4月21日
骑士作曲家多梅尼科·斯卡拉蒂
——摘自《音乐启蒙书：音乐中的希望和力量》
（中央编译出版社2007年4月版，李波译）
多梅尼科·斯卡拉蒂Domenico
Scarlatti（1685～1757）著名意大利古钢琴作曲家。主要作品：古钢琴奏鸣曲近600首，其中以《小猫赋格》最为有名。
1738年4月21日，下午4点至5点之间，一个人出现在修道院的高花坛前，他像一个圣地亚哥的骑士一样进行宣誓。实际上，他不是一个冒险家，也不是一个士兵，他甚至不是西班牙人，而是一个出生于意大利的作曲家，名叫多梅尼科·斯卡拉蒂。
斯卡拉蒂的荣誉可能靠以前的一个弟子的影响力才得到的，她就是玛莉娅·芭芭拉——葡萄牙国王的女儿。斯卡拉蒂在西班牙生活和工作了9年，尽管玛莉娅·芭芭拉无法为他从西班牙宫廷里带来来誉，但她可能说服她的父王，让他宣布：按照《葡萄牙圣地亚哥等级法》，斯卡拉蒂符合骑士的资格，并在马德里为他安排了授位仪式。
一个教士问斯卡拉蒂，他是否愿意改变他的生活，甚至吃喝拉撒都与众不同。斯卡拉蒂答应了，这个教士继续说：“你明明知道这个法令既没有送你马，也没有送你武器；除了面包和水，没有别的食物。法令送给你的只有伟大的悲怜。另外，我们还得问你，你是否愿意抵抗摩尔人？如果我们让你去照管猪圈，你是不是顺从而谦逊地前去？”
斯卡拉蒂回答：“我承诺。”
从进一步的询问可以确信，斯卡拉蒂得到了他妻子的赞同，可以确信斯卡拉蒂没有任何形式的亵渎神灵、犯罪的过失，还可以确信他的血统没有被摩尔人玷污。在忏悔和交流后，斯卡拉蒂重新发誓：奉献、顺从和忠于婚姻，然后他披上一件白色的骑士披风。
斯卡拉蒂的后人们对他音乐手稿的丢失不太在意，但他们一代又一代都非常谨慎地保留着斯卡拉蒂的骑士记载。至于玛莉娅·芭芭拉呢，她将在马德里宫廷里发挥重大影响——她做了西班牙王后。
【注释】convent
女修道院 take vow
发誓 eligible 合格的The Moors
摩尔人，非洲西北部阿拉伯人与柏柏尔人的混血后裔，公元八世纪成为伊斯兰教徒，侵略并统治西班牙humility
谦逊be guilty of 对……有过失sacrilege 亵渎神灵
taint玷污，败坏 conjugal 婚姻的
fidelity 忠诚 full-fledged 充满羽毛的，成熟的jealously
嫉妒地，谨慎地
April 21st
The Composer Knight
April
21st, 1738. Between four and five o'clock in the
afternoon a man appears before the high altar of a convent in
Madrid to take his vows as a knight of Santiago.
He's not an adventurer or a soldier. He's not
even Spanish by birth. He's an Italian-born
composer named Domenico Scarlatti.
The honor
may well have come via the influence of Scarlatti's former pupil
Maria Barbara, daughter of the King of Portugal.
Scarlatti has lived and worked in Spain for nine years. Maria
Barbara was unable to obtain honors for him at the Spanish
Court. But she may have convinced her father to
declare Scarlatti eligible for knighthood in the Portuguese Order
of Santiago. Arrangements have been made for the ceremony to take
place in Madrid.
A priest asks Scarlatti if he is willing to change his life, even
to the point of eating, drinking, and sleeping as a different
man. When Scarlatti agrees, the priest continues,
"You know that the order promises you neither horse nor arms, nor
food other than bread and water, and the mercy of the Order, which
is great. Additionally, we ask you if you are
prepared to defend the gates against the Moors, and to maintain
such obedience and humility that even if we sent you to keep the
pigs you would do it."
Scarlatti
responds, "I so promise."
Further
questioning determines that Scarlatti has obtained his wife's
consent, is guilty of no form of sacrilege or crime, and that his
ancestry is free of Moorish taint. After
confession and communion Scarlatti returns to take his vows of
devotion, obedience, and conjugal fidelity. Then he puts on the
white cloak of a full-fledged knight.
Scarlatti's descendants will later allow all of his musical
manuscripts to disappear, but from generation to generation, they
will
jealously preserve the records of his
knighthood. As for Maria Barbara, she will later
have great influence in the Court at Madrid—as the Queen of
Spain.
加载中，请稍候......
加载中…