"Jasmine" has been popular all over the country since ancient times, and there are many varieties, but one popular in Jiangnan is the most extensive and representative. Her melody is euphemistic, with smooth ups and downs and delicate feelings. Through the praise of jasmine, the simple and gentle feelings between men and women are implicitly expressed. As early as the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, its lyrics were published in the drama script collection "Hundred Autumn", which shows that it has a long history.
At the end of the eighteenth century, a foreigner wrote down her tunes, and the lyrics were expressed by free translation in English and Chinese Pinyin. Later, an Englishman named John Bello came to China to serve as the secretary of the first British ambassador to China. 1804 published Travel Notes of China. Perhaps in his eyes, "Jasmine" is the representative of China folk songs, so he specially published the music score of "Jasmine" in his works, so this song became the first American folk song to spread overseas in the form of a publication, and began to spread in Europe and South America.
1924, Puccini, a world-famous opera master and Italian composer, finished the first draft of the opera Turandot among cancer patients and died. Based on the Yuan Dynasty in China, the play fictionalizes a beautiful and cold story of Princess Turandot. Puccini took the tune of Jasmine as one of the main musical materials of the play, and adapted its original song into a female chorus. In addition, all the characters in the play are dressed in costumes of the Yuan Dynasty, which makes the China story written and performed by foreigners have the color and flavor of China. 1926, the play premiered in Italy and was a great success. Since then, the fragrance of China folk song Jasmine Flower has spread abroad with the spread of this opera classic.
According to recent media reports, "Jasmine", formerly known as "Flower Tune", originally had three lyrics, which sang jasmine, honeysuckle and rose in turn. During 1942, musician He Fang went to Jinniu Mountain in Liuhe, Yizheng, near Yangzhou, to collect this folk song, which was widely sung in the local area, and recorded her tunes and lyrics one by one. 1957 He adapted the original words of the original song, and all three lyrics used the same tune, from singing three kinds of flowers to singing jasmine flowers in a concentrated way, ending in a melodious drawl, which became familiar to everyone now. This song was sung by the front-line song and dance troupe and then recorded by the Chinese record club, so it was further circulated.
At the beginning of this century, Zhang Yimou used "Jasmine Flower" as the background music in the propaganda films of Olympic bid and Expo bid. On August 3, 2003, the emblem of the 2008 Olympic Games-"China Seal Dancing Beijing" was grandly unveiled in the Hall of Prayer for the New Year in Beijing Tiantan Park. When Deng Yaping, a famous athlete, and Jackie Chan, a famous movie star, walked slowly to the Hall of Prayer for the New Year with their badges, the melody of jasmine sounded in the band. At the moment, the music of jasmine you hear is vigorous in euphemism, passionate in delicacy and firm in fluttering, which seems to tell the world that the hometown of jasmine, ancient China, is striding forward. With the broadcast of these TV series, I believe that the fragrance of jasmine will float farther and wider.