我在巴黎的24小时 天堂到地狱

第145期|端木震宇 782

我在巴黎的24小时  天堂到地狱

端木震宇 782

 

十多年前，我在巴黎出差，经历了一个至今难忘的24小时。

 

那天从戴高乐机场到达酒店后，我问前台接待人员是否可以帮我搞到一张歌剧门票。很快，服务周到的接待人员就帮我弄来一张巴黎大歌剧院（Opera Garnier，加尼叶歌剧院）的门票，简直把我高兴坏了。

加尼叶歌剧院坐落在巴黎歌剧大街（Avenue de l’Opéra）的尽头，歌剧院外部气势雄伟，里面金碧辉煌，如同一个宫殿一样，让人流连忘返，光是参观这座殿堂，就大大超值门票了。

加尼叶歌剧院 (803许赞华提供)

 

但进入歌剧院后，我大吃一惊——我的正式商务西服太不正式了，可以说是完全不合时宜。这也难怪，除了在影视片中见过一些豪华的场面，我之前从未出席过这样隆重的场合。

 

幸运的是，我的座位很好，尽管完全听不懂演唱的内容（没有字幕），我还是很享受坐在这里看表演的，音乐是如此的优美，歌声也是如此的动听，可以说是一场视听盛宴。

加尼叶歌剧院 (803许赞华提供)

直到演出落幕后，我邻座的一位美国老妇人告诉我歌剧的名字，我才知道这是莫扎特的《铁托的仁慈》（编者注：这是莫扎特为庆祝利奧波德二世登基而创作的二幕歌剧）。我还发现，这是本季的最后一场演出，这就是为什么观众们的着装如此正规。

回到酒店以后，带着无比激动的心情，以及一份没有字幕也可以照样欣赏歌剧的自信，在完全不了解详情的情况下，我又购买了一张第二天晚上的歌剧票。这次的演出地点是巴士歌剧院（Opera Bastille)。

 

巴士?歌剧院与古色古香的加尼叶尔歌剧院相反，是巴黎的一个现代歌剧院，1989年才落成，是从著名的巴士底监狱改建而成的，是巴黎仅次于加尼叶歌剧院的第二大歌剧院。巴士?歌剧院是已故总统密特朗任内的建筑大作，就建在巴士底平民阶层区。八十年代初，也是这位密特朗总统，从众多的罗浮宫入口整修竞标方案中，选中美籍华人建筑师贝聿铭的金字塔建筑群设计。今天，这个颇具争议的金字塔已经成了罗浮宫博物馆著名的参观景点和象征物之一了。

那天，我特意购买了一条深色领带，以确保我的着装更适合那晚的观赏规格。我的座位比前一晚的更棒，就在剧场的中心，离乐队只有几排座位的距离。我很兴奋，迫不及待地早早就到了，感觉我是第一个进入剧院的人。

 

然而仅十分钟后，我的心就开始往下沉——我意识到自己是唯一穿着正规西服的人，大部分观众都穿着暑假户外休闲服，我的着装与大家格格不入，太尴尬了。更糟糕的是，那是五月中旬，巴黎的天气又闷又热，巴士底歌剧院大厅内却没有开空调，我开始出汗了！终于，期待的演出在韩裔指挥家郑明勋的指挥下开始了，然而真正的恐怖此时也拉开了序幕。

 

这部歌剧的音乐是如此的不和谐，如此吵闹，简直不堪入耳，我真希望我闭上双眼的同时也能塞上双耳！当歌手加入乐队后，我的情绪达到了最低点，这是令我最痛苦的时刻。他们哪里像是在唱歌？分明在胡言乱语！如此不和谐，如此烦人，又如此闷热，我大汗淋漓……但是，我仍然不得不强迫自己坐稳，生怕打扰我的邻座。

就在这时，我突然意识到，尽管这座歌剧院具有宏伟的建筑和新颖漂亮的室内装饰，但它对我而言，仍然是一座名副其实的监狱！我实在受不了了，每隔一会儿就看一下手表，每次我都预计中场休息即将到来，可它却没有，没有，台上的演出永无休止地进行着……这部歌剧居然没有中场休息！

 

经过近两个小时的折磨，我终于从“监狱”里获释了！

 

一回到酒店，我就向一位酒店接待人员展示了这部歌剧的节目资料，向他了解这部歌剧作品。原来，这是捷克现代作曲家贾纳切克的《亡者之家》，其剧本是根据陀思妥耶夫斯基的同名小说改编的，碰巧我在康奈尔大学念书时读过这本书，是关于西伯利亚监狱中政治犯的生活经历。天啊！今晚，还会有任何其它歌剧更能给我带来这样名副其实的监狱体验吗？ 

 

这些年来，我心里一直有一个念头。那一周我在巴黎24小时之内的两次歌剧观赏经历，也许可以成为一部歌剧主题的好素材，标题就叫“我在巴黎的24小时，天堂到地狱”。

 

作者发表的英语原文：

 

More than a decade ago, I had an interesting encounter when I was on a business trip in Paris. Once arrived at hotel, I asked if the concierge could help me find an opera ticket, which they did by securing one at the Paris grand opera house “Opera Garnier”.

 

Upon entering the opera house, I was shocked to see that my formal business attire was completely out of place. I had never been in such a formal occasion before and AFTERWARDS, and I had only seen similar scenes in movies and operas. Luckily, my seat was very good, and I really enjoyed the performance without understanding anything that had been sung (no subtitles anywhere). The music was so beautiful, and so was the singing. Only after the curtain had fallen, an old lady next to me, an American, told me that it was Mozart’s “Clemency of Tito.” I learned that this was the last show for the season, which explained why it was so formal.

 

With excitement and confidence that I could enjoy an opera without subtitles, I immediately bought a ticket for another show for the following night, without knowing anything about the production. The ticket only said that it would be at Opera Bastille, the newly renovated project that converted the infamous prison into an opera house. To better align my dress code with this event, I purposely bought a dark-colored tie. This time my seat was even better. It was right at the center, just a few rows behind the orchestra pit. I was so excited. I arrived so early that I was probably the first one to enter the house. However, only 10 minutes later my heart started to sink. It occurred to me that I was the ONLY ONE in full business attire. The vast majority of the audience sported summer-outdoor outfit. It was in the middle of May, and the weather has already turned stifling in Paris. Yet, there were no air-conditioning in the theater. I was sweating!

 

Eventually, the music started with Myung-whun Chung (编者注：著名南韩指挥家）conducting, and so did the real horror! The music was so dissonant that I wished I could close my ears as I shut my eyes. When the singers joined the orchestra, the evening reached its lowest point, or the most painful point for me. Were the actors singing? No! They were merely gibberish-talking! So dissonant, so irritating, and so much sweating ... but I still had to force myself to sit tight fearing that any body movement might disturb my neighbors. At this point I came to realize that, despite its magnificent architecture and its new and beautiful interior decoration, this building was still a prison! I checked my watch every minute or so hoping for a break during the intermission. Alas, it never came! There was no intermission for this opera! 

 

After nearly two hours of torture, I eventually got out of the prison. When I got into the hotel, I showed the program brochure, which cost 5 EURO, to a staff, and asked what this opera was about. It was Janacek’s “From the House of the Dead.” Its libretto was based on Dostoevsky’s novel of the same title, which I happened to have read when I was at Cornell University. The story was about the life experience of a political prisoner in a Siberia jail!!! Aha! Could any other operas have brought such fitting experience tonight?

 

Since then, I have been wondering if my experience with these two live opera performances in Paris could be good material for an opera theme, i.e., “Life goes from heaven to hell within 24 hours. "

 

注1：本文根据作者在古典音乐群的聊天记录整理而成，中文翻译版本有增补。

注2：图片除注明外，均来自网络，版权归原作者所有。

 

翻译：许赞华

文图编辑：许赞华，叶碧蕙

 

排版编辑：俞霄