In a 1934 Shanghai practice room a young man in a dark long gown sits at an upright piano, hands mid-phrase. Through the tall open window, beyond the plane trees, a small figure rides a water buffalo across green paddies.
Bone Flutes and Clay Ocarinas
Gong-and-Drum Music
The Art of the Guqin
Shengguan Ensembles
Dizi and Xiao
Guzheng
Pipa
Ruan and Sanxian
Erhu
Suona and Drum-and-Wind Bands
Chaozhou Music
Jiangnan Sizhu
Nanyin
Shifan Ensembles
Xiansuo String Ensembles
Yangqin
Xi'an Wind and Percussion Ensemble
Cantonese Music
Instrumental Traditions of China's Ethnic Minorities
Modern Chinese Orchestra
Chinese Works for Western InstrumentsChinese Works for Western Instruments
Western instruments, Chinese tunes
Introduction
Chinese melodies and stories played on piano, violin and symphony orchestra
These are works for Western instruments such as the piano and violin, or for symphony orchestra, built on Chinese melodies or subjects. In 1934 He Luting's piano piece The Shepherd Boy's Piccolo won first prize in Alexander Tcherepnin's competition for piano pieces in a Chinese style; its two answering voices imitate a bamboo flute, and it is regarded as the first mature Chinese piano piece. In 1959 He Zhanhao and Chen Gang wrote the violin concerto The Butterfly Lovers on music from the Yue opera Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, and in 1969 a group led by Yin Chengzong arranged Xian Xinghai's Yellow River Cantata as the Yellow River Piano Concerto. In 1975 Wang Jianzhong arranged Ren Guang's ensemble piece Colourful Clouds Chasing the Moon for piano, and these works are still often played in concert today.
Representative works
Timeline
- 1934OriginIn 1934 the Russian-born pianist Alexander Tcherepnin, through Xiao Youmei, head of the National Conservatory in Shanghai, called for piano pieces in a Chinese style; He Luting's The Shepherd Boy's Piccolo won the only first prize and his Lullaby an honorary second prize.
- 1937EvolutionIn 1937 Ma Sicong wrote the Inner Mongolia Suite for violin; its second movement, Nostalgia, became one of the most often played Chinese violin solos.
- 1959EvolutionOn 27 May 1959 The Butterfly Lovers, a violin concerto drawn from Yue opera by the Shanghai Conservatory students He Zhanhao and Chen Gang, premiered at the Lyceum Theatre in Shanghai with Yu Lina as soloist, as a tribute for the tenth National Day.
- 1970ImpactIn 1969 a group led by Yin Chengzong arranged the Yellow River Cantata as the Yellow River Piano Concerto; Yin and the Central Philharmonic premiered it in 1970 as a collective work, and it became one of the most widely played Chinese concertos.