CC BY
50
https://doi.org/10.29013/EJA-20-2-59-64
Liu Lihui,
Postgraduate Student, Music Faculty, Music Theory and History Department Kharkiv State Academy of Culture, E-mail: [email protected]
MODERN CHINESE ART SONG: GENRE SPECIFICITY
Abstract. There have been conditions of becoming and the content specificity of modern Chinese art song as a genre kind of Chinese art song. It has been determined historical and cultural conditions ofbecoming the modern Chinese art song, which was born after the end of the "cultural revolution". It was set forth some traditions (philosophical symbolism, melodism, lyricism, the principle of musical poetry, the psychologization of the content in the piano part, the national verbal language, the laconicism of the expression of content, the formative principles, the principle of embodiment of the "idea without words", the unity of the features of Chinese poetic classicism and musical romanticism) and innovations of modern Chinese art song (updating of the subject due to the reflection of the historical processes of the last third of the 20th - the beginning of the 21st century, presented in hidden symbolic reflection).
Keywords: modern Chinese art song, second golden age, genre kind, genre archetype, hidden historical event, Chinese poetic classicism, musical romanticism.
One of the directions of development of modern in gradualness equal to ten years (1966-1976). The
musicology sinology is connected to the develop- genre of the Chinese art song from the last quarter of
ment of the genre structure of Chinese musical art. the 20th century has acquired a new stage of develop-
The application of the fundamentals of genre theo- ment, marked by becoming of a genre kind, namely:
ry to the study of Chinese art song provides for the the modern Chinese art song. This way, according to
implementation, based on the application of the his- Tsao Khe, the Chinese musicologists defined updat-
torical approach of differentiating its genre structure, ed samples of the genre archetype that arose in the
establishing the properties of the genre archetype second half of the 1970 s, after the end of the "cultur-
and its internal genre kinds. al revolution" [6]. Keeping traditions, the modern
The genre of the Chinese art song covers a cen- Chinese art song has been enriched with new ideas,
tury in the history of the musical culture of China, images, themes, genre signs, structural patterns; its
namely: from the 1920 s to the 2020 s. Even in the semantic circle has expanded. But, along with some
era of the "cultural revolution", the development of innovations, the modern Chinese art song develops
the forbidden genre at that time did not stop: the the traditions of the genre archetype, acquiring the
composers created art songs secretly, they had some meaning of its "sprout".
hopes that high art would revive in the future. But Studying the specifics of the genre of the mod-
due to the fact that Chinese art songs of the era of ern Chinese art song, its genre semantics - a topical
the "cultural revolution" were almost not kept, the task of modern musicology - involves some detrmi-
development of the genre is characterized by a break nation of historical and artistic prerequisites for its
occurrence, developing periodization of development, setting forth the levels of interaction between traditions and innovations, the specifics of individual composer interpretations.
To discover the content of the research topic, it is advisable to include the following research methods: historical-contextual to identify the objective laws of the birth of the modern Chinese art song and to recognize the hidden meanings in it due to the artistic response to those historical events and processes that became the prerequisite for the birth of artistic integrity; genre-typological - in order to specify specific features inherent in it; decoding method to disclose the meanings hidden in the artistic integrity.
The formation and development of the modern Chinese art song occur in a line with the unified development process of the Chinese chamber-vocal lyrics, represented by the Chinese art song. The processes of updating the modern Chinese art song occur as a consequence of the development of the magistral genre.
The Chinese art song as a whole is distinguished by an evolutionary type of development. But after the end of the "cultural revolution" (1966-1976), when the creation of the Chinese art song was forbidden, a backtrack from the general evolutionary line of development occurred in the development of the genre. The revival of the genre in the second half of the 1970 s happened spasmodically and led to the birth of the modern Chinese art song and it has been developing for 45 years. In the general history and periodization of the Chinese art song, the modern Chinese art song appears as an integral and regular stage in the historical development of a unified genre model.
In general, the stages of the centennial development of the Chinese art song include: the evolutionary process from 1920 to 1965 - the "first golden age" which is with an internal division into two stages in 1949 (the creation of the PRC), a break in gradual-ness (the "cultural revolution" 1966-1976), a revolutionary renewal, which happened in the second
half of the 1970 s after the completion of the 10th anniversary of the reign of the "gang of four" and led to the birth of the modern kind of this genre, the further evolutionary development of the modern art song for the "second golden age", which has been four and a half decades so far from the second half of the 1970 s. The period of birth and stabilization of the Chinese art song (1920-1965) after a break in gradualism (1966-1976) changed the process of diversification of the genre. When the modern Chinese art song appeared, the break in gradual-ness which had taken place in connection with the "cultural revolution" occured and the restoration of cyclic development in the history of the genre archetype (the Chinese art song) become. The modern Chinese art song is the most important achievement of the "second golden age" in the development of the genre prototype.
The modern art song organically combines tradition and innovation. It can be seen the genre traditions that have retained their significance in the life of the modern Chinese art song include as follows: philosophical symbolism, melody, lyricism, the principle of musical poetry, the nature of the relationship between vocal and piano parts (functions of the psychologization of content, containment of leutinsymbols are related to the piano parts), maintenance of the basics national language, laconic expression of content. The formative foundations that have been kept in the modern art song include the two-part form with the introduction and coda, the presence of numerous piano solos (prelude, interlude, postlude), the main musical and poetic theme (as it was observed by Tsao Khe [6, P. 52]) at the beginning and at the end of the work, placed the climax at the end of the work, where the main idea takes on the final expression. The principle of philosophical and artistic creativity of China, such as "free exchange between the natural world and the world of culture" is important and nowdays [3, P. 335]. The modern Chinese art song also keeps such a tradition of the genre archetype as the embodiment of "ideas with-
out words" [6, P. 53] in piano solos of a musical poetic composition. The maintenance of the features of the musical and poetic style of the genre archetype in the samples of the modern Chinese art song proves the relevance and prospects of the linguistic and formative properties produced 100 years ago.
Under the cover of "Chinese classicism" [1] in the modern Chinese art song, it is hidden a true romantic nature which is the basis of the genre archetype. According to U Khun Yuan, "poetic classicism became the basis of Chinese musical romanticism in the 20th century", which took place in the genre of the Chinese art song [5, P. 172]. The regularity which was found by U Khun Yuan has retained its significance in the modern Chinese art song in the 20th centure. Indeed, the German Kunstlied SchubertSchumann model remains the genre prototype of not only the Chinese art song that developed in the 1920 s, but also its modern genre kind. The romantic type of worldview, embodied in classical forms for the Chinese figurative system, acts as a common stylistic feature of the Chinese art song and its modern genre kind. The analysis of samples of the modern Chinese art song testifies that in the 21st century the ideal of "eternally alive antiquity" [3, P. 335], which is characteristic of the national art has been kept.
As for the innovations of the genre style of the modern art song, they are, first of all, conditioned by the development of a new ideological and thematic complex. The traditional Chinese art song is based first of all on the development of the theme of contemplation of natural beauties which is classical for national ancient poetry, and through its prism, the poet's soul was revealed. For the modern type of the genre, comprehension of current events of the present also occurs due to a specific "dialogue» with the world. For example, during the Chinese revival that began in the second half of the 1970 s (after the end of the "cultural revolution"), in 1976 the composer Shan Dei, who has been defined as the "innovator and classic" of national culture by Tsao Khe [6], created the first samples of the modern Chinese art
song in a genre kind of the coloratura arias - "Spring Breeze" and "Spring of Science Has Come." In these songs, acoording to Tsao Khe, the beginning of a new era in the history of China after the end of the "cultural revolution" is glorified due to the creation of a joyful spring landscape as a symbol of national revival [6].
In 1979, which also refers to the beginning of the national revival, the modern Chinese art song by Chan Io Kun "Spring Tale" where the words were written by Jiang Kei Zhu appeared. In this song, according to the observation of Shi Khunchan, in an allegorical form "the problems of modern life are displayed, which is generally characteristic of Chinese literature" [7, P. 238], while the "literal and metaphorical meaning, which are inherit to the composition, interact and mutually enrich." Shi Khunchan, analyzing the song of Chan Io Kun, rightly emphasized that the purpose of the literary text in the analyzed song is to "express and hide equally, name and dedicate" [7, P. 239]. The modern Chinese art song by Chan Io Kun in a fairy-tale style embodied the real processes of social life renewal that took place in the second half of the 1970 s in China. The method of decoding a literary text allows determining the events presented in a modern song in an allegorical manner. This way, according to Shi Khunchan, the reforms of Dan Siao Pin arose. Although the name of the new leader of China in the poetic text of the song is not proclaimed, his figure here is associated with the image of a "wise man" that painted "fabulous outlines of new cities" by the Sea of China. In 1979, when "spring woke up the Chinese wall", the people "went a new way. The spring atmosphere of the modern Chinese art song corresponds to the vocal part, reveals the "ecstatic condition of mind, symbolizing the spring awakening of hopes" [7, P. 239]. Associations of the end of the era of the "cultural revolution" and the beginning of a "new era" in the history of China with the spring time of the year are a characteristic feature of the modern Chinese art
song of the late 1970 s, observed in the compositions of Shan Dei and Chao Io Kun.
According to Tsao Khe, the end of the 1970s in the history of national song culture acquires the significance of a kind of "Chinese Ars nova, protoRenaissance, which precedes the beginning of the "second golden age" [6, P. 34]. It was the time when the "revival of the interrupted "chain" of continuity in the history of the genre took place" [6, P. 38]. Full of hopes and enthusiasm, the national creative upsurge led to the revival of the Chinese art song, coinciding with the birth of its modern genre kind. After the "leap" conducted in the late 1970 s, starting in the 1980 s, the modern Chinese art song returned to the mainstream of the gradual development of the classical traditions of Chinese chamber-vocal lyrics: renewal processes arose as the development of genre traditions; innovations were due to the evolutionary process. The flip side of innovations was their "mix" into the general genre channel of the Chinese art song, whose "limits" expanded.
The features of the "second golden age" in the development of the Chinese art song (according to Tsao Khe, these are "innovativeness, deepening of emotionality, the synthesis of national and European traditions, the formation of individual composer styles, the intensification of development" [6, P. 38]) correspond to genre innovations embodied in its modern kind. So, the Chinese art song of the "second golden age" developed in the form of its modern look.
Composers who work in the genre of the modern Chinese art song in the 21st century have not given up a lot of professional experience in the field of genre archetype, inheriting the voluminous art fund of composer techniques produced during the eighty-year period of the genre development in the 20th century. The discovery of new creative opportunities interacts with a careful attitude to traditions that continue to develop. Among the innovations of the modern Chinese art song is the creation of regional song styles and a unified "supranational" (allChinese) style. One of those composers who laid the
foundations of the unity of regional and all-Chinese styles in the modern Chinese art song is Shan Dei. His method was continued by In Tsin, adding an Indian musical dialect to the regional styles of the modern Chinese art song.
Renewal in the modern 21 st-century Chinese art song are due to the solution of the creative task of representing the "damned issues of our time", also proceeding outside the concrete definition ofhistor-ical events. In the 21st century, the issues and topics of relevance to song art remain largely hidden by a solid layer of classical traditions, traditional imagery, characteristic of the national lyrics of symbols and generalizations. The principal genre feature of the modern Chinese art song is the absence of a fundamental gap with the national musical and poetic mentality, the veiled disclosure of topical issues, the dialectic of individualization of the stylistic attributes of composer interpretation and the observance of the traditions of the genre archetype. The settled character of the disclosure of the typical semantic images of the Chinese art song in its inherent form-forming processes is also characteristic of the modern Chinese art song.
In Tsin Qin (a year of birth is 1954), who is called the "Chinese Schubert of the 21st Century" in Chine, refers to composers whose work develops the modern Chinese art song. Next to Chinese art songs on a traditional theme due to the tendency to sing the infinite depths of the mother's soul ("Mother's Little Poetry"), love for the motherland ("Motherland, I bless you forever"), disclosing the content of a question that has no answer ("Do not ask, why"), admiring nature ("The Original Autumn Rain", "Snow", "Chinese Garden"), in the works of In Tsin a significant role is played by military songs ("The Soul of the Border Army", "a Woman - Soldier", "In a new era", "Unity", "Laurels of a soldier"), whose appearance is due to the composer response to the realities of nowdays. From the year 2000 when the composer began the "period ofvigorous creativity", the traditional artistic forms of national art have
complemented topics generated by the realities of modern life.
The expansion of classical themes which is the main genre feature of the modern Chinese art song acquires specifications in the compositions of In Tsin. In Tsin devoted a vocal cycle "Pick up all your love" (2002-2004) to the artistic understanding of the events caused by the SARS epidemic. A feature of the modern Chinese art song of the beginning of the 21st century in the compositions of In Tsin is an appeal to the significant topics of current interest, problems of life and death that arose before humanity at the beginning of the 21st century. So, in the Chinese vocal art, the artistic situation is characteristic of the world musical art and under it, according to O. Roshchenko, non-artistic problems are transformed into art ones [4]. It happened, in particular, with such tragedies of the Ukrainian world as the Holodomor, the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The comprehension of these tragedies gave rise to separate thematic directions in the work of Ukrainian composers, when historical specifics are solved in line with the eternal themes of art [4]. Just as the Ukrainian rescuers during the explosion at the nuclear power plant neglected their own lives in order to curb the "peaceful atom", Chinese doctors and medical workers, united, showed dedication, courage, professionalism, often ignoring personal safety to save life and health of patients.
The source of information about the predetermination of the In Tsin cycle of songs "Pick up all your love" by the tragic events of SARS is the author's commentary accompanying them. So, the authorological approach, introduced in musicology by I. Yu. Kon-ovalova [2], shall help to set the historical prototype of the modern Chinese art songs by the composer.
The composer's interpretation of the theme of the fight against SARS does not contain images directly caused by tragic events. In Tsin, along with the poets Yui Yujtsian and Khan Wei, in the initial song
of the vocal cycle of the modern Chinese art songs chose the way of observing traditions in interpreting the genre. In the modern Chinese song of the beginning of the 21st century, it can be felt the general law of national art formulated by V. Aleksieiev about the beginning of a New Age: "A Chinese writer even at the beginning of the 20th century allegedly connected to the general historical chain of writers, starting ... with Confucius" [1, P. 204]. If this regularity is directed to the song art of the early 20th century, it shall be noted that composers of the 20th century are joined the tradition of the Chinese art songs of the 20th century. As a result of the exclusion from the contents of the song "Pick up all your love" the features of historical concretization, there is also a "macro concept", "the interaction of miniature plans and macro adoption," according to U Khun Yuan, appear as fundamental features of the genre which is being studied [5]. A composer and a poet provide advantages to the lyrical comprehension of the national universe in metaphorical and symbolic images as a guarantee of future victory, without specifying which event determines their appearance. It is the approach to the reflection of historical events, approved in the Chinese art song on the day of its formation, that determines its inherent more-temporal meaningful dimension.
At the beginning of the 21st century, In Tsin develops the tradition of the modern art song, which is embedded in the compositions of Shan Dei and Chan Io Kun. The songs dedicated to the end of the "cultural revolution" era in the late 1970 s metaphorically embodied the bright hopes of composers who had been waiting for ten long years. Following the genre traditions of the modern Chinese art song that have been developing for over its 45-year development, In Tsin comprehends the events of our time, relying on rethought genre traditions. The dialectic of traditions and innovations is distinguished the genre specificity of the modern Chinese art song of the composer's creative heritage.
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