柴可夫斯基:命途多舛的音樂天才

俄羅斯浪漫樂派作曲家柴可夫斯基（1840-1893）可說是全世界最受歡迎的古典作曲家。他的音樂具有強烈的感染力，充滿激情，樂章抒情又華麗，並帶有強烈的管絃樂風格。然而這些都反映出作曲家極端情緒化、憂鬱敏感的性格特徵——會突然萎靡不振，又會突然充滿樂觀精神。　　柴可夫斯基的一生幾乎可以用來拍攝一部好萊塢電影——他與導師安東·魯賓斯坦關係緊張；與崇拜者的一段錯誤的婚姻令他精神崩潰並試圖自殺；他與資助人梅克夫人在13年裏只通信而未曾見面，還有他的同性戀傾向……種種經歷加上敏感脆弱的性格令他過早地衰老。五十歲的他已經白髮蒼蒼，步履蹣跚。可以說，柴可夫斯基的生活是不快樂的，他的一生深受壓抑和神經衰弱的折磨。不過也許正因爲如此，他纔會將所有的情緒都傾注到音樂當中。

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born to a fairly wealthy middle class family. His father, Ilya Petrovich married Alexandra and the two had two sons, Pyotr and Modest. Pyotr was a 1)precocious child, having learned to read French and German by the age of six. A year later, he was writing French 2)verses. The family hired a 3)governess to keep watch over the children, and she often 4)referred to Tchaikovsky as the “5)porcelain child.” Tchaikovsky was very 6)sensitive to music and was placed into piano lessons at a young age. He would complain at night that the music in his head would not let him sleep.

彼得·伊里奇·柴可夫斯基出生於一個頗爲富有的中產家庭。他的父親伊利亞·彼得羅維奇娶了亞歷山德拉，兩人育有兩子——彼得和莫傑斯特。彼得是一個早熟的孩子，六歲時就能夠讀法語和德語。一年後，他已經可以用法語寫詩。家裏請了一位家庭教師看管孩子，她常常稱柴可夫斯基爲“瓷器做的孩子”。柴可夫斯基對音樂十分敏感，小小年紀就被安排去上鋼琴課。他常在晚上抱怨說腦中的音樂讓他無法入睡。

When Tchaikovsky was ten years old, his family 7)enrolled him into the School of 8)Jurisprudence for a career in 9)civil service, not fully 10)comprehending his remarkable musical talent. Because the minimum acceptance age was 12, he was sent to 11)boarding school. After turning 12, he entered into the senior classes at the school. Apart from singing in 12)choir, he did not seriously study music. It wasn’t until after he graduated in 1859 that he began to study music. In 1862, Tchaikovsky began taking classes with Nikolai Zaremba at the St. Petersburg 13)Conservatory. In 1863, Tchaikovsky quit his job as clerk at the Ministry of Justice.

在柴可夫斯基十歲那年，家人將他送到法學院學習，以便日後從事公務員的工作——他們沒有意識到他的音樂天賦有多驚人。由於入讀的最小年齡是12歲，於是他被送到寄宿學校。滿12歲後，他進入了學校的高年班。除了在唱詩班唱歌以外，他沒有進行正規的音樂學習。在1859年畢業後，他纔開始學習音樂。1862年起，柴可夫斯基在聖彼得堡音樂學院跟隨尼古拉?扎連芭學習。1863年，柴可夫斯基辭去了在司法部的書記工作。

After quitting his job, Tchaikovsky devoted his life to music. Under the 14)mentorship of Anton Rubinstein (director of the conservatory), Tchaikovsky went through the conservatory’s 15)curriculum.

辭職後，柴可夫斯基全心全意地投入到音樂當中。在安東?魯賓斯坦（音樂學院院長）的指導下，柴可夫斯基完成了學院的課程。

Aside from musical studies, he also studied conducting. Tchaikovsky had an 16)immense fear of it and would often hold his chin with his left hand while conducting after once imagining his head falling off his shoulders. Though he was not the best conductor, he was one of the best music students. In 1866, Tchaikovsky took a job as a 17)harmony teacher for the Moscow Conservatory with Rubenstein’s 18)recommendation.

除了學習音樂，他還學習指揮。柴可夫斯基對指揮有着極大的恐懼。有一次他想象着自己的頭從肩上掉下來，此後他在指揮時常常用左手托住下巴。雖然他不是最優秀的指揮家，但依然是音樂系最好的學生之一。1866年，在魯賓斯坦的推薦下，柴可夫斯基接受了莫斯科音樂學院和聲教授一職。

In 1868, he had a brief 19)flirtation with 20)soprano Desiree Artot, but she later married a Spanish 21)baritone. Though his personal life may have been unsuccessful, Tchaikovsky was steadily completing composition after composition. In 1875, Tchaikovsky’s world 22)premiere of his third 23)symphony was given in Boston on October 25th and was conducted by Hans von Bulow. Despite there being pockets of opposition towards his music, his works and 24)reputation began to spread across Europe.

1968年，他與女高音狄希耶·雅朵有過一段短暫的羅曼史，但她後來嫁給了一名西班牙男中音。儘管個人生活不太如意，柴可夫斯基還是創作出一首又一首的作品。1875年10月25日，柴可夫斯基的第三號交響曲在波士頓進行全球首演，由漢斯·馮·比洛指揮。儘管有一小撮人對他的音樂表示反感，他的作品和名聲開始席捲歐洲。

In 1877, Tchaikovsky married Antonina Miliukova, his former student at the conservatory who declared her love for him. It has been suggested that she reminded him of Tatiana, a character in his opera Eugene Onegin. But the marriage failed after a few months with Tchaikovsky unable to return his wife’s 25)affection. He was very 26)distraught and even tried to drown himself in the river.

1877年，柴可夫斯基迎娶了安東妮雅·米露可娃。她以前是柴可夫斯基在音樂學院的學生，曾經對他示愛。據說她令柴可夫斯基想到其歌劇《葉甫蓋尼·奧涅金》裏面的一個角色——塔季揚娜。然而幾個月後，這段婚姻以失敗告終，因爲柴可夫斯基無法迴應妻子的愛。思緒煩亂的柴可夫斯基甚至試圖投河自殺。

During the same year of his disastrous marriage, Tchaikovsky also entered into another relationship—only instead of meeting face to face, they communicated through letters. This worked out very well for him given his extreme shyness. The woman was Nadezhda von Meck. Though it is unclear why she did not want to meet him, she sent him money as she greatly admired his work. They exchanged well over 1,000 letters between 1877 and 1890. In these letters, Tchaikovsky was more open about much of his life and his creative 27)processes than he had been to any other person.

在這段不幸的婚姻的同一年，柴可夫斯基還發展了另一段關係——只是他們並沒有見面，而是通過書信來往。鑑於他極度羞澀，這種方式很適合他。這名對象是娜蒂契達·馮·梅克。雖然人們不大清楚她爲何不想跟他見面，但由於她十分推崇柴可夫斯基的作品，她不斷給他寄錢。在1877年至1890年間，他們的通信多達一千多封。在這些信件中，柴可夫斯基能夠更加隨意地討論自己的生活和創作過程，他對其他人從未如此坦誠。

Despite what it seemed on the outside, inside Tchaikovsky was emotionally troubled, weeping and doubting himself very often, and took to alcohol as a form of relief.

儘管外表光鮮，其實柴可夫斯基的內心備受情感的折磨，經常痛苦流淚，並質疑自己，還會借酒消愁。

After enjoying numerous successes and frequent travels, Tchaikovsky’s money and letters from Meck came to a 28)halt. In 1890, she claimed to be broke, though that wasn’t the case. It wasn’t the loss of the money that had greatly upset him, it was the sudden 29)termination of his emotional 30)companion of 13 years. This was a 31)blow for the already emotionally sensitive composer.

柴可夫斯基享受了成功的滋味，經常出行表演，後來梅克夫人的錢和信都終止了。1890年，她聲稱破產，雖然事實並非如此。金錢的損失不是問題，令他傷心欲絕的是突然失去相伴了13的情感伴侶。這對原本就情感脆弱的作曲家來說是一次打擊。

Throughout Tchaikovsky’s last years, he was continually 32)plagued by anxiety and depression.

縱觀柴可夫斯基的晚年，焦慮和抑鬱一直令他備受折磨。

Though there are many rumors about Tchaikovsky’s cause of death, the most widely accepted explanation is that he died of 33)cholera after drinking a glass of water that wasn’t boiled. He died nine days after the premiere of his Sixth Symphony, the Pathétique.

雖然關於柴可夫斯基的死因有很多傳言，但最被廣泛接受的解釋是他在喝了沒燒過的水後死於霍亂。柴可夫斯基在其第六交響曲——《悲愴》首演的九天後去世。