In the 1930s composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold was best known for his popular Hollywood film scores. His friend Arnold Schoenberg was known—or notorious—for his avant garde musical experiments. Korngold’s son George recalled one lively argument between the two.
20世紀30年代，作曲家埃里希?沃爾夫岡?科恩戈爾德因其創作的好萊塢電影配樂聞名于世。而他的朋友勛伯格?阿諾爾德則以其音樂上的前衛嘗試廣為人知，或者說被弄得聲名狼藉。科恩戈爾德的兒子喬治回憶了倆人之間一場激烈的辯論。
Despite their differences, Korngold was always glad to see Scheonberg because he liked the challenge of a good debate. On one occasion Schoenberg, Korngold and conductor Otto Klemperer were talking about serial music . Korngold disagreed with Schoenberg’s contention that a series of notes played in reverse had the same theme as the original series.
盡管倆人的看法存在著差異，但是科恩戈爾德總是樂于見到勛伯格，因為他喜歡富于挑戰的激烈辯論。有一次，科恩戈爾德、勛伯格和指揮家奧圖?克倫佩勒一起談論序列音樂。勛伯格認為一系列音符按照相反的順序演奏，其主旋律同原來的序列沒有區別，然而科恩戈爾德卻不同意這一看法。
Growing impatient with Korngold’s resistance, Schoenberg held up pencil and asked, “Erich, what’s this in my hand?”
科恩戈爾德堅持己見，勛伯格也變得越來越不耐煩，于是他舉起一支鉛筆問道：“埃里希，我手里拿的是什么?”
Korngold replied, “Obviously it’s a pencil.”
科恩戈爾德回答說：“當然是一支鉛筆。”
Schoenberg turned it upside down so that the eraser was at the bottom. “Now what is it?”
勛伯格把鉛筆倒了過來，讓帶有橡皮的一端沖下，又問：“那么，現在這又是什么呢?”
Korngold saw the trap. “It’s still a pencil,” he said, “but now you can’t write with it.”
科恩戈爾德識破了勛伯格設下的圈套。“還是一支鉛筆，”他說，“可是現在你卻不能用它來寫字了。”
Despite their disagreements, though, Korngold was an informed debater. One time an exasperated Schoenberg asked, “Erich, do you like any of my music?” Much to his surprise, Korngold replied by going to the piano and playing from memory a series of little pieces that Schoenberg had written perhaps thirty years before.
盡管倆人在某些問題的看法上存在分歧，但科恩戈爾德卻是一位有教養的辯論者。一次，惱羞成怒的勛伯格問道：“埃里希，你喜歡我創作的音樂嗎?”出乎他的意料，科恩戈爾德走到鋼琴旁，憑借記憶演奏了幾首勛伯格大約在30年前創作的曲子，以此作為回答。
Another time Schoenberg came to see Korngold, at the movie studio. Schoenberg sat at the piano to wait. After five or ten minutes he began to doodle on a piece of music paper. When twenty minutes had passed he got up and told Korngold’s son, “I can’t wait any longer.” He handed the young man the piece of paper and said, “This is for you.” When Korngold saw it, he grinned . Schoenberg had written a double fugue that could be played regardless of which end of the paper you started from.
還有一次，勛伯格來到電影錄音棚拜訪科恩戈爾德。他坐在鋼琴旁等候科恩戈爾德，大約過了幾分鐘便開始在一張樂譜紙上涂寫起來。20分鐘過去了，他站起身來對科恩戈爾德的兒子說：“我等不了了。這是給你的。”說著把那張紙遞給了這個年輕人。科恩戈爾德看到這張紙的時候，咧嘴笑了。 因為勛伯格寫了一段雙賦格曲，無論從紙的哪一端開始演奏旋律都是一樣的。
Arnold Schoenberg and Erich Korngold may’ve had their differences, but their friendship had a solid base in music.
勛伯格?阿諾爾德和埃里希?科恩戈爾德對音樂的看法有些不一致，但是倆人的友誼卻有著堅實的基礎——音樂。
（兼職編輯：楊帆）
