An Integrated English Course(综合英语课程)Unit8 The Monster(80P).pptVIP

An Integrated English Course Book 4 Unit Eight The Monster Questions for general understanding How do you understand the title? What or who does “the monster” refer to? What’s the author’s purpose of writing? (p.120) To what extent were Wagner’s characteristics displeasing? What contributions did Wagner make? In what sense may Wagner be said to be a monster? What type of writing is the text? How many parts can we divide the text into? What are they? Richard Wagner 瓦格纳 [Wagner, (Wilhelm) Richard] 理查德·瓦格纳(Richard?Wagner，1813-1883)，1813生于莱比锡，是德国著名的作曲家、指挥家。 瓦格纳的贡献首先表现在对歌剧的革新上，他在猛烈地鞭挞当时流行的迎合贵族和资产阶级庸俗趣味的歌剧同时，大胆地提出了歌剧应该和希腊悲剧、莎士比亚戏剧及贝多芬的交响乐一样，成为进步思想的宣传者。瓦格纳对音乐的另一个贡献是他撰写了大量的评论和论文，瓦格纳的文章有的讽刺了所谓?“?上流社会?”?的音乐与社会风尚，有的则对艺术家的处境表示理解和同情。青年时期，瓦格纳的思想主要倾向于?“?青年德意志?”?，但他也受到费尔巴哈和巴枯宁的影响，写过许多狂热激进的文章，甚至参加过德累斯顿的革命。?1848年欧洲资产阶级革命失败以后，瓦格纳逐渐接受了叔本华、尼采等人的思想，后来甚至成为种族理论戈比诺的忠实门徒，开始大力宣传大日耳曼主义，瓦格纳的?“?音乐艺术?”?也成为德意志帝国主义意识形态和?“?普鲁士精神?”?的一面旗帜。? 瓦格纳是大型管弦乐的创始者，对歌剧艺术有重大改革。首先，他建议一个歌剧作曲家要参与剧本创作，作整部歌剧的总导演；其次，他强调预先确定的和弦是歌剧艺术的基础；第三，他作品中的内核就是连续旋律的发展，利用翻来复去的旋律产生柔顺悦耳的音乐效果，乐曲内部很少出现正常的终止式。瓦格纳探索和发展了前人对铜管乐器的研究，找到了铜管乐音响的合理基础，使萨克斯管与管风琴、小号、长号组合在一起，发出和谐的音响。他的许多作品有着威武骑士的色彩，充满了金属的辉煌。? 他的代表作品有《尼伯龙根的指环》、《莱茵的黄金》、《女武神》、《齐格费里德》、《诸神的黄昏》等?11部歌剧，9首序曲，1部交响乐，4部钢琴奏鸣曲及大量合唱曲、艺术歌曲等，并写了《艺术与革命》、《歌剧与戏剧》等几部关于歌剧改革的著作。 Purpose of writing -- To argue that Wagner’s contributions and creativity render forgivable his displeasing characteristics. To what extent were Wagner’s characteristics displeasing? He was an undersized little man, with a head too big for his body… He was a monster of conceit… He had a mania for being in the right… … What contributions did Wagner make? He wrote 13 operas and music dramas, 11 of them still holding the stage, 8 of them unquestionably worth ranking among the world’s great musico-dramatic masterpieces. He was “one of the world’s greatest dramatists ... a great thinker .., one of the most stupendous musical geniuses”. In what sense may Wagner be said to be a monster? Wagner was a monster in the sense that the