4. Literature Review
After the establishment of New China (1949), the Chinese Communist Party suppressed all kinds of Western knowledge (especially from West Europe and the US), so the "Westernised" Chinese art songs in the early 20th century were treated with unprecedented contempt. Of course, we must admit that these studies have never been interrupted in Asia such as Taiwan and Hong Kong. However, based on regional and political factors, their research has different differences or orientations, especially when it comes to the deep meaning behind art songs. It was not until the past ten years that scholars in mainland China dared to study this forgotten history. This could be due to some of the following reasons:
Macroscopically, with globalisation in the 21st century, mainland China has been using music as a cultural medium to connect and interact with the world and promote their cultural outflow. The art songs in the early 20th century are the best symbol of cultural exchange between China and the West. On a micro level, Since 2020, Chinese (Shanghainese) and German music scholars have held a series of activities about Chinese art songs. They have published a series of anthologies, organised lectures and devoted themselves to Promote Sino-German music cultural exchanges. It can be seen that Chinese art songs are constantly being systematically refurbished and re-examined.
To sum up, the research on Chinese art songs has gradually increased in recent years. Compared with 10 years ago, researching this topic is not as difficult as imagined.
a. Periodical, journals, research paper
Judging from the materials I collected, most of them are presented in single and short journal papers. The research direction focuses on summarising the form of Chinese art songs. In addition, it also discusses the characteristics of the works of major representative writers Yuen Ren Chao (1892 – 1982), Huang Tzu and others. The nature of the topics of these papers varies greatly. Some studied the historical development and definition of Chinese art songs, such as Secular Chinese Songs of the Twelfth Century, the content is more general, so that readers can have a general understanding of this topic. In addition, this type of paper can often be connected to historical events, and we can understand the background of the times behind art songs. Several treatises dealt with the composer's life and compositional technique. Their method is similar to my research. But such essays studied the style of the work in general, and also gave a brief account of the musical and literary mood. It's a pity that the author's analysis is not deep enough, and the main points should be further expanded; when discussing the combination of literary language and music, the content is not deep enough.
b. Critical history
A Critical History of New Music in China by Liu helped me to understand the history of Chinese new music development of the 20th century, and there are many references to the birth and definition of Chinese art songs, which outline the historical background when art songs existed.
c. Aesthetic research
The book by Wang is important in defining traditional Chinese music and its aesthetics. They provided a taste of traditional music. When I discussed cultural exchanges between China and the West, these foundations brought from the books allowed me to rethink how art songs have subverted traditional Chinese music, and how these aesthetic concepts were different from Western aesthetic concepts.
d. Topic books
These books are recent treatises, and the authors are all from mainland China. The first book by He is about the study of traditional Chinese poetry and art songs (refering to traditional art songs), and the other two by Li and Kong summarized the research about Chinese art songs (New Music). The former research is very detailed, aiming at the relationship between ancient poetry and music, and mentioning the aesthetic elements of ancient Chinese poetry in art songs. Since some of Huang Zi's works use ancient Chinese poems, this book will provide a guide for me to study Huang Zi's literary selection.
The nature of the other two books tended to be reference books, and the content is relatively simple and easy to understand and read. The target audience is undoubtedly some beginner of art songs. It allows them to have a preliminary understanding of art songs, so in the book each chapter is very simple, short and general.