Xian Xinghai, a native of Panyu, Guangdong, was born in Macau in June 1905. His father, Xian Xitai, was a sailor and then made a living by fishing. When Xian Xinghai was born, his father had died, and he and his mother Huang Suying lived in his grandfather's house. 19 1 1 year, my grandfather died, and my mother took him to Singapore as a helper to make a living and provide him with schooling. Xian Xinghai's painstaking efforts to his mother will never be forgotten. Later, according to the words dictated by his mother, he wrote the song "indomitable spirit" and dedicated it to his mother to express his praise for her indomitable attitude towards life. From the age of 10, I studied English in a school run by the British, studied in a school run by overseas Chinese, and received the initial music education. 19 18, went to the middle school affiliated to Lingnan University in Guangzhou, and then went to college preparatory course, and worked part-time for six years. He loves music, studies hard in his spare time, participates in school band activities, plays violin and clarinet, and has served as a conductor, enjoying the reputation of "southern flute player". From 65438 to 0925, I came to Beijing alone, studied in the Music Department of National Art Institute, and worked as a librarian in the Music Studio affiliated to Peking University. 1928 came to Shanghai and entered the National Conservatory of Music. After joining the "Southern Society" led by Tian Han, it had an important influence on Xian Xinghai's patriotic thoughts and creative activities.

1In July, 929, Xian Xinghai published the article Universal Music, pointing out that "what China needs is not aristocratic or private music, but what China people need is universal music", and "people who study music" should "shoulder the heavy responsibility and save depressed China". Therefore, he called on music learners to "study hard", "do what ordinary people can't do and suffer what ordinary people can't eat" and "be a truly great person, not like a great man". "Universal Music" and "Salvation Music" became the direction of his life's music creation and social practice.

1929 In the summer, Xian Xinghai was forced to drop out of school because he participated in the student movement. That winter, he set off to study abroad. With the help of friends and the efforts of the ship, he arrived in France in the spring of 1930, and realized his wish to study music in Paris.

Second, the arduous road to study abroad

In the first few years in Paris, Xian Xinghai made a living mainly by doing odd jobs in restaurants and other places. Ma Sicong introduced him to study violin with Oberdofer, the chief band of Paris Opera House. When the violinist learned that Xian Xinghai earned his living by doing odd jobs, he stopped charging his tuition. Then, Xian Xinghai learned composition theory from Galen, a famous professor at the Paris Conservatory of Music. When Professor Gallon learned that he was living in poverty, he didn't charge tuition.

For the poor life of studying in Paris, he had this description:

Often unemployed and hungry, there is no way to ask for help ... In the heavy and trivial work, I can only take some time out of my busy schedule to learn violin, read music and practice composition. But the time can't be fixed. Besides class time, we should try our best to attend classes after class. Sometimes it is good to learn violin in the kitchen at night. Sometimes the worst thing is to get up at five in the morning and stay up until twelve at night. Once, because I was very tired from class during the day, I didn't come back until 9 pm. The last time I brought food upstairs, I fell down because of dizziness. After I was scolded, I was fired the next day ... I was unemployed for more than ten times, hungry, unable to find a place to live, and all I encountered were problems. A few times I was cold and hungry, and I couldn't hold on. I fainted in the street ... for several days, I was starving, so I had to take my violin to cafes and restaurants to play for money. I have endured humiliation all day, and I can't get much money. Back to the apartment, I was in tears and threw the money underground, but I had to pick it up again. The landlord outside the door is knocking at the door to ask for the house payment, so he has to give him the money he got, or he will be in danger of going to jail in the house (in fact, if it is not for studying, it is a way out). Once, when I was begging for money, a rich China student broke my plate and slapped me, calling me a disgrace to China people!

..... I endure the torture of life. Although I am not discouraged by learning music, I sometimes feel confused and unhappy. Fortunately, the teachers helped me and encouraged me ... In my hard life, the news of my motherland and my nostalgia for my motherland also prompted me to work hard.

..... I think of how difficult my motherland is, and all kinds of bitter, helpless, lonely, sad and depressed feelings I have suffered in Paris for three years. My eyes couldn't help but fill with tears, so I went back to the store and secretly cried. In grief, I remembered how to save my motherland from danger.

In such a miserable life, Xian Xinghai succeeded in writing the wind. This piece of music was praised by the teachers. Because of his works and the introduction of others, Xian Xinghai got to know the famous composer Paul Dukas and was admitted to Duca's advanced composition class of the Paris Conservatory of Music. He was the only China student who studied music there at that time. He passed this advanced composition class and won an honorary prize. The school will give him a material reward and ask him what he wants. His answer is: "I want a meal ticket." So, the school gave him a stack of meal tickets.

1935 in may, professor duka died suddenly. Xian Xinghai wanted to finish his advanced composition class, and he was eager to return home, so he took a free cargo ship with the help of his friends. During his five-year study and life in France, Xian Xinghai deeply studied the composition techniques of modern western music, enriched his musical accomplishment and broadened his artistic horizons.

Third, return to the motherland where the national crisis is deep.

Xian Xinghai returned to Shanghai in the autumn of 1935. At first, he mainly taught the violin for a living, during which he wrote an episode "Song of the Game" for the film "Heroes of the Times", which was his first work after returning to China. At that time, after Japanese militarism invaded northeast China, it was spreading the war of aggression to North China, and the Chinese nation was facing a critical juncture of life and death. 1936 joined the progressive organizations such as "Song Writers Association" initiated by Sun Shiyi and Luji. He wants to make his "music creation full of the voices of oppressed compatriots" and join the anti-Japanese national salvation movement with music as a weapon.

During this period, he composed salvation songs such as We Will Resist, among which War, Salvation March and Game Song were recorded by EMI Records. Because the sales of these songs set a record for the company, he was also hired by EMI Records Company as a voice and composer, and began to become a professional composer. But not long after, the records and master tapes of "Warsong" were confiscated and destroyed by the authorities, so he resigned and left EMI Company to make a living by writing some songs for movies, volunteering to teach composition and command to the cadres who led the national salvation song movement, and to teach singing in the progressive singing organization. Soon, Xinhua Film Company hired him as the head of the music department. During this period, he composed many national salvation songs and progressive film music, such as Salvation Army Song, Midnight Song, Hot Blood and Youth March, which were widely sung among the masses and well received by the progressive cultural circles.

Later, he resigned from Xinhua Film Company, but he still worked in Shanghai's progressive cultural and music circles, such as composing music and teaching singing. Xian Xinghai is also very enthusiastic about education and public welfare. He learned that Tao Xingzhi, an educator, had set up a "mountain and sea engineering group" in the suburbs of Shanghai to serve poor children, and he went to the group regularly to give counseling and teach songs to save the country.

Commenting on his music creation activities in Shanghai, he said: "My works have found a way to absorb the feelings of the oppressed people."

Fourth, go to the front line of anti-Japanese and national salvation propaganda work.

1937 After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 in Shanghai, Xian Xinghai participated in the Second Team of the Shanghai Theatre Society, led by Hong Shen, and went to Suzhou, Nanjing, Luoyang and other places to carry out literature and art propaganda for saving the country, and finally came to Wuhan, the propaganda center for resisting Japan and saving the country at that time. In Wuhan, he and Zhang Shu organized dozens of singing teams, held many singing conferences, organized singing parades, and went deep into schools, villages, factories, mines and troops to publicize and coach the masses to sing, which effectively promoted the singing movement of saving the country at that time. During this period, his enthusiasm for work and creation was very high, and he worked for more than ten hours every day. Before arriving in Wuhan, in order to deepen his life, he came to Hanyeping Coal and Iron Plant and lived in the mine for a few days. The faculty and staff sang in chorus and lived and worked with them. He also went down to the coal mine to talk with the miners and understand their living conditions and ideological conditions. He was deeply moved and wrote the song "Crane".

Xian Xinghai kept close contact with the masses and strengthened his belief in saving the country. At this time, he created different forms of anti-Japanese war songs such as Defending Lugou Bridge, Defending Wuhan and Going Behind the Enemy Line.

Although Xian Xinghai was seven years older than Nie Er, he admired Nie Er very much, fully affirmed the significance of the revolutionary music road pioneered by Nie Er and others, and spoke highly of it, calling Nie Er "the creator of new music in China". He inherited and developed the road of saving the country by music initiated by Nie Er.

Due to the passive resistance of the Kuomintang and various restrictions on the propaganda work of saving the country, his music creation and mass singing activities became more and more difficult, and he sprouted the idea of leaving Wuhan. At this time, he often saw the job advertisements of "Kangda" and "Shaanxi Gong" and saw some young people from Yan 'an. They worked very hard, full of energy and enthusiasm, which deeply infected him. He began to realize: "China has now become two worlds, one is going to fall, and the other is going to bright and promising progress. Yan' an is the place where the new China developed ... "When he inquired about Yan' an, Lu Xun Art College in Yan' an sent him a letter of appointment signed by all the teachers and students of the music department. Soon, Lu Xun Art College sent him two more telegrams, so he decided to go to Yan 'an.

Verb (abbreviation of verb) enters the new world of resisting Japan and saving the nation.

Xian Xinghai arrived in Yan 'an 1938+0 1 in June. At first, he stayed in the best northwest hotel at that time. A few days later, Japanese planes suddenly bombed. As soon as he walked out of the house, the bomb fell from the sky. He fell down quickly and the bomb exploded in front of him. Fortunately, he escaped this disaster and personally felt the cruelty of the Japanese aggressors.

Xian Xinghai was employed as a teacher in the Music Department of Lu Xun Art College, and was appointed as the department head in May 1939. He was also a music professor at Yan 'an Women's University, teaching courses such as "Free Composition". Xian Xinghai joined China 1939 in June. In teaching, he attaches great importance to the study and research of folk music. His lecture is simple and vivid. Once in class at night, it was time to rest until late at night, but the students were so absorbed and bored that he kept talking until dawn. Because of his enthusiasm and sincerity, many students ask him for advice and revise their homework, and students from other schools often visit him for advice. He always meets any requirements. Li Huanzhi, Li Ling and others are all taught by him. Xian Xinghai is very enthusiastic about the music and cultural life of the masses. The mountains, rivers and gullies in Yan 'an all left his hard-working footprints.

Recently, in order to learn more about Xian Xinghai's life story, when I met or sent an assistant to visit some old comrades who knew Xian Xinghai, they all praised Xian Xinghai's character, and some even burst into tears when talking about his passion. We can feel the human touch of Xian Xinghai.

At that time, the music teaching facilities and conditions in Yan 'an were very poor. The only piano was later blown up by a Japanese plane. Some violins are personal, others are some national musical instruments. However, the people's ideological style, fighting will and rich folk music materials in the anti-Japanese base areas inspired Xian Xinghai's high creative enthusiasm. Here, he composed The Yellow River Cantata, The Chorus of Production, The Chorus of September 18th, and other large-scale vocal divertimento, as well as songs such as The Counter-offensive, which had a great influence throughout the country.

6. Going to the Soviet Union to perform tasks became a farewell to the motherland.

In order to complete the post-production and music work of the large-scale documentary Yan 'an and the Eighth Route Army produced by Yan 'an Film Group, Xian Xinghai was entrusted by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to go to Moscow, the Soviet Union, with film director Yuan in May 1940. During the Soviet period, due to the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, Xian Xinghai had intended to return to China via Mongolia, but was forced to return to Ulaanbaatar to teach music at the local China Workers' Club because he was blocked at the border between China and Mongolia. /kloc-at the end of 0/942, Xian Xinghai returned to Soviet Central Asia and stopped at Almaty, Tashkent and Coustaing. There, he made friends with musicians from the Soviet Union and helped to set up a concert hall in Nai, Coustaing.

During his five years in Mongolia and the Soviet Union, he persisted in writing despite his illness and hard life in wartime. He not only completed the score of The Yellow River Cantata's symphonic accompaniment, but also completed the creation of the National Liberation Symphony, wrote four orchestral suites such as the Holy War Symphony, and many vocal and instrumental works. 1945 was seriously ill and was sent to Moscow for treatment. On his deathbed, he also finished the orchestral work Rhapsody of China. Xian Xinghai's symphony music works can't be performed before his death, and the final version can't be modified according to the actual performance effect, which becomes an eternal regret. However, from the manuscripts of these works, we can still see that he has made many valuable and bold attempts in expressing people's life and revolutionary struggle in the form of symphonic music, exploring the nationalization and popularization of symphonic music, and using the musical theme, structural form and percussion instruments of national style.

1945 10 Xian Xinghai 10 died in Moscow on October 30th. At that time, a grand memorial service was held for him in Yan 'an 165438+ 10/4. Comrade Mao Zedong personally wrote an inscription: "Mourning the people's musician Comrade Xian Xinghai!"

Seven, music saves the country monument, the strong voice of the spirit of the times.

Xian Xinghai is one of the few prolific and creative composers in the history of modern music in China, and also one of the symbolic representatives of national salvation music.

He wrote a lot of music in his life, but most of them were lost because of the war, and there are only more than 200 existing ones. Among his music works, there are works in the form of fighting marches that show the heroism of the people of China, such as Salvation Army Song, Youth March and Going Behind the Enemy Line. There are works that specifically show the scene of fighting with the enemy, combining lyricism, description and encouragement, such as Taihang Mountain, Guerrilla and Counter-offensive. There are works that reflect the working life of the masses and adopt specific labor tones and rhythms, such as Plough Song, Move Husband Song, Let's Open the Way, etc. There are songs written for women and children in battle, such as cotton-padded clothes, wartime hypnosis, women's day songs and so on. Excellent movie songs with lyrical techniques, such as Midnight Singing, Forget it and Hot Blood.

Xian Xinghai is good at using solo, chorus, rap and other forms of song performance, especially the two-part chorus widely used in mass songs for music creation. This was innovative and influential in the anti-Japanese war singing at that time. Xian Xinghai combined grand themes, profound thoughts and distinctive titles in instrumental music creation, and opened up a revolutionary, nationalized and popular road of symphonic music. Another important contribution of Xian Xinghai in music creation is the creation of a chorus suite with national characteristics. His four chorus works, such as The Yellow River Cantata, are consistent in the realism of subject matter and the nationalization and popularization of expression forms. However, according to different themes and contents, different artistic techniques are adopted, so that each work has distinct personality and characteristics, especially The Yellow River Cantata, who is a successful example of chorus creation.

Eight, the shock of the Yellow River Chorus.

The Yellow River Cantata is the most outstanding representative work of Xian Xinghai. He has a long-term ambition: to express the sufferings, struggles and struggles of the Chinese nation with music, and to express the pursuit of freedom and happiness and confidence in ultimate victory. The birth of The Yellow River Cantata is the inevitable result of the composer's long-term creative impulse.

1938 10 The poet Guang William. J crossed the Yellow River in a wooden boat for the first time and came to the anti-Japanese base in Luliangshan, Shanxi. When he saw the stormy waves of the Yellow River and the spectacular scene of Hukou Waterfall, he couldn't help being stunned by the ingenuity of nature. Guerrillas fought bravely against the enemy in the mountains, which shocked the poet's heartstrings even more strongly. Inspired by these shocks, at the beginning of 1939, the poet began to brew and create long recitation poems. Soon, Guang William. J was hospitalized in Yan 'an because he accidentally fell down while marching. Xian Xinghai knew him when he was in Shanghai, and went to see him when he got the news. After the meeting, Xian Xinghai talked about the idea of creating a recitation poem, which just happened. He was very excited after listening to it and hoped that he would write it into lyrics. Later, William. J Guang could no longer resist the impulse to create, lying in his hospital bed, dictating more than 400 lines of poetry for five consecutive days, and finally completing Ode to the Yellow River with the help of others, which was the lyrics of the Yellow River Chorus later.

1939 One day in the spring, the third team of the anti-Japanese drama team held a party in a spacious cave in Yan 'an, and invited Guangweiran and Xian Xinghai. I recited my new book in one breath. After listening to the recitation, Xian Xinghai grabbed the manuscript and said excitedly, "This is an epic of the Chinese nation. I want to write it as a chorus representing the great spirit of the Chinese nation. This will be the first new choir in China. I am sure I can compose music! I will rush out for you in time! "

Xian Xinghai began to compose the chorus on March 26th, and by March 3rd1Sunday, the eight songs of the Yellow River Chorus were completed in only six days! Although this is only the first draft of the song melody, it has laid a solid foundation for the success of this masterpiece. Xian Xinghai deserves to be a master composer!

While admiring Xian Xinghai's talent, we should also see his hard work in creating this work. In fact, more than a month after he got the lyrics, he did a series of preparatory work, not only made a detailed investigation for collecting creative materials, but also did preliminary "exercises" for creating large-scale works-completed the creation and rehearsal performance of the first chorus "Production Chorus". He also repeatedly asked people to tell the story and feelings of the Yellow River, and repeatedly asked many details. He also learned to sing the boatman's song, which was later used in the Yellow River Boatman Song. During his creation, he suffered from illness and worked day and night. In order to be perfect, he supported the sick body and deliberated repeatedly. Every time he writes a chapter, he asks someone to listen to it and then revise it. Only Ode to the Yellow River has been changed three times.

After the completion of The Yellow River Cantata's creation, with the help and guidance of Xian Xinghai, after more than ten days of rehearsal, it premiered on April 1939 13, and was sung by three teams of anti-Japanese drama teams, with Wu Xiling as the conductor. Then, from April 25th, Xian Xinghai personally directed the students of "Lu Yi" to rehearse the Yellow River Chorus for ten times in a row, and the chorus members increased from more than 60 at the beginning to more than 100. In May 1939, 1 1, Xian Xinghai conducted the Lu Yi Chorus 100, and successfully performed the Yellow River Chorus. After the performance, Mao Zedong and others all stood up, applauded warmly and said "Yes" with emotion. From now on, the Yellow River Chorus will be the main program of any big party in Yan 'an. On July 8th, 1939, Zhou Enlai also spoke highly of The Yellow River Cantata, praising Xian Xinghai for "making a roar for the war of resistance and making a sound for the public".

The Yellow River Cantata, with its highly perfect and unified artistry and ideology, was not only widely praised and welcomed by Yan 'an military and civilians, but also quickly spread to various war zones including the Kuomintang-controlled areas, and then became famous overseas. 1940, Liu Liangmo brought the music of the Yellow River Chorus to the United States. 1943, the Princeton University Choir sang in English for the first time in the United States. Since then, The Yellow River Cantata has gradually performed extensively in the United States, Canada, Myanmar, India, Singapore, Malaysia and other places, becoming China's earliest musical work with great influence in the world.

194 1 In the spring of, Xian Xinghai revised the simplified version of The Yellow River Cantata in Moscow and named it Symphony Chorus of the Yellow River. This revision, based on the original eight movements, added the prelude of the whole chorus, increased the music between movements, and re-edited the chorus score accompanied by the symphony orchestra. Because Xian Xinghai was far away from the motherland at that time, and his life was turbulent, he didn't have the opportunity to audition and modify the score after completion, and there were still some imperfections. 1955, at the concert "Xian Xinghai's death on the 0 th anniversary of/kloc-0" held in Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, The Yellow River Cantata first appeared on the Soviet stage, and was performed by the All-Soviet Radio Symphony Orchestra and sung in Russian. From 65438 to 0956, Li, a famous conductor in China, conducted the Russian chorus and performed the Yellow River Chorus in Russian.

The Yellow River Cantata is magnificent and gripping, which profoundly reflects the era of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, people's life and revolutionary spirit. It has become the strong voice of the times and the voice of the nation, shocked the land of China, inspired the people of China to bravely resist the enemy and won the victory of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. The Yellow River Cantata's success lies in the perfect combination of literature and music, integrating vocal music, instrumental music and literature. As far as chorus is concerned, it gives people the feeling that it is a "concerto" between music and literature; Lyrics and music have lofty artistic conception, flexible and diverse forms, and are full of singing and musicality; Close to the working people, appealing to both refined and popular tastes, rich in popularity; Pay attention to depicting characters with plots and dramatic rendering; From the perspective of artistic reference, there are also elements of western "oratorio". The whole song consists of eight songs, which is both a chapter and a whole. The Yellow River Cantata is a landmark work that highly summarizes the anti-imperialist struggle of China people in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period. It has a strong artistic appeal and shock. It is an immortal masterpiece in China's music history and occupies an important position in the world music history. In my opinion, The Yellow River Cantata's shock can be compared with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in a sense.

Today, The Yellow River Cantata and his piano concerto "The Yellow River" are still one of the most popular tracks on the music stage at home and abroad. Not long ago, Yu Long, conductor of China Philharmonic Orchestra, told me that they toured 22 cities in 7 countries in Europe and America from February 23rd to April 20th, 2005. The piano concerto "Yellow River" is still a work that shocked the western music world. When describing the performance of this work in Lincoln Art Center in the United States, he said: "The Yellow River sometimes rolls, sometimes it is deep and low, and sometimes it relaxes. During the 20-minute performance, all the actors and I were in tears all the time. The sincere tears of the young pianist Lang Lang, coupled with the kind piano sound, touched the audience under the stage. The emotions of American audience and China artists are completely harmonious, and everyone is in tears ... In the world-famous cultural hall of Lincoln Art Center in new york, USA, what impressed me the most was not the cheers of the audience caused by the orchestra's unique interpretation of classical works, but the great shock brought by the piano concerto Yellow River. Performing a complete 20-minute masterpiece is a rare move in the concert! " I think Philharmonic arranged this because this work is an artistic portrayal of the Chinese national spirit!

Nine, the contribution of music theory

Xian Xinghai has published more than 20 music papers, expressing many incisive opinions on the development of new music in China, the popularization of new music in China, and national forms. From his viewpoint and practice, we can see that among his creative motives, the most fundamental thing is his incomparable love for the motherland, people and nation, which is also the most prominent aesthetic emotion and concept embodied in his works. Xian Xinghai deeply felt the peril of the motherland, the national disaster and the people's suffering. He often said, "The people's struggle is my song." He wanted to use his works to awaken the invaded, oppressed and enslaved people and let them fight for independence, liberation and freedom. He particularly emphasized the role of national salvation songs in emerging music during the Anti-Japanese War, and believed that national salvation songs were the spirit of the times, the strong voice of the times, the voice of the people and the battle horn that met the aesthetic needs of the people.

Xian Xinghai's music aesthetic thought is very rich, and his music creation skills are various. He once said: "A long time ago, I made up my mind to create a new China music form based on folk music and referring to the achievements of western music progress ... I still adhere to this style, that is, to absorb the advanced skills of Europe and the United States, use the inherent melody of China, and use simple harmony with Chinese and Western musical instruments, especially percussion instruments, to make the work itself a unified art of popularization, nationalization and artistry." "Today's composers show three different postures: First, they rigidly imitate western music; Second, stubbornly clinging to China's music practice; The third is to try to combine China music with western music properly. I am very much in favor of the last one. " He used the composition theory and techniques he learned abroad to create music with the characteristics of China national music, and formed his own music creation characteristics and style. He tried to unify the essence of Chinese and western music with new music. On the one hand, he emphasized the truth of art, on the other hand, he emphasized the artistic beauty produced by the combination of truth, goodness and beauty, and pursued the unity of truth, goodness and beauty in artistic practice, thus raising China's music to the status of "international music scene" and making the music culture of the Chinese nation stand in the forest of world music culture.

Xian Xinghai has always emphasized "universal music", the combination of artistry, ideology and mass, and the social responsibility of artists. He said: "During the period of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, we were not allowed to have our own works of" art for art's sake ". Composers should create a large number of anti-Japanese songs to enhance the anti-Japanese sentiment. " He devoted his life to the promotion and popularization of music, especially the popularization of popular singing. This is not only because of the need to save the nation at that time, but also because mass singing has far-reaching significance for improving the overall quality of the people. He wants to improve people's quality with music art. His theory and practice not only played an important role in the development of China's music in the past, but also have important practical significance today.

Now, people are calling for and expecting China music to get its due position in the world music scene as soon as possible. So is the combination of nationality and internationality proposed by Xian Xinghai the right direction to achieve this goal?

Xian Xinghai lived in an era of frequent wars, and was displaced all his life, which made many of his music works lost, and many of his life stories need to be further sorted out. To commemorate Xian Xinghai, we need to deepen Xian Xinghai's research, explore and collect Xian Xinghai's music works, and make him stand as completely as possible in the treasure house of China's music culture.