“歌剧属于所有人。”这是世界上每一家歌剧院的信条，各家剧院也都有各自吸引新观众——尤其是年轻观众——的方法和手段。但很少有剧院会向任何申请者免费赠送数千张门票。上周在纽约，马姆达尼市长登上大都会歌剧院的舞台，告诉市民们，那些以前对歌剧敬而远之的人，现在可以申请他和歌剧院在本演出季及未来每一季提供的7万张免费门票。
Opera for All. It’s the credo of every opera house in the world, and each has its own ways and means of attracting new – and, crucially, younger – audiences. But it’s rare that one gives away thousands of tickets to anyone who applies. In New York last week, mayor Mamdani took to the stage of the Metropolitan Opera to tell his city that previously opera-shy citizens should apply for one of the 70,000 free tickets that he and the opera house are giving away this and every season.
这意味着每月有惊人的1万张免费门票。这不仅限于25岁以下的年轻人，也不仅限于周一或日场那些卖不出去的演出。纽约市民只需在演出前一天参加抽奖，如果中奖，就能获得两张次日的演出门票。
That means a staggering 10,000 free tickets a month. Not just for the under-25s, not just for the productions that they can’t shift tickets for on Mondays and matinees. New Yorkers simply enter the lottery the day before and if successful, will get a pair of tickets to the next day’s show.
马姆达尼的这一宣布，正值大都会歌剧院总经理彼得·盖尔布发起筹款活动之际，他希望筹集15亿美元以保障歌剧院的未来。尽管这一提议看起来十分慷慨，但考虑到大都会歌剧院那拥有4000个座位的演出大厅实际上很少座无虚席——上个演出季的平均上座率仅为72%——他们确实有能力拿出这些门票。
Mamdani’s announcement coincides with the Met’s general manager, Peter Gelb, going on a fundraising drive hoping for $1.5bn to secure the opera house’s future. Generous as the offer seems, the Met can surely spare the tickets, given how few of their shows actually sell out the 4,000-seat hall – the Met averaged only 72% capacity the last season.
但梅特（Mett）的这一举措与英国国家歌剧院为21岁以下年轻人提供的免费门票政策，或其他地方推出的大幅折扣门票政策有所不同：真正推动这一政策的是市长本人，他用自己的政治资本以及亲民的立场来支持这种艺术形式。在文化勇气方面，梅德哈尼（Mamdani）与英国的政客们根本无法相提并论。无论属于哪个政党，过去几十年来，几乎没有英国政客愿意过多地接触歌剧——因为他们害怕被歌剧所象征的“精英主义”、“与民众脱节”、“高不可攀的奢华”以及“文化上的无意义”等负面印象所影响。
But what’s different about the Met scheme to that of, say, English National Opera’s free tickets for under-21s, or the heavily discounted ticket schemes on offer elsewhere is that it’s the mayor who’s doing the talking, putting his political capital and small-p populist appeal behind the art form. And that’s where there’s no comparison between Mamdani and British politicians in terms of cultural bravery. Whatever party they belong to, no UK politician for several decades past has wanted to get too close to opera for fear of being contaminated by its associations of elitism, out-of-touchedness, unaffordable posho luxury, and cultural irrelevance.
安吉拉·雷纳（Angela Rayner）曾因在格莱德伯恩歌剧院（Glyndebourne）观看歌剧（门票价格为62英镑）而被贴上“‘香槟社会主义者’的标签；而像乔治·奥斯本（George Osborne）和迈克尔·戈夫（Michael Gove）这样的歌剧爱好者，在执政期间也刻意避免与北歌剧院（Opera North）或科文特花园歌剧院（Covent Garden）建立联系，因为他们不希望自己热爱歌剧的秘密被公开。
Angela Rayner was branded a champagne socialist for daring to enjoy opera at Glyndebourne (her ticket cost her £62); politicians who are known opera-lovers, including George Osborne and Michael Gove, saw no benefit in being associated with Opera North or Covent Garden during their time in office, and didn’t really want their shameful opera-loving secret getting out.
而这正是梅德哈尼观点的精髓所在：人类在音乐、戏剧（包括歌剧在内的所有艺术形式）中所创造的精华，理应属于每一个人。在艺术政策方面，这听起来似乎是一个再简单明了的主张，但在近年来，还没有任何英国政客能像梅德哈尼这样有力地表达这一观点。他说：“歌剧是我们最伟大的艺术形式之一……每个纽约人都应该有机会欣赏它，无论他们口袋里有多少钱。”
Which is where Mamdani’s essential message is so refreshing: that the best of what humanity has done in music and theatre, in opera as in all forms, belongs to everyone. That sounds like the most straightforward proposition there could possibly be when it comes to arts policy, but it has never been as powerfully articulated by any British politician in recent memory as Mamdani has just done. “Opera is one of the greatest art forms we have … and every New Yorker should have the opportunity to see it, no matter how much money is in their pocket,” he said.
在她的声明中，Mamdani提到了前任市长Fiorello La Guardia（1934–1945年在任），以及La Guardia在1943年创立的“纽约市歌剧公司”（New York City Opera Company）。La Guardia曾说过：“我追求的是最广泛的正义——那种能为每个人带来美好生活机会的正义。”Mamdani正在继承这一使命。那么，英国的政客们是否有勇气做同样的事情，将自己的政治前途押在文化（尤其是歌剧）的社会变革力量上呢？
Mamdani referenced a previous incumbent in his announcement: Fiorello La Guardia, who was mayor from 1934-45, and his creation of “the people’s opera”, the New York City Opera Company, in 1943. La Guardia said: “I want justice on the broadest scale … justice that gives to everyone some chance for the beauty and the better things of life”. Mamdani is taking on that mantle. Will any British politician have the courage to do the same, and bet their political fortune on a belief in the socially transformative power of culture in general, and opera in particular?
需要提醒的是：如果你真的幸运地获得了在纽约大都会歌剧院（Metropolitan Opera）观看歌剧的机会，你可能会看到《麦克白》（Macbeth）、《波希米亚人》（La Bohème）或瓦格纳的最后一部歌剧《帕西法尔》（Parsifal）——这些作品的演出时长都在四到五个小时。这些歌剧在今天依然像1882年一样具有争议性。
Mind you, if you do get lucky in the Met’s lottery, your first opera could be Macbeth, it could be La Bohème – or it could be Parsifal. Wagner’s last opera – all four to five hours of it – is as divisive now as it was in 1882.
我在20世纪90年代首次在伦敦国家歌剧院（ENO）观看《帕西法尔》时，整个人的人生都因此发生了改变：我简直无法相信一支管弦乐队能够创造出如此震撼人心的音乐效果——在第一幕中，当老骑士古尔内曼兹（Gurnemanz）为帕西法尔（Parsifal）歌唱时，那种“时间与空间交融”的奇妙感觉简直令人难以置信；这正是瓦格纳的配器技巧所创造的神奇效果。
Seeing the piece for the first time at ENO in the 1990s changed my life – I just couldn’t believe an orchestra was capable of that time-warping, pain-racked sensuality in the transformation scene in the first act, the place where “time becomes space” as the old knight Gurnemanz sings to Parsifal – that’s the alchemy that Wagner’s orchestration literally makes happen.
我认为《帕西法尔》是一部能够引领人们深入了解整个歌剧艺术形式的绝佳作品；不过，如果你对瓦格纳的音乐风格感到反感，你很可能会不同意我的看法。明天，科文特花园剧院（Covent Garden）将上演这部歌剧，由Jakub Hrůša担任指挥。门票价格不菲（至少需要27英镑），但如果你有机会的话，一定要去看看吧。无论你是被这部作品打动还是感到失望，至少你都会受到深刻的影响。
I think Parsifal would be an incredible gateway drug to the whole art-form, but if you’re allergic to Wagner’s language, you’ll quite probably disagree. A new production opens tomorrow at Covent Garden conducted by Jakub Hrůša. Tickets aren’t free – you need at least £27 – but get there if you can, and be converted, or repelled, but either way you will be moved.
这周Tom一直在听布鲁克纳（Bruckner）的《弦乐五重奏》（String Quintet）。请聆听其中的第三乐章《Adagio》——准备好让你的对布鲁克纳的固有印象被彻底颠覆吧！这部作品的音乐氛围充满亲密感，旋律在不同调性之间自由转换，其中的抒情线条令人陶醉……整个作品都充满了魔力。你可以在Spotify或Apple Music上收听。
This week Tom has been listening to: Bruckner’s String Quintet. Listen to the third movement, the Adagio, and prepare to have your preconceptions about Bruckner overturned. The intimacy of the soundworld, the volatility of how the melodies melt into different keys, the lines of lyricism that spread over this movement, and the whole piece – it’s magical. Listen on Spotify | Apple Music