Symphony, or symphonic music, in a broad sense, can include all instrumental works played by large orchestras at symphonic concerts. The original usage of the word symphony is also very confusing. Etymologically, the original Greek symphony only refers to "syn" and "phone", while in the Middle Ages, it refers to the harmonious combination of two sounds, including early vocal or instrumental works, or the harmonious combination of several sounds on some instruments (such as bagpipes and accordions). /kloc-At the end of 0/6th century, any musical instrument inserted into drama (including opera and divine drama) was called symphony. Symphony, similar to today's concept, is produced in the change of musical style, that is, the decline of baroque style and the vigorous rise of classical style. That was in the 17 and 18 centuries. Symphony and sonata influenced each other in their respective development processes, so that they almost reached the same level. The final sonata (modern translation sonata) refers to a multi-movement work played by one instrument (such as harpsichord) or two instruments (such as violin and harpsichord). Sonatas played by three instruments are called trio, and sonatas played by four instruments are called quartet. Therefore, in a broad sense, a symphony is a sonata played by a band. Symphony is the most important genre in symphony music, and it is also an indispensable part of symphony concert. Because symphonic concerts often include symphonic poems, symphonic suites, concertos and so on. Now people tend to classify these music types into the category of symphonic music, that is to say, the word symphony is widely applicable to all instrumental works played in symphonic concerts.

What is a symphony?

Symphony is a large-scale instrumental suite that shapes the musical image and reflects the composer's inner feelings and thoughts by comprehensively using and excavating the expressive force and expressive force of various musical instruments. Played by the symphony orchestra, it is essentially a "sonata" of the symphony orchestra, but it is more expressive and imposing than the sonata.

Symphony is an important musical form in the history of music development. The word "symphony" originated from ancient Greece, which means "chorus". The early symphonies evolved from the Italian opera overture ending in 17, and the structure of the overture "Allegro-Adagio-Allegro" laid the foundation for the divertimento form of the symphony. Overture symphony gradually broke away from opera in the18th century, absorbed other instrumental factors, and developed into an independent three-movement instrumental genre, still belonging to small bands or instrumental ensembles; After a lot of creative practice by Haydn and Mozart, the standard symphony, namely the classical symphony, was finally established. It includes four movements: the first movement, Allegro, sonata form; The second movement, Adagio (or a little slower), expresses emotion in the form of abbreviated sonata, three steps, three steps and variations; The third movement, Allegro (or slightly faster), minuet; The fourth movement, Allegro (or Allegro), Rondo, Rondo and so on. In addition, the overall tonal layout, harmonic structure, the contrast and balance between movements, the combination of musical instruments and scales in the band have been standardized and basically shaped.

Under Beethoven's rule, the symphony has been fully developed, with the beginning and end of music, strong theme contrast, dynamic harmony, and scherzo instead of minuet in the third movement, all of which are concrete manifestations of Beethoven's deepening symphony genre. His Third Symphony brought the symphony into a new stage of romantic symphony in the19th century.

/kloc-the greatest feature of romantic symphonies in the 0/9th century is its outstanding personality, which also determines that symphonies in this period have different degrees of innovation in content, form and skills, and there have been lyric symphonies that won by singing melody-The Unfinished Symphony by Austrian composer Schubert and Fantasia by French composer Berlioz. A new symphony genre "symphonic poem" also came into being. At the same time, national symphonies of various countries have mushroomed. Linsky Kosakov of Russia, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, dvorak of Czech Republic and sibelius of Finland all created symphonies with strong national style. The number of symphonies in this period is more or less, not limited to four movements, and the band organization sometimes changes. The famous symphonies mainly include the 45th Symphony (Farewell) by Austrian composer Haydn, the 94th Symphony (Astonishment), 10 1 Symphony (Clock), Mozart's 40th Symphony and 41st Symphony (Jupiter), and German composer Beethoven's 3rd Symphony (Symphony).

How to enjoy the symphony (1)

Many listeners often ask: Symphony is difficult to understand, so you'd better explain it to me clearly. What's the show here? What's the show there?

Music depends more on our imagination than on specifics. For example, the last paragraph of Rossini's opera William Tell is about defeating the enemy. Its theme is very similar to the rhythm of horseshoe "dadada, dadada", and we will definitely associate it with: Oh, this may be the army, but the cavalry is running. Music itself can't see horses at all, nor can it see running. It just generates associations from the rhythm. And this association must have a specific condition, that is, the horse must be running. If the horse doesn't run and stands there, the music can't be expressed.

How do you know if it's a horse or a cow? Or something else?

It can be seen that the descriptive narrative of music is very limited, limited to those objective things with acoustics, rhythm and dynamics, that is, things in motion. Because music is the art of sound and hearing, it exists in the movement of sound. If sound and action are not involved, it is more difficult for music to "describe" these two characteristics. So the specialty of music is not description, nor narration, but lyricism. For example, when we are excited and nervous, our heart beats faster. When music expresses this emotion, it can adopt a tense and relatively fast rhythm; If you are calm, you will naturally relax and slow down, so the rhythm and speed of music will also slow down. Music has another feature. For example, when expressing sadness, anxiety, pain, anger and anger, it can be expressed in a subtle way and at multiple levels. In the third movement of the first symphony, I wrote a passage to describe the pain with the wailing of traditional opera. If you are familiar with the wailing of China traditional opera, it will sound associative.

Music is written through the composer's subjective feelings, so it is very subjective. And those who listen should also give full play to their subjective initiative. Music creation is somewhat different from other arts. Literature has written a novel, and its creation has been completed. It is not enough to write a script for a play. It needs to be executed. This is the second creation. What about the music? In addition to this second creation, there is a third creation, that is, how the audience appreciates and understands this work, that is to say, the audience should also participate in this creation, so that the creative process of such a musical work can be considered complete.

Some listeners also asked the question: How does music describe the outside world? How to write about the sea? Here are two typical examples to see how composers describe the sea.

One is Rimsky-Korsakov's Arabian Nights, the first chapter describes the sea. The introduction of this movement has two themes, one is to represent Sudan-Shahria, which is a very rude image; The other is the image of princess "Shehrachard". Curiously, these two themes later became the image of the sea. How can people become the sea? If we listen to this piece of music, we will find that it is the ups and downs of the music melody that reminds us of the ups and downs of the waves. This shows that one of the characteristics of symphonic music creation is that the same music material can be used to change the music image through the changes of rhythm, harmony and orchestration. The Arabian Nights suite is about Shehrachad telling stories to Sudan, so the theme of these two characters is used to write about the sea. This is not the real sea, but the sea in their minds and the sea in the story. Here, the theme of the characters becomes the sea. Is there any internal connection between the two? Yes For example, Sudan is cruel, which can be related to the rough and terrible sea. As for the theme of "Shehrachard", it is a beautiful theme. I think when the composer wrote it, he probably thought of changing it to the theme of the waves slightly. From this we can see the skill of a composer, who can create different musical images with one or two concentrated theme materials.

How to Appreciate Symphony (2)

Another example is "The Sea" written by Debussy, the representative of French Impressionism. His writing is different again. This work is called symphonic sketch and has three movements. The title of the first movement is "The Sea from Dawn to Noon", which is about the calm sea and the sea slowly emerging from the mist. The second movement is The Play of the Waves, which is about the naughty sea. The waves chase and play. The third chapter "Dialogue between the Sea and the Wind" is a roaring sea. This sea is very different from the one just introduced: first of all, the content is different, and the composer's personality is different. Debussy is an impressionist composer, and his creative characteristics focus on capturing the ever-changing changes of light and color and scenes. Therefore, his melody is intermittent, one tone at a time, one tone at a time, and varied. It is describing the ever-changing colors of the sea. Rimsky-Korsakov and Debussy are both masters of symphony color orchestration, but each has his own strong points, so the music they wrote is quite different.

The above two examples can be summarized in three ways: the first is that even descriptive music does not describe the external world purely objectively, but these descriptions are musicalized, personalized and emotional, not the things themselves. Therefore, when a thousand people write about the sea, they write a thousand things. Second, the image of music comes from association, which is an imitation of the movement form of things and the sound they make through music. Third, what a work describes sometimes depends on the title, otherwise it is impossible to accurately judge what it is written. For example, a passage in Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky's symphonic poem Fran Cesca da Rimini describes a whirlwind in hell. If you don't say it's a whirlwind, you might think it's the sea, because they have similar movements. Therefore, the determination of music image depends on the text title. It also shows that the description of music can only be approximate, not realistic.

Title music can help you understand the image of the work, so how to understand absolute music? This needs to be understood from people's mental state and feelings. For example, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony of Destiny was given the title of Destiny. The theme of "fate" in music is interpreted by some people as a negative image, a cruel and gloomy image of fate. But some people regard it as Beethoven's challenge to feudal forces, a roaring Beethoven, a Beethoven who grabbed the throat of fate, and a positive image. Isn't this the opposite? In a word, this theme embodies the author's own feelings and his attitude towards fate. The fourth movement is about Beethoven's ideal victory. In this movement, Beethoven also wrote a very genius stroke, that is, at the climax of victory, the theme of sudden arrival of fate reappeared. Some people say that this is a review of past struggles, while others say that this is an attempt destined to make a comeback. But I prefer another explanation, that is, although we have won, we still can't lose our vigilance, and those reactionary things hiding in dark corners may come again. This explanation is more in line with Beethoven's reality, his logic and the philosophy of his works. As for how to understand it, you can also explain it yourself.

Symphony gives people a lot of inspiration and can give you a lot of imagination, especially the untitled symphony, because it has no title constraint, strong generality and rich connotation. Even if you listen to it a hundred times, you will find something new. And with the growth of age and the deepening of experience, the understanding of the works will be more profound. This is one of the advantages of untitled symphony.

Finally, two conclusions are drawn: first, the specialty of music is mainly lyrical rather than descriptive. Therefore, when we appreciate it, we mainly look at how its emotions infect us, not necessarily what it writes. Music interpretation is only for reference, mainly to play our own independent thinking. Second, to appreciate the symphony, we must first fully mobilize our imagination.