Wei Zhongle

Wei Zhongle

Wei Zhongle was fond of folk music when he was young, and taught himself flute, Xiao, erhu and other musical instruments. Under the guidance of Zheng Jinwen, Liu yaozhang and Wang Yuting, he studied guqin, zither, Pipa and violin. Wei Zhongle devoted all his life to the cause of national instrumental music. He was proficient in many musical instruments, such as flute, Xiao, erhu, pipa, guqin, etc. among them, he was especially good at pipa. He dealt with the traditional music, emphasizing the connotation of the music, full of originality and paying attention to the charm.

Personal introduction

Wei Zhongle is an outstanding national instrument performer, educator and "versatile" in national instrumental art, known as "king of Pipa". Wei Zhongle was fond of literature and art when he was young. He taught himself how to play flute and often took part in folk performance of Jiangnan Silk and bamboo. Later, he participated in the National Music Association "Datong music club" and successively learned Guqin from ZHENG Jin and Pipa from Liu yaozhang. He was also taught by Pipa player Wang Yuting. In 1933, he participated in the "Chinese program concert performed by the band of Ministry of industry and bureau" and was praised by all parties for his Pipa solo "Huaiyin Pingchu" (buried on ten sides). In 1935, he participated in the Chinese Music Research Association composed of Shen Zhibai and Zhang Mei. In 1938, he performed in the United States with the Chinese Cultural Troupe, and made many kinds of solo music records. It is very popular in the United States and has a high reputation. In 1940, he returned to Shanghai to establish "Chinese Orchestra" and "Zhongle music hall" with Jin Zuli and Xu Guangyi, and devoted himself to the cause of national instrumental music. Since 1941, he has been employed as a radio player of Shanghai British radio for democracy and voice of the Soviet Union. Since the 1930s, he has taught in Shanghai Academy of fine arts and Hujiang University. In 1954, he visited India, Myanmar and Indonesia with a Chinese cultural delegation. Since 1955, he has been a professor of Shanghai Conservatory of music, deputy director and director of the Department of folk music. He has been vice chairman of Shanghai Branch of China Musicians Association since 1962. Wei Zhongle devoted all his life to the cause of national instrumental music.

Personal experience

survey

Mr. Wei Zhongle is a famous national musician and music educator in China, known as the king of pipa. He is not only good at playing pipa, guhu, erhu, Xiao and flute, but also has a high level of playing violin. After listening to Mr. Wei's violin performance, a famous foreign musician was very surprised. He decided that Mr. Wei could become a first-class violinist and advised him to further study. At that time, Mr. Wei had already devoted himself to folk music. In his whole life, no matter how bad the environment is or how hard his life is, he has never left the position of folk music. He always adheres to the teachings of Mr. Zheng Jinwen and is really in the "Wei Zhong music". It is precisely because of Mr. Wei Zhongle's great contribution to folk music that people often remember him.

family background

Mr. Wei Zhongle was born on February 21 of the lunar calendar in 1909 in a dock worker family in Shanghai. His father's surname is Yin. Mr. Wei has nine brothers and sisters. He is the youngest, unable to support because of his poor family. He was sold in his infancy to a widow surnamed Yiwei as an adopted son, and his name is bingtao, also known as Chongfu. The name "Zhongle" was changed by Mr. Zheng Jinwen. The Wei family lived on little savings, so Wei Zhongle was sent to be an apprentice before he graduated from high school. When he was very young, Mr. Wei loved music and taught himself flute and flute. Of course, it can't be supported by the adoptive mother. Mr. Wei often practices in the kitchen without light at night. Therefore, I hope to get the guidance of famous teachers.

Datong music club

In 1920, the Datong music club, a folk Amateur National Music Group founded by Zheng Jinwen and others in Shanghai, hired many famous musicians to teach, study, organize, adapt and perform Chinese folk music. It also imitated ancient musical instruments to make new ones. It became famous for a time and was praised as "National Music University" by later generations. Wei Chongfu admired Datong music club very much, and wanted to join the club to worship teachers. However, because no one recommended him and no money to pay tuition fees, he lingered in front of the club for half a year. In 1928, he summoned up the courage to step into the gate of the guild hall and asked Zheng Jinwen to join the club. Zheng felt that this young man with a strong thirst for knowledge could be cultivated and readily agreed that he would join the club free of charge. Under the guidance of Zheng Jinwen, Liu yaozhang, Wang Yuting and other famous teachers, he studied guqin, zither, pipa, Violin and so on, and continued to teach himself flute, Xiao, erhu, Sanxian, Yueqin and so on. His wide range of interests, hard work and rapid progress are second to none among all the students, which is highly appreciated by Zheng Jinwen. Zheng also renamed it Wei Zhongle. In 1929, Datong Music Association initiated the establishment of Shanghai National Music Association. Ten groups, including Datong Music Association, Wang's Pipa Research Association, Xiaoxiao Orchestra, Hanjiang silk and bamboo Association, qinlvzhai, Jingwu Sports Association, Chinese Music Association, Youxue society, Chinese Orchestra and national music group of Jiande savings association, participated in the first music association. It is hoped that each member group will transfer key members to form a 40 member band. At that time, he planned to play multi part music and asked the team members to play according to the score. This matter to the understanding and support of various groups, the Shanghai National Music Federation abortion, the size of 40 large band also did not form. In the autumn of 1929, the Datong Music Association independently recruited members from the society to form a big band. Mr. Wei Zhongle took this opportunity to join the Datong music club. At that time, there were more than 40 members of the Datong music club. When Mr. Zhong Le first joined the Datong music club, he did not attract much attention from Mr. Zheng Jinwen. On the contrary, Wu Jianlan and Xu Ruhui participated in the Datong Music Festival, and Zheng Jinwen was very satisfied with the talent. However, Mr. Wei's talent and diligence were soon appreciated by Zheng Jinwen. Zheng Jinwen once spent a year teaching Qiu Hong, one of the five major operas of Wei's piano music, hoping to win the honor of Datong music club at the piano art exchange meeting held in Hangzhou through Wei, a novice. In 1931, Zheng Jinwen invented "seven line notation" according to the fact that folk music pays attention to the first tune and the title. Zheng Jinwen translated Pipa score and Guqin score for Liu yaozhang and Wei Zhongle to practice. This also shows that Zheng Jinwen attaches great importance to Wei Zhongle. With the help of Zheng Jinwen, Mr. Wei Zhongle came to the fore. Under the leadership of Zheng Jinwen, Wei Zhongle often performed instrumental solos and ensembles at the then World College (later renamed World Society) in Kaisen Road, French concession, introducing China's ancient music culture, which was welcomed by Chinese and foreign audiences. Frequent artistic practice made his performance more mature and his skills more outstanding. Therefore, Zheng Jinwen recommended Wei Zhongle to be the deputy director of music affairs of Datong music club. He led the general performance, and from 1932 to 1934, he recommended to take part-time courses in Shanghai women's Academy of fine arts and Shanghai Academy of fine arts. After that, he went to Jiaotong, Fudan, Tongji, Sinian and other universities to tutor students' Amateur National Music associations, and did a lot of useful work for popularizing national music.

National Music

In 1931, the Chinese government decided to participate in the world exposition held in Gago in the summer of 1933. The "September 18 Incident" in 1931 and the "January 28 Incident" in 1932 caused China to be invaded by Japanese imperialism. In the face of national crisis, the Chinese government cancelled the decision to participate in the World Expo. But it's a matter of business, so the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce decided to raise money for the competition. At that time, it was decided that 163 pieces of antique musical instruments made by Datong club would be photographed and the sound films of big bands would be produced by star film company. At 8:00 p.m. on April 9, 1933, the documentary began shooting at star pictures. At that time, Zheng Jinwen was suffering from eczema and only played Guqin. However, Wei Zhongle was asked to play the Pipa solo "ambush on all sides", and the pipa was led by a small band composed of nine people to play "the night of flowers and moons on the Spring River". Finally, 31 people (only 32 people on that day, Zheng Jinwen only took part in the big band when taking photos) played the grand ensemble "national music".

spring into fame

In 1933, the grand opening ceremony of Shanghai Da Guang Ming cinema was held. At the ceremony, Wei Zhongle, in his prime of life, played the lute "ambush on all sides". The magnificent and dramatic music was amazing. After that, he became famous both on and off the stage. In the same year, Wei Zhongle held the first solo concert of individual national musical instruments in the modern history of China in the world society, which was a success. At the concert, pipa, guqin, erhu, Dongxiao and other musical instruments were played, and the repertoire included "ambush on all sides", "flying flowers and green", "snow in spring", "moonlit night on Spring River", "zuiyu singing evening", "three lanes of plum blossom", "Yangguan Sandie", "Guanshan moon" and so on. The recital marks a new stage of Wei Zhongle's performing art. After that, he went to Changsha, Wuhan and other places to hold recitals, which opened the audience's eyes.

Social position

From 1934 to 1935, Wei Zhongle worked as a teacher in the world society library. He joined the national band of EMI company, met Nie Er, and recorded Pipa songs such as saishangqu, yangchunbaixue, guqin songs such as zuiyu changwan and yangguansandie. In 1935, he participated in the music competition composed of Levis (Arab), avsharomov (Russia), Shen Zhibai and Zhang Mei Chinese music society. When Zheng Jinwen died in 1935, Wei Zhongle took over the post of music director and took charge of the leadership of Datong music club. From 1936 to 1937, he was employed as a performer in the music group of Nanjing central radio station, regularly playing traditional music, and often introducing Liu Tianhua's erhu and pipa. In 1938, Wei Zhongle, Xu Guangyi and others held two concerts at the invitation of the Hong Kong Women's Relief Association for the wounded, all of which were donated to the Chinese refugees who suffered from the Japanese aggressors. In the same year, they also participated in the "Chinese Cultural Troupe" of the American medical aid flower organization of the International Red Cross to perform in the United States to raise funds and medicines

Chinese PinYin : Wei Zhong Le