英语口语畅谈世界文化之奥地利09:Mozart 莫扎特

英语口语畅谈世界文化

之奥地利09:Mozart 莫扎特

U: Uncle      N: Niece
U：叔叔       N：侄女

N:  Uncle Jeremy, what's that beautiful music you're listening to? i mean,  it sounds ~familiar, but I don't know what it is.
N:杰里米叔叔，你在听什么美妙的音乐？我是说，听起来那么耳熟，可就是不知道是什么曲子。

U: It's Mozart, Katie. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This piece is called Lucio Silla and was written in around 1770.
U:凯蒂，这是莫扎特的曲子，沃尔夫冈•阿玛多伊斯•莫扎特。这是他的歌剧<卢齐奥•西拉》，大约写于1770年。

N: Wow! That's a long time ago. I think it's unbelievable that we still listen to his music today. Didn't he start composing when he was 2 years old or something?
N：哇，那是很早以前的曲子了。现在我们还听他的音乐，真太令人难以置信了。他是不是2岁左右就开始作曲了？

U: Actually he was 5 years old, but yes, he was very young indeed.  When he was 6 he played for the Bavarian Elector and Empress.
U:实际上，那时他5岁了，不过年纪确实很小。他6岁时就为巴伐利亚选帝侯和王后演奏曲目。．

N: That's amazing! When I was 6 years old, I was playing with dolls, not performing in public to famous people.
N:真了不起！我6岁时在玩洋姓娃，而不是在公共场合给名人表演节目。

U: His father decided he should cash-in on Wolfgang's talents, so the family set off- on a trip which took them to London and Paris.
U:他父亲认定应该及时利用沃尔夫冈的天才赚钱，所以全家动身去伦敦和巴黎旅行。

N: So, his father wanted to make some money and took Mozart all over the world to play in public.
N:那就是说他父亲想要挣钱，于是就带着莫扎特去世界各地公开演出。

U: He played for the English and French royal families, who were astonished by his talents. After that, they headed for Vienna.
U:他为英法两国的皇室演奏，这些人却被他的天才惊呆了。此后，他们又去了维也纳。

N: He must have had a very busy life as a child. Where was he when he wrote the piece we are listening to now?
N：对他这样一个孩子来说，日子一定过得非常繁忙。你现在听的这首曲子，是他在哪儿写的？

U: He was in Italy at that time, acquainting himself with Italian styles.  During that visit he also wrote Mitridate, which is also an opera and a serenata for performance in Milan.
U:当时他在意大利，正在努力熟悉意大利的风格。在那段访问期间，他还写了《米特里达特》，这也是为米兰演出而写的歌剧和合唱剧。

N:He must have still been a teenager at that time, maybe a little younger than me. I was scared when I moved away to go to university, but he had been working around the world before he was 18.
N：那时，他一定还是个十几岁的孩子，也许比我的年龄还小一点。我离开家去上大学时还害怕呢，可是他却不到18岁已经在世界各地演出了。

U:Then, in 1773 he went to Vienna again, where he wrote a sec of-string quartets and, on his return, wrote a group of symphonies including his two earliest, No.  25 in G- Minor and
U:后来在1773年，他又去了维也纳，在那里写出了一组弦乐四重奏曲。回来后，又写了一组交响曲，包括他最早的两个曲目：《G小调第25号交响曲》和《A大调第29号交响曲》。

N: When did he die? Was he old?
N：他什么时候去世的？年纪很大吗？

U: He died in 1791 and was buried in a Vienna suburb, with little ceremony and in an unmarked grave.
U:他1791年去世，当时没有举行什么仪式，就埋在了维也纳郊区一个不被人注意的坟墓里。

N:He died young, must have been because his life was so busy.
N:他英年早逝一定是因为他生活节奏太快了。

【单词词组讲解】
cash-in及时抓住赚钱机会
string quartets交响曲
set off 出发，动身   
head for 出发，前往
unmarked grave不被人注意的坟墓

【背景介绍】
选帝候：神圣罗马帝国(955-1806)中参与选举皇帝的诸候。13世纪时有7名，分别是3个教会诸侯：美茨大主救，抖隆大主牧，辩里尔大主救，和4个世俗诸侯：萨克森公爵．勃兰登堡潘候．谱法尔茨伯爵，以波希来亚国王。后数目所增加。1806年神圣罗马帝灭亡．随之取消

沃尔夫冈·阿马德乌斯·莫扎特（德语：Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart，1756年1月27日－1791年12月5日），出生于萨尔兹堡，逝世于维也纳，是欧洲最伟大的古典主义音乐作曲家之一。35岁便英年早逝的莫扎特，留下的重要作品总括当时所有的音乐类型。根据当代的考证显示，在钢琴和小提琴相关的创作，他无疑是一个天份极高的艺术家，谱出的协奏曲、交响曲、奏鸣曲、小夜曲、嬉游曲等等成为后来古典音乐的主要形式，他同时也是歌剧方面的专家，他的成就至今不朽于时代的变迁。