Shakespeare’s play “The Winter’s Tale” is a well-known tragedy & comedy. But it really has nothing to do with the winter except that it is "A sad Tale best for Winter to tell about”. Chinese new-year always falls between late January & early February in a cold winter season. However, we call it Spring Festival (春節). To most people, it is a festive winter event. Back to our good old winter days in Taipei, we school kids had to suffer in a classroom without heating systems. I remember we shuddered in the corner of 木造楼 between the classes. Nobody dared getting out to play. The best moment was to buy 熱騰騰的燒餅 inside the building between classes. Some street vendors got very creative to give us the service, 真是一大德政 . I sort of envied the kids in southern Taiwan as the weather there was much milder. I found that in winter we kids spent more time inside & had more time for study, read & write. It seems it should also be true for most adults. But to my surprise, I had a hard time to recall good literary work, music or art related to winter. Meanwhile most people can name a lot of them related to spring, summer & autumn. Perhaps people play mahjong or poker more often in winter instead of something more productive. Anyway, here are some I can remember.
四時田家苦樂歌, 鄭燮
This can be called “Four Seasons, Chinese Style”
冬天
老樹搓枒, 撼四壁, 寒声正怒. ... 茅舍日斜雲釀雪, 長堤路断風和雨. …田家苦.
砍松枝帶雪, … 秫酒釀成欢里舍, … 官租完了離城郭. 笑山妻塗粉过新年, 田家樂.
This shows the Chinese New Year really falls in the winter season. There seems no music composition exists for this fine literary work.
岳陽楼記, 范仲淹
若夫霪雨霏霏, 連月不開, 陰風怒號, 濁浪排空, 日星隱耀, 山岳潛形, 商旅不行, 檣傾楫椎, 薄暮冥冥, 虎嘯猿啼.. 登斯楼也, 則有去國怀鄉, 憂讒畏譏, 滿目簫然, 感極而悲者矣.
So winter is not the season to get excited about. You feel depressed, sad & dejected. It is hardly a positive season. Even Napoleon & Hitler got wiped out just because they couldn’t finish the campaigns before the winter came.
Unknown Author
大雪紛纷何所似? … 灑塩空中差可比, …未若柳絮因風起.
I have been in Milwaukee this winter. This is my version:
大雪紛纷何所似? … 白蝴小蝶滿天飛
飲馬長城窟行, 漢樂府
枯桑知天風, 海水知天寒, 入門各自媚, 誰肯相為言.
This really shows the importance of the family.
天淨沙, 馬致遠
枯藤老樹昏鴉,, 小橋流水平沙, 古道,西風瘦馬,. 夕陽西下, 断腸人在天涯.
This one is actually 秋思. But 枯藤老樹昏鴉, sounds so destitute, it really belongs to winter. If you have ever visited New England in October, you know what Autumn looks like---紅楓银杏滿山谷. I just have to assume 馬致遠 drank too much XO on the day he wrote this 元曲.
The music that carries the title of Seasons:
Tchaikovsky's “Four Seasons” is a piano work. Three pieces related to the winter are 聖誕節, 爐边 & 狂欢節.
Haydn's “Seasons” is an oratorio (清唱劇) composition.
Glazunov's “Four Seasons” is ballet music. It starts unconventionally with winter first then spring, summer and autumn. The winter contains frost, ice, hail and snow.
Vivaldi's “Four Seasons” is a set of four concertos. The winter contains three movements: Cold, Rain and Wind. The second movement has a mellow and slow tempo, can be viewed as Snow or Rain. I listened to this one while I was in Milwaukee. I was in the living room right next to a fireplace, a glass of red wine in my hand. It was in the early evening, snowflakes flying around in front of the yard. I felt so cozy and comfortable and the scene outside was so beautiful and white. It was truly a White Winter. The following YouTube link is a good one to view:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc_yKk0k5XE
Schubert “Winterreise” is a song cycle. Winterreise is Winter Journey (冬之旅) in English. It portrays a wanderer sings about his beloved, loses his beloved, feels lonliness, solitude & tries to gather his strength to carry on. There are 24 poems written by Wilhelm Muller. Schubert read it & put his emotion on music. The most famous one is the #5, Lindenbaum (linden tree or 菩提樹). We all learned the tune when we were in high school. Here are the translated lyrics:
By the fountain, near the gate,
There stands a linden tree;
I have dreamt in its shadows
So many sweet dreams.
I carved on its bark
So many loving words;
I was always drawn to it,
Whether in joy or in sorrow.
Today, too, I had to pass it
In the dead of night.
And even in the darkness
I had to close my eyes.
And its branches rustled
As if calling to me:
"Come here, to me, friend,
Here you will find your peace!"
The frigid wind blew
Straight in my face,
My hat flew from my head,
I did not turn back.
Now I am many hours
Away from that spot,
And still I hear the rustling:
There you would have found peace!
You can listen to the song in the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC7gEVSgf9k
The Chinese lyrics we learned are a slightly modified version:
我家有菩提老樹, 枝幹密綠葉蔭繁. 回憶我別離家園, 曾工作綠茵边, 我对樹發下誓願, 並刻字在樹間. 倘若希望不能遂, 我誓永遠不歸返, 我誓永遠不歸返..
The original lyrics are sad & despairing. The Chinese lyrics change the mood to desiring and promising. So the way to sing the song should be quite different. This also shows the power of music as a universal & versatile language in influencing people. Lindenbaum reminds me of a good old movie of 1956. In Taiwan, the title of the movie is 菩提樹. I bet most of us watched this German movie. The movie is not released in the US. However, I found a Youtube link related to the movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vkg3HEXLx8
This is the last scene of the movie. The Trapp family was in the detention center of Ellis Island. Their stay in the US depended on the financial sponsors. They were in the brink of losing them. Desperately they sang the Lindenbaum. Suddenly everybody is silent & listen. The combination of the video & music is so touching & powerful that changes the whole thing. If you have visited New York & Ellis Island, you will easily understand the whole meaning here. In the video clip, watch carefully, you will see the Statue of Liberty looms in the background outside the window, a sign of hope & freedom. This final scene was well done & the music was the main theme to make the whole thing incredulously heartwarming.
PS: The Trapp family & the story are portrayed in another famous movie “The Sound of Music”, 1965. This is an American musical written by Roger & Hammerstein. Julie Andrews became a very popular actress after this movie. The movie was a blockbuster for several years.
5 comments:
The performance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw5zqG17H6I&feature=related
is highly recommended. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau was probably the most acclaimed Schubert lieder singer, very much like Arthur Rubinstein on Chopin. In this one, though he was older, he was still very impressive.
Minnesota winter is cold, but we get used to it. If you dress properly, you can still enjoy ourdoor activities. Personally, I don't venture out often in winter here. One of the winter pastimes here is ice fishing on lake. When the ice on the frozen lake is thick enough, you pull the ice fishing house onto the lake. The floor of the fishing house has openings that you can drill holes through the ice and fish through the holes (around 1 ft in diameter). This is the only fishing you can do by sitting on your sofa in the warmth of heated house with your favorite XO or Zinf or Cab or beer. The ice fishing rod is about 2-3 feet long. There are all sorts of sonar devices that tell you when the fish will come near you. The other day, I drove my car a mile and a half out on the lake to visit my friend's fish house. You don't need any special tires, the lake surface was well plowed. But if you walk on it, it is a little slippery. In some places where the ice is clear, you can see the blue water underneath.
Our saying, "spring is to plow, summer is to weed, autumn is to harvest, winter is to store", depicts the farming life of the year. I guess that was for the east central of China, or "Chung-yuen" or mid plain. It appears to be true according to the Chinese farmers almanac that New Year signals the begining of the farming cycle, i.e. the end of winter and the begining of spring. More often that not, the bitter cold hardly occurs after the New Year. But in recent years the seasons seemed to be off; winter seemed to linger well into lunar January. Is this related to the global climate change? In southern Taiwan, farmers say there are three "winters" meaning you can plant and harvest rice three times in a year; while other parts of Taiwan have two "winters".
In my home town of Puli, through the middle school, boys wore shorts and girls wore skirts year round. It was tough in winter when sometimes you could see frost on the roof. Well, Puli is at a higher elevation and has colder climate compared to the cities. Some of my classmates had skin cracks on their legs in winter due to the lack of skin care at the time; but we all survived. In fact, during winter, we regularly jogged on the track, and that was how we kept our body warm.
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is one of the best lyric baritone. He was captured during WWII in Italy. His singing style is very academic, very truthful to the original work. His younger peer Hermann Prey is another baritone I like. His voice shows more colorful & vibrant. He was almost got drafted to war before it ended in 1945. I listened to their performance on Marriage of Figaro. Prey seemed a little bit better for this role. But for Schubert's Winterreise, I agree with you, Fischer-Dieskau is better. Hermann Prey passed away several years ago & fischer-Dieskau is still around.
I have some questions on Fishing House. How big or heavy is it? Do you feel safe to leave on the frozen lake overnight? What happen if it suddenly gets warm outside & the house may sink to the lake? It will be a chore to drag in & pull out the house around lake everyday. Also if the fishing hole is only about 1 ft, what happen if you catch some fish longer than that? I visited one of the hunting store Cabela's in Milwaukee. It is like another world as I have never seen something like this in California. Perhap I miss something, I didn't see the ice fishing house there. I spent the whole afternoon there & bought some archery & arrows to try out in the field. It is fun but trying to hunt moose is beyond me.
There two popular sizes of ice fishing house, 14"x16" and 16"x20". It is like a small efficiency apartment excluding shower. You bring a battery and a DC/AC converter to provide electricity. Propane gas provides heating and cooking. Water is from snow outside. Sanitary bags for toilet.
You own the fishing house, but pay for all other services such as moving the house onto your lot on the lake, road maintenance, mail delivery, etc.. The services are provided by the resort.
You can come back to the resort on the shore for meals (you can cook in the fishing house or BBQ outside if you want) or shower or restroom. The resort plow the lake as if creating a village with streets and main roads. The fishing house is moved to and from your lot once a season; it just sits there for the whole season. Your transportation is either automobile or snowmobile on the lake. The DNR (dept. of natural resources) constantly measures the thinkness of lake ice to ensure safety. Each house has its address, so you get your newpaper and mail. The road and street need constant maintenance to be clear of snow, because snow is like blanket, it keeps the cold H2O temperture from reaching down to freeze additional lake water. Note that the lake water underneath will melt the ice from bottom up if no cold H2O to stop it. Generally, the road is at least 4-lane wide and the street 2-lane wide. It is important not to drive your car too close to the snow banks left by the plow. Each fishing house is at least 40-50 yards from the nearest neighbor. The lake my friend's fishing house is on is quite big. It is about 30 miles east to west and 35 miles south to north. This particular resort has the main road about 15 miles. Oh, the speed limit on the main road is 15 MPH. Most of the time, the outside temperature is below zero. Occasional warm weather lasting one or two days is okay.
My friend's fishing house has 6 openings on his floor, so he can simultaneously have many lines. Any openings can be covered up. The opening is about 16" in diameter, so you can drill a 12" diameter hole with motorized auger (they make such specialized auger) through 6 or 7 feet thick of ice. Six feet thick of ice can withstand several tons of weight without cracking, I was told. It is not unusual to catch a 10 pounds walleye or northern pike. They can be caught through the 12" hole easily. If you see a picture of someone indoor holding a big fish, it is likely in a ice fishing house; they may wear tee shirts or heavy winter coats which doesn't matter for you can control the temperature in the house.
My friend even has his HDTV there. He has a big antenna on his roof. He actually has a nice sofa and other furnitures so that while he is fishing, he is also watching TV or movie and drinking his Irish coffee. That lake is about 200 miles north from Rochester, and my friend spends 3 days a week during ice fishing season at his fishing house. He has been doing that for more than 30 years. He is 82 years young, and still lives a very full life. And, he is one of my golfing buddies.
Sorry for the typo on the size of ice fishing house. It should be 14'x16' and 16'x20'.
This is a nice winter tale.
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