歌劇《白蛇傳》創造歷史 華裔作曲家獲普利策獎

《白蛇傳》用西方歌劇講述東方故事，在征服西方觀眾后又征服了普利策獎

美籍華裔作曲家周龍第一次創作歌劇《白蛇傳》就為其捧回了國際性大獎普利策音樂獎。前天(美國當地時間)第95屆普利策獎獲獎名單在紐約哥倫比亞大學公布。在這份包含新聞作品以及文學、戲劇、音樂等創作作品兩大類的獲獎名單中，歌劇《白蛇傳》獲得普利策音樂獎，這也是第一次有華人獲此獎項。文學方面，年輕的女作家詹妮弗·伊根憑藉一本結構奇特的小說獲得虛構類大獎，傳記類和歷史類分別授予了喬治·華盛頓和林肯總統的傳記。

　　人物

　　周龍，作曲家。1953年生於中國大陸，1983年畢業於中央音樂學院，被聘為中國國家廣播交響樂團駐團作曲家。1985年獲紐約哥倫比亞大學獎學金赴美攻讀，師從周文中、達維多夫斯基和愛德華茲，1993年獲音樂藝術博士學位。現為堪薩斯城密蘇里大學音樂學院的教授。

　　他的作品曾由中國交響樂團、英國BBC交響樂團、倫敦交響樂團、美國洛杉磯愛樂樂團、紐約布魯克林愛樂樂團、俄羅斯愛樂樂團及德國愛樂室內樂團等公演、廣播和錄音。

　　周龍曾獲美國國家藝術基金會、古根海姆與洛克菲勒基金會等機構所頒發的重要獎項。

　　淵源 北京國際音樂節委約創作

　　普利策獎在每年春季由哥倫比亞大學的普利策獎評選委員會評定，5月由哥倫比亞大學校長正式頒發。目前普利策獎已由最初的「公眾服務獎」一項新聞獎發展至現在的14項新聞類獎項和7項創作類獎項，其中這7項創作類獎項即文學/戲劇/音樂類。歌劇《白蛇傳》獲得的便是普利策音樂獎，這是第一位華人獲得此獎項。

　　作為民間傳說《白蛇傳》有著廣泛的民眾基礎，此前電視連續劇《新白娘子傳奇》和經典電影《青蛇》，都將白娘子傳說進行二次創作。而美國華裔作曲家周龍和哈佛大學畢業的瑟瑞斯·林·傑考布斯卻以歌劇的形式演繹了《白蛇傳》。《白蛇傳》是周龍的第一部歌劇，也是波士頓歌劇院和北京國際音樂節的委約作品，曾於去年2月在波士頓歌劇院進行全球首演，去年10月27日出現在北京國際音樂節上。

　　北京國際音樂節藝術基金會節目總監塗松告訴記者，自己在得知這一消息后就覺得很興奮，因為此前這類國際性獎項從來沒有華人得過獎。而在塗松給周龍表示祝賀的電話中，周龍特意談到很感謝北京國際音樂節給了自己一個平台。

　　創作 兩條「蛇」的天作之合

　　歌劇《白蛇傳》的腳本作者是哈佛大學畢業的瑟瑞斯·林·傑考布斯。這也是瑟瑞斯首次撰寫劇本，她的本業是從事律政和慈善。記者了解到，合作創作《白蛇傳》的這兩人自身與「蛇」便頗有淵源。周龍和瑟瑞斯同齡，兩人都屬蛇。而如果把同為作曲家的周龍的太太陳怡算進來的話，則是三人同屬蛇。陳怡生於年初，周龍年中，瑟瑞斯年末，蛇頭蛇身和蛇尾，正好構成一條蛇。

　　「兩條蛇」初次合作，是多方的合力之為。塗松告訴記者，周龍很早就想寫歌劇，而且是以中國文化為背景，而北京國際音樂節的余隆也一直想將國際音樂節打造成一個讓世界了解中國文化的平台。另一邊，酷愛古典音樂和歌劇的瑟瑞斯為給丈夫慶生，想寫一段十分鐘的詠嘆調交給作曲家譜曲。相中周龍后，她想把詠嘆調擴展為一部大型歌劇。經各方努力，最終成型。

　　波士頓首演后，《白蛇傳》就受到好評。美國權威的《歌劇新聞》雜誌認為：「這部作品有血有肉，充滿詩意，成功的因素很多，很大一部分來自瑟瑞斯的優雅、直白與樸素相結合的劇本，另一大部分則來自於周龍的音樂。」

　　意義 「洋為中用」，打破格局

　　塗松告訴記者，周龍在美國已經生活了30多年，幾年前就表示想寫歌劇，而且是用中國元素來做。為了創作這部《白蛇傳》，周龍將東西方的審美「重組」成了一道獨特的風景線，創造出一個活靈活現的音樂世界。他結合歐洲歌劇和中國戲曲之長，賦予歌唱家們類似於普契尼一氣呵成的旋律而絲毫不見模仿筆跡，並注入京劇中特有的唱腔，諸如墜腔、頓腔和顫腔，用英語表現。有樂評人評價周龍的創作是巧妙地將中西方文化融合在一起。

　　對於《白蛇傳》此次獲得普利策音樂獎，塗松稱，這一部歌劇是中國故事，反映的又是中國文化，但用的是歌劇這種西方文化的形式，製作團隊也很國際。「腳本作者林曉英(即瑟瑞斯，曾用名林曉英)是新加坡華人移民，雖是美國人但很懂東方文化，舞台設計等又全是美國方面的人，這表明真正的歌劇是打破了東西方格局的，將東西方文化融合在一起。中國文化就是這樣才能走向世界，得到世界各地的認同。」

　　小說類

　　《流氓來訪》玩轉結構魔方

　　上個月剛剛獲得美國書評人協會獎的48歲女作家詹妮弗·伊根(Jennifer Egan)又一次大獲全勝，她的小說《流氓來訪》(A Visit from the Goon Squad)結構奇詭，實驗性極強，正好滿足「不走尋常路」的普利策小說獎的口味。

　　住在紐約的詹妮弗·伊根從去年下半年開始異軍突起，多次在《紐約客》等雜誌上撰文，她的另一部小說《看我》(Look at Me)曾經入圍美國國家圖書獎。《流氓來訪》篇幅不長，時間跨度長達幾十年，人物繁多，帶有相當的實驗色彩。全書共十三章，圍繞一位老去的前搖滾樂手兼唱片監製與他年輕、染有盜竊癖的女助手，講述了十三個獨立又彼此關聯的故事。小說故事經常在上世紀70年代與2020年間跨越，其中人物隨著年齡增長而自我墮落，無法控制自己命運。普利策文學獎評委稱該書「創造性地調查了數字時代人們成長、老去的過程，展示了對文化超速變化的寬容和好奇」。

　　魔方般的小說結構是其最大特色。作者詹妮弗·伊根以短篇小說的形式，摘取這些人物從70年代到21世紀跨時30多年的成長和老去的片斷故事，互相交錯組成長篇，每個人物會在不同的故事中陸續出現，而每個故事又不一定按時間順序發展，而是像魔方一樣跳躍折回，而且其中一些段落十分實驗性，如一章節中，有70多頁用了幻燈片的形式來講述故事。接受採訪時，伊根表示，該作品受到了電視劇《黑道家族》的啟發。

　　此次入圍普利策小說 類文學獎的其他作品還有約翰遜·迪(Jonathan Dee)的現代倫理故事《寵兒》(The Privileges)和韓裔美籍作家李昌來關於朝鮮戰爭孤兒成長的小說《投降》(The Surrendered)。

　　非虛構類

　　《萬病之王》為癌症立傳

　　今年普利策文學獎的非虛構類授予了一本科學題材的書，該書涉及了此前很少有人問津的癌症題材。《萬病之王：癌症傳》(The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer)相當於給癌症立傳，講述了類研究和治療癌症的歷史。作者是哥倫比亞大學的一位腫瘤學家和癌症研究者斯達薩·穆克吉(Siddhartha Mukherjee)，他在接受採訪時說，從很多年前，當他還在波士頓從事癌症治療研究時，便養成了寫日誌的習慣，將很多病人的故事記錄下來，日誌寫得越來越多，他便產生了想法，想回答一個問題：「癌症漫長的演化歷史中，現在處於什麼位置？這一路是怎麼發展過來的？」

　　在這本書中，他將癌症擬人化，作為一個傳記對象來寫，試圖去了解這個對象的「性格」、「想法」和「行為」。評委稱該作品是「對這個歷盡多個治療突破，卻依然困擾醫學科學的險惡疾病做出的高尚的調查」。

　　歷史類

　　《嚴峻考驗》梳理林肯心路

　　今年普利策文學獎的歷史類和傳記類都獎給了關於美國元老總統的傳記書。

　　歷史類獎由講述林肯總統和美國黑奴制度的《嚴峻考驗：林肯與美國奴隸制》(The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery)獲得，作者，美國內戰學者埃里克·弗納(Eric Foner)的觀點是，林肯總統並非一直都反奴隸制，他最初也帶有很強的種族歧視觀，但在總統任期中，他逐漸開始變得開放起來，直到最終承認了美國內戰的基本準則：解放奴隸，承認黑人地位。

　　傳記類

　　《華盛頓傳》顛覆刻板印象

　　傳記類獎給了《華盛頓傳》，作者榮·契諾(Ron Chernow)在這部傳記中揭示了喬治·華盛頓總統諸多個人的一面，認為其並非人們所想的「呆板、無聊」形象，而是充滿熱情、敏感且複雜。

　　詩歌類

　　「桂冠詩人」凱·瑞恩再獲譽

　　詩歌獎則授予了美國女詩人凱·瑞恩(Kay Ryan)的詩歌選集《凱·瑞恩精選集》。65歲的凱·瑞恩在去年被評為第16屆美國桂冠詩人，是美國當前炙手可熱的女詩人，獲獎詩集精選了她歷時45年詩歌創作的佳作。

　　文學/戲劇/音樂類獲獎名單

　　小說類 《流氓來訪》，作者詹妮弗·伊根

　　歷史類 《嚴峻考驗：林肯與美國奴隸制》，作者埃里克·弗納

　　傳記類 《華盛頓傳》，作者榮·契諾

　　詩歌類 《凱·瑞恩精選集》，作者凱·瑞恩

　　非虛構類 《萬病之王：癌症傳》，作者斯達薩·穆克吉

　　戲劇類 正劇《克萊伯恩公園》，製作人布魯斯·諾里斯

　　音樂類 歌劇《白蛇傳》，作曲/導演周龍

　　采寫/本報記者 李健亞 金煜



UMKC professor Zhou Long wins 2011 Pulitzer Prize for music
The Kansas City Star


Zhou Long, a professor of composition at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, has won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for music.

Zhou was honored for "Madame White Snake," which the Boston Opera premiered Feb. 26, 2010, at the Cutler Majestic Theatre. The piece is a deeply expressive opera that draws on a Chinese folk tale to blend the musical traditions of the East and the West.

The libretto was by Cerise Lim Jacobs.

Steve Paul, The Kansas City Star's arts editor, wrote this about Zhou a few days before 「Madame White Snake」 had its premiere:

To hear Zhou Long tell it, the making of an opera requires a lot of give and take.

For one thing, there』s the teamwork of the main collaborators -- the librettist, the composer, the producers. But there』s an inner struggle, too, as the music evolves and as the composer -- that would be Zhou -- finds his way for the first time wading into the stream of a long tradition.

Over the last three years, Kansas City-based Zhou has gone deep into those waters, and now his first opera is about to get its premiere in Boston. Titled "Madame White Snake" and based on a much-beloved Chinese myth, the work will run Feb. 26-March 2 at Opera Boston, and it』s also scheduled for the star treatment next fall in Beijing.

Like his wife, Chen Yi, Zhou teaches at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and has become one of a small handful of leading Chinese-American composers. He』s known for his complex and deftly layered chamber music, but in working with librettist Cerise Lim Jacobs, Zhou knew that his main mission here was to rein in his abstract impulses and focus on supporting the songs.

"Whether it』s tonal or atonal, you have to show the beauty of the human voice," Zhou said recently in an interview at his home. "That』s my goal. And I think I reached that."

As a native of Beijing, Zhou was well aware of the legend of Madame White Snake. Every Chinese person knows it, he said. The story involves a reptile turned woman who goes in search of love among mortals.

The production will be the first operatic version in English of the tale.

For Opera Boston, a small company that emphasizes rarely produced works, "Madame White Snake" certainly is the biggest show ever mounted on its stage. The budget, $1 million over the last three years, reached a new height for the company.

"It』s huge," said Carole Charnow, Opera Boston』s general manager. "It』s the first time a main-stage opera has been commissioned in Boston since 1990. It』s also the first time the Beijing Music Festival has ever collaborated with an American opera company, and it』s also our first main-stage commission.

"It』s a very, very big achievement."

Just a few days ago, Charnow sat through the first vocal run-through of the opera. All the singers had assembled -- four principals and their understudies, plus a 16-member adult chorus and 20 elite members of the Boston Children』s Chorus.

"We all sat poised for the conductor to begin the prologue of this completely virgin work," Charnow said by phone recently. "He started and the first singer began and we went on a two-hour journey of sumptuous music. There』s great drama and passion, some vocal fireworks. It was exciting, thrilling music."

Charnow said the score combined a Western vernacular within an Asian framework, which is typical of Zhou』s music. Even with just a pianist accompanying the singers during the run-through, she said, the music was moving and strong.

"I』ve never heard anything quite like it before," she said. "It』s elegant. It』s theatrical. It』s multi-textured."

The collaboration between Jacobs and Zhou seemed destined to work. Originally, a Boston friend approached Zhou and Chen about working on an opera. They weren』t sure if they had the time but thought they could do something small. The friend put them with Jacobs, and the three met for the first time in New York.

In the introductory small talk they found common ground: Each had been born in 1953 -- which, in the Chinese calendar, was a Year of the Snake. Bingo: Jacobs, a lawyer turned writer in Brookline, Mass., had already drafted a libretto for "Madame White Snake."

Chen begged off to work on her own projects, and Zhou took up the task of collaborating with Jacobs, line by line, to expand, revise and shape the structure and drama of the libretto as he wrote the score.

The work has a brief narrative prologue and an epilogue framing four acts. Each act, representing one of the four seasons, is introduced with an a cappella rendering by the children』s chorus of a T』ang Dynasty poem that Zhou had translated into English. It sounds like a lot, but the opera clocks in at only 108 minutes, Zhou said.

"Nobody wanted a lengthy opera," he said. "When I go to the opera house, I usually leave after an hour and a half."

Heading the cast of "Madame White Snake" is soprano Ying Huang, an increasingly sought-after performer. (This season alone she has sung Mozart in Hong Kong and Handel』s "Semele" in Brussels.)

In another bit of operatic rarity, the role of Xiao Qing, or Little Green, a rival snake turned human who is Madame White』s servant, will be sung by the male soprano Michael Maniaci. Zhou had imagined the role for a mezzo-soprano but, prompted by an old Chinese tradition that prohibited female performers on the stage, Chen suggested using a male singer in the role.

The Opera Boston team liked the idea.

"Cerise thought it would be interesting to have this gender play," Charnow said. "Michael is one of the only male sopranos in the world. It』s very unusual and very unique and fun to have him in it."

Because of the limited space in the pit of the historic Cutler Majestic Theater, Zhou was limited to a 34-piece orchestra. Included are traditional Western instruments as well as a couple of Chinese flutes and a two-stringed erhu, or bowed Chinese fiddle. The score will expand for the Beijing production in October.

Zhou got used to doing more with less during China』s Cultural Revolution of the early 1970s when he worked as a musician arranging for a countryside song and dance troupe.

During that period, which suppressed anything but traditional Chinese fare and folk music, Zhou arranged operatic works that used little more than a few fiddle players. "I would orchestrate it into a big sound," he said.

In 1977, as the Cultural Revolution ended, the Beijing Conservatory reopened and Zhou landed in its first class. That』s where he met Chen. Both wound up in New York in the 1980s, completing advanced degrees at Columbia University. Chen joined the UMKC faculty in 1998, and Zhou followed a few years later.

"As a teacher," said David McIntire, composer and member of the NewEar contemporary chamber ensemble in Kansas City, "he has exacting standards and a remarkable ability to see and hear the true implications of a student』s sketches. I often found that he knew more fully what I was trying to write than I did."

Of Zhou』s music, McIntire added, "What struck me most was the way he had been able to absorb traditional Chinese music, and then transform it into something new and powerful -- similar to what Bartok did with Hungarian and Transylvanian folk music. As a composer, I think his technique is absolutely outstanding and his ear for instrumental color is without peer. His musical style is certainly challenging, but I』ve observed firsthand that it connects with listeners in a very real and visceral way."

When the American Academy of Arts and Letters honored him in 2003, it stated: "Zhou Long has found a plausible, rigorous, and legitimate way of consolidating compositional methods and techniques that allow him to express brilliantly both his experiences as a composer of Western music and his considerable knowledge of his native China."

Although Zhou had written vocal music before, he is now happy to have his first opera under his belt. And he is satisfied with the course it took.

Listeners tend to be attracted to new operas by the music, not necessarily the story, Zhou said. "They want to know: Is it avant-garde, is it more traditional or melodic?"

Zhou believes he has struck a balance between a contemporary sound and tradition.

"You don』t want a new opera to sound like Puccini," he said. "Puccini』s great. You just cannot do better than that. And you don』t want it to sound like Broadway or a musical. ... So naturally for me, I didn』t want to make it too complex or too deep. But you have to make sure there』s something memorable -- some melody lines.

"It』s not simple music," he said, "but it』s not extreme."