女中豪杰（一）

小瓊：为了迎接3月的国际妇女节，我最近在钻研歌剧当中那些难忘的“女性角色”。不知为何，多尼采蒂《军中女郎》中的主角玛丽是我第一个想到的角色。

小薇：多尼采蒂的这部美声歌剧极为赏心悦目，不仅在世界上广受好评，在国内也有很高的人气，是北京国家大剧院重演次数最多的作品之一。而我在网上搜索了一下，发现这部歌剧的原创故事曾经被多次改编为电影！

小琼：这部歌剧（法语原题作 La fille du regiment）1840年首演时堪称“第一”，是多尼采蒂创作的第一部法语歌剧，也是他在时尚之都巴黎的首次亮相。他原本希望在巴黎创作一部严肃歌剧，但计划一直停滞不前，他因此迅速调整了创作方向。很难相信，《军中女郎》的首演非常失败，连艾克托尔·柏辽兹都给出了差评。

小薇：然而这部“孤女”勇于寻找真爱、战胜与自己贵族家人团聚的“幸运”命运的喜剧却很能引发观众的共鸣。当时的人们一定非常支持女性“脱离自身阶层”并“为真爱结婚”。

小琼：我做了更多的研究，发现基于这个故事改编的第一部电影竟然是无声的！这部1929年英德合拍的电影是一部默片。

小薇：以音色为主要欣赏标准的歌剧成为无声的电影默片的灵感来源，这听起来是有点讽刺。我倒是想到一个相反的例子：1925年的默片《剧院魅影》提供了安德鲁·洛伊德·韦伯的创作灵感，这部长寿的同名音乐剧在百老汇取得了巨大成功。

小琼：下一部《军中女郎》的电影版本就开始有声音了。这部电影1933年拍摄于德国，被打上了“纳粹电影”的标签，今天在市面上很少见到。1953年，又根据这个故事拍出了两部电影！

小薇：如今我们很幸运，可以轻松欣赏到“歌剧电影”，感受多尼采蒂音乐的魅力。我在网上搜索，很快就找到了近几十年的几部明星云集的优秀制作，有贝弗利·希尔斯的（1974年，狼阱歌剧节，英语演唱），还有琼·萨瑟兰的（1986年，悉尼歌剧院）。两位首席女演员都堪称传奇。今天，我们还可以在网上在线欣赏娜塔莉·德赛在大都会歌剧院高清系列中演绎的玛丽。

Joan： In preparation for March （when we celebrate International Womens Day） I was delving into memorable “female characters” in opera， and somehow Marie， the title character of Donizettis The Daughter of the Regiment， is the first that comes to mind！

Valery： Donizettis superbly entertaining bel canto opera has been a favorite all over the world. It is also popular in China， having been one of the most revived productions at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. But when I searched online， I discovered the original story from the opera was made into film not just once， but many times！

Joan： When the opera （original French title La fille du regiment） premiered in 1840， it was a “first，” marking the debut of Donizetti in fashionable Paris with his first opera sung in French. He was in Paris to write a serious opera， but plans had been stalled， so he quickly switched gears. Believe it or not， the premiere was a failure. Among the nasty reviews was one by Hector Berlioz！

Valery： Yet this comedy about an “orphaned” girl finding true love and overcoming her “lucky” fate of reuniting with her noble family really caught on with the audience. People must have been rooting for a woman who can “break out of her class” and “marry for love.”

Joan： I did some more research and discovered the first film based on this story did not have any sound！ This British-German production， made in 1929， was a silent film.

Valery： It is ironic that an opera inspired something that was silent. I can only think of something in reverse： how the 1925 silent film Phantom of the Opera became the inspiration of the Broadway success by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Joan： The next film version of The Daughter of the Regiment was already a “talkie.” Released in 1933 and produced in Germany， it was branded as “Nazi film”and is rarely seen today. And in 1953 two more films were made based on this story！

Valery： Luckily we can easily enjoy “opera films”and marvel at Donizettis music. I searched online and immediately located amazing star-studded productions of the past few decades， from Beverly Sills（singing in English at the Wolf Trap Festival， 1974） to Joan Sutherland （at Sydney Opera House， 1986）. Both operatic prima donnas were legendary in their own rights. These days， we can also stream Natalie Dessay singing Marie at the Metropolitan HD series.