The Chinese Concept of Program Music

Author(s): Kuo-Huang Han

Source: Asian Music , 1978, Vol. 10, No. 1 (1978), pp. 17-38
Published by: University of Texas Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/834123

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 THE CHINESE CONCEPT OF PROGRAM MUSIC
By
Kuo-Huang Han

Introduction

The definition of program music, according to the

Harvard Dictionary of Music, is "music inspired by a
program, i.e., a nonmusical idea, which is usually
indicated in the title and sometimes described in
explanatory remarks or a preface." (Apel 1969: 696).
This "nonmusical" or literary idea marks the difference
between program music and absolute music; titles play
decisive roles in determining the classification of the
two. In most cases, programmatic compositions are
instrumental, since vocal music generally involves words
which, by their nature, convey literary meanings.
In the West, program music can be traced back to
the fourteenth-century Italian caccia, but the Golden
Age of program music was in the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries when literary association occupied
a prominent position in musical creativity, and the use
of instrumental colors and harmonic language was greatly
expanded. Today, however, the idea that music is an art
in its own right seems to dominate the minds of many
Western musicians. I recall that Krzystof Penderecki
urged his listeners not to take the title of his monu-
mental work, To the Victims of Hiroshima too literally.
Also, Beethoven's note on his Pastoral Symphony- - "More
an expression of feeling than tone painting"--is quoted
again and again in current music appreciation text books
as if tone-painting were a sin. The Chinese people,
however, take a quite different attitude toward program
music both in the past and at present.

Since ancient times, the Chinese people seem to

favor "nonmusical" or "extra-musical" ideas in musical
subjects. For instance, the five tones of the pentatonic
scale and the eight categories of musical instruments
were all associated with cardinal points, seasons, numbers
and natural phenomena. There is a legend regarding a
musician-scholar Po Ya of the Spring and Autumn Period
(770-475 B.C.). Once when he was playing the chin zither,
a man named Chung Tzu-ch'i came by and commented that he
heard high mountains and flowing water in his music.
Po Ya was deeply impressed and the two men became good
friends. When Chung died, Po Ya broke his instrument and
vowed never to play again. The first part of this legend

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gives us a good idea of the Chinese desire for finding
some meaning, or even musical references to concrete
objects, in any given piece. It is uncommon to find
Chinese instrumental pieces without some sort of descrip-
tive or suggestive title. In a printed concert program
or a book containing instrumental compositions, nine out
of ten pieces are fully annotated, some even accompanied
with poems. When the ti-tzu flute master Lai Siu-hang
gave a recital at Northern Illinois University in 1977,
he repeatly asked me to explain the meaning of each piece
to the audience. His concern is not an unusual case.
The famous ch'in performer-scholar Ch'a Fu-hsi once wrote:

Every time when an old ch'in player is

about to play a piece that is not
familiar to his audience, he would tell
them grumblingly about the title and
what it is supposed to express. (Ch'a 1954:41)

What makes the Chinese so fond of titles and programs?

In order to understand this, one must first examine the
nature of the Chinese people.

The Nature of the Chinese People

A traditional Chinese intellectual is sensitive but
restrained. To prove his points in discussing an issue,
he quotes history and proverbs rather than using the
deductive method and depends on concrete examples rather
than abstract ideas. As Thaddaus Hang (1966:49) points
out: "The reason the Chinese did not develop a systematic
science, we might conclude, is that from the ancient
time, they have chosen the path of emotion and rejected
the development of rational inquiry."

Let us turn to some non-musical examples first.

In Chinese poems, there are abundant historical facts or
anecdotes and descriptive words, but few abstract words.
Moreover, there is no grammatical order in the Western
sense. In a very famous and short poem by the T'ang
master Li Po (699-762), "In the Quiet Night," we read:
Bright a gleam in front of my window -
Could there have been a frost on the ground?
Lifting my head, I found that it was the moon.
Sinking my head, I thought of my home.
(Tr. by the author)

Now if we translate the poem word-for-word from the Chinese

in an unpoetic and ungrammatical manner, we have:

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 Window's frost bright moon's gleam
Suspect to be the frost on the ground
Lifting head look at the bright moon
Sinking head think of home

As one can see, the second translation offers a series of

adjectives and nouns fitting in a pre-determined framework.
Although personal pronouns are not found, every Chinese
reader would understand the poem's meaning and its
implications. This is one case suggesting the concrete,
emotional and poetic structure of the Chinese mind.

Chinese landscape painting may not faithfully

reproduce real images, but it is based on real impressions.
There are always objects with which one meets in real
life - clouds, mountains, trees, huts, water, boats and
people. Furthermore, there are always descriptive titles
in these paintings such as "Taoist Temple in the
Mountains," "A Ferry Scene in Autumn," or "Hermit-
Fisherman at Lake Tungting." Chinese portraits and
flowers-and-birds paintings, on the other hand, always
strive to realism.

In terms of language, the Chinese again favor non-

abstract words. According to Nakamura Hajime, the Chinese
changed most abstract Sanskrit into concrete words when
Buddhism first came to China. For instance, "nature"
became "eyes", "real manner" became "original face", and
"begging activities" became "cloud and water" (Hang
1966: 37). The famous dance composition of the T'ang
Dynasty, "Cloud and Feather Gown," is said to derive from
an Indian model called Brahaman, which meant "purified
deeds."

Nowhere are there better examples to illustrate

the Chinese preference for description than in written
Chinese characters. Many characters can easily be traced
back to their pictorial origins. For instance, the
character "sun" is clearly pictorial. When a dash is
added under it, it becomes "dawn", meaning "the rising sun
above the horizon" The character "wood" or "tree" is
another good example. When a second symbol of the same
shape is added by its side, it means "forest" or "woods".
And when a third one is added on the top, it is a "big
forest". The symbols related to water are as clear as
pictures (Wieger 1965):

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 One early form Modern form
0 f sun

o __ dawn

4; wood, tree
** woods, trees

Sf big forest
L small water course
)iJ big stream
z1 I.( water
j ,}I. continent
Lastly, we may identify the Chinese people as title
lovers. It would have been inconceivable in the past if
an object of value had not received a title, usually
poetic. For instance, a large sword could be entitled
"The Green Dragon and Half Moon Sword," and a famous
horse, "Thousand Miles Chasing the Wind." Ch'in zithers
usually have names such as "Shining Moon Over the Sea,"
"Dried Wood and Dragon Chant," or "The Green Beauty."
Even famous recipes have fancy names such as "Black
Dragon Sleeping on the Snow" (pork covered with sea-
cucumber) or "Treasures Hiding in the White Jade" (winter
melon stuffed with scallop, chicken meat, mushrooms and
lotus nuts). Buildings are named "The Heavenly Peace
Gate," "Thunder Peak Pagoda," "The Phoenix Pavilion,"
"The Snow Hall, or "The Rustling of Pines Pavilion."
Legendary figures in novels are given titles such as
"Li K'uei, the Black Whirlwind," "Lin Ch'un, the Leopard
Head," "Ch'in Ming, the Thunder Fire," or "Chu Fu, the
Laughing Tiger." (all from the famous novel The Water
Margin). Also, every learned person took at least two
or more names and titles: the T'ang Dynasty poet Li Po
was also known as "T'ai Po" and "Green Lotus Hermit,"
and the Sung Dynasty writer Ou-yang Hsiu (1007-1072 A.D.)
was called "Yung Shu," "Six-one Hermit" and "The Drunken
Old Fellow."

The foregoing examples illustrate the Chinese

attitude toward concrete objects, descriptive ideas and
their love of titles. These will serve as a background
for a discussion of the Chinese attitude toward program
music.

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Compositions and Their Titles

In dealing with program music, one must first

consider the titles of compositions because they serve
as nametags and consequently influence interpretation.
Not all pieces with descriptive or suggestive titles
are program music. Haydn's "Drum Roll" and "London"
Symphonies are absolute music in nature. The same
situation exists in Chinese instrumental music. Since
the Chinese people have such a strong interest in naming
works of art, titles of all kinds can be found, and with
much greater frequency than among their Western counter-
parts. However, in Chinese musical titles, there are
several problems. First, many pieces called ch'j-p'ai
(instrumental interludes of operas) have titles that
are not always comprehensible because the texts with
which they are associated have long been discarded.
Second, several pieces may have the same title, and
more commonly, one piece may have several titles. An
interesting example of the last case is a p'i-p'a lute
composition entitled "The Eagle Catches the Swan."
This piece bears six other titles some of which even
change the species of the bird from swan to crane and
to goose (Yang 1961:28). Examples of this kind of
arbitrary title-changing are endless. Among the reasons
for such confusion of titles are: 1) poetic considera-
tions have suggested a change of title; 2) commercial
reasons--more listeners were attracted when a new title,
e.g. "Flowers and Moonlight Evening on the Spring River"
was substituted for the old "Moonlight Over Hsun-yang
River" in the 1930's (Yang 1954: 26); 3) political
realities, to avoid trouble, a newly composed mainland
Chinese piece, "The Happy Spinning Workers," is called
"Busy Spinning in the Autumn" in Taiwan.

In the purest sense, there is only one type of

Chinese instrumental music bearing abstract titles, i.e.,
those which are non-descriptive and non-suggestive.
These are titles of metrical indications such as "Shih-
liu Pan" (sixteen beats) and "Shan-liu (three variations
on six beats). There are not too many of these. All
other instrumental pieces have programmatic titles. I
have examined many anthologies of Chinese music, among
them, Yueh-p'u Chi-ch'en (a collection of Musical Scores)
editedby Liu -chih and published in Taipei in 1966.
Of the 59 pieces collected, only two carry metric titles:
(Pa Pan) (Eight beats) and "Hua Pa Pan" (Ornamented eight
beats). The latter, incidentally, has since received a

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new name: "The Palace Lantern Dance." Many titles have
a descriptive nature such as "High Mountains and Flowing
Water," "The Crazy Dance of the Golden Snake," while
others have a suggestive quality, such as "Song of
Happiness." Other titles are related to legendary or
historical persons such as "Chao Chun," "Lord Shou-ting."
If one examines anthologies published in mainland China,
one will also find titles, but of a different nature:
titles reflecting the new ideology, such as "Spring Comes
Early to the Commune," "The Red Flowers of Tachai Blossom
Everywhere," or "The Hearts of the People of Yenan Are
Turned to Chairman Mao."

It is said that in the earliest literature, most

ch'in zither pieces had no titles and program. They simply
reflected the composers' inner thought and were identified
by the first few words of their text if they came with
text, or by the names of their musical modes. Only in a
few cases were there titles representing persons or
subjects. The first record of titles and program notes
for ch'in music is found in the Ch'in Ch'ao, a book
written by Tsai Yung around 170 A.D. (the late Han
Dynasty). This and two other books set the tradition of
titles and program notes for all subsequent ch'in and
other instrumental compositions (Ch'a 1954: 40).

The title does not always coincide with the content

of a particular piece. Nearly one-third of the composi-
tions in any given anthology have no direct connection
with their titles. Some of them are instrumental inter-
ludes for operas (Ch'u-p'ai), some are dances, and some
are simply musical works crowned with beautiful names.
In other words, there is a sense of absolute music, but
the tendency to give poetic titles is very strong. We
may illustrate this topic by examining several pieces
and their titles.

Many large-scale Chinese instrumental compositions

are constructed in variation-type suites, being a series
of thematically related short pieces put together. Some-
times one or two of the sections may not be related to
the rest thematically. The p'i-p'a piece "Green Lotus
in the Musical Hall" is comprised of four sections, each
originally having a separate name. But when they were
put together to form this suite-like piece, three out of
four lost their old names and received new ones:

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 Old Titles New Titles

i. Phoenix Courting i. Toasting the Bright Moon

2. Rain Drops on the Banana 2. Rain Drops on the Banana
Leaves Leaves

3. Three Leapings over the 3. Wind Blowing through the

Torrents Pine Trees

4. The Jade Bracelet 4. Flowing Stream on the

Stones

How different are the titles between the old and the new?
The only reason that the second section retains its old
title is probably due to its pictorial depiction of the
rain drops. Actually, the same "rain drops" passage that
appears in Section 2 can be found in Sections 3 and 4.
Sections 2, 3 and 4 also have 28 identical measures at
their respective beginnings (slightly varied starting with
measure 14 of the fourth section). This is a clear
indication of the Chinese fondness of title-for-title's
sake without considering the content of the music.
One of the most famous classical works offers
insight into the nature of title change. The piece in
question, "Moonlight Over Hsun-yang River," is also called
"Flowers and Moonlight Evening Over the Spring River,"
"Hsun-yang P'i-p'a," "Hsun-yang Song," and "Pipes and
Drums at Dusk." A list of the subtitles of three versions
and their corresponding musical sections can give us a
clear view of this kind of problem (Yang and Tsao 1956:23):
(See page 24) The subtitles are poetic and deal with
autumn, mountain, trees, water, moon, sun in a manner
similar to that of Chinese landscape paintings. In
comparing the three versions, some subtitles are fairly
close, while others are widely different, yet the music
remains the same. Furthermore, the same subtitle, "Evening
Song of the Fisherman," can be found in two different
sections. Pictorial depiction of each section according
to its title, with the exception of the beginning section
in which pipe and drum sounds are imitated (Yang and Tsao
1956:22), does not always correspond with the subsections.
The most one can find from these would be some kind of
psychological association. However, that association
cannot be applied to all sections either. In fact, all
the sections in this piece are related to five basic
musical motives and the piece is constructed as a variation-
type suite. To depict different scenery and moods in
melodically similar sections seems illogical. To a certain

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degree, it is like giving pictorial or suggestive titles
to the twelve sections of Mozart's piano variations on
the French song "Ah vous dirai je, maman."

All titles and subtitles are created for poetic

reasons. As van Gulik (1940:88) points out, "they are
fixed phrases, borrowed from a separate section of the
Chinese artistic vocabulary". In most cases, they have
no relevance to the content, but they are parts of the
Chinese mind. Few people seem to be bothered by their
inaccuracy. This seems to be another good example of the
Chinese mind - more poetic than scientific.

Types of Program Music

i. Psychological. There are three types of program music

writing in Chinese instrumental compositions: psychological,
descriptive and imitative. Apart from those works that
are absolute music in nature but programmatic in title,
the majority belong to the psychological type. The general
mood of a piece is suggested in the title, but there is no
concrete story to follow nor any attempt to imitate
natural sounds. Examples of the psychological type are
numerous: tranquility may be found in "Autumn Moonlight
Over the Serene Lake," joyfulness in "Song of Happiness,"
an excited quality in "Harvest Gongs and Drums,"
exuberance in "The Crazy Dance of the Golden Snake," martial
effects in "The General's Order," peacefulness in "Autumn
Moon Overlooking the Han Palace," sorrow and deep emotion
in "Water in the River," or jubilance and cheerfulness in
"Singing a Mountain Song".

2. Descriptive. A descriptive type of piece usually

illustrates a story. The best example is the celebrated
p'i-p'a piece, "Ambush from Ten Sides" which depicts the
decisive battle between the armies of Ch'u and Han in 202
B.C. Having twenty-one sections, the music depicts the
whole process of the battle by presenting a dramatization
of camping, bugle calls, shooting of cannons, military
music, marching, forming of ranks, the ambush, initial
skirmish, the main battle, battle cries, and the pursuit.
Examples of the descriptive type are not as numerous as
those of the psychological category.
3. Imitative. A large repertoire of imitative pieces
exists. All of them have one common feature: the inclu-
sion of passages in imitation of natural sounds. This
technique enjoys a wider popularity in China than in the
West, a point of cultural difference. Examples of this
technique include bird calls, by far the most popular, such

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as are used in "Birds Returning to Nests" for yueh-hu
fiddle, "Birds in the Wild Mountain" for erh-hu fifddle,
"Morning in the Miaoling Mountains" for kao-ti flute, and
"Phoenix Courting" for so-na oboe. Other sounds evoked
include the neighing and galloping of horses in "Galloping
Across the Vast Grassland" for erh-hu, the wind blowing in
"Fighting the Typhoon," and rain in "Night Rain on the
Banana Leaves," both pieces for cheng zither. In this
last example, there are three s'Zctions, with a passage
in each imitating light rain, a downpour, and the flow
of water afterwards.2

While there is always some overlapping of categories,

the above three-part classification is convenient for this
paper.

Types of Program Notes

As we have pointed out, the habit of writing pro-
gram notes for a musical composition has been well
established since around 170 A.D. In a ch'in piece before
the notation itself appears the author usually devotes a
written section to describing the origin and the meaning
of the piece. Ch'in handbooks even added remarks on
subtitles or at specific places in the music (van Gulik
1940: 88), a habit which has carried over to modern
published scores. When concert traditions of both Chinese
and Western music were introduced to the public in the
early twentieth century, program notes also appeared. It
is from these sources published scores, concert program
notes and books and articles--that we learn the Chinese
concept of program music. Three types of program note
writing are found: detailed, narrative and suggestive.

1. Detailed. Let us begin with a ch'in piece, "Wild

Geese Descending on a Sandbank." After mentioning a
motive which the program note writer labeled as "the call
of the geese", he continues:

Following the mo-t motive in the

previous section, there appear more geese

motives, one going like

and the other changing like

which is followed by .
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 they were calling and answering each other

until [the music] reaches the high point

___ _h which is like the

sound of the geese blown into the sky by the

wind or like the geese flying far away...

(HsU 1956:23)
One wonders if the player can remember this detailed
description and if the composer actually intended this
sort of detail in a short passage.

There is a ti flute piece entitled "Flying Kites,"

whose theme is taken from a folk song melody from
Ch'a-ha-erh. The accompanying description tells us that
the first section depicts the children carrying the kites
on their shoulders and walking toward the country. It
continues :

The second section which begins at measure

25 depicts the kites flying slowly toward
the sky and the children becoming more and
more happy. Suddenly the wind dies down
and the strings loosen which causes the
kites to drop down rapidly and the mood
of the children becomes very tense. After
some manipulation and the returning of the
wind at the same time, the kites rise slowly
high in the sky once more. (Hu: 1974:42)

If we examine the score, we find that the second section

is 50 measures long with many repetitions of the folk
song motive. The performing time of this section is
about three minutes.

It is obvious that both writers spend more time in

figuring out the details of literary meaning than in
analyzing the music. Actually these examples of program
notes are narrative. But due to their unusually detailed
descriptions, we have labeled them the "detailed" type of
program notes.

2. Narrative. By far the most popular type of program

notes, this category includes many good examples. A
short ti piece entitled "Returning Late" can be used to
illustrate this type. Before reading the extra-musical
notes, we can analyze the piece according to its structure:

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Section Phrase Tempo Measures Notes
I a adagio 9

Sa' adagio 16

b andante 10 repeated

I c allegretto 10 repeated
bridge 2

III a' adagio 17 the final tonic is

extended one more

measure,

Clearly, this piece is constructed somewhat in a ternary

structure without modulation in the middle section. The
a' phrase in Section I and the a' in Section III are
identical except for an additional measure at the end.
Now, the program notes tell us the following:

The first section of this piece is slow and

free, depicting the farmers, after a day of
hard work, returning to their village
happily. The second section's speed is
faster and is bouncy in character, depicting
farmers gathering in groups; some of them go
to night school, some to clubs and some just
chatting. The sound of singing, laughing
and musical instruments mingled together
reflects a happy village scene. The third
section is the recapitulation of the first
with the music ending in pianissimo. The
village quiets down and people gradually go
to sleep. (Wang 1974:18)

There is a story and the author is a story teller. The

association of the two a' sections with two different
stories is almost like associating the two "A" sections
of a Minuet with two stories. Besides, it seems
unreasonable to depict so many activities: going to
night school, clubs, singing, laughing, music playing,
etc. in the second section which is only 22 measures.
These program notes are the result of literary fantasy
outside of the consideration of the musical reality.

The program notes for "The General's Order"

provide another example of storytelling:

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 An anonymous adaptation for orchestra from
a famous solo piece for the p'i-p'a. The
general issues an order to attack the enemy
the next day. His soldiers are camped in
the field. Night falls. The muffled sound
of the night watchman's gong is heard. As the
drama slowly unfolds, the music gradually
intensifies when the alert is sounded and the
army is readied for the attack before dawn
breaks. (Program 1975a)

There is more than one piece entitled "The General's

Order." If the piece in question is an adaptation from
the p'i-p'a solo piece as the program mentions, the story
becomes a fantasy, for there is no trace of "night",
"watchman's gong", etc. The whole work is tense and
martial from the beginning to the end with a similar
motive, transposed up and down several times, connecting
the various sections. It reflects the general mood
rather than attempting to portray the episodes.
3. Suggestive. In this type of program note, only the
general idea of the piece is given. The writing may be
vague and will not force the listeners to follow detailed
descriptions or episodes. An example of this type is the
cheng piece "Autumn Moon Overlooking the Han Palace:"

This music reveals the melancholy of a

solitary soul wrapt [sic] in the deep of
the autumnal nostalgia [sic] and wistful-
ness. (Program V: page un-numbered)

The program notes for the p'i-p'a piece"The Dragon Boat

Race"are not only suggestive but also informative
regarding the social background:

Arranged by Lui Tsun-yuen. The dragon boat

race is an annual summer event especially
popular in the South China. The din of drums
and cymbals is deafening, and the scene is one
of great gaiety. The composer introduces
several Chinese folk songs into the piece.
(Program 1974: page un-numbered)

In its original publication, the erh-hu piece

Aborada of the South" has this brief note:

The music portrays a scene of the green

mountains and clear water in the morning in
South China. People begin a day's work
happily. (Chung-kuo 1964:19)

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The last phrase may sound a bit unnecessary. But in
general it gives a good background to the music without
forcing the listeners to relate the text directly to
the music. This type of program note can be applied to
any piece, whether it is constructed in ternary form,
variation-type, or any other structure.

Discrepancies in Program Notes

In Chinese music, there is also a problem regarding

the discrepancies in program notes for the same work. A
standardized approach in the Western sense has yet to be
established in Chinese musical thinking. Nevertheless,
judging from the nature of the Chinese people, especially
their love for titles and literary associations, one
wonders if this standard can ever be established. We
can begin by examining the notes for the cheng piece
"Ascending the Stairs." In one source, the author quotes
two phrases from a poem: "When wishing to widen one's
view through thousand miles, one shall ascend to higher
stairs" (Wang Chih-huan's poem, At Heron Lodge). He
then continues to describe the piece as depicting the
desire for "the higher the better, or the satisfaction
of one's view in a high altitude before descending
happily." (Liang 1962:63) Yet another writer tells us
that the piece portrays "the swaying manner of ladies in
the past going upstairs." (Huang 1975:132)

The notes in the method book for the p'i-p'a piece

"Snow in the Sunny Spring" read:

It depicts the budding atmosphere of the

spring, having lively and brilliant melodies
and reborn spirit. (Lin and Chou 1971:90)

But in a concert program note, the description becomes

more poetic and concrete by identifying the spring season
with the month of March and singling out the objects "snow"
and "sun" from the title:

In the month of March, the sun is radiant,

the snow glistening, and everywhere life is
budding forth. (Program 1976)

Actually, "Snow in the Sunny Spring" is one of those

variation-type suites and is derived from the musical ideas
of an absolute piece. One of the subtitles, "The Bright
Moon," contradicts the main title already. Therefore,
any attempt to portray the piece according to its title
and subtitles is useless. What would happen if the title
had been "Snow in the Sunny Winter?" Would the writer

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possibly suggest the month of December or January?
Another note for the same work creates even more
confusion, this time not due to poetic reasons:

The theme of this lively piece is based

upon the popular folk tune "Liu Pan."
Dissonant intervals are employed, as are
parallel octaves and parallel fourths and
fifths. The piece is in ABA form. (Program
1974)

The notes begin adequately by giving the source and the

atmosphere. But through a misunderstanding of Western
musical terms, the information which follows is incorrect.
There are drones, microtones, "dissonant intervals"
created by various idiomatic techniques in the playing.
But there are no parallel fourths and fifths, and the
form, as we pointed out, is a variation-type, not ABA.
Numerous program notes have been written for the
popular piece "The Evening Song of the Fisherman." Since
most versions follow a similar sequence--peaceful, lyrical,
turbulent, and peaceful--the program notes usually read
"calm sea, happy sailing, storm, struggle against the
storm, safe returning sail", etc. Even so, discrepancies
may occur as the following four versions show:

It describes a happy fisherman afloating [sic]

in his little boat on his way home at dusk.
(Program 1975b)

... Depicts the returning home of a fisherman

after a hard-working day. (Program 1976)

It tells of a fisherman, who after a long

struggle with the storm, returns safely and
with fruitful harvest. This piece not only
has a conspicuous theme, it also reflects on
the perseverence, bravery and the optimistic
character of the fishermen in China. (Program
1977:18)

This classical-styled work is developed by Mr.

Lou Shu-hua from sections of an old piece
"Returning." Its title is derived from the
phrase "Evening song of the fishermen reaches
over the whole P'eng-li Lake" in the poem "King
T'eng's Pavilion" by Wan Po of the T'ang Dynasty.

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 It depicts the fishing boats sailing and the
fishermen's happy work in the dusk on the vast
blue lake water. Finally, it expresses the
atmosphere of returning sail and the evening
song. (Tsao 1963:50)

The last note is the most informative one by far. But

what strikes us is the ending phrase of the third note
mentioning bravery and optimism, an emotional touch
apparently added by the writer. If a famous piece like
"The Evening Song of the Fisherman" can have several
interpretations, it is not surprising to find many
different interpretations for lesser known pieces.

Socialist Program Notes

Despite the drastic change in terms of content in
the arts in modern-day mainland China, the fondness for
giving titles and program notes remains essentially
unchanged. In order to convey the new political ideology
and to achieve the so-called "socialist realism" so that
the masses can understand it immediately, program music is
consciously encouraged from the top level, something that
never happened before. New compositions usually center
on subjects related to socialism: the happy new life
versus the miserable old one, and praise of the working
class and new leaders. As with the old tradition, the
composer uses pictorial scenes and the writers usually
write all kinds of fancy literary connotations. The notes
for a sheng (mouth organ) piece entitled "Reconnaissance
on the Grassland" shows both the similarities and changes:

The first movement opens with an allegro

passage suggesting the galloping of horses
and embodying the melody of the revolutionary
marching song "Three Main Rules of Discipline
and Eight Points for Attention" to bring out
vividly the image of the reconnaissance troops...
The fourth has a quick tempo and varying rhythm
to represent the frontier patrol advancing,
singing lustily, through wind and snow. The
fifth uses strong overtones to produce stirring
sound effects stressing the revolutionary
aspirations of the soldiers and the magnificence
of our socialist motherland. (Chou, T. 1975:
107-8)

We cannot deny that the composer had these aspects in mind

when he wrote this work. The point to be stressed is that
this kind of elaborate, narrative description of a musical
composition is typical of the Chinese attitude. This can

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be applied to any work, old or new.

In the notes attached to the new piano version of

the cheng piece "Fighting the Typhoon," the same kind of
emotional interpretation is given as was noted earlier in
one of the notes for "The Evening Song of the Fisherman:"

However, the fierceness of the typhoon is

only a foil to the heroic characters whose
image is kept in the forefront. The passage
presenting the calm after the storm makes
full use of the pure timbre of piano music
to suggest the bright clear sky, sunshine
and white clouds, and this again serves to
bring out the joy of the workers after their
victory and their deep love for the Party
and Chairman Mao. (Lo 1975: 111-2)

Both program notes deal with a storm and the calm sea
afterwards. The parallelism is clear. But whereas one
praises the Chinese people, the other praises the party
and the chairman.

Even the re-interpretation of traditional composi-

tions (i.e. new notes for old pieces) in mainland China,
setting aside its ethical questions, falls into the same
pattern. The erh-hu piece entitled "The Second Spring
Mirroring the Moon" was performed and probably composed
by the blind musician Hua Yen-chun (1893-1950), also
known as Ah-pin. As a beggar musician, Hua had a miserable
life indeed. But the program notes, written about 1958,
suggest political overtones. After telling of the hard-
ships this famous folk musician endured prior to the
Revolution, the notes continue:

From its title, this composition seems to

depict the scene of moonlight reflecting
on the water of the world's second most
famous spring on Hui-chuan Mountain, Wusi
City. In reality, it is not based on a
depiction of scenery. Using the lonely
scenery of moonlight reflecting on the water,
the composer portrays his own miserable life.
(Hu and Ch'ang 1958?:21)

Such a life of a beggar musician no one can question. But

it is questionable that he would employ a poetic title
like "The Second Spring Mirroring the Moon" to portray
himself. The title seems to be none other than a traditional
poetic one for any given piece. He could have applied
titles such as "Song of Sorrow" or "Talking about a Sorry
Heart," which were used earlier for erh-hu pieces by

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Liu Tien-hua (1894-1932), had he wished to do so. Hua
Yen-chun died in 1950 at the age of 57, just one year
after the establishment of the People's Republic. It is
unlikely that he picked up all the ideological elements
of the new regime in such a short time and at that age.
Judging from the titles of other works transmitted or
composed by him, "Listening to the Rustling of Pine Trees,"
"Dragon Boat," "Chao Chun Departing from the Frontier,"
and "Song of the Chilly Spring Wind," it is reasonable to
assume that he did not mean to portray his life in "The
Second Spring Mirroring the Moon" as the writers suggested.
The program for the piece is just the fantasy of the Chinese
intellectuals transposed from an old key to a new one.
Some years later, in 1963, another writer wrote an
article on this folk musician's compositions. When this
same piece is discussed, he writes in a somewhat different
way:

"The Second Spring Mirroring the Moon" is

another aspect of Ah-pin's thought of
patriotism. He uses very lyrical musical
language to depict the beauty of our
motherland's scenery and to express his
devoted love for it... When Ah-pin depicts
the beauty of our motherland's great natural
wonder, he naturally merges the mutual life
experience he and the people shared -- life
is hard, but is hopeful. (Chou, C. 1963: 34)

This note, though still didactic, is in a milder tone.

Actually, in 1956, this piece was included in an erh-hu
method book, and the notes state clearly that this piece
is "a piece of music depicting the moonlight scene of the
world's second most famous spring at Hui-chuan Mountain,
Wusi City." (Yang and Ming 1956:50). We do not know if
the writers of the previous notes read this earlier note.
Even if they did, the new political orientation of the arts
would probably force them to write in the new manner.
These three different versions of program notes for the
same piece certainly are another good instance of the
confusion in writing program notes.

Some of the interpretations for the newly created

works do follow the content more closely since the works
were composed with a specific program or guideline in
mind, and the notes were usually written by the composers
themselves.

Thus, in spite of the change in content, the fondness

for programs in general and titles in particular continues
in Chinese music. Some of the new titles, such as "Horse

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Racing," "Aborada in the South," "Flying Kites," or
"Spring in the Date Garden," can be as poetic as any old
ones. In fact, we have discussed some of them earlier
in connection with general program note writing. Aside
from the extremely didactic examples, titles such as
"Strive for a Good Harvest," "New Song of the Herdsmen,"
or "Fishermen's Triumphant Song," do not strike us as
being overly political. Actually they reflect an
optimistic spirit which is not often found in traditional
titles. As in the old tradition, purely abstract titles
are rare.

CONCLUSION

In summary, many Chinese musicians and writers

simply like to interpret musical compositions from a
literary point of view. Again and again one comes across
words like "describing...," "reflecting...," "portraying...,"
even though the original intention of the composers may
or may not have been to do so. Due to the poetic nature
and anti-scientific attitude toward analysis, they just
explain a work according to its title and subtitles in
whatever manner they prefer as long as it sounds poetic
or narrative. There is no better example to reveal the
poetic and emotional nature of the Chinese people than in
the writing of program notes.

From ancient ch'in compositions to modern revolu-

tionary piano works, from poetic titles to socialist
names, from the habit of describing the meaning of a piece
to the insistence of interpreting its class nature, it is
clear that the Chinese attitude toward program music is a
traditional one which has come a long way. While the
desire to know the meaning of a given piece and the
practice of writing program notes are not exclusively
Chinese, the emphasis on the former and the love of the
literary connotation of the latter are certainly unique
to Chinese culture. The love of titles, generally poetic
or at least meaningful in the literary sense, has little
parallel.

As mentioned in the beginning, there is a strong

traditional attitude favouring references to concrete
objects in general and the use of descriptive titles in
particular. This tradition is deeply rooted in Chinese
minds. It is also important to remember that music has a
utilitarian function in Chinese society, ancient or modern.
Therefore, the titles and their interpretation, are
regarded as crucial to most people. People are more con-
cerned with the "correct" understanding of the musical
content or message. Sound-for-sound's sake may not serve
their purposes.
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 Footnotes

i. This was stated in an informal talk given at North-

western University School of Music in the late
1960's.

2. The information concerning this last example was

given to the author by the ch'in and cheng master
Tong Kin-woon of Hong Kong.

References Cited

Chinese authors' names are listed in their proper order -

family name before given name; Chinese titles of articles
and books have been translated.

Apel, Willi
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Belknap Press of the Harvard University
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Ch'a Fu-hsi
1954 Random Talks about Ku-ch'in, Renmin
Yinyueh, October: 35-41.
Chou Ch'an
1963 Discussion on the Compositions of Hua
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Chou Tsung-han
1975 Some Popular Chinese Wind-Instruments,
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Chung-kuo Yin-yueh-chia Hsieh-huei Shang-hai Fen-huei, ed.

1964 Ten Erh-hu Compositions. Shanghai: Shanghai
Wen-hua Ch'u-pan-she.
Gulik, Robert H. van
1940 The Lore of the Chinese Lute; An Essay in
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University.

Hang, Thaddaus
1966 The Study of the Chinese National Character.
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Hu Yen-chung and Ch'ang Wei-hsiao

1958? Folk Music and Theatre. Peking: Yin-yueh
Ch'u-pan-she.

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Hu Yung-kuang, ed.
1974 Selections of Ti-tzu Solo Music. Hong
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Huang Teh-jui
1975 Exclusive Anthology of Ku-cheng. Pan-
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HsU Chien
1956 The Wild Geese Descending on a Sandbank,
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Liang Tsai-ping
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Lin Fei-hsiung and Cho Jun-hua

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Liu I-chih
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Lo Chiang
1975 New Piano Music, Chinese Literature,
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Program
1974 Lui Pui-yuen: A Concert of Chinese Classical
Music. Center for World Music, Berkeley,
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1975a The Chinese Music Ensemble of New York:
Concert. Town Hall, New York City.
February 23.

1975b Ton Kin-woon: Ku-cheng Recital. City Hall,

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February 19.

Tsao Cheng
1963 Playing Method of Ku-cheng. Rev. ed. Peking,
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Wang Tieh, ed.
1974 Collection of Ti-tzu Solo Music. Hong
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Weiger, Leon
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Yang Ch'i-cheng and Ming Chi-t'eng

1956 Erh-hu Method. Peking, Yin-yueh Ch'u-pan-she.

Yang Yin-liu
1954 Talking from the Title of Flowers and
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Yang Yin-liu and Tsao An-ho

1956 The Ancient P'i-p'a Composition Pipes and
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