勞律森（1943- ）為相當活躍的美國現代作曲家，他的合唱作品深受全世界合唱團喜愛。一九九三年接受波特蘭市的十字合唱團指揮布朗恩委託創作《玫瑰香頌》，最初只是想為該團寫一首安可曲，卻因當時正在閱讀詩人里爾克的《玫瑰集》，深受這部描述玫瑰之美的法文詩集感動，於是逐一寫出五首樂曲，最後集結出版為一組合唱組曲，命名為《玫瑰香頌》 (Les chansons des Roses)。

《玫瑰香頌》包括五首樂曲，第一首〈一朵獨特的玫瑰〉，讚嘆玫瑰的萬種風情；第二首〈對抗誰，玫瑰〉，對玫瑰為何長出傷人的刺提出一連串疑問；第三首〈妳的夢太圓滿〉，描寫了玫瑰迷人的體態；第四首〈完美的玫瑰〉，詩人視自己為完美玫瑰的完美朋友；第五首為〈他們會說…〉，藉由希臘神話中顧影自憐的少年隱喻玫瑰的自戀。

〈一朵獨特的玫瑰〉前後段以四聲部同節奏和聲進行描述玫瑰的豐盈，中段則利用聲部卡農形容玫瑰的綻放；〈對抗誰，玫瑰〉全曲以不斷出現的半終止和聲呈現不安定感，呼應歌詞傳達的一連串疑問；〈妳的夢太圓滿〉混和了調式與調性音樂，製造出不諧和的聲響，並以成對模仿的聲部產生回應的效果；〈完美的玫瑰〉與第二首同為組曲中較緩慢的樂曲，以單一聲部輪流呈現優美旋律，搭配變化豐富的和聲，讚嘆玫瑰就是生命的全部；〈他們會說…〉以主題變奏方式呈現如法國民歌般的歌唱線條，搭配模仿吉他彈奏而寫的鋼琴伴奏，成為本組曲中最受歡迎的一首樂曲。

本論文共分為四章，第一章是背景與緣起，針對研究動機、勞律森與里爾克的生平分為三節探討；第二章為樂曲的創作手法分析，分別以五節探討五首樂曲；第三章為音樂詮釋與合唱教學建議，分別針對五首樂曲逐項探討指揮手勢與排練技巧之建議。最後一章為本論文之結論，歸納勞律森《玫瑰香頌》這部作品之創作特色與藝術價值。本論文另有五篇附錄，附錄一為法語的基本發音規則，附錄二為整首組曲的逐字翻譯及全句翻譯，附錄三為法文歌詞逐字發音，附錄四為勞律森的作品彙整。附錄五為作曲家回覆研究者之電子郵件內容整理。

Morten Lauridsen, born in 1943, is a famous contemporary composer in America. His choral music has become popular all around the world. His choral cycle Les Chansons des Roses was commissioned and premiered in 1993 by Choral Cross-Ties of Portland, the composer’s hometown. At first the choir director commissioned an encore piece only; however, Lauridsen decided to write five short songs of roses after he read Rainer Maria Rilke’s French Poems Les Roses.

Les Chanson des Roses is a choral setting contains five pieces written in French. First is En Une Seule Fleur which acclaims the variety of roses. Second is Contre Qui, Rose, it expresses the passion ask for why the rose has its thorn to hurt people? Third is De Ton Rêve Trop Plein which describing the charming figure of roses. Fourth is the La Rose Complète describing poet who treated himself as a perfect friend of a perfect rose. The final one is Dirait-on, by means of a Greek myth about a pathologically self-absorbed young man who implies narcissism of roses.

In the En Une Seule Fleur, The homophonic texture is used to describe rose’s beauty in the first section and recapitulation; the middle section of the song is canon texture to describe rose’s blossom. In the Contre Qui, Rose, there are full of half-cadence throughout the piece which represents unanswered questions in the text. In the De Ton Rêve Trop Plein, the music language is mixed with modality and tonality and the pair imitation showing the echo effect. In the La Rose Complète, a long and lyric melody line alternates in different voice parts and the others support with various harmonies. The final Dirait-on is the “theme and variation”, which combines the melody in French chanson style and piano accompaniment imitating the chord-playing on a guitar. This piece becomes the most popular one of Les Chansons des Roses.

This thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One is the introduction, which includes the motive and intention of this research, the biography of Lauridsen, and the biography of Rilke. Chapter Two presents the musical analyses of Les Chansons des Roses. Chapter Three focuses on the musical interpretation and suggests pedagogical methods of these five songs. The last chapter is the conclusion which summarizes the creative features and aesthetical values of this choral cycle. There are five appendixes as following; the French pronunciation guide, the Chinese translations of the lyrics (word-for-word as well as poetic translations), the word-for-word pronunciations of the texts, Lauridsen’s compositional list, and finally two replied emails from the composer.

【英文書籍】
Garreston, Robert L. Choral Music: History, Style, and Performance Practice. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1993.

Haasemann, Frauke and Jordan, M. James. Group Vocal Technique. Chapel Hill: Hinshaw Music, 1991.

Robinson, Russell and Althouse, Jay. The Complete Choral Warm-up Book. Van Nuys: Alfred Publishing Company, 1995.

Strimple, Nick. Choral Music in the Twentieth Century. Portland: Amadeus Press, 2002.

Ulrich, Homer. A Survey of Choral Music. New York: Schirmer, 1973.

【中文書籍】

王珉。《美國音樂史》。上海：上海音樂出版社，2005。

艾摩‧克莉斯汀。《大學辭典系列13；音樂辭典》，貓頭鷹編譯小組 譯。台北：貓頭鷹出版社，2003。

白麗虹。《法語發音基礎學習》。台北：萬人出版社，2001。

李魁賢。《里爾克傳》。台北：桂冠圖書股份有限公司，2001。

里爾克。《里爾克法文詩》，何家煒 譯。長春：吉林出版集團，2007。

庫斯特卡。《二十世紀音樂的素材與技法》，宋瑾 譯。北京：人民音樂出版社，2002。

馬革順。《合唱學新編》。上海：上海音樂出版社，2002。

曹德明。《法語語音》。台北：漢威出版社，2000。

舒毅寧。《停看聽：法語發音入門》。台北：中央圖書出版社，2003。

雷納‧艾瑟頓。《指揮手冊》，呂淑玲、蘇索才 譯。台北：揚智文化事業股份有限公司，2002。

蔡良玉。《美國專業音樂發展簡史》。北京：人民音樂出版社，1992。

楊鴻年。《童聲合唱訓練學》。台北：台北愛樂文教基金會，2004。

劉沛。《美國音樂教育概況》。上海：上海教育出版社，1998。

【期刊】

McCoy, Jerry. “Choral Poetry: The Extended Choral Works of Morten Lauridsen.” The Choral Journal, 35 (November 1994): 25-30.

【論文資料】

Krueger, Carol A conductor’s analysis of Les Chansons des Roses cycle and an overview of the vocal compositions of Morten Lauridsen. Doctoral Essay, University of Miami, 2000.

【樂譜資料】(已出版)

Lauridsen, Morten. En Une Seule Fleur. peermusic, 1994.

Lauridsen, Morten. Contre Qui, Rose. peermusic, 1994.

Lauridsen, Morten. De Ton Rêve Trop Plein. peermusic, 1994.

Lauridsen, Morten. La Rose Complète. peermusic, 1994.

Lauridsen, Morten. Dirait-on. peermusic, 1994.

【有聲資料】

Browne, Bruce Dir. Lauridsen The Complete Choral Cycle. Choral Cross-Ties, Freshwater Records, FWCL 105-2, 1994.

Salamunovich, Paul Dir. Lauridsen‧Lux Aeterna. Los Angeles Master Chorale, RCM 19705, 1998.

Lauridsen, Morten. Lauridsen‧Noethwest Journey. Ralph Grierson, Jane Thorngren, Donald Brinegar Singers, Anne Marie Ketchum, Viklardo Chamber Ensemble (Wendy Prober, Amanda Walker & Toettcher), Sunny Wilkinson, Shelly Berg,
James Drollinger and Morten Lauridsen, RCM 12001, 2000.

Layton, Stephen Dir. Morten Lauridsen Nocturnes. Polyphony with Britten Sinfonia, Hyperion Records, CDA 67580, 2006.

Matt, Nicol Dir. Morten Lauridsen O Magnum Mysterium. Chamber Choir of Europe, Hänssler Classic, CD 98.272, 2006.
Lauridsen, Morten / Salamunovich, Paul / Jordan, James.

Dialogues: Musical Conversation Between Composers and Conductors, Vol. I. GIA Publications, 2008.

Singleton Mark Dir. Sure On This Shining Night. Voce and the Voce Chamber Artists, Voce Records, 2010.

【網路資料】

American Choral Directors Association. http://acda.org/, accessed from 10 April 2010.

Los Angeles Master Chorale. http://lamc.org/, accessed from 3 April 2010.

Morten Lauridsen. http://homepage.mac.com/kennesten/lauridsen/index2.html, accessed from 1 April 2010.

Peermusic, Morten Lauridsen. http://peermusicclassical.com/composer/composerdetail.cfm? detail=lauridsen, accessed from 16 April 2010.

Rainer Maria Rilke. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rilke, accessed from 1 April 2010.

Wikipedia, National Medal of Arts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Medal_of_Arts,accessed from 10 November 2009.

Wikipedia, Morten Lauridsen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morten_Lauridsen, accessed from 16 April 2010.