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Zheng Jinwen

Musician and instrument maker who founded the Qinse Society in Shanghai in 1918, renamed the Datong Music Society the next year, reproducing ancient instruments and promoting Chinese ensemble music.

Also known as Zi Guangyu

Zheng Jinwen, courtesy name Guangyu, was from Jiangyin, Jiangsu, and played the qin, pipa and other instruments. In 1918 he founded the Qinse Society in Shanghai, renamed the Datong Music Society in 1919, with the aim of studying Chinese and Western music in search of common ground. Drawing on field inquiries and written sources, he reproduced many ancient instruments and worked on instrument reform, and the society grew into a sizeable Chinese orchestra; Liu Yaozhang's ensemble arrangement Chunjiang huayue ye came out of it. He wrote a History of Chinese Music and compiled the Xiao di xinpu, a collection of new scores for vertical and transverse flutes. He died in Shanghai in 1935.

Life and times

  1. 1872 CEBornQingRepublican Era
  2. 1919Reforming Chinese MusicThe Datong Music Society, whose leading figure was Zheng Jinwen, Liu Tianhua's Society for the Improvement of Chinese Music and the Jinyu Qin Society, founded in Suzhou, carried traditional instrumental music into modern study, arranging and teaching.
    1. Zheng Jinwen Founds Datong Music Societyc. 1919age 47Around 1920 in Shanghai, Zheng Jinwen turned his Qinse Society into the Datong Music Society, devoted to reviving Chinese music and training its performers.
  3. 1935 CEDied

Works

  1. Stage · Pieces1
    1. Spring River in the Flower-Moon Night1925 (ensemble arrangement at the Datong Music Society)Liu Yaozhang's 1925 ensemble arrangement of an old pipa piece, titled by Zheng Jinwen of the Datong Music Society.

Connections

  1. Shared events1
    1. Liu Yaozhang1905 CE–1996 CE