Musique, ma patrie ! #95では、フランツ・リスト(Franz Liszt)の《天より来たりし者よ(Der du von dem Himmel bist)》(*1)が紹介される。キット・アームストロングは、作曲とは「まだ存在しない音楽」を作ることというよりも、書き留めたアイデアを内面で繰り返し聴き、その意味を探っていく行為だと述べる。(*2)彼によれば、作曲家はまず音型を書き留め、それを心の中で何度も鳴らしながら、「この音楽は何を求めているのか」「何を恐れ、何を愛しているのか」を問い続ける。その過程の中で作品は変化し成長していく。リストのこの作品も、初期稿ではピアノ伴奏付き歌曲としては不自然な部分を抱えていたが、後年、より適切な声楽的発想へと書き換えられた。同じ旋律や着想を用いながらも、媒体が変わることで作品全体の性格が変化していくのである。ここでの音楽は、内的聴覚によって成長し続ける存在として提示される。
①hello ladies and gentlemen this weekend i shall be departing again to a land which I haven't seen for a while that of giving live concerts. 〔shall be departing「旅立つことになる」〕〔for a while「しばらくの間」〕〔live concerts「生演奏のコンサート」〕②it seems a peculiar thing what i've been doing here —communicating music from a place where no music is made.〔peculiar「奇妙な、不思議な」〕〔communicate music「音楽を伝える」〕〔a place where no music is made「音楽が作られていない場所」〕③but actually, there's so much to think about and to share and there's so much in music making that is not about the moment in which music is made. 〔music making「音楽作り、演奏活動」〕〔not about ~「〜だけに関するものではない」〕④in my last few videos i have talked quite a bit about music as it exists in one's mental imagination. 〔quite a bit「かなり多く」〕〔mental imagination「精神的想像、心の中のイメージ」〕⑤for me, that is where my work as a musician is primarily done. 〔primarily「主に」〕⑥primarily except for what we call delivery I suppose —turning a vision into a sequence of sounds reaching a room full of receptive spirits. 〔delivery「伝達、実際の演奏による提示」〕〔turn A into B「AをBへ変える」〕〔sequence of sounds「音の連なり」〕〔receptive spirits「感受性を持った精神、聴衆」〕⑦delivery has a lot to do with experience.〔have a lot to do with ~「〜と大きく関係する」〕⑧one notices then and again that something feels different from how it actually sounds or that what one imagines perfectly well doesn't actually work in physical reality. 〔then and again「時折」〕〔physical reality「物理的現実」〕〔work「機能する」〕⑨with experience one can correct the likely errors before one even sees the instrument. 〔likely errors「起こりそうな誤差」〕〔before one even sees ~「〜を見る前からすでに」〕⑩the same thing happens in composition perhaps even more markedly. 〔markedly「著しく、顕著に」〕⑪composing as i know it is firstly an exercise in hearing a music score while reading it. 〔exercise「訓練、実践」〕〔music score「楽譜」〕⑫that sounds a bit nonsensical isn't composing about making the score where there is so far none?〔nonsensical「奇妙な、筋が通らない」〕〔so far none「まだ存在しない」〕⑬well it usually goes like this in practice. 〔in practice「実際には」〕⑭one writes down an idea, then plays it internally to oneself again and again, and asks oneself what does it mean? 〔write down an idea「アイデアを書き留める」〕〔internally「内的に、頭の中で」〕〔again and again「何度も繰り返し」〕〔what does it mean?「これは何を意味するのか?」〕⑮it is through getting to know what is in this idea, what it wants, what it loves, what it fears, that composition proceeds. 〔through ~ing「〜することによって」〕〔composition proceeds「作曲が進行する」〕⑯that seems to be what happened to liszt in this song. 〔what happened to ~「〜に起こったこと」〕⑰a wonderful piece of music — ideas that really have the right feeling, which the process of composition captures and develops perfectly, but for the wrong instrument. 〔capture and develop「捉え、発展させる」〕〔the wrong instrument「不適切な楽器」〕⑱these ideas, when played on the piano evoke the emotional world beautifully, but when sung they don't really bring the right thing across. 〔evoke「呼び起こす」〕〔emotional world「感情世界」〕〔bring across「伝える」〕⑲many years later Liszt made a new version, the song that we know and love, with the same tunes, same ideas. 〔many years later「何年も後に」〕〔new version「新しい版」〕⑳I think I can imagine quite sympathetically the thought process. 〔thought process「思考過程」〕〔sympathetically「共感的に」〕㉑it's the same ideas, but play them to yourself over and over again with a more realistic idea of how they sound on the instrument or voice that you're thinking of, and they will suggest a different thing. 〔over and over again「何度も繰り返して」〕〔realistic idea「現実的なイメージ」〕〔suggest「示唆する」〕㉒and they will inspire in you a different compositional creation. 〔inspire「触発する」〕〔compositional creation「作曲的創造」〕㉓so, here's the first version on the piano.〔first version「最初の版」〕㉔it is really too beautiful to go to waste and just be superseded by that later version which is a better song. 〔too beautiful to go to waste「埋もれさせるには美しすぎる」〕〔be superseded by ~「〜に取って代わられる」〕〔later version「後の版」〕 出典元(音声)Liszt : Der du von dem Himmel bist | Musique, ma patrie !