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"A big river has wide waves, and the wind blows on both sides of the rice and flowers...", whenever this beautiful melody sounds, we can't help but think of that sonorous period of time. 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, and is also the centenary of the birth of Mr. Liu Chi, the composer of "My Motherland" and a people's musician. In this online class of the Classic Art Lecture Hall, Mr. Liu Xinxin, son of Liu Chi, and Mr. Zhang Yi, a famous conductor, are invited to talk about the Chinese melody created by Mr. Liu Chi in his artistic career of more than 60 years.
The picture shows the stills of the movie "Shangganling"
First, the birth of "a great river"
1. The motivation for the creation of the work
Mr. Liu Chi said in his later years: "The motherland, the people and the Chinese nation are the eternal themes of my creation. The song "My Motherland" composed by Liu Chi is an episode in the Chinese war-themed film "Shangganling" and is still widely sung today. In different historical periods, our party and country faced different challenges and goals, and the core intention of this work at that time was "to resist the United States and aid Korea, defend the family and defend the country." The work contains the great spirit of the Chinese nation, and its birth process is naturally full of the imprint of that great era.
The film "Shangganling" was inspired by director Lin Shan's experience of a trip to North Korea. The Battle of Shangganling was fierce and cruel and rare in the world. When Lin Shan, in a temporary and humble volunteer exhibition hall, heard an eighteen- or nineteen-year-old soldier recount the combat experience of the volunteers to resist the United States and aid Korea in the tunnels, he felt that "the blood in his whole body seemed to burn!" After returning to Beijing, he and the famous director Shamen had the decision to create a film. In the early days of the interlude "My Motherland", the general director Sha Meng approached the composer Liu Chi and put forward a "not high" request: when people sang this song, they would want to watch the film again, thus remembering why the heroes of the volunteer army were "the most lovely people".
The picture shows a photo of Liu Chi when composing the music
2. The creative process of the work
When it comes to the creation of the melody in "My Motherland", we must start with a folk song minor key. In the early days of creation, Liu Chi locked himself in the famous "little white building" in the Changchun Film Studio for a week, cutting off all contact with the outside world and focusing on creation. He finally selected 10 folk songs that are familiar to the people and newly created folk song styles, looking for "the people's emotions and the people's voices" in them. In the end, a Hebei folk song "Lugou Bridge Little Song" gave Liu Chi inspiration, which is also the source of motivation for the first phrase "a big river with wide waves". The first sentence of "Lugou Bridge Little Song" uses a seven-degree big jump interval, and on this basis, Teacher Liu Chi becomes an octave big jump interval, which expands the tension between melody and emotion at the beginning of the music.
The picture shows the place where Liu Chi lived and created - the long shadow "Little White Building" known as the "Hall of Film Art Creation"
The lyrics of "My Motherland" also have many interesting stories. At the urging and invitation of several telegrams, Teacher Qiao Yu finally agreed to the invitation to write lyrics. However, how to create lyrics that fully reflect the connotation of the work has made Teacher Qiao Yu think bitterly for nearly 10 days. After a rain, he walked outside the "Little White Building" in the long shadow and accidentally inspired Teacher Qiao Yu. He thought of water from rain, thought of big rivers from water, and then he thought like a spring, completed the creation of lyrics, and created the first two classic lyrics that we know today: "A big river has wide waves, and the wind blows on both sides of the rice and flowers." ”
After the songwriting was completed, who would sing the work also went through a long period of time. Liu Chi's first thought was that most of the heroes of the volunteer army came from the vast rural areas, and the vast majority were the children of peasants. Therefore, the folk style of singing is most in line with the authenticity of this work. Teacher Guo Lanying's singing style not only retains the national folk singing method, but also her long-term experience of practicing Chinese opera makes her singing more national, which will surely make the people and soldiers feel more cordial.
He Jingzhi, a famous poet and playwright who served as deputy director of the Central Propaganda Department and acting minister of the Ministry of Culture, once used three "beauty" to evaluate this work and Liu Chi's melody: beautiful, magnificent, and beautiful. Its creation embodies the revolutionary ideals of the older generation of artists and their exploration of the new Chinese art style. It is precisely because of this that the works they create can be passed down for a long time, often singing and often new, often performing often new, and enduring.
The picture shows Liu Chi when looking at the score
Second, the motherland written by the people's musician Liu Chi
Premier Zhou Enlai once commented on Liu Chi: "He is our child who grew up in Yan'an and is a composer cultivated by our party itself." Fu Gengchen, former chairman of the Chinese Musicians Association and a famous composer, concluded: "Liu Chi's music breathes with the times and shares the fate with the people. ”
The picture shows Liu Chi and literary and art workers
Mr. Liu Chi's achievements are inseparable from the century-long struggle of the Communist Party of China and the phoenix nirvana of the entire Chinese nation from old China to new China, and the road to rejuvenation after that. He left classics for the motherland and the people in every period of New China.
Liu Chi joined the "Doll Anti-War Theater Troupe" in Yan'an at the age of 15, and from an early age, he burned the "flame of revolution" in his heart. When he heard the first singing of "Yellow River Chorus" in Yan'an, the magnificent artistic charm immediately shocked him, and the next day he went to apply for the Lu Xun Art Institute in Yan'an and became a student of Xian Xinghai, a famous musician in modern China. Liu Chi has a special love for folk songs in northern Shaanxi, and "Love Songs of Northern Shaanxi" is the first homework he turned in during the Luyi period, and it is also the first musical work he created in his artistic career. And the teacher Xian Xinghai also gave a high evaluation to Liu Chi's work, which is full of strong regional characteristics.
The picture shows liu Chi's actors when he participated in the "Doll Resistance Theater Troupe", filmed by international friend Helen Foster Snow in Yan'an in 1937.
"Victory Encouragement" is Liu Chi's first famous work in the Lu Yi period. According to the tunes and styles of northern Shaanxi Yangge, this work created a march of marching military music and singing and dancing. This work was sung throughout the country along with the people's army's southern conquest and northern war, and Chairman Mao once commented that this work was a good work that "has our Chinese style."
The picture shows a group photo of Liu Chi (in the middle of the photo) when he first entered Yan'an Luyi
In the history of the War of Liberation, our party's two armies in Yan'an, the Civil and Military Armed Forces, and a thousand-mile march, were called the "Little Long March" into the northeast. During that period, a folk minor tune was transmitted from the Liberated Areas of Shandong to the Northeast, and the melody was beautiful and soothing, and Liu Chi adapted it in a chorus style after listening to it, becoming the song "Heaven in the Liberated Area" that was sung all over the country during the Liberation War. Since its premiere, the song has become a joyful song of "not getting off the stage" without singing it twice.
The last work to be discussed is "Ode to the Motherland" by Mr. Liu Chi, which is a mixed chorus composed for China's first color widescreen documentary "Ode to the Motherland", and it is also the first symphonic chorus work of New China. Mr. Liu Chi said that the creation of this period "the essence of national folk music has naturally flowed in my blood". In this work, people can no longer distinguish where is the motivation of the folk song and where it is Liu Chi's creation. With the lyrics of "the sun jumped out of the East China Sea, the earth was glorious, the river stopped roaring, and the mountains opened their hearts", which fully burst out the self-confidence and pride of the Chinese nation! It is precisely for this reason that for a long time, this work was selected by Premier Zhou Enlai as one of the must-sing songs when welcoming foreign guests.
On the occasion of the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the centenary of Mr. Liu Chi's birth, the famous conductor Zhang Yi will join hands with the National Symphony Orchestra of China to perform the "Special Concert of Liu Chi's Works" at the National Centre for the Performing Arts. In fact, in 1999, the first anniversary of Mr. Liu Chi's death, conductor Zhang Yi performed many works by Mr. Liu Chi in the orchestra. For Zhang Yi, who was only in his twenties at the time, it was an extremely shocking concert. He commented that Mr. Liu Chi was a "real people's musician". His musical works have been circulated for more than half a century, influencing generations, and playing an important role and far-reaching influence on the Chinese people during the periods of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the War of Liberation, socialist construction, and reform and opening up. Through art, he showed the glorious course of the Communist Party of China in various periods and embodied the indomitable spirit of struggle of the Communists. At the same time, his creation has also played an extremely important role in promoting the development of modern Chinese music, leaving a number of valuable musical heritage and spiritual wealth for the motherland and the people.
Biographies of the speakers of this issue
Liu Xinxin, son of people's musician Liu Chi, director of the Cultural and Creative Industry Center of the Yan'an Literary and Art Society of China, executive director of the China International Friends Research Association, and visiting professor of Northwest University.
Zhang Yi is the Music Director of the National Ballet of China, the Artistic Director of the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Artistic Director of the Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra. Experts enjoying special government allowances of the State Council and the "four batches" of talents of the Central Propaganda Department.
Ministry of Education/Planning for the Popularization of Arts at the National Centre for the Performing Arts
Liu Xinxin, Zhang Yi/Dictation
Wang Chenchen/Finishing