As a musician, Feng Zikai

Dazhong Daily reporter Wang Tong

When Feng Zikai is mentioned, people naturally think of him as a cartoonist and essayist. In fact, Feng Zikai is still a musician, and his achievements in music are no less than those of his comics and essays. He has made great achievements in music theory research and music practice, and can be called a generation of musicians.

"Introduction to Music" has been reprinted 33 times

Feng Zikai's translation of music began in the early 1920s, when he taught in many schools, and when he was engaged in the teaching of music, art and other arts, he carefully prepared lecture notes and teaching materials, and then sorted them out and processed, officially published them, and became a reading book for music lovers in society. These works have been published successively, including "Common Sense of Music" (Shanghai Yadong Library, 1925), "Introduction to Music" (Enlightened Bookstore, 1926) and nearly ten others. After the founding of new China, he taught himself Russian and translated Soviet music works, such as "Kindergarten Music Teaching Method" and "Basic Knowledge of Music". He also composed lyrics and composed music, composed school songs for some schools, and according to incomplete statistics, Feng Zikai composed more than 20 works of lyrics and compositions.

Among these works, "Introduction to Music" is the most widely circulated and the most influential, having been reprinted 33 times and adopted as a textbook by many primary and secondary schools at that time. Many musicians in early China grew up reading Feng Zikai's works, and the textbook for learning music at that time, such as Nie Er and Ding Shande, was "Introduction to Music". In this regard, the famous educator Ye Shengtao said: In the thirties, Brother Zi Kai wrote many articles and compiled several books to popularize artistic knowledge such as music and painting, so that a generation of intellectual youth, including me, a middle-aged man, received a good enlightenment education in these aspects.

Feng Zikai has also written a large number of articles and books on Western music, and has made great contributions to the integration of Chinese and Western music theory, the most famous of which are "Stories of The Top Ten Western Musicians in recent Times" and "The World's Great Musicians and Famous Songs". "The Story of the Top Ten Western Musicians in recent times" tells the story of 10 great musicians such as Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. "The World's GreatEst Musicians and Famous Pieces" contains 12 world-renowned musicians and 116 classic works, from Mozart to Debussy, spanning two hundred years. For each musician, the author first positions it with the finishing touch, and then appreciates its representative music, so that readers can deepen their understanding of their musical works and have a strong interest in reading while appreciating the growth process and creative background of musicians.

From the 1920s and 1930s to the 1950s and 1960s, the public knew very little about music, especially Western music, and there were few professionals and achievements in music research. In this case, Feng Zikai has played an indispensable and important role in popularizing and improving the musical literacy of the whole society, and has also created a precedent for western music research in the mainland, and it is not an exaggeration to call Mr. Feng Zikai a pioneer in music learning and education in the mainland.

"Plum Blossom Sweeping Snow"

Corresponds to seven notes

In 1914, at the age of 16, Feng Zikai was admitted to the Zhejiang Provincial First Normal School and studied painting and music with Mr. Li Shutong, who was good at painting and music, and was also good at drama, literature and calligraphy, which had a great influence on Feng Zikai's life. In 1921, Feng Zikai traveled to Japan for a year-long study tour, participated in the Western Painting Research Society and the Music Research Society in Tokyo, and taught himself to play the violin in his spare time, which was the most concentrated school study period in Feng Zikai's life. His family preference for music and his own special hard work, coupled with his unique spirituality and talent, have achieved greatly more results in music than those with formal music education, which is really admirable.

He has no formal class education, but he has a strong expressive writing that others can't match, so his musical writings show characteristics that others do not have, which can be summarized as using simple and vivid writing, light humor and humorous language to explain musical issues such as music theory, harmony, genre, song style, musical instruments, bands, history, aesthetics and other musical issues; especially good at using prose and essay forms to describe the life, experience, background, personality, creation, etc., with the artist's anecdotes, vivid image, It is very attractive and appealing to reading, and is deeply liked by the public. Feng Zikai's second son, Feng Yuancao, said of "Introduction to Music": "'Introduction to Music' is simple and popular, and its writing method is different, using literary and figurative brushwork. For example, when talking about the ascending and descending scales, the upward '1351' is said to be 'riding the wind and waves, overturning the mountains and the sea', and the downward '1531' is said to be 'raining over the sky, and the smoke is scattered'. This actually represents Mr. Feng Zikai's consistent style of writing. Feng Zikai has a poem called "Monopolizing Plum Blossoms sweeping the snow", which some people interpret as: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, it is really a sound in the painting, a picture in the sound.

Feng Zikai's writings on Western music are not academic treatises on Hongfu, but most of them are lively and easy to understand intellectual introductions, which have had a wide impact on Chinese society at that time. He is particularly adept at placing musicians in the context of the times in which they live, meticulously depicting the unique personalities of musicians, combined with musical characteristics, to help people understand their music. The stringing together a large number of musicians adds to the understanding of the trajectory of Western music. For example, his introduction to musicians such as Beethoven and Mozart adopts a contrasting technique, which is more enlightening after reading: "Beethoven's greatness is by no means just a musician. He had a bitter life, and a soul of true beauty. He is the hero of the heart, and his music is really the expression of this heroic heart. In Mozart, music is the architecture of sound, and its existence is only in the beauty of music. As for Beethoven, music is a representation of his great soul, so it is even more glorious. That is, Mozart's music is the art of feeling, and Beethoven's music is the art of the soul. ”

Feng Zikai's insight into music is by no means a general and superficial introduction, but is based on a deep understanding and a refined appreciation, showing the characteristics of rationalization.

Qu Gao and Zhong:

Pull the music down the ivory tower

Feng Zikai pointed out in his book "Music Night Tan", "We must pull music down the ivory tower and popularize music in general society... Enjoy the fun of music. This is precisely the embodiment of Feng Zikai's musical concept of "Qu Gao and Zhong", that is, to popularize and popularize music education, so that the public can appreciate music, love music, be influenced by music, and appreciate the beauty of music.

Feng Zikai's understanding of music has enriched people's understanding of music and greatly enhanced the status and charm of music. He believes that among all arts, "music is the art that most easily moves people's hearts". Music has the most "affinity", so its subtle power for life is also the greatest. For the individual, music is like a friend and a mentor; for group life, music is an invisible and powerful guide. In his article "On Children's Education", he pointed out: "Listening to interesting and noble music is like eating olives, and its taste is elegant; listening to fun and despicable music is like eating sugar, and its taste is shallow." "Without music, human life would be so diaphragm and boring!" How desolate and lonely the world will be! ”

Feng Zikai's promotion of Western music makes people feel a new value and power of music. From world-renowned music masters to popular classic songs, Feng Zikai dedicated himself to the feast of Western music and led people to share the beauty of human music. As the first generation of heroes who introduced Western music in modern times in mainland China, Feng Zikai opened a precedent for the Chinese people to understand and accept Western music, laid the foundation for the study of Chinese Western musicology theory and music history theory, promoted the process of the cosmopolitanization of Chinese music, and made great contributions to the mutual reference and integration of Chinese and Western music.