音乐术语为什么大多都使用意大利语？

Badinerie (嬉戏曲)

Karl Richter/The Munich Philharmonic Orchestra - 巴赫 勃兰登堡协奏曲第6首

Why do we use Italian words in music notation?

为什么乐谱注释使用意大利语？

By Maddy Shaw Roberts

Music is never loud or quiet, it’s ‘forte’, ‘piano’ or somewhere in between. And it’s all because Italian music theorists got there first…When the rules for music notation were worked out and written down, it was all done in Italian. Around 1000 AD, Guido of Arezzo created the earliest version of the heads and stems on staves structure that we know today.

音乐从来不是响亮或安静的，它要么是“强”（forte）、要么是“弱”（piano）,亦或是介于两者之间。由于意大利音乐理论家最先领到这些要领，所以当记谱法（the rules for music notation）被记录下来并且为人们所沿用之时，谱面上的记号都是用意大利语写成的。大约在公元1000年，生活在意大利阿雷佐市的圭多（Guido）创造了如今为人熟知的“五线谱”（the heads and stems on staves structure ）的前身。

（译者注：意大利人圭多在记谱时将线加到四根，音域为八度左右，使音高记谱更准确。他开始用四条横线表示音的高低，又把当时流行的一种表示音的长短的符号放在四条横线中，来记载乐曲，这便是五线谱的雏形。）

IV. Presto, Poco a poco rallentando al Adagio (第四乐章 急板，逐渐逐渐地放慢到柔板)

Berliner Philharmoniker/Herbert von Karajan - Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 7, Valse triste

How did music notation begin?

记谱法是如何兴起的？

Over the next few hundred years, musicians built on Guido’s system, and music theorists added useful features like note values and time signatures.But composers wanted more. They wanted to describe their music in more detail and tell musicians exactly how it should be played. So, they wrote musical directions on their pieces like ‘andante’ and ‘rallentando’.

圭多发明四线记谱法后，音乐理论家在其基础上增加了一些有用的特性，比如音符时值和拍子记号。但仍无法满足作曲家创作需求，他们想更详尽地描述他们的音乐，并确切地告诉音乐家应该如何演奏。所以，他们在作品上写了音乐指示，像行板（andante）和渐慢地（rallentando）。

After a while, these terms became quite fashionable. So, when the rest of Europe – as it existed back then – started notating their music, they continued the trend in the same language.

这些音乐术语不久就在当时盛行起来。当欧洲其他地方开始作乐谱标记时，他们仍沿用意大利语来进行乐谱标记。

Partita No. 1 in B Minor, BWV 1002: IV. Tempo di Borea

Ivan Sokol - Bach Partita

Some terms crept into the English dictionary

一些意大利音乐术语融入英文词典中

There are some Italian terms like ‘tempo’, ‘adagio’, ‘allegretto’ and ‘rallentando’ which are only used in the context of writing or reading music.But others, like ‘concerto’, ‘piano’, ‘soprano’ and ‘opera’ were so stylish that they have made their way from the original Italian into our everyday musical vocabulary.

有一些意大利术语，如“拍子”、“柔板”、“小快板”和“渐慢地”等词，它们只运用在音乐创作或读谱时。但其他的意大利音乐术语，如“协奏曲”（concerto）、“弱”（piano）、“女高音”（soprano）和“歌剧”（opera）等词汇非常入时，以至于它们已经从最初的意大利语发展到了我们日常的音乐词汇。

And it wasn't just the terms themselves that were taken on European composers also adopted compositional forms like the cantata, partita and rondo.What's more, Italian musical instrument makers like Stradivari, Guarneri and Amati slowly became the stuff of musical legend.

不仅是这些术语本身，欧洲作曲家也采用了像康塔塔（cantata），变奏曲（partita ）和回旋曲（rondo）这样的曲式来进行创作。此外，意大利乐器制造商，如斯特拉迪瓦里，瓜奈利和阿马蒂也慢慢成为了乐坛传奇。

Symphony No. 6 In F major, Op. 68, "Pastoral" - 5. Allegretto

The Royal Festival Orchestra - Beethoven - The Complete Symphony Collection

The language itself is musical

意大利语本身就具有音乐性

Italian is often called a naturally musical language – so there’s something fitting in the fact that it’s this language that’s used for musical directions.This isn’t to say that every composer has stuck to the standard. Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony No. 6 is marked in German, while moments of Debussy’s Clair de lune are marked in French.

意大利语常被称为与生俱来的音乐语言——所以用意大利语来注解音乐，恰如其分。但这并不是硬性规定：贝多芬的《第六交响曲》（田园交响曲）就用德语作了乐谱注释，而德彪西的《月光》则用法语作了标记。”

Symphony No. 1, 3rd movement

Mahler - Meditation - Classical Relaxation Vol. 5

if all composers wrote directions in their own language?

若都用自己的语言来注解呢？

Many have! Mahler, for example, stuck to German for many of the directions in his symphonies. And perhaps writing in their own language allows composers to more effectively communicate their meaning. After all, some things are always lost in translation.But then, crucially, music and music directions would no longer be a universal language…

这样的情况不在少数！例如，马勒在注解他创作的交响乐时大多坚持使用德语。也许用他们自己的语言写作能让作曲家更准确有效地表达清楚所言之意。毕竟，有些东西总是会在语言的翻译中遗失。不过，最重要的是，音乐和音乐注释将不再被一种世界通用的语言所局限。（译者注：这里指音乐创作的多元化趋势将不局限于某一民族或地域。）

Symphony #7 In E Minor, Lied Der Nacht - Mvt. 5 Tempo 1 (Halbe Wie Die Viertel Des Tempoi)

Mahler - Mahler: Symphony No. 7 Lied Der Nacht