Wu Yili is playing. Courtesy of respondents
Name: Yili Wu Gender: Female Age: 89 years old Died: April 20, 2019 Posthumous identity: a famous pianist, one of the representatives of the older generation of pianists in China Address: Singapore
On the evening of April 20, the famous pianist Wu Yili fainted while attending a concert at the Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore, and after being sent to the hospital, she died at 22:00 that night at the age of 89. After listening to the last concert of his life, the famous Chinese pianist died forever accompanied by the sound of the piano. Wu Yili and her friend Gu Jing originally met in Singapore on April 27, and Wu Yili promised to play another song "Birds and Phoenixes" for Gu Jing, but she did not expect that it would be difficult to make the trip.
"Teacher Wu left to the sound of her favorite music, and I think she didn't end up sad." Gu Jing said.
The first movement of the past is the butterfly
As one of the representatives of China's older generation of pianists, Wu Yili's last popularity was in last year's CCTV program "Classic Arias", when she and violinist Lu Siqing performed a song "Liang Zhu". In the shot, Wu Yili is full of gorgeous hair, her back is slightly shriveled, and the notes flowing between her flexible fingers tell the poignant love story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai.
As early as 60 years ago, Wu Yili and "Liang Zhu" formed a fate. In 1959, in order to present the 10th anniversary of the National Day, literary and artistic activities were carried out in various places, and people had high expectations for "Liang Zhu". But at that time, there was no piano accompaniment version of "Liang Zhu". Wu Yili found the general score of "Liang Zhu", "closed" for several days, adapted the piano accompaniment version of "Liang Zhu", put it on the stage, and became the initiator and premiere of this version of "Liang Zhu".
After decades, playing this piece on the stage again, Wu Yili's eyes lit up with tears, "My eyes have been wet since the beginning of the performance, this opportunity is too rare." ”
Learning the news of Wu Yili's death from the circle of friends, Ye Xiaogang, chairman of the Chinese Musicians Association, felt "very sudden, very sorry." He commented on Wu Yili, "Teacher Wu Yili is one of the earliest famous pianists in China and one of the founders of the Chinese piano performance school, and her lifelong pursuit and love of music deserves our admiration." ”
Wu Yili's former colleague and pianist Bao Huiqiao told the Beijing News reporter: "Teacher Wu had a rough life, but it is gratifying that she had more and more contact with the motherland in her later years and often returned to China to play. I think she must also feel the respect of the people of the motherland for her. I hope that Ms. Wu Yili, who has loved music all her life, will rest in peace and continue to play the piano she has dedicated her life to in heaven. ”
On August 22 last year, the "Silk Road Piano Sound" Ningbo International Piano Art Festival opened, and Wu Yili, as a special guest, performed "Liang Zhu" with violinist Xue Suri. Courtesy of respondents
The second movement is the intersection of tribulations
Due to her perennial settlement in Singapore, Wu Yili's popularity in China was not high.
In the spring of 2017, a video of Wu Yili playing the piano accidentally went viral on the Internet, and a song "Liang Zhu" flowed like a clear spring under the fingertips of the 87-year-old man.
The video was filmed at the "Old Must Not Be Empty" symposium held by the Independent Creative Studio "Jingjing Mirror" in Singapore. Wu Yili revealed that the reason why she accepted the invitation to perform at the "Old Can't Be Empty" symposium was because "I look back on my life and feel that it is indeed not an empty one."
Wu Yili was born in Shanghai in 1930, with her ancestral home in Heyuan, Guangdong. Grandfather Li Yunshu had sponsored Sun Yat-sen to lead the Xinhai Revolution, and his grandfather Wu Enfu and grandmother Li Yingjiao were Hakka immigrants to Hawaii from Longchuan County, Guangdong Province. Wu Yili's parents have three children, Wu Yili ranks second, the eldest brother Wu Xiening is a famous expert in gastroenterology in China, and the younger sister Wu Yiyun is a professor of English at Fudan University.
Wu Yili's life is quite legendary. She learned to play the piano at the age of 6, studied under Mei Baiqi, a former conductor of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and a famous Italian pianist, and studied art with Chinese pianists of the older generation, Wu Leyi, Zhu Gongyi, Zhou Guangren and Fu Cong. At the age of 18, Wu Yili performed Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra for the first time. In 1954, she served as the first soloist of the Central Orchestra (the predecessor of the China Symphony Orchestra), and in 1962 she was named a national first-class pianist and received by Premier Zhou Enlai.
During the Cultural Revolution, Wu Yili was impacted and her life entered a trough. During that time, Zhang Zhenfang, the mother of Wei Danwen, who is currently the deputy director of the piano department of the Central Conservatory of Music, often invited Wu Yili to her home, and they were both members of the Central Orchestra, and the two talked together to relieve their troubles, and thus became friends of lifelong tribulations.
Stemming from this friendship between the elders, when Wei Danwen was 6 years old, Wu Yili became his first official piano teacher and taught him piano for nearly two years.
Young Wei Danwen went to the dormitory of Wu Yili of the Central Orchestra every time to learn the piano, he recalled, Wu Yili's room is very small, only about 10 square meters, but there is a grand piano in it, "At that time, grand pianos were rare, one was good and expensive, and the other was to occupy a place than upright pianos." "Except for the piano, Wu Yili's room is full of scores and music books, and there is almost no room for other furniture," Piano and music are more important to Teacher Wu than any furniture. Wei Danwen said.
Until Wu Yili's death, she and Wei Danwen's mother often exchanged letters. Wei Danwen remembered the true feelings revealed in those letters, and Wu Yili would write bluntly to Wei Danwen's mother: "We are friends for many years, and I have always missed you very much. He would also ask Dwedan to take good care of his mother, and sometimes asked his friends to send some clothes.
Last year, Wu Yili went to China to participate in the recording of the "Classic Arias" program and also had dinner with Wei Danwen's mother, who was physically and mentally good at the time, "I believe she has now gone to a better music paradise." Wei Danwen said.
In January this year, Wu Yili and pianist Lang Lang were invited to participate in an event, and the two exchanged enthusiastically offstage. Courtesy of respondents
The third movement is "Alone and Not Alone" in the later years
In 1983, Wu Yili went to the United States for further study, and since 1993 she has settled in Singapore alone, where she is cared for by several friends. In her later years, Wu Yili had no children and no relatives around her, but she took the piano as a friend and lived a "lonely and not lonely" life.
Wu Yili rents a friend's house in Singapore, and her favorite piano is placed in the living room. Wu Yili once said that her requirements for material life are not high, "as long as there is an environment that allows me to play the piano." When she feels depressed, Wu Yili will play some melancholy songs to solve.
Her state of life is rare among her peers. Wu Yili revealed that she practiced the piano, read books, wrote letters, listened to the news every day, sometimes prepared for performances, and also went to art exhibitions and concerts to find creative inspiration.
In her later years, Wu Yili also had a hobby, that is, she had been sorting out the scores and melodies she had learned and played for decades, as well as the album works of other pianists, "Tidying up, I hope I can play it." ”
During her time in Singapore, Wu yili trained dozens of students and became friends with many students and parents. Among her students, there are children with autism, and there are grandmothers in their eighties and nineties.
In 2008, with the financial support of students, 78-year-old Wu Yili fulfilled a wish. She went through several twists and turns to find sound recordist Yang Siping and hoped to publish a solo solo solo solo album. Yang Siping carried more than 100 pounds of recording equipment and came to Singapore from Guangxi to record for Wu Yili.
The collaboration went well, and in less than a week they finished recording an album. Yang Siping took the master tape back to China, and Guangdong Songzhu Mei Audio -- Video (International Products) Co., Ltd. finally published this album, which was named "A Generation of Masters".
Five years later, at the age of 83, Wu Yili published her second solo album "Generation Masters II", which won the 2013 Top Ten Audiophile Record Award, and Wu Yili also won the Annual Musical Artistic Achievement Award.
Wu Yili's sister Wu Yiyun once said in an interview with the media at her home in Shanghai: "My sister has experienced many ups and downs in her life, and she survived with her love for the piano and the company of the piano. Now she is alone, but fortunately she has a piano companion, and she can also play and teach the piano, which also gives us some comfort. ”
Wu Yili gave her friend Gu Jing's personal album, which had a message to Gu Jing written on it. Courtesy of respondents
Fourth Movement: Heaven's Birds and Phoenixes
In recent years, Wu Yili often returned to China to participate in music activities. On August 22 last year, the "Silk Road Piano Sound" Ningbo International Piano Art Festival opened, and Wu Yili, as a special guest, performed "Liang Zhu" with violinist Xue Suri. Gu Jing, the organizer of the art festival and deputy general manager of Helen Art Education Investment Company, spent 5 days with Wu Yili, and she felt that Wu Yili was like a cute "old child" in life.
On the afternoon of the opening day of the festival, Wu Yili pulled Gu Jing and said that she would speak a passage of Ningbo dialect to the audience at the opening ceremony in the evening, and asked Gu Jing if she wanted to listen to it first. Gu Jing was surprised, because Wu Yili left Ningbo Xiaogang very early, and she did not expect that she would still speak Ningbo dialect. Gu Jing recounted Wu Yili's passage according to her recollections: "Beg Shu Wei, promote the harmony of the sea..." The translation means "a tall little boy, wearing short clothes, sitting on a high stool to eat rice cakes." ”
"Grandma Witch is so cute." Gu Jing couldn't help but laugh when she recalled this experience.
Hearing that Gu Jing likes to listen to "A Hundred Birds and a Phoenix", Wu Yili specially played a song for her, and each time she played a paragraph, she would explain to Gu Jing, "This voice is a small yellow oriole singing, and that sound is a lark flying." Gu Jing recalled that Wu Yili's eyes were bright when she talked about music.
When parting, Wu Yili gave Gu Jing a personal piano album, and wrote words of blessing on it, opening: "Gu Jing, my friend, Pingshui met and received great love, very touched, I would like to express my heart with my album." ”
When they parted, the two met to see each other in Singapore on April 27, and Wu Yili promised to play another song "Birds and Phoenix" to Gu Jing, "I didn't expect that this time they would become a farewell." Gu Jing choked and said, "Let Grandma Wu play this song "Birds and Phoenix" for me in heaven." ”
Beijing News reporter Huang Zhecheng Editor Zhang Chang Proofreader Lu Aiying