In terms of the relationship between Western music and the Bible, it can be said that the two nourish and enhance each other. The Hebrews recorded in the "Old Testament" were originally a people who liked music. Christianity inherited the music tradition of the Hebrew people and became a "singing religion". , four-line notation, stave, all derived from biblical music. To some extent, Western classical music originated from Christian music.
Pre-Renaissance Biblical Music: The Mainstream of Western Music After
Christianity gained official status in AD 313, the church paid more attention to the role of music in spreading the Bible and uniting the emotions of believers. The early names in history were all church musicians. Some church leaders, such as Bishop Ambrose of Milan (333?-397) and Pope Gregory I of Rome (540?-604), wrote "Psalms". The emergence of the "Gregory Chant", which is known by the latter name, marks the birth of Western music art. A cappella chant was the most important polyphonic music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Beginning with the Renaissance, a cappella chants were gradually performed in non-ecclesiastical settings, conveying secular themes.
The religious reform movement in the 16th century led to the advent of the Bible translation in the national language, the lyrics of the Bible music also broke the situation of Latin dominance, and the Bible music sung in the national language appeared. Martin Luther, in collaboration with composer John Walter, collected, arranged and composed many liturgical songs for Protestant ceremonies. Calvin advocated that the "Psalms" should be translated into metrical poems and sung specially by someone to accompany them. In 1600, Cavalieri composed the first "Holy Play".
Post-Renaissance Biblical Music: Diverse Themes and Profound Philosophy After the
Renaissance , the theological status of the Bible continued to decline, while the status of the humanities continued to rise. Consistent with this, the musicians integrated the music with local or national characteristics of the original local churches, incorporated people into a larger musical cultural unity, and evolved into one of the large-scale vocal and instrumental performance forms. In this way, music based on the Bible goes beyond the purely religious meaning, has a profound philosophy, and reflects more themes.
By the 17th century, "oratorios" appeared in two languages: Latin oratorios in prose, sung in aristocratic chapels; Italian oratorios, in verse, for the general public. Oratorio is centered on chorus, and chorus is dominant. Chorus guides the dramatic development of music. Karisimi composed more than ten Latin oratorios, including "Jephthah", "Jonah" and "The Judgment of Solomon".
Among the biblical oratorio composers, there are many famous ones. Such as the German-British musician Handel (1685-1759)'s "Messiah", all the lyrics are written according to the relevant chapters of the Bible. The play has a total of 57 sub-pieces, including 20 mixed chorus of four parts and one mixed chorus of five parts. Handel has mastered all the art of choral writing, and is capable of producing a wide variety of acoustic effects, sometimes very strong, sometimes very weak. When strengthening the movement, the polyphonic technique is used to write, and the polyphonic and tonal techniques are used alternately or in combination. All of this, Handel has done handy in "Messiah", creating an extremely lofty realm. "Messiah" has long been a repertoire of Western classical music, and will be staged in various concerts, religious celebrations, and important occasions.
In the 18th century, the German Protestant Bach (1685-1750), who created a new era of European music history and was known as the father of European music, created the famous "Passion", which brought "Baroque" music to its peak. In the 1720s, "The Passion of Matthew" was highly praised by well-known musicians such as Mendelssohn after it was staged in Leipzig, Germany. Since then, it has become an enduring program in Western concerts and church music activities. In addition, Austrian musicians Haydn (1732-1809) and Mozart (1756-1791) also created a large number of famous oratorios with the theme of the Bible.
In the 19th century, the era of classical music came to an end. However, getting inspiration from the Bible, expressing one's attitude towards the world with music on the theme of the Bible, and expressing one's own musical style and musical spirit, seemed to have become the creative practice of great musicians. Many music and art treasures are drawn from the Bible and become masterpieces handed down from generation to generation. Such as Beethoven's works "Thanksgiving", "Christ on the Mount of Olives" and "Solemn Mass". "Ode to Joy" in D major, 4/4 time, written between 1819 and 1824, is the peak and summary of Beethoven's entire musical career. This is a huge variation, full of solemn religious color, magnificent momentum, is a model of the collaboration between vocals and symphony orchestra. Through many variations on this theme, the music finally reached a climax, and also reached the peak of Beethoven's music creation. During this period, among the famous songs that emerged around the world, it is worth mentioning that the march "The Star-Spangled Banner Never Falls" composed in 1897 by American composer Philip Sousa (1854-1932), known as the "national anthem" of the United States (The Stars and Stripes Forever). The reason why Americans call this song a "hymn" is not because the march is based on the Bible, but because this song embodies the musical style and musical spirit of the hymn advocated by the Bible: with majestic momentum and enthusiasm His emotions sing praises to his country and army, with the sacredness, solemnity, beauty and charisma of religious chants. During U.S. President Richard Nixon's first visit to China in 1972, the band played "The Star-Spangled Banner", and the audience responded enthusiastically.
After the 20th century, there has been a trend of diversification in Western music. During this process, classical music was impacted by popular music, and biblical music works were withdrawn from the mainstream of creation, but were still an important part of it. Such as the German opera "Salome" by Richard Strauss, the French opera "Judith" and "King David" by Hognegg, the "Christmas Carol Ritual" by Britten in the United Kingdom, and the Austrian Schoenberg The opera "Moses and Aaron", Bernstein's "Jeremiah Symphony" and so on.
Contemporary Biblical Music: Components and Supplements to Popular Music
Contemporary musicians not only have more advanced and expressive musical tools than their predecessors, but also bring contemporary interpretations of biblical thought. They did not express their unique understanding of the content of the Bible through the music language and means full of new trends and characteristics of the times, and made it fully displayed in film music, pop music and Bible musicals.
In 20th Century Fox's 1951 color film "David and Bathsheba," there is a scene where King David (played by Gregory Peck) strokes the harp and recalls his childhood from an ordinary The shepherd became the king of Israel and could not help plucking the strings and reciting Psalm 23 passionately: "The Lord is my shepherd, I will not want..." In fact, there are many people from different countries, Musicians and believers from different cultural backgrounds use their own languages (translations) and musical styles to interpret the sense of intimacy, trust and dependence of "sheep and shepherd" conveyed by this psalm. Countless people have heard the music with the lyrics of this psalm, and countless listeners and singers are also moved from the bottom of their hearts.
Another well-known psalm is the 137th poem, which expresses the strong emotion of the "Babylonian prisoner" missing his homeland, swearing to the death, and sticking to his faith. Both Bach and Czech composer Dvorak (1841-1904) wrote scripture songs in this poem. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, "Rivers of Babylon" (Rivers of Babylon), sung by the British band Boney M, swept Europe, and immediately became one of the favorite English songs of young people and college students after it spread to China: By therivers of Babylon/ There we sat down yeahwe wept/When we remembered Zion... The words and phrases of the original text and the sonorous disco drum beats caused the excitement of countless youthful blood.
In recent years, large-scale "Bible Musicals" have also emerged. This is a musical based on the Bible.
评论
发表评论