Nancy Yunhwa Rao

Music of Japan Today III: Tradition and Innovation


Abstract:
Crystallization of East and West (*Poeme Lyrique II* of Chen Qigang)
Through the study of *Poeme Lyrique II* (1991) by Chen Qigang this paper hopes to revisit the issue of the merging of East and West at the juncture of the last decade of the twentieth century. Chen is a Chinese composer who, after studying with Messiaen from 1986-89, has made his residence in France. In this song for baritone and nine instruments, he integrates the essence of reciting style in Chinese opera in a chamber work with unusual success. His use of phonetics, pitch inflections, and lyrical lines unique to Chinese opera, and the sensitive timbre, and spatial distribution of sound in his orchestration exhibits no compromise to either aesthetic. It also captures and renews the spiritual concept as well as the humor of the renowned Song-dynasty poem written by Su Shi (1037-1101).

This paper will examine the ways in which various layers of narratives are interwoven in this song. It will begin with the narrative as (1) a means of rhetoric in the Chinese literary tradition, (2) an abstract notion of art from Chinese aesthetics, and (3) a style of reciting and singing in the tradition of Chinese opera. In addition, it will also discuss the narratives derived from the musical contour, texture, density of musical surface, and, finally, from the pitch structure. The author hopes to illustrate from the different facets a perfect crystallization of West and East in *Poeme Lyrique II.*

Nancy Yunhwa Rao

is a native of Taiwan, Republic of China. She received a Ph.D. in music theory from the University of Michigan, and has been a faculty member in the Department of Music at Rutgers University since 1995.

Professor Rao's research interests include analytical models of selected post-tonal compositions (Elliott Carter, Milton Babbitt, Arnold Schoenberg, and Ruth Crawford Seeger), Chinese American music culture, contemporary Chinese composers, and American women composers of the first half of the twentieth century.

Lecture: