Exposition

The Significance of Chinese Art Songs by Huang Tzu (1904 - 1938) (2023)

Cho Hang Chu, Edmond
open exposition

About this exposition

Chinese art song, a type of Chinese New Music, was a musical genre referring to the songs composed particularly in the 1920s. It is undeniable that it was a product of the real contact and fusion of Chinese and Western cultures. Imagine listening to music like Schubert or Puccini, you may suddenly realise that the language is not German or Italian, but an exotic language (Mandarin, also mixed with different Chinese dialects). Chinese art songs indeed had such characteristics. Its appearance was epoch-making. Before the 19th century, the gate of Chinese traditional culture was closed and self-sufficient, but due to the invasion of Western powers, this gate soon collapsed. Western culture also swept China along with the military trend in the early 20th century, causing earth-shaking changes in China, in which Western music was also introduced into China. Some intellectuals enlightened by modern thoughts and knowledge believed that in addition to learning western military and technology, they should also absorb their philosophy and culture, so that China could rise in all directions and catch up with Western powers. The theme of this research revolves around one of the intellectuals (composers) of this period, Huang Tzu (1904-1938) who challenged and responded to the culture shock through composing Chinese New Music. After studying in the United States in 1926, he returned to Shanghai, China. Like the intellectuals at that time, in addition to being proficient in various fields like science, he also dabbled in music. Many of Huang Tzu’s music revolved around the concept of "nationality". It refers to an approach: borrowing Western compositional techniques to highlight the values of traditional Chinese aesthetics. This research did not aim at describing the characteristics of music or literature in Chinese art songs itself. Yet, it finally allowed me to discover more about how intellectuals dealt with issues of cultural exchange between the East and the West a hundred years ago. What would be the effects if Western music elements, such as harmony, form, techniques and musical instruments were added to the Chinese traditional music language and habits? From a cultural perspective, what significance did this incur?
typeresearch exposition
keywordsChinese art songs, Huang Tzu, Chinese New Music, Chinese music aesthetics, Chinese modern poetry, Phonology of Middle Chinese, word-painting, Chinese music, Chinese aesthetics, Middle Chinese, phonological awareness, Historical significance, Cultural exchange
date18/02/2023
published17/05/2023
last modified17/05/2023
statuspublished
share statusprivate
copyrightEdmond Cho Hang Chu
licenseAll rights reserved
languageEnglish
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/1470280/1829278
published inKC Research Portal
portal issue1. Master Research Projects


Simple Media

id name copyright license
1470288 Huang Tzu http://www.chinaradio.cn/221/2008/04/25/61@314.htm CC BY-NC-ND
1470638 Yijie Shi: Huang Zi “Longing For Home” 黄自《思乡》 Yijie Shi All rights reserved
1958790 Huang Tzu's Portrait A Critical History of New Music in China All rights reserved
1958999 Chronicle of Huang Tzu's Life and the Major Events of Chinese and World History Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1959021 World Map of Huang Tzu’s Travel Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1959279 Yijie Shi, Sa Chen. A Flower in the Haze Yijie Shi, Sa Chen. All rights reserved
1959298 Shaoxu, CAI. Ascending the Tower - To the Tune of Rouged Lips Shaoxu, CAI All rights reserved
1959302 Quan, ZHANG. Three Wishes of a Rose Quan, ZHANG All rights reserved
1959514 Edmond Chu - A Flower in the Haze Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1959532 Guang-yan, Cui. Three Wishes of a Rose Guang-yan, Cui Public domain
1959590 Edmond Chu - Longing for home Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1959598 Edmond Chu - Longing for home Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1959642 Edmond Chu - Longing for Home (Score) Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1959645 Edmond Chu - Longing for Home (Score) Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1959694 Three Wishes from a Rose (Score) Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1959739 Edmond Chu - A Flower in the Haze (Score) Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1959743 Edmond Chu - Ascending the Tower - To the Tune of Rouged Lips (Score) Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1959826 Huang's Song Catalogue Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1959920 Table of the representative songs Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1959992 Evolution Process of Middle Chinese to Modern Chinese since the 19th Century Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1960033 Modern Mandarin in related to western solfège and duration Edmond Chu Public domain
1960049 Modern Mandarin Four Tones Edmond Chu Public domain
1960142 I offer my best wine Edmond Chu Public domain
1960178 Edmond Chu - I offer my best wine Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1960319 CAI Shaoxu - I offer my best wine CAI Shaoxu All rights reserved
1960468 Ancient Tone Pattern Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1960501 Excerpt of A Flower in the Haze Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1960538 Edmond - A Flower in the Haze (part. 1) Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1960848 Edmond - A Flower in the Haze (Part. 1) Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1960944 Excerpt of Longing for Home - mm. 4-8 Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1961031 (Excerpt of Longing for Home - mm.10-12) Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1961055 Edmond Chu - Longing for home (mm-4-12) Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1961133 D Chinese Pentatonic Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1961148 D Chinese Pentatonic - A Flower in the Haze Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1961155 Chinese hexatonic mode Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1961165 Chinese hexatonic mode - Rouged Lips Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1961373 Musical form Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1961437 A Flower in the Haze's poetic structure Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1961438 A Flower in the Haze's poetic structure Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1961587 A Flower in the Haze's poetic structure_1 Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1961678 Excerpt from A Flower in the Haze - mm.1-4 Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1961718 Excerpt from A Flower in the Haze - mm.5-8 Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1961802 Excerpt from A Flower in the Haze - mm.9-10 Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1961844 Longing for Home's poetic structure Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1961880 Longing for Home's poetic structure Edmond Chu Public domain
1961897 (Excerpt from Longing for Home - mm.7-12) Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1963056 (Excerpt from A Flower in the Haze -mm.13-17) Edmond Chu Public domain
1963118 (Excerpt from Longing from Home - mm. 10-12) Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1963144 (Excerpt from Longing from Home - mm. 10-12) Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1963161 (Excerpt from Three Wishes from a Rose - mm. 1-4) Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1963300 Guang-yan, Cui. Three Wishes of a Rose (Prelude) Guang-yan, Cui. All rights reserved
1963333 (Excerpt from Longing from Home - mm. 13-17) Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1963373 (Excerpt from Longing from Home - mm. 13-17) Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1963472 Excerpt from Longing for home - mm. 2-4 Edmond Chu Public domain
1963473 Excerpt from Longing for home - mm. 2-4 Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1963476 (Excerpt from Longing for home - mm. 16-18) Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1963479 (Excerpt from Longing for home - mm. 11) Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1970609 Indication Edmond Chu All rights reserved
1970688 Indication 2 Edmond Chu All rights reserved

Comments are only available for registered users.