貝多芬“新曲”上線

在貝多芬去世近 200 年后，這位德國作曲家的樂譜由機器譜寫完成——在很多人的幫助下。

貝多芬留下的關(guān)于《第十交響曲》的部分筆記。圖片來源：Beethoven House Museum, CC BY-SA

每天清晨 5 點，作曲家沃爾特·維爾佐瓦（Walter Werzowa）都會坐在他的電腦前，等待著一封特別的郵件，它來自 6 個時區(qū)之外，在那里，有支團隊用一整夜的時間（準確來說是一整個白天）來續(xù)寫貝多芬未完成的《第十交響曲》——在貝多芬逝世近兩百年之后。

這封郵件包含數(shù)百種曲譜，維爾佐瓦全部聽完了。

“我會一直聽到九十點鐘，那感覺仿佛身處天堂。”

維爾佐瓦所聽的曲調(diào)堪稱完美——毫無疑問就是貝多芬的音樂。

但這些樂句并非出自貝多芬，它們是由人工智能（AI）創(chuàng)造的——是對貝多芬創(chuàng)作過程的計算機模擬。

“AI 會給我上百種選項，其中不乏優(yōu)秀的樂章，但會有那么一段令人折服，發(fā)現(xiàn)它的過程十分美妙?！?/span>

路德維希·范·貝多芬（Ludwig van Beethoven）是西方音樂史上最著名的作曲家之一，在 1827 年去世之際，他未能完成《第十交響曲》這部杰作，只留下了一些音樂草稿和片段。用這些殘片譜寫出一個樂句都很難，更不用說整部交響樂了，但這并未阻止人們的嘗試。

1988 年，音樂學(xué)家巴里·庫珀（Barry Cooper）進行了一次嘗試，但最終止步于第一樂章——貝多芬留下的關(guān)于第二和第三樂章的草稿寥寥無幾，難以譜出一章交響樂。

維爾佐瓦說：“交響樂的一個樂章可以包含多達 4 萬個音符。貝多芬留下的一些主題旋律卻只有三個小節(jié)，大約 20 個音符。我們掌握的信息太少了……[查看全文]

Beethoven's Unfinished 10th Symphony Brought to Life

by Artificial Intelligence

Nearly 200 years after his death, the German composer’s musical scratch was pieced together by machine—with a lot of human help.

Every morning at five o’clock, composer Walter Werzowa would sit down at his computer to anticipate a particular daily e-mail. It came from six time zones away, where a team had been working all night (or day, rather) to draft Beethoven’s unfinished 10th Symphony—almost two centuries after his death.

The e-mail contained hundreds of variations, and Werzowa listened to them all.

Werzowa: So by nine, 10 o’clock in the morning, it’s like I’m already in heaven.

Carey: Werzowa was listening for the perfect tune—a sound that was unmistakably Beethoven.

But the phrases he was listening to weren’t composed by Beethoven. They were created by artificial intelligence—a computer simulation of Beethoven’s creative process.

Werzowa: There were hundreds of options, and some are better than others. But then there is that one which grabs you, and that was just a beautiful process.

Carey: Ludwig van Beethoven was one of the most renowned composers in Western music history. When he died in 1827, he left behind musical sketches and notes that hinted at a masterpiece. There was barely enough to make out a phrase, let alone a whole symphony. But that didn’t stop people from trying.

In 1988 musicologist Barry Cooper attempted. But he didn’t get beyond the first movement. Beethoven’s handwritten notes on the second and third movements are meager—not enough to compose a symphony. 

Werzowa: A movement of a symphony can have up to 40,000 notes. And some of his themes were three bars, like 20 notes. It’s very little information…[full transcript]