试论音乐与文学的关系

刘红梅

Abstract：Music and literature are two inborn brothers， they supplement each other and interact with each other， they are the two basic measures that people use to seize the beauty of nature and life. When we make a brief review of the history of music and literature， we will easily find that there is close relationship between them. From ancient time， Middle Ages， “The Baroque Era” to the “Rococo Style”， Romanticism， music and literature developed in parallel. Music was directly influenced by literature and literature was reflected by music in turn. This mainly presented in the following aspects： 1. Music technique used the artistic concept of literature to draw a picture; 2. Many music was directly inspired by poems; 3. Large amount of literature works of famous poets was composed by musician; 4. Many drama literature were adapted to opera. This paper hopes to offer a new perspective in the future investigation of both music and literature research and teaching.

Key words：music; literature; corresponding relationship

Music is an art form of sound， it uses pitch， rhythm and tone to arouse peoples feeling， convey.

emotion and create an atmosphere. Literature is an art form of language， it uses the flow of the words to weave plots， and inform knowledge of culture and belief of human. Both of them are senses that directly touch peoples heart， they have the similar gene from their birth. If we integrate them together as their natural being， it will surely bring vibrant power. Actually， if we compare the history of music to history of literature， we will often sense their corresponding relationship. This paper tries to make a brief discussion of this relationship between music and literature.

Generally speaking， the ancient literature began from the epic， for example Iliad and Odyssey in Greece， Beowulf in England， Chanson de Roland in France， Nibelungenlied in Germany， although these epics appeared in different time， and the heroism the epic celebrated were not within the same period， they shared many similarities， for example， they were all handed down from generation to generation and combined with music and were sung by people. Among them， the Iliad and Odyssey in Greece were the most famous， and the artistic quality was the highest. It is generally considered that they were made by a blind musician called Homeros. In Middle Ages， the literature in Europe was Knight Poetry， and they were also sung by people. The content sung by those Knight Poet （called Minnesanger in Germany and Troubadour in France） includes long narrative poems and short lyrics. One of the most famous one in this period is Tristan Und Isolde， it is in praise of the irresistible force of love. The story originated from England and were adapted into court novel in France， when reaching Germany， it was adapted by knight poet into epic and later rewritten into opera Tristan Und Isolde by a 19th century musician Wilhelm Richard Wagner. In 19 th century， there were large number of opera creation， among which， many are adapted from the ancient and medieval legend and literature works. They are all combination of music and 1iterature， with the form of narrative poems， in ancient times， they were epic， in Middle Ages， they were Knight Poem， they were all first circulates orally and the written materials were recorded later.

In Middle Ages， Christianity used music and literature to preach creed and the Bible， strong hope-sang hyms became an essential ritual for priest and monks. In this process， music gradually developed from monophony to polyphony. After that， both the music and literature experienced Renaissance， when the religious reform changed with the characteristics of music and literature themselves.

“The Baroque Era”is a long-time-span era， and “The Baroque Era” of music is from 1600 to 1750， during this period， music and literature shared the same features， they were both developed at the historical background of Monarch Centralization and Absolute Monarchy， this decided that they had to cater the royal taste. In this period， music and literature both owned the property of court etiquette， using neat form to praise the remarkable administrative and military achievements of the Monarch. The French classic literature just has this features while in the area governed by Catholicism， music developed into Mass and Oratorio.

In the anaphase of “The Baroque Era” ， German recovered from the destruction of the war and the economy improved.  Philosopher Leibnitz led the philosophy of optimism ： “Monadology” and the so-called “preestablished harmony”. According to this point of view， people reached the optimistic conclusion that is “This world is the best world that God creates”， and as a result， there appeared many poems and arts praising secular life and worldly pleasure， they eulogize friendship， love and good wine. And in the meantime， in music， there came the “Rococo Style” or the “galant style”. This kind of music was not the ear-overwhelmed polyphony music any more， it now became a kind of light-hearted and ear-pleasure music. This again showed that music and literature would echo with each other under a same social environment.

As for the climax of classic German literature， represented by the poetry and drama of Goethe and Shiller， we can also find the counterpart in the climax of classic German music， represented by Viennese Classical School， including Haydn， Mozart and Beethoven.

Romanticism can be divided into three stages. The background of the early stage of Romanticism in music and literature was all after defeat of Napoleon and restoration of the feudal， youths feel disappointed and depressed， so the tune of both music and literature was not that high. For example， music Divertimento Die Schone Mullerin of Schubert.

The middle stage was climax in Romanticism development， the works from musician Robert Schumann， Franz Liszt， Frederic Chopin， Berlioz were all the positive， bold and unconstrained， and with fighting spirit while in literature， George Gordon Byron， Percy Bysshe Shelly， Heine were all famous revolutionalism， the background for music and literature was the Revolution of July in 1830 and revolution in 1848.

From the above， we can see， acturally， music and literature developed in parallel. Music was directly influenced by literature and literature was reflected by music in turn. This mainly presented in the following aspects.

1. Music technique used the artistic concept of literature to draw a picture. One day， Franz Seraphicus Peter Schubert was reading aloud the epic Der Erlkonig by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe excitedly， pacing the room， he suddenly sat down and anxiously took pen and paper to create the song with an amazing speed， Schubert dedicated this song to the 66 year-old Goethe， and the great poet was too proud to believe that this young man in his sad days could create a melody for the essence of the poem. Until in his 81 years-old， Goethe listened to it in one concert， he was deeply moved and convinced and made a long time standing ovation with tears pouring down on his cheek. But at that time， Schubert had already passed away for two years.

In this melody， Schubert used the wind， chip-clop of the horses hooves， luring sound of Erlenkonig， and the sound of crying for help made by the child to create the atmosphere and the picture.

2. Many music was inspired by poems. For example， The Ballades of Fryderyk Fanciszek Chopin was inspired by the Conrad Warren Lord written by Polish poet and revolutionist of Adam Mickiewicz. Whats more almost all the symphonic poems of List were the musical version of literature works from poets and writers including Lamartin， Victor Hugo， and Goethe. Harold in Italy made by Hector Louis Berlioz was inspired by George Gordon Byron and La Damnation De Faust was inspired by Goethe.

3. Large amount of literature works of famous poets was composed by musician. They tapped the meaning behind the words， and wrote the music with literature techniques， making the music become another poem outside the poem itself. For example， Die schone Mullerin and Winterreise of Schubert were adapted from Wilhelm Mullers poems， and A Womans Love and Life （Frauenliebe and Leben） of Schumann were made out of Adelbert von Chamisso （a Germany poet and biologist）. Others include Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Johannes Brahms.

4. Many drama literature were adapted to opera， for example， Tristan Und Isolde and Der Fliegende Hollande of Wagner;La Traviata， Macbeth， and King Lear of Claudio Monteverdi， Carmen of Georges Bizet;Salome of Richard Strauss.

From the above， we can see literature has close relationship with music. If we combine them together to make a further investigation， maybe it will benefit for our research and teaching in both music and literature area.