獻詩三島由紀夫 Dedicated to Mishima Yukio

Mishima Yukio came into my life relatively late, when I was around eighteen. The first book I read was his Forbidden Colours 禁色. I remember how enchanted I was, and how absorbed by the story I was that there was a certain sadness when I was approaching the end of the book, as if I did not want to leave that magical realm just yet. After reading his Golden Pavilion Temple, I would say that my thoughts, views of this world and aesthetics were much defined, perhaps they even found an identity. In a way, I felt a sense of belonging in the intense, exquisite and intricate flashes of poetry in his articulate and abstract writing. Yet how his language and narratives flow. My favourite work of Mishima, and one that influenced me the most, is his final novels - the tetralogy The Sea of Fertility (豐饒之海), composed of Spring Snow (春雪), Runaway Horses (奔馬), The Temple of Dawn (曉寺), and The Decay of the Celestial, or The Decay of the Angel (天人五衰). Although in my opinion these four books are best read in sequence, my personal favourite ones are The Temple of Dawn and The Decay of the Angel. I was deeply moved ("rocked" could be a better word!) by this tetralogy the first time I read it that I wrote poems after each novel, and dedicated to Mishima Yukio, to whom I feel that I am indebted to - for his artistic achievement, aesthetics, thought system, and his love. These poems were all written in 1999.


“If, raised by the power of mind, a man relinquishes the common way of looking at things, gives up tracing… their relations to each other, the final goal of which is always a relation to his own will; if he thus ceases to consider the where, the when, the why, and the whither of things, and looks simply and solely at the what; if further, he does not allow abstract thought, the concepts of the reason, to take possession of his consciousness, but, instead of all this, gives the whole power of his mind to perception, … so that it is as if the object alone were there, without any one to perceive it, and he can no longer separate the perceiver from the perception, but both have become one … if thus the object has to such an extent passed out of all relation to something outside it, and the subject out of all relation to the will, then that which is so known … is the Idea, … he who is sunk in this perception is … pure, will-less, painless, timeless subject of knowledge.”

 ~ Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation, Vol. I., Third Book, p. 231, in the English version trans. by R. B. Haldane and J. Kemp (London, three vols, 1909).

天人五衰，意指天人壽命將盡時，所出現的種種異象。五衰又有大五衰、小五衰兩種。

死亡美學（獻詩三島之金閣）

戰後的廢墟，重建
赭色小提琴喤泣聲線
金箔剝蝕的蒸氣與躁動的香

月華清明塗抹石橋
一如滌淨生的 死亡的確知
我兀自佇立文字的金閣
美學修長的眼睫投影
蔭翳，光正自盡。

顫抖顫抖再顫抖，這齣劇本
與血的斑痕纏綿似水
海面痛苦地沉默
光，一如岩礫，一如陰影，光的自縊。

自縊的美學倫理糾結糾結死的似非而，是。
仁波切寂然誦經
呢喃破曉前刻精神與美的歸巢
逐步逐步，緊貼眼睫的哀悽

生的諷刺文體的，死
的潔白墓塚
光正瀉落一湖的私密，若水。


春雪

透過冰寒的指尖傳遞的水晶；
殘雪流麗時節
逝去透明的傷口..

你唇際每一朵薔薇的綻放，便墜落一整季冬夜的星空

鋼琴碎在半透明的睫毛中
之後
音符便似瞳孔灼燙的匕首


奔馬

夢先於現實。
而純粹
似花，似血，似詩
，似枯腐前消逝的生。


曉寺

(薰息，我執，唯識)

緣起於鏡花水月的無常
存活涅槃之花瓣間的阿賴耶識，似
剔透的純藍火焰蘊蓄
鏤花之詩

桃花心木質的鏤空雕花
在蒼白哀傷的殘月撫觸下
散發似水晶斷面般清明露華
濕漉而冷冽的香氛


豐饒之海之天人五衰（獻詩三島由紀夫）

他的世界構築於
對純粹牲祭的行動性
似花之骨髓般的血
他傾洩一身的孤注一擲
於苦痛而豐饒
的虛無之海

如若阿賴耶識是月華的羽翼
飛翔於極度神聖與極度污穢的貝那雷斯
是否沉痛如我執與薰息的唯識色界
得以釋放自殘雪的純粹？

他精神性的美學體系
他對生命、神聖與純粹的無窮需索與追尋
無聲地崩毀於佛陀澄明而冷冽如水的眸子
美麗虛幻而無常若花的微笑
他的生命無聲地崩解於
月之海中虛弱而豐饒的涅槃

而他磅跎的精神體系，與
凝鍊先驗的詩性呢？
恰似無法埋藏於大海中夕陽的掙扎
恰似大自然神聖而無以名狀
的悲苦與愛

而當他的精神現象美學崩毀
當我得以窺視他文字與思想的金閣
當我得以體悟他
不可思議的美與愛
我竟躊躇畏懼掇拾自美的廢墟中
破碎猶濕熱的骨肉
我竟畏懼於參與他壯闊豐饒而苦痛的
精神美之海洋中的呼息
與之共振，並互融為殘春之雪與月
因深恐破碎他幾近完美的神性，驚擾他
悲傷而純粹冷冽的愛


而何處得尋他無我的流動？
何處得覓他阿賴耶識的種子？

長恨歌: Song of Everlasting Sorrow

"Now from his breast into his eyes the ache

of longing mounted, and he wept at last,

his dear wife, clear and faithful, in his arms,

longed for as the sunwarmed earth is longed for by a swimmer

spent in rough water where his ship went down

under Poseidon's blows, gale winds and tons of sea.

Few men can keep alive through a big surf

to crawl, clotted with brine, on kindly beaches

in joy, in joy, knowing the abyss behind:

and so she too rejoiced, her gaze upon her husband,

her white arms round him pressed as though forever."

~ from, The Odyssey

Homer

translated by Robert Fitzgerald

My friend Leanne's lovely post on 楊貴妃 Yang Guifei has inspired me to re-read Tang poet Bai Juyi's The Song of Everlasting Sorrow (長恨歌), a poetic narrative of the mournful love story of Tang Emperor Hsuan Tzung 唐玄宗 (Xuanzong) and his beloved imperial consort Yang Yu-Huan 楊玉環 (Yang Guifei), and the emperor's perpetual grief and regret at the eventual loss of his love. Yang Guifei is known as 羞花 (xiu hua - literally meaning "shames flowers"), and considered first of the Four Great Beauties of China. 「西施沉魚, 昭君落雁, 貂嬋閉月, 貴妃羞花。」(Xi Shi sinks fish, Wang Zhaojun drops birds, Diaochan closes the moon, Yang Guifei shames flowers.)

In response to Leanne's beautiful post that I enjoyed reading so much, I wrote a rather long comment (see below, after the poem), which rarely happens even in my own blog! I included it here as I write so little these days - where has the writer in me gone...? (A writer friend used to say to me, "Did you choose to write? Or did writing choose you?") At the moment I suppose I am more of a "micro-blog" and visual/sensory type when it comes to recording my daily inspiration... Nevertheless, thank you, all the peonies of Chang'an...


太真外傳 (唱詞)
故事見唐白居易《長恨歌》。梅蘭芳在1925至1926年間根據《長生殿》傳奇改編為京劇，分為四本。自《入選》至《夢會》凡十餘折，蔚為大觀。此劇音樂由徐蘭沅、王少卿精心設計，創造了不少新的板式與唱腔並編配了許多京崑曲牌。




白居易〈長恨歌〉
{see two versions of the translation in English here & here}

漢皇重色思傾國，御宇多年求不得。
楊家有女初長成，養在深閏人未識。
天生麗質難自棄，一朝選在君王側。
回眸一笑百媚生，六宮粉黛無顏色。
春寒賜浴華清池，溫泉水滑洗凝脂；
待兒扶起嬌無力，始是新承恩澤時。
雲鬢花顏金步搖，芙蓉帳暖度春宵；
春宵苦短日高起，從此君王不早朝。
承歡侍宴無閑暇，春從春遊夜專夜。
後宮佳麗三千人，三千寵愛在一身。
金屋妝成嬌侍夜，玉樓宴罷醉和春。
姊妹弟兄皆列士，可憐光彩生門戶。
遂令天下父母心，不重生男重生女。
驪宮高處入青雲，仙樂風飄處處聞。
緩歌慢舞凝絲竹，盡日君王看不足。
漁陽鼙鼓動地來，驚破霓裳羽衣曲。
九重城闕煙塵生，千乘萬騎西南行。
翠華搖搖行復止，西出都門百餘里；
六軍不發無奈何？宛轉蛾眉馬前死。
花鈿委地無人收，翠翹金雀玉搔頭。
君王掩面救不得，回看血淚相和流。
黃埃散漫風蕭素，雲棧縈紆登劍閣。
峨嵋山下少人行，旌旗無光日色薄。
蜀江水碧蜀山青，聖主朝朝暮暮情。
行宮見月傷心色，夜雨聞鈴腸斷聲。

天旋地轉迥龍馭，到此躊躇不能去。
馬嵬坡下泥土中，不見玉顏空死處。
君臣相顧盡霑衣，東望都門信馬歸。
歸來池苑皆依舊，太液芙蓉未央柳；
芙蓉如面柳如眉，對此如何不淚垂？
春風桃李花開日，秋雨梧桐葉落時。
西宮南內多秋草，落葉滿階紅不掃。
梨園子弟白髮新，椒房阿監青娥老。
夕殿螢飛思悄然，孤燈挑盡未成眠。
遲遲鐘鼓初長夜，耿耿星河欲曙天。
鴛鴦瓦冷霜華重，翡翠衾寒誰與共？
悠悠生死別經年，魂魄不曾來入夢。
臨邛道士鴻都客，能以精誠致魂魄；
為感君王輾轉思，遂教方士殷勤覓。
排空馭氣奔如電，升天入地求之遍；
上窮碧落下黃泉，兩處茫茫皆不見。
忽聞海上有仙山，山在虛無縹緲間。
樓閣玲瓏五雲起，其中綽約多仙子。
中有一人字太真，雪膚花貌參差是。
金闕西廂叩玉扃，轉教小玉報雙成。
聞道漢家天子使，九華帳裡夢魂驚；
攬衣推枕起徘徊，珠箔銀屏迤邐開。
雲鬢半偏新睡覺，花冠不整下堂來。
風吹仙袂飄飄舉，猶似霓裳羽衣舞。
玉容寂寞淚闌干，梨花一枝春帶雨。

含情凝睇謝君王，一別音容兩渺茫。
昭陽殿裡恩愛絕，蓬萊宮中日月長。
回頭下望人寰處，不見長安見塵霧。
唯將舊物表深情，鈿合金釵寄將去。
釵留一股合一扇，釵擘黃金合分鈿。
但教心似金鈿堅，天上人間會相見。
臨別殷勤重寄詞，詞中有誓兩心知，
七月七日長生殿，夜半無人私語時：
在天願作比翼鳥，在地願為連理枝。
天長地久有時盡，此恨綿綿無絕期。

*                    *                    *

The story of Xuanzong and Guifei, as well as Bai Juyi's Song of Unending Sorrow, are said to have inspired the Japanese Heian literary gem - The Tale of Genji (源氏物語 Genji Monogatari).

*                    *                    *

(Here is my comment in response to Leanne's post on 楊貴妃...)

The preservation of Tang dances in Japanese court also interests me very much. In fact Dr. Liu Feng-Xue (founder and artistic director of Neo-Classic Dance Company 新古典舞團, and the first Chinese dance historian/ scholar/ artist/ choreographer to receive a PhD) devotes a large part of her career reconstructing ancient Chinese court music and dance, including getting special permission to study in the royal court of Japan and learning Labannotation from scratch to record the pieces etc. Neo-Classic is premiering Dr. Liu's new work in October, another reconstruction of ancient dance/music - I must be back in Taipei to attend!

I love Dr. Liu's works and have a special affection for Neo-Classic as that was where I learned ballet since 5! I mentioned these in a blog post 唐詩樂舞 Beauty of Tang: Music, Dance and Poetry. (A reader later introduced me to an amazing artist Elyse Ashe Lord. Perhaps you know her work already? If not I highly recommend checking out her paintings...!)

Another gem I adore, Han Tang Yuefu 漢唐樂府, might also interest you - I have almost all their DVDs and CDs. Such beauty... Sigh. I can listen to the music and watch the dances all day long.

I really enjoyed reading the English translations of the Chinese poetry, and must re-read these poems one of these days... I am a lover of Li Bai - when I was a kid it was a drag having to memorise and recite all these classics, but now I realise they do stay with me in my heart (not just poetry, philosophy as well), even though one can no longer recite them! It's fascinating to know that the story of 玄宗 and 楊貴妃 might have influenced 源氏物語, as people tend to associate Tale of Genji to Dream of the Red Mansion, I suppose. I remember when I went to a special exhibition at Kyoto National Museum, I stood in front of a large screen depicting The Tale of Genji, forever. I think I was trying to absorb as much of that quiet yet glorious beauty as I possibly could. A while ago there was a small (yet well-curated) exhibition of noh masks, costumes, manuscripts etc. in Tokyo - it was magical, with quiet gagaku playing in the background at that wonderful little gallery... I miss it.

And the Oedipus Complex (or the reverse) you hinted at the end of this article... How universal and yet how different it is between the East and the West. The stories you mentioned here, and the poems, give me a sense of 無奈, 悵然若失 (I can never seem to find the right words for these in English). These are similar emotions I felt after watching one of my favourite films "In the Mood for Love." A kind of tranquil/peaceful sadness, but perhaps even more heartrending...

I also posted Tamasaburo's Yokihi in my blog post Adieu ma concubine! We do share such similar interests. :) I will search for his Peony Pavilion on YouTube. Do you know Tamasaburo performed Peony Pavilion at the last Hong Kong Arts Festival? Shame I missed it...!! My love for kunqu is even deeper than Peking opera, and Peony Pavilion and Peach Blossom Fan are my favourite.

On a slightly different note, I went to see 北京當代芭蕾舞團 Beijing Dance Theatre's Golden Lotus (adapted from 金瓶梅) at the Hong Kong Arts Festival this year. The choreographer Wang Yuanyuan (王媛媛) also did the full-length ballet drama Raise the Red Lantern, with Zhang Yimou's direction & stage design. Ballet being one of my "core passions," her Raise the Red Lantern is the single best ballet I have ever seen, perhaps as it is very close to my heart (a combination of ballet and Chinese opera - what a dream for me!). Wang Yuanyuan is seriously talented.

Just would like to say again how much I love this post!

Ting-Jen xx

*                    *                    *

I will leave you here with a few lines of beautiful poetry exchanged between Genji and Fujitsubo, also from Leanne's post...

"Through the waving, dancing sleeves could you see a heart
So stormy that it wished but to be still?"

"Of waving Chinese sleeves I cannot speak.
Each step, each motion, touched me to the heart."

亙古的貴妃醉酒臥魚之美 Forever enthralled by the drunken princess...

《貴妃醉酒》的身段一向是我在京劇中很喜愛的折子。之前幸運地找到大師梅蘭芳頗為完整的演出，包括唱腔、銜杯、臥魚、醉步、扇舞等等梅派改良後之美學精髓，很可惜目前只剩下片段。我該去找出DVD好好欣賞... 這裡選的是不同演員詮釋的貴妃醉酒，其中亦有梅派戲劇大師梅蘭芳及其子梅派傳人梅葆玖等精彩演出。貴妃醉酒不愧為京劇中經典之作...



【楊玉環】（唱四平調）

海島冰輪初轉騰，見玉兔，玉兔又早東昇。
那冰輪離海島，乾坤分外明。
皓月當空，恰便似嫦娥離月宮，奴似嫦娥離月宮。
好一似嫦娥下九重，清清冷落在廣寒宮，啊在廣寒宮。
玉石橋斜倚把欄杆靠，鴛鴦來戲水，
金色鯉魚在水面朝，啊在水面朝。
長空雁雁兒飛，雁兒飛哎呀雁兒呀，
雁兒並飛騰聞奴的聲音落花蔭。
這景色撩人欲醉，不覺來到百花亭。

Yang Guifei by Takaku Aigai

一代名伶梅蘭芳於中國抗日時蓄鬍, 拒絕為日軍演出

Photo of Mei Lanfang taken during the Sino-Japanese War

梅蘭芳演譯楊玉環

Mei Lanfang as Yang Guei-Fei in "The Drunken Concubine"

青年時期的梅蘭芳 Young Mei Lanfang

張國榮於霸王別姬片中的角色程蝶衣飾演楊玉環

Leslie Cheung as Yang Guei-Fei in Farewell My Concubine

Forever Enthralled is another film about Peking (Beijing) Opera by the critically acclaimed Chinese director Chen Kaige (best known for Farewell My Concubine). This time the film centres around the life of my Mr. Poetic Oneirism, the legendary Chinese opera artist Mei Lanfang. *Click here for a higher-resolution version, with subtitles in simplified Chinese (unfortunately no English at this time).




齊白石與梅蘭芳的書畫師生情

梅蘭芳先生之所以成為中國京劇史上成就最為輝煌的表演藝術大師，是與他在藝術上的勤學苦練、虛心求教分不開的。他向齊白石學畫，並與齊建立了終生友誼就是一例。

1932年，梅蘭芳來北京演出，齊白石觀看完他的演出，佩服得五體投地。恰巧，梅蘭芳一直想向齊白石學畫，通過熟人向齊白石說了想法。齊白石聽說後，立即安排時間見梅蘭芳。

這年9月的一天，齊白石來到了北京廬草園梅宅。二人握手坐定後，齊白石關切地問到：“聽說你最近習畫很用功，看過你的畫，尤其是最近畫的佛像，比以前進步了。”梅蘭芳不好意思，忙答道：“對于繪畫，我是門外漢，笨人一個，雖然拜過很多老師，但都畫不好。我喜歡您老的草蟲、遊魚、蝦米，就像活的一樣，但比活的更美。今天我誠心請您老一畫，我在旁邊學習學習，看看您的筆下功夫，我這就替您磨墨。”說罷，梅蘭芳起身捧出文房四寶，在書桌上磨起墨來。齊白石像個孩童似的打趣道：“讓你這名角給我磨墨，山人委實不敢當。不過，我給你畫蟲草，你回頭唱一段給我聽，怎麼樣？”

“那現成。”梅蘭芳不假思索道：“一會兒我的琴師來了，我準唱。”待磨好墨後，他又鋪開上乘宣紙。齊白石頷首含笑，挽上衣袖，從筆筒裏挑出兩只畫筆，蘸了一些墨，凝神默想片刻。突然，他俯下筆。須臾間，一個毫發畢現、蠢蠢欲動的小蟲便躍然紙上。齊白石下筆極快且準確，梅蘭芳但見“惜墨如金”的齊白石在畫成魚鳥蟲草後，筆池裏的水始終是清的。

琴師到了，梅蘭芳唱了一段《貴妃醉酒》。又一次，梅蘭芳再三邀請師翁到綴玉軒作畫，想讓師翁親自面教。齊白石欣然前往。見面後，梅蘭芳要求觀看作草蟲圖，齊白石答應了。梅蘭芳連忙磨墨理紙。齊白石畫完兩幅草蟲圖後，作詩一首相贈：

飛塵十丈暗燕京，綴玉軒中氣獨清。難得善才看作畫，殷勤磨就墨三升。

梅蘭芳捧詩吟誦，敬禮謝師。從此兩人建立了深厚的友誼，梅蘭芳尊稱齊白石為“老師”。不久，在一位“大官家”的家宴上，二人同被邀請，赴宴那天，齊白石不慎丟了帖子，他身穿深褐色布袍，雖洗得整潔乾凈，但已發白陳舊。如此裝束在滿屋達官顯貴的綾羅綢緞間，實在不起眼。加上他又一時沒找著相熟之人，只能獨坐一隅。偏偏門子不識相，走上前又盤問了幾句。齊白石大窘，悔不該來。這時梅蘭芳進來見到了孤零零的老人，獨自坐在一邊，忙甩開眾人，快步走上前，恭恭敬敬地喚道：“老師。”然後，親自攙扶著他，走上前排。大家一陣詫異，竊竊私語：“這個怪老頭是誰？”

梅蘭芳將頭一搖，自豪的答道：“這是名畫家齊白石，也是我的老師。”

齊白石認為梅蘭芳在關鍵時刻為他“圓了面子”，因此對梅蘭芳十分感激。回家後，精心畫就了一幅《雪中送炭圖》，配詩一首，送給梅蘭芳。詩雲：

曾見先朝享太平，布衣蔬食動公卿。而今淪落長安市，幸有梅郎識姓名。

梅蘭芳收到畫，讀過詩，感慨良久。提筆給齊白石回了一首詩：

師傳畫藝情誼深，學生怎能忘師恩。世態炎涼雖如此，吾敬我師是本分。 

(此文轉載自新華網, 2007年8月30日)

*Read more about 齊白石 (Qi Bai-Shi) here {in English} and here {in Chinese}. Master Qi is one of my parents' favourite artists, and I shall certainly write a separate blog post on him in the future. Or more appropriately perhaps, on the inspiration his life and his art have given me.

It is the star to every wandering bark, whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
      If this be error and upon me proved,
      I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

~ Shakespeare, Sonnet cxvi

Nikiya's entrance (Svetlana in La Bayadère)



I think the reason why I love Svetlana Zakharova as a ballerina and find her dancing so entrancing and unique, above everything else, above her exquisite musicality, poetry, delicateness, gorgeous lines and tender beauty, is that she is regal. She exudes an aristocratic air in almost all her performances, in the best way imaginable. Seeing her dance on-stage is one of the most thriling experiences for me. Her Odette is pure poetry and music, her Odille intoxicating magic, her Giselle moves me to tears whilst her Nikiya literally takes my breath away. It is incredibly beautiful to be so absorbed in an artform, as it is one of the rare moments in daily life when one's aesthetic experience transcends ordinary consciousness to a higher, purer realm. (See also my old post Princess Odette of My Heart, on Svetlana's Swan Lake.)

In one of her 2003 interviews, when asked what she personally saw as her qualities which distinguished her from other dancers, she gave this answer after much hesitation (a truly modest ballerina and a perfectionist!):

"There's one thing which I usually do when I am onstage—I just open myself. I open up my heart. Every time when I am on stage, I keep telling myself, 'You have to give your heart and your soul to the audience!' And this is usually what I do when I am performing. I open up what I have in my heart. This is the exact opposite of what I do in my real life! I am always trying to hide my private life as much as possible."

And this is perhaps how she is able to move her audiences to tears, to make one hold his breath, and how she falls in love with every ballet that she dances—by opening up her heart.




This is my favourite variation of Nikiya in La Bayadère, where she performs the saddest, most heartbreaking dance at the princess's wedding to Solor, the man who swore eternal love to her in front of the sacred fire of the temple. Svetlana's painfully beautiful interpretation, together with the haunting music, make this my favourite rendition of Nikiya's death scene.


*Darcey Bussell. Temple Destruction Scene, La Bayadere, Gamzatti's Act III Variation*

Also, I love the music and this solo of Princess Gamzatti. For me it is the counterpart of Nikiya's heartbreaking "death scene" variation. Whilst Svetlana is my favourite Nikiya, Darcey is my favourite Gamzatti, especially in this variation. In addition to Darcey's brilliant, effortless speed and precision, which adds something extraordinary to her beautifully musical movements in this slow and poetic adage (as if she was floating on air), I think what first attracted me in her rendition is the soft but clear demi-plié following her double pirouettes...


Nikiya (Svetlana) is dancing on the wedding of the man who swore eternal love to her in front of the sacred fire, to the princess of the kingdom. Imagine her heartbreak, sadness, humiliation and helplessness, being a mere temple dancer! Whereas Gamzatti, albeit a precious princess, also has her misfortune—she is married to (and in love with) a man whose only incentive to be with her is for her status and money, for what she has instead of who she is, and eventually she even dies from this cursed union. I find both dances to be highly entrancing and moving. Many classical ballets do touch upon the fundamental problems of human emotions and difficulties—their simplicity as well as complexity...

Darcey's brilliance lies in her speed and precision, and Svetlana (my favourite ballerina) is not unlike Maria Callas in that she has the ability to truly become the characters she's dancing - her musicality and poetry break my heart. Both of them are very lyrical in La Bayadere, in their own different ways.

Hands of Svetlana Zakharova, in La Fille du Pharaon.

Farewell

I am overwhelmed with indescribable emotions again, after watching this short video clip of the film that "rocked my world" a long time ago... "霸王別姬" (Farewell My Concubine).

I think I fell in love with Leslie Cheung after watching "Farewell My Concubine," another one of my favourite cinematic treasures and probably the first film I felt so strongly about. My love affair with Chinese opera (both Beijing Opera and Kunqu) also started around that time. Since then I constantly dream of Chinese opera, like a stylised and quiet painting depicting exquisite landscapes decorated with tiny delicate jewels, presenting a mixture of its music, singing, movements, costumes, make-up, lyrics, a kaleidoscope of colours and beautiful narratives.

I still remember going to the cinema with my dad when "Farewell My Concubine" was first released - I was 13. I felt as if I was never going to be the same afterwards, and that I was so filled with something inexplicable that I could not allow anything else to enter my psyche for a while. Perhaps one of the definitions of a truly great film is that it gives the viewer a life-transforming, and sometimes out-of-body, experience.

Below is this beautiful video with Leslie Cheung singing the movie theme song, accompanied by some of the most gorgeous, intoxicating, as well as heartbreaking scenes from the film. I really must re-watch this gem one of these days.

張國榮, 著實地傾國傾城...


Ah, looking at Leslie now just makes me want to cry...

張國榮於霸王別姬片中詮釋名旦程蝶衣演繹白蛇傳之白素貞

Bai Su-Zhen of The Legend of the White Serpent, as interpreted by Leslie Cheung in Farewell My Concubine

 

張國榮於霸王別姬片中詮釋名旦程蝶衣演繹牡丹亭之杜麗娘

Du Li-Niang of The Peony Pavilion, as rendered by Leslie Cheung in Farewell My Concubine

You can see the complete film (at the moment) here.

幽蘭操

《幽蘭操》唐 韓愈

蘭之猗猗，揚揚其香。眾香拱之，幽幽其芳。
不采而佩，於蘭何傷？以日以年，我行四方。
文王夢熊，渭水泱泱。采而佩之，奕奕清芳。
雪霜茂茂，蕾蕾於冬，君子之守，子孫之昌。

~ 出自《全唐詩》

【墨蘭圖】——鄭思肖捲紙本水墨(日)大阪市立美術館藏

此圖以淡墨寫幽蘭一叢，蕭散清逸，風韻自標。無水土雜木，​​簡潔疏朗，高雅不群。畫家於宋亡後作蘭皆不寫土，人問何故，答日：“土為蕃人所奪，汝尚不知耶?”拳拳愛國之情，於此可見。

鄭思肖(1241 ～1318)，字億翁，號所南，連江(今屬福建)人。宋末曾以太學生應博學鴻詞試，授和靖書院山長。宋亡後，隱居平江(今江蘇蘇州)。坐臥必向南，誓不與北人交往，因號所南。擅畫墨蘭，兼工墨竹。畫蘭根不著土，以寄故國之思。

釋義

　　蘭花開時，在遠處仍能聞到它的幽幽清香；如果人們不去採摘蘭花卻好像它仍然佩戴在身上，對蘭花本身有什麽損傷呢？今日的變故,並非我的過錯。我常年行走四方，看到隆冬嚴寒時，荠麥卻正開始茂盛地生長，一派生機盎然，既然荠麥能無畏寒冬，那麽不利的環境對我又有什麽影響呢？一個君子是能處于不利的環境而保持他的志向和德行操守的啊。 

賞析

　　深谷幽蘭，清芳自足，甘于淡漠，正是象徵著一個人不管是做學問還是要成就事業，都要能夠承受寂寞和忍受別人的不理解，用達觀、平和的心境去面對風雨人生。然而，這並不只是某種孤芳自賞的清高，而是因爲學習君子之道的過程本身就是快樂和充實的。

　　【序釋】

　　蘭，在中國文化中，是“入我門中，能諫我心之草”是先祖留給後人的無字天書。

　　孔子酷愛蘭花，有“蘭為王者香”之語。此言含義一是蘭香為香中之王，一株好的蘭花開放的時候，整個山谷聞不到別的花香，這是蘭香香芬豐富的生物學特性。二是，蘭只為王者而香。蘭隱於幽深的山谷中，不開花時，與群草無異，只有王者，才能認識蘭所蘊含的思想價值，從而去深山中尋訪。

　　蘭獨特的生物學特性還有“春化”，就是蘭要經歷一個長期的低溫期(0℃-10℃)才能順利開花，保證花品和香品。野生的蘭花，秋天孕育花蕾，經歷整個冬天的休眠，第二年春天才開花，春分前後花期結束。

　　【總釋】

　　本詞分為上中下三闕。

　　上闕，中心是蘭香是王者之香。

　　譯文：蘭花的葉子，長長的，在風中搖曳，優雅而飄逸;蘭香，在風中升騰，向四方飄揚。蘭香所及之處，所有花香都黯淡無味，並成為蘭香的一部分，眾多的花香拱衛著蘭香，蘭花的芬芳，遠而不淡，近而不濃，幽幽的從中心向八方輸布。蘭是香中之王，如果沒有人認識到而不去采摘佩戴他，對蘭花而言，又有什麼妨害呢。

　　中闕，中心是蘭只為王者而香。
　　譯文：一天接一天，一年接一年，東南西北，四方都走遍，我雖然像香蘭一樣，不以無人而不芳，不過我也在積極地尋找實現自身社會價值的機會。周文王夜夢飛熊入帳，渭水之畔訪遇太公望(姜子牙，因周文王有“興周之業，先祖早寄希望於太公也”之說，故名太公望)，從而奠定周朝八百年基業，這是多麼讓人嚮往的啊。蘭一旦被王者采摘佩戴，定會讓其清雅的芬芳和其間蘊含的思想如日月般光耀。

　　下闋，中心是蘭歷苦寒而成其香。

　　譯文：雪霜鋪天蓋地，樹冠上厚厚的一層，雖是冬天，但看起來萬物都像更加茂盛了一樣。嚴寒中，蘭的花蕾，靜靜的孕育和等待，在忍耐中積累。蘭之所以有王者之香，是因為在寒冬中孕育了花蕾，如果人們能明白這是君子應該遵守的道理和法則，那麼後世子孫必定昌盛。

古琴曲《幽蘭操》又稱《猗蘭操》。“猗”字在古漢語中有四種解釋：一是歎詞，表示贊美，如《詩經·周頌·潛》“猗與漆沮”（漆、沮是河流名）；二是句末語氣詞，如《詩經·魏風·伐檀》“河水清且漣猗！”；三是通“倚”字，依靠，如《詩經·衛風·淇奧》“猗重較兮”（重較是古代卿士乘坐的車子）；四是柔順的樣子，如《史記·司馬相如傳》“猗柅從風”（猗柅又寫作“旖旎”）。 “操”，指琴曲名及演奏方法，如《箕子操》、《龜山操》。

原文

　　習習谷風，以陰以雨。之子于歸，遠送于野。

　　何彼蒼天，不得其所。逍遙九州，無所定處。

　　世人暗蔽，不知賢者。年紀逝邁，一身將老。

　　傷不逢時，寄蘭作操。

出處

　　樂府詩集（郭茂倩編）卷五十八 琴曲歌辭二

相傳爲孔子所作。

蔡邕（蔡文姬之父）在《琴操》中說：“《猗蘭操》者，孔子所作也。”“孔子歷聘諸侯，諸侯莫能任。自衛反魯，過隱谷之中，見香蘭獨茂，喟然歎曰，夫蘭爲王者香，今乃獨茂；與衆草爲伍，譬猶賢者不逢時，與鄙夫爲倫也。”“乃止車，援琴鼓之雲：習習谷風，以陰以雨；之子于歸，遠送于野；何彼蒼天，不得其所！逍遙九州，無所定處；時人諳蔽，不知賢者；年紀逝邁，一身將老！自傷不逢時，托辭于香蘭雲。”

　　《古今樂錄》曰：“孔子自衛反魯，見香蘭而作此歌。”
　　《琴集》曰：“《幽蘭操》，孔子所作也。”

　　古詩《幽蘭操》，是精擅琴藝的孔聖人自感生未逢時的絕世作品。唐代著名詩人韓愈曾作同名作品，以唱和孔子。《幽蘭操》只有短短的六十四個字，卻韻味十足，清冽之中隱含冷豔。汲取了史詩與英雄傳說的浩渺氣質，帶著蘭花冷漠的美豔，但又說著人生的變動和永恒。

A Frozen Kiss under Beethoven's Moonlight

All of a sudden, out of the blue, I decided to look up the Russian figure skating husband-and-wife team Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov, whom I discovered and loved years ago when I was in middle school. I found quite a few video clips of their beautiful 1993/1994 long programme (entitled 'Moonlight Sonata') set to Beethoven's Sonatas Moonlight and Pathétique. Back then it instantly caught my eyes. I fell in love with this unique performance and the very special couple, around the same time I encountered rhythmic gymnast Maria Petrova's beauty, soul and artistry (I have written a post on Maria Petrova before - Silk and Steel). For me, the aura, simplicity, harmony and elegance in their performance, are what distinguish them as artists in the field of competitive sports.




Long program (Moonlight Sonata) 1993-94
Choreography: Marina Zueva
Music: Beethoven's Sonatas: "Pathetique" No.8 and "Moonlight" No.14 (Adagio & Allegretto)
Performances:
Skate Canada (Ottawa) 1993
Russian Championships (Saint Petersburg) 1994
European Championships (Copenhagen Denmark) 1994
XVII Winter Olympics (Lillehammer Norway) 1994

*Read more about Ekaterina Gordeeva & Sergei Grinkov here.

黃眞伊之詩: Poetry of Hwang Jin-Yi

冬至漫長夜

截取冬之夜半強， 春風被裡屈幡倉。 有燈無月郎來夕， 曲曲鋪舒寸寸長。

“ 我要把這漫長冬至夜的三更剪下，
輕輕捲起來放在溫香如春風的被下，
等到我愛人回來那夜一寸寸將它攤開。”

— 陳黎 譯

青山裡的碧溪水

青山裡碧溪水， 莫誇易移去， 一到滄海不復還。 明月滿空山， 暫休且去若何？

“ 青山裡的碧溪水啊不要誇耀你的輕快，
一旦流到滄海你將永遠無法再回來，
明月滿空山何不留在這兒與我歇息片刻。”

— 陳黎 譯

時調中的「碧溪水」指的是黃真伊一位筆名為「碧溪守」的李朝宗室友人，在韓文中水與守同音，「明月」又是黃真伊的妓名，此詩寫於與碧溪守於窄橋上相遇，詩中具有挑逗的情意。

“동짓달 기나긴 밤을...”

동짓달 기나긴 밤을 한 허리를 버혀 내어
춘풍 니불 아래 서리서리 넣었다가
어론님 오신 날 밤이어든 굽이굽이 펴리라

Oh that I might capture the essence of this deep midwinter night
And fold it softly into the waft of a spring-moon quilt,
Then fondly uncoil it the night my beloved returns.


“청산리 벽계수(靑山裏 碧溪水)야...” 

靑山裏碧溪水 (청산리벽계수)
莫誇易移去 (막과이이거)
一到滄海不復還 (일도창해부복환)
明月滿空山 (명월만공산)
暫休且去奈何 (잠휴차거나하)

청산리 벽계수(靑山裏 碧溪水)야 수이 감을 자랑 마라.
일도창해(一到滄海)하면 다시 오기 어려우니
명월(明月)이 만공산(滿空山)할 제 쉬어간들 어떠리.

Respectable Byuk Kye-Soo, do not boast of leaving so early.
When you venture out to the sea, it will be difficult to return.
The full bright moon above the empty mountain, how about staying here to rest.

(*Two sijo attributed to Hwang, translated by Larry Gross, via)

About Hwang Jini (Hwang Jin-Yi)...


黃真伊（諺文：황진이，朝鮮漢字：黃眞伊，約1506年－1544年），朝鮮王朝‎時期女詩人，亦是一位著名的妓生（藝妓），京畿道開城人，別名真娘，妓名明月（명월），父親是黃進士，母親金氏（一說為盲妓生陳玄琴）為黃進士之妾，因此她是庶女。為松都三絕之一絕（另二絕為松都景點朴淵瀑布、理學家徐敬德）。

十六世紀是韓國文學的黃金時代，而黃真伊是當中最出色的詩人，擅寫時調。其詩作的風格委婉含蓄，以描寫愛情為主，有人認為其詩作風格像十七世紀善用曲喻的英國玄學詩派。她的詩作是現今韓國中學課本的教材。

古時記載黃真伊才貌出眾，使她很快成為著名的妓生，獲文人雅士垂青。相傳她在十六歲時與一個地方官的兒子和在成年後與一個王室宗親相戀，可是依照當時的從母法，她繼承了母親的賤民身份，不能作士大夫和貴族的妻子，致使這兩段戀情最終不能開花結果。


Hwang Jin-i (1520c.-1560c.), also known by her gisaeng name Myeongwol (literally bright moon), is one of the most famous gisaeng of the Joseon Dynasty who lived during the reign of King Jungjong. She was noted for her exceptional beauty, charming quick wit, and extraordinary intellect. Her personal life has become almost myth-like, having inspired movies, a 2006 TV series, operas, and numerous novels. Due to her renowned assertive and independent nature, she has become a modern popular cultural icon of Korea.

Although only a handful of sijo and geomungo pieces exist today, they nonetheless show skilled craftsmanship of words and of musical arrangement. Her sijo often describe the natural beauty of Gaeseong and its famous sites such the palace of Manwoldae and the Pakyon Falls. Others hint at the tragedy of her lost loves. Some are also responses to numerous famous classic Chinese poems and literature, the majority of them reflecting on lost love.

(中文資料轉載自; English text & information via)

Wie lange noch?

Wie lange noch? - the song (and ballet) that made me fall in love with Kurt Weill's music. I later discovered Teresa Stratas' album "The Unknown Kurt Weill" whilst searching for Wie lange noch? and enjoyed her interpretation as well as many other Weill songs...


‎I will confess there was a night when I willingly gave myself to you.
You took me and drove me out of my mind.
I believed that I could not live without you.
You promised me blue skies, and I cared for you like my own father. 
You tormented me -- you tore me apart. 
I would have put the world at your feet!
Look at me.
When will the day come that I will be able to tell you: it's over.
When that day comes... I dread it. How much longer? How long?

I believed you. I was in a daze from all your talk and your promises.
I did whatever you wanted.
Wherever you wanted to go, I was willing to follow.
You promised me blue skies, and I -- Ah! I didn't even dare to cry.
But you have broken your word and your vows.
I have been silent and tortured myself.
Look at me!
When will the day come that I will be able to tell you: it's over.
When that day comes -- I dread it.
How much longer?
How long?

Author: Weill, translations via.


*About Wie lange noch?

Kurt Weill’s “Wie Lange Noch,” with an enigmatic text by his fellow German-Jewish emigré Walter Mehring, was written for broadcast behind enemy lines on Radio Free Europe during the Second World War. Reworking a tune he had set previously to a French text, in“Wie Lange Noch,” Weill speaks of lost trust and the betrayal of a man who had promised and inspired a nation with dreams of hope in the guise of a torch song. The sparse opening begins with a painfully beautiful duet between Julie Baumgartel (violin) and Paul Pulford (cello), which is marked by starkness and quiet desperation. With the change in tonality from minor to major, a sense of light and hope glimmers in the distant future. The accordion here becomes musical portrayal of a sorrowful memory while the intensity of this text explodes in the questioning of time, as Mehring desperately asks: Wie lange noch—how much longer. The underlying meaning of the words cannot possibly have been lost on Germans listening to this song in 1944.

{info from Radioindy.com}

Listen to a beautiful rendition of this song by L'Accordéoniste here...

Kurt Weill at the piano, Dessau, 1916.

Ballet choreographed by Krzysztof Pastor (director of the Polish National Ballet) and set to Kurt Weill's Wie lange noch?

Margot's Princess Aurora

I am in love... Such a Princess Aurora simply does not exist in the ballet world nowadays. Wish I could see Dame Margot Fonteyn dancing The Sleeping Beauty on stage. And this DVD (if it is released as one at all) is a must-find/must-have for me!

Margot Fonteyn as Aurora in Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty, choreographed by Marius Petipa at Covent Garden theatre, photo Houston Rogers. London, England, c.1960 {via V&A}

Margot Fonteyn's tutu from Act I of The Sleeping Beauty 1946, designed by Oliver Messel

© ROH Collections {via}

Costume for Princess Aurora in Act l of 'The Sleeping Beauty'

worn by Margot Fonteyn

Designed by Oliver Messel

The Royal Ballet, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London

1960

Museum no. S.301 - 2001 {via V&A}

Left: Coppelia costume (1954). Right: The Sleeping Beauty costume (1946)

© ROH Collections {via}

"How to put something so visual, so potent with theatrical moment that even film cannot capture it, into plain words? How to explain why it is that when, to a particular strain of music, an ordinary mortal steps forward on one leg, raises the other behind her and lifts her arms above her head, the angels hold their breath?"

(from the prologue of Margot Fonteyn, by Meredith Daneman)

*See also here for Margot's Entrance of Aurora & Rose Adagio...

長江的百年孤獨: Nadav Kander's Yangtze River series — The Long River

I recently came across the work of photographer and artist Nadav Kander, and was instantly drawn to his Yangtze River series of photographs. There is an intense, yet ethereal, layer of loneliness and quiet poetry in the vast space depicted in these images. Loneliness particularly in the emptiness, colour scheme, and feeling of displaced human condition/ disconnectedness with nature for the people living along the river. Quietness albeit the industrial development which is clearly in progress along the Long River of China, shown in these photographs. Curiously and alluringly, instead of the peacefulness and tranquillity that is often associated emotionally with vast, empty spaces (here Kander echoes beautifully with the Chinese aesthetic concept of 留白 liu bai—literally “leaving blank”), one senses unrest and unease, which perhaps fuels certain undercurrent revolution. As Peter Nitsch puts it, “River is the metaphor for constant change.”

Nanjing IV, Jiangsu Province

Mouth I (Wusongkou, where river meets sea), near Shanghai

Three Gorges Dam II, Yichang, Hubei Province

Changxing Island I (Island of Oranges), Shanghai

Mouth IV, near Shanghai

Three Gorges Dam V, Yichang, Hubei Province

Wu Gorge, Hubei Province

Xiling Gorge I, Hubei Province

Xiling Gorge IV, Hubei Province

New Fengdu (looking at Old Fengdu), Chongqing Municipality

Chongqing XI, Chongqing Municipality

Qinghai Province II

Qinghai Province III

(all images from Nadav Kander's official website)

*Read more about Nadav Kander's Long River Series here and here.


These photographs somehow remind me of the beauty of loneliness, and a paradoxical sense of agitation which unfurl in Ravel's Tzigane, performed here by one of my favourite violinists Henryk Szeryng.

Kubla Khan and the Eden of a cruel world

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And here were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced:
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!



The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!

A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me,

That with music loud and long,
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.



*Poetry: Kubla Khan (A Vision in A Dream) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, completed in 1797 and published in 1816.
*Melody: String Sextet in D minor, "Souvenir de Florence," Op.70, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, composed in 1890. This piece is used in James Kudelka's 1994 ballet Cruel World.
*Image: Holograph copy of Kubla Khan, via Wikipedia.

梅蘭芳的遊園驚夢: My Mr. Poetic Oneirism

《遊園驚夢》中，梅蘭芳扮杜麗娘，言慧珠扮春香

《遊園驚夢》上

梅蘭芳在《遊園驚夢》中扮杜麗娘

《遊園驚夢》下

《遊園驚夢》中，梅蘭芳扮杜麗娘，俞振飛扮柳夢梅

More precious & beautiful photos of Mei Lanfang here (he is, after all, my Mr. Poetic Oneirism).

《遊園驚夢》是梅蘭芳學出的昆曲代表劇目。此劇是《牡丹亭》中的一環。劇情是：杜麗娘背父母及塾師與春香至後花園春遊，見斷井頹垣，陡起傷春之感。遊倦歸房，夢中與書生柳夢梅至後園相會，園中花神皆出護翼，二人訂情而別，杜母恰至喚醒麗娘，見其恍惚，囑勿常遊園，麗娘卻心向夢境不已。梅蘭芳在劇中飾杜麗娘。在唱念做工方面都有許多突出的地方，不僅表現出杜麗娘的溫婉、嫻雅貞靜的性格，還把這位深鎖幽閨的少女心靈深處的寂寞、惆悵、徬徨的心情恰如其分地表露出來，演得層次分明，不同凡響。是梅蘭芳下功夫最大，演出場次最多的一出戲。早在1918年演出時，由姜妙香配演柳夢梅，至1933年在上海演出時又得與昆曲名家俞振飛合作，由俞飾柳夢梅，均相得益彰。此後梅與俞合演多年，並博取眾家精華，不斷對此劇進行錘煉和提昇，遂臻化境。堪稱中國戲曲藝苑中的奇葩。1915年12月梅蘭芳應邀在北京電影製片廠，將此劇搬上銀幕，當時領導非常重視。組成優秀攝製組拍攝。仍請梅蘭芳和俞振飛分飾杜麗娘及柳夢梅，梅的弟子言慧珠飾丫環春香。歷時兩月，梅蘭芳和全組工作人員，以極大的熱情，圓滿完成了符合電影藝術和時代思想要求的拍攝任務。

*文字轉載自梅蘭芳紀念館: 戲曲知識

關於梅蘭芳之延伸閱讀... (More about Mei Lanfang...)