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世纪30年代，作曲家埃里希•沃尔夫冈•科恩戈尔德因其创作的好莱坞电影配乐闻名于世。而他的朋友勋伯格•阿诺尔德则以其音乐上的前卫尝试广为人知，或者说被弄得声名狼藉。科恩戈尔德的儿子乔治回忆了俩人之间一场激烈的辩论。
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.
尽管俩人的看法存在着差异，但是科恩戈尔德总是乐于见到勋伯格，因为他喜欢富于挑战的激烈辩论。有一次，科恩戈尔德、勋伯格和指挥家奥图•克伦佩勒一起谈论序列音乐。勋伯格认为一系列音符按照相反的顺序演奏，其主旋律同原来的序列没有区别，然而科恩戈尔德却不同意这一看法。
Growing impatient with Korngold’s resistance, Schoenberg held up pencil and asked, “Erich, what’s this in my hand?”
科恩戈尔德坚持己见，勋伯格也变得越来越不耐烦，于是他举起一支铅笔问道：“埃里希，我手里拿的是什么?”
Korngold replied, “Obviously it’s a pencil.”
科恩戈尔德回答说：“当然是一支铅笔。”
Schoenberg turned it upside down so that the eraser was at the bottom. “Now what is it?”
勋伯格把铅笔倒了过来，让带有橡皮的一端冲下，又问：“那么，现在这又是什么呢?”
Korngold saw the trap. “It’s still a pencil,” he said, “but now you can’t write with it.”
科恩戈尔德识破了勋伯格设下的圈套。“还是一支铅笔，”他说，“可是现在你却不能用它来写字了。”
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.
尽管俩人在某些问题的看法上存在分歧，但科恩戈尔德却是一位有教养的辩论者。一次，恼羞成怒的勋伯格问道：“埃里希，你喜欢我创作的音乐吗?”出乎他的意料，科恩戈尔德走到钢琴旁，凭借记忆演奏了几首勋伯格大约在30年前创作的曲子，以此作为回答。
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.
还有一次，勋伯格来到电影录音棚拜访科恩戈尔德。他坐在钢琴旁等候科恩戈尔德，大约过了几分钟便开始在一张乐谱纸上涂写起来。20分钟过去了，他站起身来对科恩戈尔德的儿子说：“我等不了了。这是给你的。”说着把那张纸递给了这个年轻人。科恩戈尔德看到这张纸的时候，咧嘴笑了。 因为勋伯格写了一段双赋格曲，无论从纸的哪一端开始演奏旋律都是一样的。
Arnold Schoenberg and Erich Korngold may’ve had their differences, but their friendship had a solid base in music.
勋伯格•阿诺尔德和埃里希•科恩戈尔德对音乐的看法有些不一致，但是俩人的友谊却有着坚实的基础——音乐。
（兼职编辑：杨帆）
