Academic Forum
284 2015, Issue 23
Appreciation of Li Huanzhi's Spring Festival Overture
Li Yanna
Zhengzhou Institute of Industrial Safety and Vocational College, Zhengzhou, Henan, 451100
Abstract: Spring Festival Overture is the overture part of Spring Festival Suite, which is a classic work of national symphony, concentrating on the bustling scene of the Chinese Spring Festival. It focuses on the lively scene of Chinese people celebrating the Spring Festival, and is a classic work of national symphony. Keywords: Spring Festival Overture; Music
Classification Number: J605 Literature Identifier: A Article Number: 1671-5780(2015)23-0284-01
1 Author's Introduction
Li Huanzhi was born in Hong Kong in 1919, and studied harmony and harmony at the National Music College of Shanghai in the spring of 1936. In the spring of 1936, he entered the Shanghai National College of Music, where he studied harmony. Since 1954, he has been the executive director, secretary of the Secretariat, vice chairman of the China Musicians Association, director of the Composition Committee of the Music Association, and editor-in-chief of Music Composition, etc. In 1985, he was elected president of the China Musicians Association.
Li Huanzhi loved folk music since his childhood, and participated in music activities in schools. 1935, he began to compose songs, such as "Shepherd's Lament" and "Yellow Flower Song", etc.
Li Huanzhi was the first Chinese musician to compose a song in China.
Li Huanzhi, based on the rich material of Chinese folk and ancient music, combined with the requirements of the development of the times, created works that expressed the spirit of the new era and exuded a strong local flavor, which were y loved by people at home and abroad. His representative works include "Busy in Production", "Ballad of Tea Mountain", "August Osmanthus Blossoms Bloom Everywhere" and other folk songs chorus; folk songs chorus "Su Wu" and folk songs chorus suite "Hu Jia", as well as orchestral music "Chinese New Year Suite", zither concerto "Fantasia of Tialuo River", and konghou solo "High Mountains and Flowing Water", etc. He also composed the orchestral piece "The Spring Festival Suite", the zither concerto "Tialuo River Fantasy", and the solo "High Mountains and Flowing Water". His orchestral piece "Spring Festival Overture" has now become a must-perform piece in China's annual New Year's Concert, and is a classic work of national symphony.
Li Huanzhi also has deep attainments in choral conducting and theory. During the Revolutionary War, he conducted the chorus of "The Yellow River" and the opera "The White Hairy Maiden" many times, and in 1957, at the 6th World Youth and Student Peace and Friendship Festival, he won a gold medal for his performance of the Beijing Youth Amateur Chorus. His writings on music theory include: Composition Course, How to Learn Composition, Essays on Music Composition, Theory of Ethnic and Folk Music, and On the Art of Composition.
2 Background
The Spring Festival Overture is the first movement in the Spring Festival Suite, an orchestral work written by Mr. Li Huanzhi, a famous composer in China, in 1956. This work is based on the author's early life experience and feelings during the Spring Festival in Yan'an. Through the music, Mr. Li Huanzhi shows the warm and joyful scenes of the people in the revolutionary base area during the Spring Festival, as well as the moving scenes of unity, friendship, and mutual celebration and congratulation. Its melody and tune are both elegant and popular, and its theme is a grand festival with a very popular base, so since its birth, it has gradually evolved into a small tradition attached to the "Spring Festival". Especially after the popularity of the TV Spring Festival Gala, this song has become more familiar. People's love for this cheerful and emotional piece is absolutely unprecedented in the history of Chinese symphonic works. 1989, "Spring Festival Overture" was awarded the "Golden Record Award" by China National Record Corporation; in June 1993, "Spring Festival Suite" and other works were selected as "20th Century Chinese Music Classics", which shows its charm.
The Spring Festival Overture was awarded the "Golden Record Award" by the China National Records Corporation.
"Spring Festival Suite" was composed in 1955-1956, it is based on the tone and rhythm of the folk rice-planting songs of northern Shaanxi Province, the melody is bright and vivid, vividly expressed the people of our country in the traditional festivals in the lively, joyful, banging gongs and drums, carrying songs and dances of the scene. The whole piece is divided into four movements: Prelude (Rice-planting Song), Love Song, Pan Song and Lantern Festival. One of the most frequently played is the first movement of the Spring Festival Overture.
3 Ideological content
The Spring Festival Overture is an orchestral piece written according to the structure of the rice-planting songs. Yangge is a representative form of folk song and dance in the northern region of China. Dancers usually dress up as various characters and dance with props such as fans, handkerchiefs and colored silks. The performance form is divided into three parts: crossing the street, big field and small field. Crossing the street is the rice-planting team marching in the street, according to the rhythm of the music performed by some simple dance movements. The big field is a large-scale collective dance of warm and red Li Huanzhi's profile, often out of a variety of complex formations. The small field is a small dance with a simple plot performed by two or three people, or a small opera with songs and dances. The beginning and end of the "Yangge" is a big field, interspersed with small fields.
The first movement, "Spring Festival Overture," describes the Spring Festival people twisting rice-planting songs, adding the rhythm of the gongs and drums of the rice-planting songs, and the theme consists of two Shaanbei folk suona songs, which are joyful and enthusiastic. The middle section is a melodious Shaanxi folk song, whose theme is first played by the oboe, then repeated by the cello, and finally pushed to the *** end by the trumpet solo.
The structure of the piece is an A-B-A1 compound triad with reproduction, a subtle idea to incorporate a Western trend into traditional Chinese music.
The introduction, which precedes the A section, consists of two contrasting musical themes, the introduction to the overture summarizes the rhythmic and emotional characteristics of the piece with strong rhythms and strengths, suggesting the joyfulness that overflows in the whole piece, and brings the listener into a large group dance of joy and enthusiasm.
The music of the A section contains two themes, the first theme of the first part of the first theme is bright and bold, the rhythm is constantly tightening, showing the lively scene of the Yangge group dance and the warm atmosphere. The second theme is lively and smooth, with the flute playing the main theme and the oboe playing the counterpoint voice to give a backing, the music expresses people's uncontrollable joy and excitement. This is the first big performance of the rice-planting dance, with colorful musical images, resounding drums and gongs, and bold dancing styles. The rice-planting team is strong and flexible, singing and dancing, singing in unison, and wearing flowers in an endless stream. Trumpets and percussion instruments push the music to the first ***.
The B section is in 4/4 time, medium tempo, and the colors contrast with the A section. The theme of this section adopts the Shaanbei rice-planting song tune "spring in February", which is lyrical and beautiful, friendly and touching. This theme appears three times. The first time is played by the soft and lyrical oboe, accompanied by string pizzicato, we seem to see the healthy and simple Shaanbei girls, thin and curved eyes, the unique red face of the plateau people, the waist of the black braid tied with a two-inch red headband at the top, doing the Yangge Dance dance performance, that is, excited and shy. The second appearance of the theme is played by the cello. The cello has a rich and full tone and is good at expressing deep feelings and is usually used to express the image of a man. The third time the theme appears, it is played by the violin and shifted to the key of A. The second and third time the theme appears, it is played by the violin. In the second and third theme, there are woodwinds in the treble clef decorated with flowers, as if the fans, handkerchiefs and colored silks in the hands of the people flying up and down, and as if the umbrella head of the ring in the hands of the clanging ring with the dance steps clanging. Then the piece gradually into the full orchestra, the sound is more powerful, and once again change the key, in the trumpet to bring a new colorful atmosphere in the end of the B section.
The third major section (A1) is a reproduction of the first major section, where the introduction and the theme of the first part of the tone changes and repeats, first changes to reproduce the theme of the second half of the A section, and then changes to reproduce the first theme, the full orchestra, trumpet loud and clear, and the addition of ethnic percussion instruments, pushing the music to the second ***, the fiery melody, the rhythm of the jumping and swirling, indicating the bustling and joyful, The festive scenes and people's joyful mood are expressed in a full-bodied way, and the piece ends in a boiling mood.
Spring Festival Overture is a festive singing orchestral music, in our country can be said to be popular, regardless of the place to listen to, even if overseas, will give a person a happy and festive feeling, just as the author wants to describe to us to see the people of Shaanbei big harvest of the busy scene, the people's faces with smiles on the face of each other to congratulate the *** celebration of the harvest, the melody of the beautiful, rhythmic, it seems to let everything The melody is beautiful, with a strong sense of rhythm, which seems to make all the troubles disappear, leaving only happiness to follow, with soft and bright instruments to express the inner feelings, it is very easy for us to produce **** Ming, to produce associations. Inside the suite, the overture is more fluent and joyful, and is used at the beginning of spring to symbolize the vitality of all things and the recovery of life. It gives people a beautiful feeling and a long aftertaste!
References
[1] Zhang Li. Li Huanzhi Music Research [D]. Fujian Normal University, 2006.
[2]Luo Jianxin. The Spring Festival Overture and its Author [J]. Musical Instrument, 1994(1).