E. T. A. 霍夫曼的貝多芬第五號交響曲樂評

Abstract

1810 年，E. T. A. 霍夫曼(E. T. A. Hoffmann, 1776-1822)於《音樂廣訊報》(Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung) 發表了一篇貝多芬(Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770-1827)第五號交響曲樂評。在該文中，霍夫曼不但進行了詳盡的音樂技術分析，也在字裡行間中帶入德語地區於1800 年前後興起的浪漫主義文學思潮，並將器樂指為所有藝術中最浪漫的。霍夫曼的這篇樂評在當年出版後，不僅對時人產生啟發，亦對後人音樂思想的論述造成深遠的影響，成為理解西方音樂史及音樂美學極為重要的文獻之一。本文提出一份此文獻之中文譯本。此譯本力求以中文再現霍夫曼之浪漫主義特殊語境，將此與該樂評中另一部分音樂技分析術語相互映照，可觀察到霍夫曼試圖藉由浪漫主義精神以文字描寫出器樂帶來的無可言喻之超越式體驗。

E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) published an article reviewing Symphony No. 5 by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung in 1810. In this review, Hoffmann not only offered a detailed music analysis, introduced the idea of Romantic Movement originated around 1800, but also suggested that instrumental music is the most romantic of all arts. This review inspired Hoffmann’s contemporaries and its influence looms large in the development of music aesthetics for generations to come, making it one of the most important treatises for understanding western music history. In this translation, the translator tries to reproduce Hoffmann’s unique Romantic diction and style in the Chinese language. By juxtaposing this with the technical terminology of music analysis, we see how Hoffmann conveyed in words the unsayable transcendental experience brought about by the instrumental music.