Soliloquy of a Convalescent

Introduction

An early erhu solo by Liu Tianhua, usually dated 1918 and originally titled Anshi.

Bingzhong yin is an erhu solo by Liu Tianhua, usually dated to 1918, and research suggests that its original title was Anshi. He wrote it after losing his job and his father in close succession, and it voices his struggle to escape hardship rather than any serious illness. The piece follows the Western three-part form with recapitulation, in three sections and a coda. The slow first section leaps by sixths, sevenths and octaves to convey unease, the second tightens toward a climax, and the third restates the opening theme before a fast coda ends on a sweeping downward slide. The score was printed in the eighth issue of the first volume of Music Magazine.