當代俄羅斯作曲界傳奇：謝德林藝術與愛的一生

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　　俄羅斯作曲家謝德林（Rodion Shchedrin）於八月二十九日因急性心臟衰竭在慕尼黑逝世，享壽九十二歲。他的職業生涯跨越蘇聯與後蘇聯時期，作品涵蓋器樂獨奏、歌劇、芭蕾、合唱作品與管弦樂曲，與妻子，也就是二十世紀芭蕾巨星普利謝茨卡雅（Maya Plisetskaya）的藝術合作，更鞏固他在音樂史上的獨特地位，堪稱近代俄羅斯最重要作曲家之一。

　　謝德林出生於一九三二年，父親在莫斯科音樂學院學作曲，以教學和演奏中提琴維持生計，並與八個都學習音樂的兄弟組成「謝德林兄弟樂團」（Orchestra of the Shchedrin Brothers）；母親則是在莫斯科大劇院的行政專員，因為學習鋼琴認識未來的丈夫。原來父母為他取的名字是「羅伯特」（Robert）以向舒曼致敬，但是在教堂祕密受洗時，神職人員對這個「外國名字」感到不滿，所以改成源自希臘文的東正教名字「羅季翁」（Rodion）。

　　雖然家中充滿音樂氣息，但是幼年時期的謝德林對音樂並沒有特別感興趣，是父親以釣魚為誘因鼓勵他學習鋼琴來奠定基礎。當德軍在一九四一年逼近莫斯科時，謝德林與家人撤往古比雪夫（Kuybyshev），父親在當地樂團工作並且擔任蕭斯塔科維奇的助手。在饑餓與恐懼中，十歲的謝德林跟著父親走進劇院聽樂團排練蕭斯塔科維奇第七號交響曲，這個獨特的經驗，成為他日後走上創作道路的重要啟蒙。

　　戰後謝德林考進莫斯科音樂學院向沙波林（Yuri Shaporin）與弗利爾（Yakov Flier）學習作曲與鋼琴，讓他同時具備作曲家的創造力與鋼琴家的技巧。一九五四年，謝德林以第一號鋼琴協奏曲成為蘇聯作曲界新星，一九六○年芭蕾舞劇《駝背的小馬》（The Little Humpbacked Horse）奠定他在舞台上的名聲。此後，歌劇《死魂靈》（Dead Souls）、《不僅是愛》（Not Love Alone）與《羅麗塔》（Lolita）以及後期的《左撇子》（The Left-Hander）都展現他跨足不同音樂體裁的能力。

　　謝德林的風格難以簡單歸類：一方面汲取傳統的俄羅斯民間旋律與聖歌，另一方面又融入當代的爵士、偶然音樂與前衛技巧。他曾坦言：「藝術不容停滯，自我重複等同於自我麻痺。」這種拒絕定型的態度，使他作品既具大眾感染力，也能在專業領域引發議論。一九七三年，謝德林成為蕭斯塔科維奇與斯維里多夫（Georgy Sviridov）之後的俄羅斯作曲家協會主席直到一九九○年。

　　謝德林一生最重要的伴侶，是世界聞名的芭蕾巨星普利謝茨卡雅。兩人於一九五五年在詩人馬雅可夫斯基（Vladimir Mayakovsky）的繆斯莉莉·布里克（Lili Brik）家中相識，當時二十九歲的普利謝茨卡雅對小她七歲的謝德林琴音印象深刻。三年後，莫斯科大劇院籌備上演芭蕾《駝背的小馬》時，女主角普利謝茨卡雅與作曲家謝德林的感情升溫。當時普利謝茨卡雅生活在「舞台上的自由，舞台下的枷鎖」中，當局拿她在國際代表蘇聯形象，但是又要讓她明白自己與家族「出身不良」的把柄始終在國家手上，禁止她出國巡演，並以國家安全委員會嚴密監視。面對眾人勸退，謝德林堅持同年與普利謝茨卡雅登記結婚，並且收到來自國家安全委員會的新婚禮物：家中被安裝竊聽器。謝德林曾經記下這樣的夜晚：「有一次我聽見瑪雅在廚房裡無聲地哭泣。她一向不是愛哭的人，但是她被逼得如此。我唯一能做的，就是陪在她身邊，讓她知道不孤單。」

　　婚後謝德林為妻子奔走爭取出國演出的機會，他的創作也與妻子緊密相連。她是他的靈感繆斯，他則為她譜寫多部芭蕾音樂。從第一部共事的芭蕾《駝背的小馬》開始到《安娜・卡列尼娜》（Anna Karenina）、《海鷗》（The Seagull）與《帶狗的女人》（The Lady with the Lapdog），樂譜扉頁都題上「獻給瑪雅」的字樣。

　　在這些作品裡，最具代表性的是一九六七年的《卡門組曲》（Carmen Suite）。這是普利謝茨卡雅多年夢想的角色，謝德林把比才的音樂徹底重構，賦予現代感與適合表現舞蹈的強烈節奏，雖在首演時遭文化部批評「音樂被毀了」、「太過情色」，還有人要求「給瑪雅穿上裙子，別露腿」，但是最後在哈察都量（Aram Khachaturian）的力挺下得以保留。此後，普利謝茨卡雅在世界各地演出了超過三百場，奠定她的「卡門」傳奇，也使謝德林的音樂廣為流傳。謝德林直言：「我不是芭蕾迷，我是瑪雅迷。」普利謝茨卡雅則回憶：「我們之間不須要多餘的解釋，他寫音符，我用身體回應。」兩人以音樂與舞蹈相互成就，成為二十世紀少見的藝術伴侶典範。

　　一九九○年以後，謝德林的創作逐漸轉向宗教與哲思題材，呈現人生回顧與冥想的氣質。他以合唱與宗教音樂為重心，寫下思念妻子的《追思彌撒》（Maya Plisetskaya — Eternal memory: Mass of Remembrance on the Epitath of Nikolai Gogol）等作品。在器樂領域方面，他完成第六號鋼琴協奏曲，以簡潔透明的音樂語言表現晚年的沉思。對俄羅斯文學的熱愛，也讓他在二○一三年推出改編自列斯科夫（Nikolai Leskov）同名小說的歌劇《左撇子》。蘇聯解體後，謝德林與普利謝茨卡雅長居德國慕尼黑，但是他仍強調「俄羅斯是我的根源」，即便視力衰退、創作困難，依舊不時構思新作，將生命最後階段的思索與懷想化為音符。

　　二○一二年接受電視訪問時，被主持人問到三個願望，八十歲的謝德林連續三次回答：「我想永遠和妻子在一起。」普利謝茨卡雅在二○一五年辭世後，他一直把她的骨灰珍藏身邊。兩人早已經立下共同遺囑：「我們的遺體在死後火化，當那位走得較晚的人離開人世，或若我們同時離世，兩人的骨灰要合而為一，並灑向俄羅斯。」對他們來說，這不僅是愛情的結語，也是對故土最深的告別。

Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin passed away on August 29 in Munich from acute heart failure, at the age of ninety-two. His career spanned both the Soviet and post-Soviet eras, with works covering solo instrumental music, operas, ballets, choral compositions, and orchestral scores. His artistic collaboration with his wife, the twentieth-century ballet icon Maya Plisetskaya, secured his unique place in music history, making him one of the most important Russian composers of modern times.

Shchedrin was born in 1932. His father studied composition at the Moscow Conservatory, earned a living teaching and playing the viola, and formed the "Orchestra of the Shchedrin Brothers" with his eight musically trained siblings. His mother was an administrator at the Bolshoi Theatre, where she met her future husband while studying piano. Initially, his parents named him "Robert" in honor of Schumann, but when secretly baptized in church, the priest disapproved of the "foreign name" and gave him the Orthodox name "Rodion", derived from Greek.

Although music filled his household, the young Shchedrin was not particularly interested. His father lured him into studying piano with the promise of fishing trips, laying the foundation for his training. In 1941, when German troops approached Moscow, the family evacuated to Kuibyshev (now Samara), where his father worked with the local orchestra and assisted Dmitri Shostakovich. Amid hunger and fear, the ten-year-old Shchedrin followed his father into the theatre and heard a rehearsal of Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony. That experience became an early spark for his path as a composer.

After the war, Shchedrin entered the Moscow Conservatory to study composition with Yuri Shaporin and piano with Yakov Flier, gaining both a composer’s creativity and a pianist’s technique. In 1954, he emerged as a Soviet star with his Piano Concerto No. 1. In 1960, his ballet The Little Humpbacked Horse (Конёк-Горбунок) established his reputation on stage. Later works such as the operas Dead Souls (Мёртвые души), Not Love Alone (Не только любовь), Lolita (Лолита), and his late opera The Left-Hander (Левша) showed his versatility across genres.

Shchedrin’s style is difficult to classify: on the one hand, he drew from traditional Russian folk melodies and sacred chant; on the other, he incorporated contemporary jazz, aleatoric music, and avant-garde techniques. He once admitted: “Art cannot remain stagnant; to repeat oneself is the same as self-paralysis.” This refusal to be confined gave his works both popular appeal and the power to provoke debate among professionals. In 1973, Shchedrin became chairman of the Russian Composers’ Union, succeeding Shostakovich and Georgy Sviridov, and held the post until 1990.

The most important person in Shchedrin’s life was the world-renowned ballerina Maya Plisetskaya. They met in 1955 at the home of Lili Brik, muse of poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. At twenty-nine, Plisetskaya was impressed by the piano playing of the twenty-two-year-old Shchedrin. Three years later, during preparations for The Little Humpbacked Horse at the Bolshoi, their relationship deepened.

At the time, Plisetskaya lived with "freedom on stage but chains offstage". She was both a symbol of Soviet culture abroad and a target of suspicion at home, forbidden to tour internationally due to her family background, and closely monitored by the KGB. Despite advice against it, Shchedrin insisted on marrying her in 1958. Their wedding gift from the state security agency was a set of listening devices installed in their apartment. Shchedrin recalled: "One night I heard Maya silently crying in the kitchen. She was not someone who cried easily, but she had been pushed so far. All I could do was stay with her, so she would know she was not alone".

After their marriage, Shchedrin fought to secure her opportunities to perform abroad. She became his muse, and he composed numerous ballets for her. From their first joint project The Little Humpbacked Horse to Anna Karenina (Анна Каренина), The Seagull (Чайка), and The Lady with the Lapdog (Дама с собачкой), every score was inscribed with the dedication "To Maya".

Among these works, the most famous was Carmen Suite (Кармен-сюита, 1967), a role Plisetskaya had long dreamed of. Shchedrin completely reimagined Bizet’s music with modern rhythms and vivid theatrical drive. At its premiere, cultural authorities criticized it as "destroying the music" and "too erotic", even demanding: "Put Maya in a skirt, don’t let her show her legs". Thanks to the support of Aram Khachaturian, however, the ballet survived. Plisetskaya went on to perform it more than three hundred times worldwide, securing her legend as Carmen and spreading Shchedrin’s music internationally. He once declared: "I am not a ballet fan, I am a Maya fan". Plisetskaya reflected: "Between us, no explanations were needed. He wrote the notes; I answered with my body". Their mutual artistry made them a rare example of a twentieth-century creative partnership.

After 1990, Shchedrin’s music turned increasingly toward religious and philosophical themes, with a reflective and meditative quality. He focused on choral and sacred works, including the "Maya Plisetskaya — Eternal memory: Mass of Remembrance on the Epitath of Nikolai Gogol" (Месса поминовения), written in memory of his wife. In instrumental music, he composed his Piano Concerto No. 6, marked by a transparent and contemplative style. His love for Russian literature led to the 2013 opera The Lefthander, based on Nikolai Leskov’s novella.

After the Soviet Union collapsed, Shchedrin and Plisetskaya settled in Munich, though he always affirmed: "Russia is my root". Despite failing eyesight and difficulties in composition, he continued to shape new works, transforming his final years of thought into music.

In a 2012 television interview, when asked about three wishes, the eighty-year-old Shchedrin answered three times in a row: "I want to be with my wife forever". After Plisetskaya’s death in 2015, he kept her ashes close by. The couple had long agreed on a joint will: "Our bodies shall be cremated; when the one who outlives the other dies—or if we depart together—our ashes must be united and scattered over Russia". For them, this was not only the closing chapter of their love but also their ultimate farewell to their homeland.