"The piano is three feet long, five feet wide, in the middle of the coffin; seventy-two strings, with gold and silver or iron as the strings, each with a column, the end passes through the outside, and the drum ends it responds to itself..." This passage says nothing else, it is the ancient piano that the Italian missionary Matteo Ricci brought from the West more than 450 years ago. At that time, as far as Hong Kong and Macao, it was the territory of Guangzhou Province, and Matteo Ricci exhibited his housekeeper's treasure, the ancient piano, in Macau, which attracted the interest of local residents. In Matteo Ricci's own words, "They loved its soft sound and novel structure."
However, the ancient piano was only a glimpse of the city in Guangzhou, and soon followed Matteo Ricci to the capital to please the emperor. It was not until 1842 that the first modern pianos were transported from Manchester to Guangzhou by British merchants. With the slow rise of churches and church schools, Western music has gradually entered the lives of ordinary people.
△ At the beginning of the last century, the "Current Affairs Pictorial" published the news of "music healing", and the emergence of music therapy also reflected the popularity of Western music in Guangzhou from one side.
▎The first arrival of Xile ▎
Matteo Ricci came from afar, and the ancient piano followed into Cantonese
Before the establishment of Guangzhou in 1921, Guangzhou Prefecture was much more famous than "Guangzhou City", and the territory was much larger, like the current Zhongshan, Zhuhai and even Hong Kong and Macao, all of which belonged to the category of Guangzhou Prefecture. As early as the mid-sixteenth century, Portuguese merchants were allowed to live in Macau, and in 1582, the Italian missionary Matteo Ricci landed in Macau with his housekeeper's treasure, a European-style antique piano. Soon, the sound of Chiang Yue's piano sounded in Macau's Sam Pa Temple, attracting many locals to listen, and Matteo Ricci said proudly: "They also envy our instruments, like its soft sound and novel structure." ”
Matteo Ricci had been a missionary in Guangdong for many years.
The following year, Matteo Ricci came to Zhaoqing from Macau and built the first Catholic church in the mainland, the Xian Hua Temple, and the Western musical instruments in the church are still a great magic weapon to attract locals. However, although dioramas are good-looking, it is not easy for ordinary people to speak the Truth. Besides, this piano in Guangdong "only this one, no other branch", the real luck to contact or a very small number of people.
Later, Matteo Ricci went to the capital with an ancient piano and made friends with a number of scholars, and they recorded it in writing, and some people said: "There is a foreign Taoist Matteo Ricci, who is out of the fanqin, its system is different from China, using steel wire as strings, no finger flicks, only using small plate cases, and its sound is clearer..." Only "small plate cases", what is the "case" method? The Qing Dynasty's "Continued Literature Tongkao" wrote more clearly: "The qin is three feet long, five feet wide, and the middle of the tibetan tree; the strings are seventy-two, with gold and silver or iron for the strings, each with a pillar, the end is passed outside, and the drum is at the end and responds to itself..." According to records, Matteo Ricci also wrote several ancient poems to propagate the teachings, with a tune, named "Xiqin Quyi", but unfortunately the score was lost.
To tell the truth, although the first European ancient piano was "imported" from Guangdong and went to Beijing, its influence is too limited after all, and for ordinary people, Western music is still a very distant existence. It was not until 1842, when the first modern piano came from the British Isles, that the piano sound of Qingyue slowly appeared in Guangzhou.
▎Gradually popular ▎
The public is well-informed, and Western musical instruments are sold well
It is not an exaggeration to say that Guangzhou folklore is "the first to open up the atmosphere". Take the modern piano, for example, after being made by the Italians in 1709, it "settled down" in Guangzhou in less than a century and a half. Don't think how long the spread of "a century and a half" was, it was not an information society at that time, even in Europe, the piano was mainly just for the upper class to play, the professional musician group has just emerged, even the most outstanding musicians such as Mozart, without the favor of the royal family, ended up with a poor and sick death, which is stifling. Guangzhou introduced pianos at that time, which can be regarded as the forefront of the times.
△ The European-style ancient piano aroused the great curiosity of the scholars.
In 1842, an English Manchester merchant traveled across the ocean to bring the first pianos to the city of Guangzhou. There is also an interesting legend about this "first crab eater" businessman, but unfortunately it cannot be verified or falsified. It is said that he was full of expectations for the scale of the piano market in Guangzhou at that time, believing that "an average of one piano per hundred households is undoubtedly a huge sales market", so he confidently led the vast fleet and transported a large number of pianos.
The importers were depressed and not depressed, we couldn't control it, anyway, the sound of the piano slowly sounded in the city. In 1846, the first Christian church appeared in Guangzhou, the East Stone Point Baptist Church (near the present-day Baqi Erma Road). Whenever the congregations pray, there is a long chant and a piano accompaniment of Kiyoshi. When the Sacred Heart Cathedral was completed, the piano became an indispensable Mass accompaniment instrument, and as the number of congregations gradually increased, Western instruments represented by pianos gradually spread from church to folk. The piano is placed in the living room of a superior family, adding glory to the host at the party.
In addition to churches, schools are also the places with the most piano sounds. For example, the first girls' school in Guangzhou, Zhenguang Academy, founded in 1872, music is one of the compulsory courses for students, and the principal, Ms. Na Xia Li, will set aside time every week to teach students music theory knowledge and performance. When the church holds concerts or singing events, True Light students will go and play several songs to win the full house.
According to statistics, by 1919, there were more than 900 large and small churches and nearly a thousand church schools in Guangdong, and these churches and schools played a great role in promoting the popularization of Western music. In fact, by the end of the 19th century, the young people's pursuit of Western musical instruments had formed a trend, so that the famous local Zhi WuQingshi wrote: "Guqin, over sixty years old, there are still many good, at least for a year, then the group tends to huqin, yueqin, foreign qin, organ ... Those who seek to know that they have a guqin are no longer available. The name of the piano will exist, and the truth of the piano will die. "The old gentleman's sense of loneliness is overflowing with words.
▎ Musical Feast ▎
The "concert hall" of the Long Causeway is often unveiled
However, although Western musical instruments slowly began to become popular, in the late Qing Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty in Guangzhou, there was really no way to find a concert hall of the Eight Classics. Fortunately, the YMCA in Long Beach has an auditorium with a capacity of about 500 people, equipped with a grand piano, which has become a unique concert hall.
Although the place is a little simple, there is no shortage of concerts in the "concert hall" of the Long Causeway. For example, the famous musician Ma Sicong has held several concerts here, which has fascinated the audience. "Guangzhou Republic of China Daily" made a special report on this, praising "Ma Jun's genius, worthy of the name, the skill has been the peak." In 1931, the private Guangzhou Conservatory of Music was established, and Ma Sicong, who was 19 years old at the time, became its dean. At that time, the National Music College in Shanghai had only been established for 4 years, and the director Xiao Youmei was also from Guangdong, and he was also receiving music enlightenment education in the first foreign school run by the Chinese people, Shi Min Academy. However, Xiao Youmei was 43 years old at the time, and Ma Sicong was exactly 24 years younger than him. The reputation of "musical prodigy" is worthy of the name, and his famous songs such as "Homesick Song" and "Pastoral Song" that he later wrote in Guangzhou have touched thousands of Chinese people. The Group of Guangdong musicians represented by Xian Xinghai, Ma Sicong and Xiao Youmei represented the highest level of modern Chinese music at that time, which is also the best portrayal of Guangzhou's pioneering trend in the popularization of Western music.
△ Ma Sicong, who returned from studying abroad, was praised by the newspapers of the time as a "musical prodigy".
Returning to the musical enjoyment of ordinary people, the "concert hall" of the Long Causeway is really indispensable, and the YMCA often invites well-known musicians from abroad to give concerts. At the Chinese and Western Concert held on November 30, 1929, 27 musicians from Germany, the United States, Japan and China took the stage to present a sumptuous musical feast for the audience.
Speaking of the concerts held in Guangzhou during the Republic of China, there is another one that everyone must mention, that is, the world-class pianist Artur Rubenstein. In 1935, Rubenstein toured east Asian countries, stopping by Guangzhou and giving a concert at Lingnan University. The "A. Rubinstein Colorful Record" written by the famous music essayist Mr. Xin Fengnian once described Rubinstein's after-the-fact memories: "The piano for my use was amazingly good, greatly inspired me, and I played better than any previous one..." This musical feast, because of its world-class level, will forever go down in history.
Text/Guangzhou Daily, Xinhua city reporter: Wang Yuehua
Guangzhou Daily New Flower City Editor: Lin Weilin