THE DYNAMICS OF CHORAL CULTURE DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA IN THE 1930S ON THE EXAMPLE OF HUANG TZI’S ORATORIO ETERNAL REGRET

Abstract

Choral music in China is a dynamically developing form of contemporary musical art. Scientific works devoted to the Chinese choral culture consider the 1930s of the 20th century as the most productive period in the development of this branch of musical creativity. The article examines the phase of the active entry of Chinese choral music into the sphere of the oratorio genre, which is directly related to the name of the great Chinese composer — Huang Tzi. It also highlights the issues of the country’s political life in the 1930s, which actively influenced the creation of nationwide singing movements and new choral works in the country. The oratorio genre, the genesis of which refers us to the European religious musical tradition of the 17th century, spread in China owing to the massive flow of Chinese intelligentsia to the territory of Western states throughout the entire beginning of the 20th century. In the article, the actualisation of the oratorio and its interpretation in a new light is presented as the merit of Huang Tzi, whose civic position was directly related to the desire to preserve ethnic origins in Chinese music and to complement them with Western composing techniques organically. Having proved himself not only as a composer but also as a theorist and teacher, Huang Tzi devoted most of his life to educating a large number of music professors, initiating a progressive approach to music education. His desire to raise the level of the composing school in China made it possible to enrich the repertoire of vocal and instrumental music with characteristics of the folk style. The oratorio Eternal Regret presented in the article is a unique creation that organically combines ethnic music and Western composition techniques. In the story of Emperor Xuanzong and Yang Guifei (to the poems of Tang poet Bai Juyi), taken by the composer as the theme for the libretto, there is certain symbolism that has the conceptual plan of addressing the power to demonstrate the alleged results of Kuomintang’s unclear policy. Thus, directly related to political cataclysms and their final embodiment in the form of the Sino-Japanese war (1937-1945), the oratorio Eternal Regret is presented in the article as a consolidating core that inspired the civilian masses to fight the Japanese invaders. The analysis of Bai Juyi’s original poem “Eternal Regret” and a fragmentary historical-stylistic and vocal-choral analysis of the oratorio have been carried out. The artistic features of individual parts of the oratorio, seven of which were completed by the composer, are revealed. Based on literary sources and theoretical research presented in the article, the author asserts the special role of the oratorio Eternal Regret in history and its far-reaching influence on the prospects for the development of the Chinese choir.