The Paper's reporter Liao Yang
"We originally hoped that the family would celebrate, but we didn't expect the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra to be so big, and directly held a 100th birthday concert, Dad was very happy, and we were very happy!" Zheng Xuemei, the eldest daughter of bass cellist Zheng Deren, said excitedly.
As the first Chinese double bass player in the China Professional Symphony Orchestra, Zheng Deren has played countless classical music for Chinese music fans; as the elder of China's double bass education, Zheng Deren is full of peach and plum, and many orchestras in China and even the world can see his tall figure.
On January 19th, the "Mr. Zheng Deren 100th Birthday Concert" was held at the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall, and the 100-year-old Zheng Deren sat on the scene, and his family, colleagues and students also attended the scene to celebrate the old birthday star collectively, of which the oldest student, Hong Youlong, was 92 years old.
Concert scene
When Teacher Zheng's students bring their own aura
Zheng Deren was born in Shanghai in 1923. In 1943, Zheng Deren was admitted to the Shanghai National Music College (the predecessor of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music), where he studied cello principal she fu under the Shanghai Municipal Bureau Orchestra (the predecessor of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra) to learn double bass, music theory and ensemble lessons, becoming the first double bass student since the establishment of the Shanghai National Music College, and the first student in China to learn the double bass professionally.
In 1946, Zheng Deren joined the Shanghai Ministry of Works Bureau Orchestra as a performer, becoming the first Chinese player in the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra's double bass department until his retirement in 1991. At the same time, from 1956 to 1986, Zheng Deren concurrently taught the main double bass at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music for thirty years, cultivating a large number of professionals.
Hong Youlong was Zheng Deren's first low-level student after the founding of New China. He was originally a cadre of the East China Cultural and Labor Troupe of the People's Liberation Army, and was transferred to the Shanghai Experimental Opera House (the predecessor of the Shanghai Opera House) in the early days of the founding of New China.
"At that time, I was 'Tu Ba Lu' and I didn't understand a lot of things. The opera house wants to rehearse "Wang Gui and Li Jiaxiang", and no one pulls the bass part, so the organization will let me pull it. Originally a percussionist, Hong Youlong had to learn the double bass with a hard scalp, and Zheng Deren had to create his own accelerated teaching method, directly teaching him to learn the low-pitch score of the play, and three weeks later, Hong Youlong successfully participated in the performance of "Wang Gui and Li Xiangxiang".
After the performance, Hong Youlong continued to study with Zheng Deren for two or three years, and then served as the first chief double bass player at the Shanghai Experimental Opera House. Zheng Deren also likes to compose, inspired by his teacher, Hong Youlong also began to learn to compose and orchestrate, and wrote many opera and dance accompaniments for the opera house.
"Teacher Zheng was so nice to me! For 70 years, I have visited Teacher Zheng every year. The 92-year-old Hong Youlong wishes that Teacher Zheng, who is already 100 years old, will always be healthy.
"When people hear that you are a student of Teacher Zheng, it seems to have its own aura, and everyone recognizes it." Zhu Shunhua, former principal double bass of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, is also a student of Zheng Deren, and he still remembers that he began to learn the piano with Teacher Zheng at the age of 14, and the teacher's teaching is very strict, but the criticism is very gentle and not very direct.
"I was a white ding at that time, and the teacher was very patient, which laid a very solid foundation for me." Influenced by Teacher Zheng, Zhu Shunhua later often told students that learning music, pitch and rhythm are the most important, if the pitch is not accurate, the rhythm is not right, no matter how fancy it is.
At the birthday party, Zhu Shunhua and the students took to the stage to perform, and the disciples and disciples gathered together, just like the big gathering of the double bass family. "Not nervous, excited, honored." Two days before the performance, Zhu Shunhua met Teacher Zheng, "He said I was fat, I was really embarrassed!" Too busy to neglect the image issue. ”
Zheng Deren and 92-year-old student Hong Youlong (left)
Jeong Ande-jen and his three daughters
Three generations of the family did not leave the double bass
"Dad was exceptionally honest, hard working and very helpful." Zheng Xuemei, the eldest daughter who accompanied her father to do an interview, said.
Today, the hundred-year-old Zheng Deren insists on watching the news every day. He cares about the COVID-19 pandemic and international politics, and every time he video chats with his eldest daughter, he talks endlessly and always talks for an hour.
"When I was a kid, we had two pianos and a lot of double bass, and my parents didn't let us go to conservatory, but they didn't want us to waste time, so we played instruments from elementary school." Under the influence of his father, Zheng Deren's three daughters have also become associated with music and inherited his musical genes. Piano, violin, cello, double bass, accordion, harp... The daughters' musical instruments from elementary school were dazzling.
"My life is closest to my father. He was particularly strict with me, and I can achieve today's results, thanks to him. The eldest daughter, Zheng Xuemei, is 70 years old and was originally a teacher at the Guangzhou Xinghai Conservatory of Music, teaching harp and piano at the school.
Versatile, she still remembers learning cello when she was a child, "Daddy's colleague has a cello, made in Germany, 180 yuan, very expensive!" Dad bought it home and let me learn it. When I was young, my father did something on the position so that I could pull it down smoothly. "Symphonies, plays, ballets... As the eldest daughter, she also has many opportunities to experience the rehearsal scenes of various performances, and has grown up soaking in art since she was a child.
"Dad's greatest talent is to change many other instruments to double bass, as long as it sounds good, as long as everyone likes it." After the adaptation, the three daughters played a trio at home, leaving many good memories in childhood.
Zheng Xuemei especially likes "Torch Festival" and "Hainan Fishing Song". After eight years in the orchestra, she also performed adaptations by her father. She also remembers that her father changed a famous high-difficult singing voice in the Peking Opera "Wise Tiger Mountain" to a double bass solo, which is very interesting.
"Once, at twelve o'clock in the middle of the night, Huang Yijun, Cao Peng and five or six other people rushed to my house and asked my father to finish the orchestration of a piece of work in two hours." Zheng Xuemei recalled that on the occasion of Sihanouk's visit to China, he wrote a solo work on the train, and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra received the task of instrumentation and recording, and Zheng Deren bravely shouldered the heavy burden and successfully completed the instrumentation. Later, the song was sung by Zhu Fengbo, who was just red, "The singing is really good, it is very good to hear." ”
Zheng Deren's works have also been performed by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra many times. At the centennial birthday party, his "Good Scenery of Jiangnan" and "Torch Festival" slowly flowed out. "Good Scenery of Jiangnan" was created in the 1950s, in response to the call of Chinese folk songs, Zheng Deren participated in the collection of wind and created this song based on Jiangnan folk songs. "Torch Festival" was created in the 1970s, Zheng Deren and his peers went deep into the Yunnan-Guizhou region to collect styles, coinciding with the Torch Festival held in Yunnan, and they were impressed by the integration of folk songs from all over the world to create this song.
Zheng Jiehua is the second daughter of Zheng Deren, and now, her daughter is also learning the double bass, "Our family has not left the double bass for three generations. ”
Editor-in-Charge: Chen Shihuai
Proofreader: Ding Xiao