Liu Tianhua

Liu Tianhua

Liu Tianhua (February 4, 1895 June 8, 1932), formerly known as Liu Shouchun, was born in xiheng street, Chengjiang Town, Jiangyin City, Jiangsu Province. He was a modern Chinese composer, performer and music educator.

The son of Liu Baoshan, a scholar in the late Qing Dynasty, is a brother to Liu Bannong, a poet, and Liu beimao, a musician. Since childhood, he has been influenced by the rich folk music of his hometown. After the outbreak of the 1911 Revolution, he returned to Jiangyin to join the "Jiangyin anti Manchu Youth League" and take charge of the bugle.

In 1912, he went to Shanghai with his brother Liu Bannong to work in Kaiming opera company. In his spare time, he joined the international music team, studied piano and violin, and began to contact with western composition theory.

He once taught at Peking University Music Research Association. He died of scarlet fever in Beijing in 1932 at the age of 37. His representative works include Guangming Xing, liangxiao, bird talk in the empty mountain, song and dance guide, flying flower Diancui, etc.

Personal life

1895: born on February 4 in an intellectual family in Jiangyin City, Jiangsu Province.

1909-1911 (14-16 years old): when studying in Changzhou middle school, he joined the military band in the school, learned to play bugle and flute, and began to contact with Western brass music.

1911: in the revolution of 1911, after the closure of the school, he returned to his hometown Jiangyin to participate in the "anti Manchurian Youth League" military band and play the bugle. From this point on, music works.

1912-1914 (17-19 years old): went to Shanghai to join the Kaiming Opera Club in Western Shanghai and worked as a band. During this period, he studied all kinds of Western musical instruments, such as orchestral instruments and pianos, especially brass instruments, and had some contact with western composition theory.

1914: Kaiming Opera Society dissolved and returned to Huacheng primary school. He began his music teaching career. 1915 (20 years old): in the spring of 1915, he lost his father, recovered from poverty, became ill and lost his job. He was in a bad mood. I went to the market to buy a erhu and played it every day. With the first draft of the melody "singing in sickness", he expressed his failure and ambition at that time. In autumn, he taught at Changzhou alma mater and established a military music team and a silk and bamboo ensemble for his alma mater, often performing in the folk.

1916 (21): married Ms. Yin Shangzhen. He was employed as a music teacher in No.5 Middle School of Jiangsu Province, and organized two bands in the school, namely, the silk and bamboo Department and the military music department.

1917 (22): studied erhu and Pipa from Zhou shaomei, a folk musician in Jiangnan.

1918 (23 years old): Xia studied the performance of Chongming Pipa from Mr. Shen Zhaozhou. He began to write songs such as "singing in sickness", "moonlit night" and "empty mountain birds".

1920 (25 years old): Xia went to Henan to study Guqin. Along the way, he also visited folk artists and collected folk music. If you are infected with ringworm and scabies, you will be responsible for the disease. So far, Liu Tianhua deeply realized the exquisite and elegant side of traditional Chinese music. During this period, he also further studied all kinds of traditional folk music. He often explored folk music and Buddhist music with his good friend monk Che Chen, who is familiar with music.

1921 (26 years old): joined the band "Kaiming Opera Society" in Shanghai, organized the summer "National Music Research Association" in Jiangyin, and taught songs such as "singing in illness", "moonlit night" and "empty mountain birds".

In 1922 (27 years old): he went to Beijing, where he was the national music tutor of Peking University music transmission institute, Professor of erhu, Pipa and violin of Beijing Women's normal university and Music Department of National Academy of Arts. He met musicians Xiao Youmei and Yang zhongzi. Cao Bochao, Wu Quanyi and his students.

1923 (28 years old): he studied violin from tonov, and at the same time, he studied western music theory, and got good achievements. His study of violin gave him great inspiration for the improvement of huqin, and he further studied the western composing methods, especially the western music and acoustics.

1924 (age 29): the moon night was finalized.

1926 (31 years old): in addition to Peking University and female teachers, he also taught in art college. He wrote the eulogy of depression. Study Kunqu Opera. He organized an organization to study Kunqu Opera at home, studied with students from Peking University and women's Normal University, studied Sanxian opera, and studied and appreciated Peking Opera from time to time, all of which were of great help to his composition in the future.

1927 (32): studied theoretical composition from a foreign professor in the Music Department of Beijing Yanjing University. Because tonov went to Tianjin, he changed to study from rob. In June, rob left Beijing and stopped. He founded the national music improvement society and published music magazine (10 issues in total). He created songs and dances, improved exercises and elegy.

In 1928 (33 years old): creation of "big night singing" (liangxiao) "leisure chant", published "empty mountain birds" final draft.

1929 (34 years old): created xulai.

1930 (35 years old): in March, he continued to study from tonov until he fell ill. Dictation "Mei Lanfang Song Score" a volume.

1931 (36 years old): in Gaoting company, he recorded erhu songs "singing in sickness" and "birds in empty mountain", Pipa songs "singing and dancing" and "flying flowers in green".

1932 (37 years old): Solo and candle shadow. On June 1, he went to Tianqiao to collect gongs and drums. He contracted scarlet fever and died at 5:20 a.m. on June 8. He was 37 years old.

Achievements and contributions

compose music

Liu Tianhua's music creation achievements are mainly in the aspect of national instrumental music, with a total of ten erhu Songs: singing in illness, moonlight, eulogy of depression, elegy, bird talk in the empty mountain, singing at leisure, liangxiao, Guangming Xing, solo dance, candle shadow and red swaying, and three pipa Songs: singing and dancing guide, improving dance and xulai. He composed 47 erhu etudes, 15 Pipa Etudes and 12 traditional Pipa pieces of Chongming school. His adaptation of Feihua Diancui was recorded by Gaoting record company in 1928 and has become a classic Pipa piece.

In 1918, he finished the first draft of Erhu opera "singing in sickness" in poverty and illness, which expressed his dissatisfaction with the society and his anger that life had no way out. Later, his erhu songs, such as "the eulogy of depression" (1926), "Elegy" (1927), "idle life chant" (1928) and "single string dance" (also known as "worry song", 1932), with euphemistic and moving melody, or depressed or indignant, show the intellectuals' depression and hesitation in the dark society, and their desire for change, struggle and struggle. Erhu music "liangxiao" (also known as "big night singing", 1928), "Guangming Xing" (1931) and Pipa music "Jianjian Cao" (1927), the music is fresh, bright and optimistic, expressing the author's joy of looking forward to a better future. Guangming Xing uses the string and arpeggio technique of the third harmonic in western music to carry out and transfer the melody; Jianjian Cao absorbs the melody characteristics of Guqin shangchuo, note technique and third harmonic, which shows the achievements of the improvement of national music. In addition, erhu song "empty mountain birds" (1918-1928) draws on the folk single string drama to simulate the natural sound, and the music is lively. "Candle shadow red" is a beautiful and lyrical erhu song written by using the structural principle of three beat and variation. Liu Tianhua mastered the creation rules of national instrumental music, and boldly absorbed the techniques of western music, so that his works not only have the traditional Chinese tone, but also have novel and unique performance characteristics, and still maintain a strong artistic vitality. When Liu Tianhua passed away, someone used the first word of the title of the top ten erhu songs to form an elegiac couplet which is easy to remember and has artistic conception: "the good moon is suffering from illness alone, the candle is sad and idle".

Improved Erhu

On the improvement of musical instruments, he reformed erhu and Pipa which he was good at. He changed and customized the materials and technology of Erhu production in order to achieve good timbre and volume, adjusted the pitch of the two strings of erhu, and added the handle of Erhu to improve its performance. He also made new Pipa according to the twelve average law, and increased the items of pipa, so that the pipa could have accurate pitch and play the chromatic scale. He also cooperated with the musical instrument manufacturers to develop these musical instruments, so as to achieve the effect of promotion. He also ran a music shop in Beijing, called Zhonghua music club, which sold musical instruments and scores. Unfortunately, later on, he started a music business Failed to set up a musical instrument factory as planned.

Improved notation

Liu Tianhua attached great importance to the improvement of notation. He thought that the underdevelopment of notation made the ancient Chinese music unable to be handed down completely, which indirectly led to the decline of Chinese music. He first vigorously promoted the use of staff in Chinese music. For example, in 1930, he spent several months dictating and recording scores for Mei Lanfang, a famous Peking Opera performer who was going to perform in the United States. In addition, because the old gongchi notation was still used by the Chinese at that time, he integrated some notation methods in the staff, such as rhythm, fingering, strength and so on, into the gongchi notation, forming a set of relatively perfect and popular notation methods. In this way, he sorted out the ancient Chinese music and folk music, such as the new score of Yingzhou ancient tunes, the score of Buddha tunes, and the score of Anxi County whistle tunes.

Improving national music

In the early years of the Republic of China, Liu Tianhua saw the development of Chinese music in danger, because he advocated the improvement of national music. He opposed to completely replacing Chinese music with western music. He thought that although western music was perfect and mature, it could not be used in Chinese consciousness and character. At the same time, he believes that as a Chinese musician, he should not only keep his own tradition, but also carry forward the benefits of Chinese music to the world.

Chinese PinYin : Liu Tian Hua