外彈奏。他的曲子取材于他后來的歌劇《齊格費里德》的主旋律，另外加入一首兩年前他寫給孩子們的小童謠。在圣誕節(jié)前，瓦格納寫完了《齊格費里德田園曲》，就安排指揮家漢斯·里切斯特在一小型管弦樂團里選錄演員。里切斯特秘密地排練了幾場，先在蘇黎世，后來在盧塞恩的一家旅館。

Wagner invited philosopher10 Friedrich Nietzsche to the final rehearsal on Christmas Eve at the Hotel du Lac and they arrived together at the Wagners home in the village of Trihschen. There they found Cosima decorating11 the Christmas tree and preparing presents for the children.

平安夜，在杜拉奇酒店的最后一次排練時，瓦格納把哲學(xué)家弗里德里?！つ岵烧埩诉^來，隨后他們一起到達瓦格納位于萃斯琴村的家。在那里，他們看見柯西瑪正在裝飾圣誕樹，為孩子們準備禮物呢。

At seven oclock on Christmas morning the musicians12 arrived and quietly arranged themselves on the stairs outside Cosimas room. They began to play.

圣誕節(jié)早晨七點，樂師們來了。他們悄悄地在柯西瑪屋子外的樓梯上排好，然后開始演奏起來。

“As I awoke to the light of dawn，” Cosima said later， “my mind passed from one dream into another. Familiar sounds from Siegfried came to my ears. It was as if the house—or more accurately—our entire13 being， was rising up in music and going up to heaven14. Sacred memories， birdsong and sunrise， interwoven15 with music from Siegfried， soothed my heart and I came to realize that I was not dreaming， and yet was experiencing the most sublime of all dreams. Now at last I understood all of Richards writing in secret.”

“當(dāng)我從晨光中醒來，”柯西瑪后來回憶說，“一個夢接一個夢從我腦海掠過。忽然，熟悉的《齊格費里德》樂曲傳入耳畔。當(dāng)時，就好像整個房子——或更確切地說——所有的一切都和音樂一起跳躍起來，飄上了天堂。神圣的記憶、鳥鳴、日出等等都和《齊格費里德》的音樂交織融合在一起了。我深感安慰，開始意識到，我沒有做夢，卻享受到了最美妙的夢境?，F(xiàn)在，我終于明白瓦格納的創(chuàng)作秘密了?！?/p>

And yet Wagner had kept his pledge16 not to buy his wife a Christmas present. December 25th was Cosimas birthday.

然而瓦格納還是遵守了不給他妻子買圣誕禮物的諾言，而12月25日是柯西瑪?shù)纳铡?/p>

注 釋

1. theme n. （樂曲的）主題 2. plus v. 加

3. nursery song 兒歌 4. Idyll n. 田園詩

5. arrange for 為……作安排 6. conductor n. 指揮

7. recruit v. 吸收新成員；招聘 8. orchestra n. 管弦樂隊

9. rehearsal n. 彩排 10. philosopher n. 哲學(xué)家

11. decorate v. 裝飾 12. musician n. 樂師；音樂家

13. entire adj. 全部的；整個的 14. heaven n. 天堂

15. interweave v. 使與……交織 16. pledge n. 誓言；保證