Just as the so-called one side of the water and soil nourishes one person, one side of the water and soil also nourishes the musical disposition of the other party. Today we will talk about Xian Xinghai and his "Yellow River Chorus" written in only six days.
Xian Xinghai
In 1905, Xian Xinghai was born in a poor family of boatmen on the coast of Macau, and on the night of his birth, the sky was full of stars reflected on the sparkling water, and his mother named him Xinghai.
In 1926, at the age of 23, Xian Xinghai entered the Institute of Music Transmission of Peking University. He originally wanted to major in violin, but he was older and could only change his composition, which changed the growth path after the yin and yang, but the domestic environmental turmoil made it difficult for him to show his ambitions.
Three years later, he went to Paris to study music with a little money from his friends, and because of the language barrier, he did not have any skills, Xian Xinghai worked as a restaurant waiter, barber shop, miscellaneous art, bringing children to others, and even went to the street or coffee shop to play the violin to beg for living expenses, but he never wavered in his will to learn music.
The turning point came in 1930, when Xian Xinghai was introduced to learn the violin for free, and later learned composition theory.
At this time, the news of the invasion of the motherland by the Japanese army came, he could not sleep at night, composed the sad and indignant trio "Wind", became the first Chinese to broadcast musical works on Paris Radio, and the work also impressed Professor Duca Paul of the senior composition class of the Paris Conservatory, who decided to accept Xian Xinghai as an apprentice.
Professor Duka
Until 1935, Professor Duka Paul died of illness, xian Xinghai had to end his studies early and leave for Home.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in an all-round way, Xian Xinghai went deep into schools and rural areas to hold anti-war song activities, taught the masses to sing anti-Japanese songs, aroused the patriotic enthusiasm of the sons and daughters of China, and used music as a weapon to resist the enemy.
He composed a large number of songs such as the Song of the National Salvation Army, going to the rear of the enemy, and on the Taihang Mountain, which opened up a new situation in China's modern revolutionary music.
One night in early 1939, Xian Xinghai went to visit The young poet Guang Weiran, who was recuperating from a fracture, and he recited his new poem "Yellow River Yin" based on his experience in the two crossings of the Yellow River.
The light is not yet in his old age
It was this reunion that made Xian Xinghai have the impulse to create the Yellow River chorus. After six days and six nights of repeated pondering and revision, Xian Xinghai completed the entire composition of the Yellow River Chorus, and spent another week writing all the accompanying music.
The Yellow River chorus has a total of eight movements, the form covers male and female solo singing, recitation, singing in unison, multi-voice rotation singing, the tune borrows folk songs, ballads, carols and other expressions, but still maintains the inner unity of the whole work in style and structure, so that this huge work has its own style when performed chapter by chapter, and when integrated, it can be integrated and coherent, and the Yellow River crossing the waves of the mountains and tsunamis is used to express the surging anti-war forces of the Chinese nation.
Not long after, Xian Xinghai received a notice to perform the "Yellow River Chorus" at a commemorative party, and Chairman Mao also wanted to participate in this activity.
At that time, in Yan'an, which was materially scarce, it was impossible to form a complete symphony orchestra, so Xian Xinghai and the students transformed the gasoline barrel into a double bass, forming the pillar of the band's bass part, lacking percussion instruments, so they collected a large handful of eating spoons hanging from the choir members and put them in an enamel jar.
"The wind is roaring, the horses are roaring, the Yellow River is roaring", this Yellow River chorus is singing everywhere, and countless people are singing it and running to the anti-Japanese front.
Yellow River Chorus
In 1945, Xian Xinghai went to the Soviet Union to score the large-scale documentary "Yan'an and the Eighth Route Army", and shortly after arriving in Moscow, the Soviet-German War broke out, and he intended to take a detour back to China, but he had no choice but to fight and was forced to drift around in Central Asia, Mongolia and other places.
Although his life during this period was often in the midst of hunger and cold, he still wrote music that inspired the people of the world to win the victory of the anti-fascist war - four suites such as "Symphony of National Liberation", "Symphony of Sacred War", "Manjiang Hong" and "Song of Shule", and died in Moscow at the age of 40 due to long-term overwork and illness.
Xian Xinghai has a strong hometown plot, he once said to some friends and students, "Let's go back to Guangdong, set up a music conservatory, and everyone will study together to really create something new in China."
Although he did not return to his hometown to personally organize the Conservatory of Music, the Guangzhou Conservatory of Music, which was founded in 1932, was later renamed Xian Hai Conservatory of Music.
Sin Hai Conservatory of Music
Throughout his life, Xian Xinghai has been fighting for music, for the Chinese nation, and using music to invigorate the national spirit. Chairman Mao once called him "the musician of the people", and the immortal musical works he created with his blood and life are still widely circulated today, and each time it sounds is an encouragement to the patriotic spirit of the Chinese again and again.