Newsletter No. 390

10 No. 390, 4.1.2012 …… 如是說 Thus Spake… 麥淑賢教授在多倫多大學取得英國文學及音樂雙主修文 學士學位，在紐約城市大學皇后書院修讀音樂學，獲頒 文學碩士學位，後在羅徹斯特大學伊思曼音樂學院取得 音樂學和音樂理論哲學博士雙學位。她以跨學科的手 法鑽研音樂，探討調性音樂的結構與表達之間的關係， 其研究範疇包括辛克分析法、文本與音樂的關係、音樂 符號學和音樂理論史。她在2008年獲美國音樂理論學 會頒授新晉學者獎。 Professor Suyin Mak holds a BA in English Literature and Music from the University of Toronto, an MA in Musicology from Queens College, City University of New York, and a double PhD in Musicology and Music Theory from the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. Her approach to musical scholarship is interdisciplinary in nature, and explores the relationship between musical structure and expression in tonal music. Research areas include Schenkerian analysis, text- music relations, musical semiotics, and the history of music theory. She is recipient of the 2008 Emerging Scholar Award from the Society for Music Theory. Resonance —For Yank One evening Someone told me About the somebodies and somethings that he knew His memories trickled, from the ceiling Along flowering vines of fire So the cracker crumbs from 28 Arriaga Street Made their way into my ears And swirled within me with the flow of wine Before I echoed them in resonance To lend his firecracker flowers A tinge of colour from another language 麥淑賢教授詩作 A poem by Prof. Mak Su-yin 迴音 —致仁逵兄 某夜 某某在他的屋裏 說着他曾認識的某某和某某 他的記憶 沿著爬滿炮仗花的鐵線 從天花板點滴而下 阿里鴉架街二十八號的梳打餅屑 便也鑽入我的耳朵去了 順著酒意 在心中流轉數遍 方成口中的迴音 為他的炮仗花 染上別一種語言的顏色 你擁有音樂及文學的文學士學位，其後是甚麼令你決定專 研音樂而非文學？ 所謂「琴為心曲」，音樂常被喻為發乎自然的情感抒發，但 同時也是最工於技法的表達模式。我所指的是，音樂固能 直接、精確地激發聽者具體的情緒或肢體反應，但至於為 何會有這樣的效果，我們卻往往只知其然而不知其所以然。 一般人（包括我自己）慣以文字描述、傳達和建立對世界的 理解和認知，但音樂卻是本質相異的語言，它是怎樣運作的 呢？我還是學生的時候，因為想探索箇中的奧秘，所以便跑 去唸音樂了。時至今日，這點好奇心仍是我研究的動力。 為甚麼對舒曼和舒伯特這樣有興趣？尤其是後者，你甚至寫 了一本以舒伯特抒情主義的再思為題的書。 一般人聽說我是研究舒伯特的學者，都會以為我研究的是 其聲樂組曲。事實上 Schubert ’ s Lyricism Reconsidered 一書談的是他的器樂作品。該書的前提是：舒伯特晚期器 樂作品中的非傳統曲式設計及調性佈局源於理想主義美學 對語言的構想，尤以對「抒情」的解讀為然。作曲家在大型 器樂曲內大量採用了抒情詩歌內典型的並置及排比語法模 式，可說是為當代的音樂及文學創作提供了一種嶄新的技 法聯繫，既承襲了莫札特和貝多芬的古典作曲傳統，亦參照 了他和友人共享的文學認知。舒伯特在兩者之間遊走自如， 從而開創了新穎而獨特的器樂形式。 可以談一下你的創作嗎？ 我寫詩，是雙語對照的，也曾翻譯友人的文學作品（如 畫家黃仁逵的散文英譯本，將於《譯叢》發表）。2011年 2月在第三十九屆香港藝術節首演的原創英語室內歌劇 《年輪曲》，是我與作曲家鄧樂妍（中大音樂博士畢業生） 合作的，由我負責劇本和歌詞。 你是一位多才多藝、興趣廣泛的女士，餘暇喜歡做甚麼？ 創意寫作和文學翻譯，看很多表演（不限於古典音樂會，也 有戲劇、舞蹈等），看電影、畫展，參與詩歌誦讀會、新書發 佈會、諸般藝文活動……，真是附庸風雅，無藥可救。不過， 我也喜歡到健身室去。 來生你會想做甚麼？ 我想好像中國文學研究家和作家錢鍾書那樣，學貫中西而 舉重若輕，更能兼顧學術研究和文學創作。但當然，他在文 化大革命中所受的苦難便可免了。退休後，我希望可修一些 中文系的課，譬如說，學習怎樣寫舊體詩。 You have a BA in music and literature. What was it that made you decide to specialize in music and not literature? Music is at once a metaphor for natural expression and the source of the greatest linguistic artifice. By this I mean that music is able to prompt immediate, specific emotional or physical responses in listeners, but how it does so seems mysterious. Music communicates in a way that is fundamentally different from verbal language, which is how most people (including myself) describe, conceptualize or communicate our understanding of the world. When I was a student, I was drawn to studying music because I wanted to gain a better understanding of how this mysterious language works; and even to this day, commitment to a sense of mystery continues to motivate my study of music. Why are you interested in Schumann and Schubert, in particular Schubert on whom you’ve written a book Schubert’s Lyricism Reconsidered ? When most people hear that I am a Schubert scholar they assume I work on the song cycles, but actually Schubert’s Lyricism Reconsidered is a book about Schubert’s instrumental music. The premise of the book is that the unorthodox features of Schubert’s late instrumental style reflect the linguistic conceptions of idealist aesthetics, and bear strong resemblance to the discursive strategies typical of lyric poetry. Schubert’s artistic sensibility was informed by two parallel but separate traditions, the compositional tradition he inherited from Mozart and Beethoven, and the literary tradition he shared with his circle of friends. Schubert moved amphibiously between them, and in so doing forged a novel and unique approach to instrumental form. Could you tell us about your creative work? I write bilingual poetry, and have also translated the literary writings of my friends. (My translation of several pieces by the painter Wong Yan-kwai’s will appear in Renditions .) Last year, I collaborated with composer Tang Lok-yin (CUHK DMus graduate) in A Tree Rhapsody , an original English-language chamber opera that was premiered at the 39th Hong Kong International Arts Festival in February 2011. I was the playwright and librettist. You’re a woman of many interests and talents. What do you like to do in your free time? Creative writing and literary translations, attending lots of performances (not only classical music concerts, but also theatre and dance), films, poetry readings, book launches, art openings… I am irreparably arty. But I also like going to the gym. Who would you like to be or what would you like to do in your next life? I want to be like Qian Zhongshu, Chinese literary scholar and writer, minus the Cultural Revolution suffering of course. I admire people who have mastery of both Chinese and Western learning. Qian was equally at ease in Chinese and Western cultures, and accomplished both in scholarship and creative writing. When I retire, I would want to take courses in the Department of Chinese and learn, for example, how to write Chinese classical poetry. Prof. Mak Su-yin, Vice-Chair of the Department of Music 音樂系副系主任 麥淑賢教授