Xian Xinghai
Encyclopedia
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
: Xiǎn Xīnghăi) was one of the earliest generation of Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
s influenced by western classical music and has influenced generations of Chinese musicians. Although he composed in all the major musical forms (two symphonies, a violin concerto, four large scale choral works, nearly 300 songs and an opera), he is best known for his Yellow River Cantata
Yellow River Cantata
The Yellow River Cantata is a cantata by Chinese composer Xian Xinghai . Composed in Yan'an in early 1939 during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the work was inspired by a patriotic poem by Guang Weiran, which was also adapted as the lyrics...
upon which the Yellow River Concerto
Yellow River Concerto
The Yellow River Piano Concerto is a piano concerto arranged by a collaboration between musicians including Yin Chengzong and Chu Wanghua, and based on the Yellow River Cantata by composer Xian Xinghai. Since its politicised premiere in 1969 during the Cultural Revolution, the Concerto has become...
for piano and orchestra is based.
Early life and education
Xian Xinghai, a native of Panyu, GuangdongGuangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
Province (Canton), was born in Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
in 1905.He was moved frequently in his early life with his mother as his father had died before Xian was born. Xian XingHai followed his mother to Singapore when he was six years old, he was enrolled into Yangzheng Primary School for his primary education. It was while in Yangzheng Primary School that he took his first step into his musical journey. His teacher, Ou Jianfu, first noticed Xian Xinghai's musical talent, and he was enrolled into the school's military band. Xian Xinghai received training in both musical instruments as well as music. He was later brought to Guangzhou for further education by his then school principal, Mr Lin Yao Xiang, along with 19 other students. Xian Xinghai started learning the clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
in 1918 at the YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
charity school attached to the Lingnan University
Lingnan University
Lingnan University can refer to two separate establishments:*Lingnan University - a university in Hong Kong*Lingnan University - a university in Guangzhou, Guangdong province in China...
in Guangzhou
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
(Canton). In 1926 he joined the National Music Institute at Peking University
Peking University
Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...
to study music and in 1928 he entered Shanghai National Music Conservatory to study violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
. The same year he published his well-known essay The Universal Music. In 1929 he went to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(where he met Ma Sicong
Ma Sicong
Ma Sicong was a Chinese violinist and composer. He was referred to in China as "The King of violinists." His Nostalgia for violin, composed in 1937 as part of the Inner Mongolia Suite , was considered one of the most favorite pieces of 20th century China.During his youth, Ma went to Paris to...
who introduced him to many artists there) under government sponsorship and in 1934 he was the first Chinese student admitted to the Paris Conservatory to study senior composition with both Vincent D'Indy
Vincent d'Indy
Vincent d'Indy was a French composer and teacher.-Life:Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy was born in Paris into an aristocratic family of royalist and Catholic persuasion. He had piano lessons from an early age from his paternal grandmother, who passed him on to Antoine François Marmontel and...
and Paul Dukas
Paul Dukas
Paul Abraham Dukas was a French composer, critic, scholar and teacher. A studious man, of retiring personality, he was intensely self-critical, and he abandoned and destroyed many of his compositions...
. During this period he composed Wind, Song of a Wanderer, Violin Sonata in D Minor, and other works.
Musical career
Xian returned to ChinaChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
in 1935 to the Japanese occupation of the northeastern part of the country (known then as Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
). Using his music as a weapon to protest the occupation, he took part in patriotic activities. During the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), he wrote vocal works that encouraged the people to fight the Japanese invaders, including Saving the Nation, Non-Resistance the Only Fear, Song of Guerrillas, The Roads Are Opened by Us, The Vast Siberia, Children of the Motherland, Go to the Homefront of the Enemy, and On the Taihang Mountains, among others. He worked for film studios before going to the Communist headquarters in Yan'an
Yan'an
Yan'an , is a prefecture-level city in the Shanbei region of Shaanxi province in China, administering several counties, including Zhidan County , which served as the Chinese communist capital before the city of Yan'an proper took that role....
, where he became dean of the Music Department at Lu Xun
Lu Xun
Lu Xun or Lu Hsün , was the pen name of Zhou Shuren , one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century. Considered by many to be the leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in baihua as well as classical Chinese...
Institute of Arts in 1938. It is at this time that he composed the famous Yellow River Cantata
Yellow River Cantata
The Yellow River Cantata is a cantata by Chinese composer Xian Xinghai . Composed in Yan'an in early 1939 during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the work was inspired by a patriotic poem by Guang Weiran, which was also adapted as the lyrics...
and the Production Cantata.
In 1940 Xian went to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
to compose the score of the documentary film Yan'an and the Eighth Route Army. Before departure Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
invited him to dinner. In 1941 the German invasion of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
disrupted his work and he attempted to return to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
by way of Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
but the local anti-communist warlord, Sheng Shicai
Sheng Shicai
Sheng Shicai was a Chinese warlord who "ruled" Xinjiang province from April 12, 1933 to August 29, 1944....
, blocked the way and he got stranded in Alma Ata, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
. It was here that he composed the symphonies Liberation of the Nation and Sacred War, and the suites Red All Over the River and Chinese Rhapsody for winds and strings. He developed pulmonary tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
due to overwork and malnutrition
Malnutrition
Malnutrition is the condition that results from taking an unbalanced diet in which certain nutrients are lacking, in excess , or in the wrong proportions....
. After the war, Xinghai went back to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
for medical treatment but could not be completely cured and died of pulmonary disease on October 30, 1945 in a hospital nearby the Moscow Kremlin
Moscow Kremlin
The Moscow Kremlin , sometimes referred to as simply The Kremlin, is a historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River , Saint Basil's Cathedral and Red Square and the Alexander Garden...
at the age of 40.
Legacy
Xian Xinghai composed over 300 works, published 35 papers, including Nie Er—the Creator of New Chinese Music and On the National Styles of Chinese Music. His influence in Chinese music won him the title People's Composer.During the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
(1966–1976), when all the Western and some Chinese art was forbidden, the pianist Yin Chengzong
Yin Chengzong
Yin Chengzong is a Chinese pianist and composer.-Biography:Born on the "Piano Island" of Gulangyu Island in Xiamen, Fujian, in the People's Republic of China...
arranged the Yellow River Cantata
Yellow River Cantata
The Yellow River Cantata is a cantata by Chinese composer Xian Xinghai . Composed in Yan'an in early 1939 during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the work was inspired by a patriotic poem by Guang Weiran, which was also adapted as the lyrics...
into a concerto for piano and orchestra, by the name of Yellow River Piano Concerto (1969).
After China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
opened its doors to the world in late 1970s, Yin planned the performance of the piano concerto. There was a debate whether some politically incorrect anthems like The East Is Red
The East Is Red
"The East Is Red" is a song that was the de facto anthem of the People's Republic of China during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s. The lyrics of the song were attributed to Li Youyuan, a farmer from northern Shaanxi, and the melody was derived from a local folk song...
, which Yin interpolated into the concerto, should be removed. It was decided that the work itself was a cultural legacy of the time when it was created, the melodies reminding listeners of that period and creating a unique sense of history. Hence, the work remained intact as it was originally arranged.
Beginning in the 1970s, the Yellow River Concerto has been heard in the West, often performed by Yin Chengzong
Yin Chengzong
Yin Chengzong is a Chinese pianist and composer.-Biography:Born on the "Piano Island" of Gulangyu Island in Xiamen, Fujian, in the People's Republic of China...
himself, and in 1988 the Italian pianist Riccardo Caramella became the first Western pianist who performed it in China with a Chinese orchestra, the Beijing Radio Symphony Orchestra.
The epic film The Star and The Sea (2009) created by directors Qiankuan Li and Guiyun Xiao (a man and wife team) is about the hard childhood and suffering of Xian Xinghai in that period of his life and the efforts of his mother to help him developping his musical talents.
Memorials
- Both the Xinghai Conservatory of MusicXinghai Conservatory of MusicThe Xinghai Conservatory of Music is a music conservatory in Guangzhou, China. It was established in 1932 in Guangzhou by the composer Mr.Ma Sicong（Chinese：马思聪先生 Mǎ Sīcōng） as the Guangzhou Conservatory of Music.Both the Xinghai Conservatory of Music and the Xinghai Concert Hall were named after...
and the Xinghai Concert Hall in GuangzhouGuangzhouGuangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
were named after Xian Xinghai.
- a 3-meter high statue of Xian Xinghai was erected at the intersection of Avenida Xian Xing Hai and Rua de Berlim streets in MacauMacauMacau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth.
- a street in Almautu (Almaty)AlmatyAlmaty , also known by its former names Verny and Alma-Ata , is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the nation's largest city, with a population of 1,348,500...
, KazakhstanKazakhstanKazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
was named after Xian Xinghai.
See also
- List of Macao-related topics
- The Chinese Wikipedia entry of Xian Xinghai
- Ren GuangRen GuangRen Guang , also known by a nom de plume, Ren Qianfa , was a noted Chinese composer of the early 20th century....
- Lü Ji (composer)Lü Ji (composer)Lü Ji , originally named Lü Zhanqing , was a Chinese composer during the early 20th century. He was also a writer on music, a music educator, and administrator....
- Nie ErNie ErNie Er , was a Chinese composer. He is known for composing the national anthem of the People's Republic of China, the March of the Volunteers. In numerous Shanghai magazines he went by the English name "George Njal"...
- He Luding
External links
- Amazon.com - Riccardo Caramella performs the Yellow River Concerto and other works.
- at www.russiandvd.com - Riccardo Caramella performs the Yellow River Piano Concerto