Musical Settings (XIV): Art Songs and Patriotism

The revolutionary movement led by Sun Yat-Sen overthrew the Qing dynasty in 1911, ending thousands of years of monarchical sovereignty. Unfortunately, the fragile organization of the movement led to decades of civil war among the warlords and political parties. Meanwhile, in the northeastern region, the threat from the Japanese Imperialism intensified.

On September 18, 1931, a staged explosion near a section of South Manchurian Railway, controlled by Japanese military, became the excuse for Japanese to invade and occupy Manchuria. Known as Mukden or 9-1-8 (jiu-yi-ba) Incident, this event also marked the beginning of a fourteen-year military conflicts between China and Japan.^[1] During this period, political differences aside, the entire nation was united with the common goal of defeating the Japanese invasion.

Musicians reacted to the Incident swiftly. Less than two months after the 9-1-8 Incident, a performance of 《抗日歌》 (“Kàngrì ge,” Song of Resisting Japanese) by students at the National Conservatory of Music was broadcast on the radio in Shanghai. Later renamed as《抗敵歌》 (“Kàngdí ge,” Song of Resisting the Enemy), this choral work was a joint effort of Huang Zi 黃自and lyricist Wei Han Zhang 韋瀚章.^[2] They followed up with another four-part choral work 《旗正飄飄》 (“Qi zheng piāo piāo,” The Flags Are Billowing) in 1932, published in January of 1933.^[3] These two earliest anti-Japanese patriotic works recalled the style and nature of school songs.

In 1934, Lo Jialun 羅家倫, Principal of Qinghua University and lyricist of many patriotic songs, met Lee Weining 李惟寧 in Nanjing and asked Lee to set his new work《玉門出塞》 (“Yumen chusai,” Beyond the Yumen Fortress) to music.^[4] Yumen was one of the important passes on the Silk Road and a strategic military location in northwestern China. By describing the scenery of the region, the lyricist intended to manifest the vastness of the country at its strongest point; and by reminiscing the heroic actions of historical figures, he wished to inspire his fellow countrymen to fight for the future of the nation. First presented as a four-part, mixed voice choral work, Yumen chusai was often performed as a solo song. It was included in Lee’s 1937 collection of patriotic songs and remained popular in later years.

The ambition of the Imperial Japan was to colonize Manchuria and to use the region as a launching point for further invasion into inland China. To legitimize their efforts, they established a puppet state, Manchukuo 滿州國 in 1932 and named Puyi 溥儀 as the emperor in 1934.^[5] Systematically, large numbers of Japanese people resettled in the area while locals fled the oppression of the invaders. As the number of displaced civilians increased, nostalgia mixed with profound affliction became a frequent theme in popular culture.

Witnessing the suffering of displaced people in Xi’an, Zhang Hanhui 張寒暉, a high school teacher, wrote 《松花江上》 (“Songhua jiang shang,” By the Songhua River) in 1936. First sung by students of the Second Middle School of Shaanxi Province, this song spread among the general popular quickly.^[6]

On July 7 of 1937, after conflicts between the Chinese National Revolutionary Army and the Imperial Japanese Army near Marco Polo Bridge outside of Beijing, full-scale war broke out. The resentment against Japanese invasion reached new heights. On August 13, the IJA began its attack on Shanghai. For three months, the NRA engaged in intensive fighting with the IJA.^[7]

In the besieged city, faculty members and students of the National Conservatory of Music, including Huang Zi 黃自, Lee Weining 李惟寧, He Luting 賀綠汀, Cheng Tianhe 陳田鶴, Liu Xue’an 劉雪庵, Jiang Dingxian 江定仙, Liao Fushu 廖輔叔, Wu Hao 吳昊, Tan Xiaolin 譚小麟, formed the Chinese Composers Association 中國作曲者協會, promoting anti-Japanese musical activities and compositions.

Numerous patriotic songs by members of the Association were brought to light in 1937. Prior to the Marco Polo Bridge incident, as the military tensions between China and Japan built up, Lee Weining published his collections of patriotic-military songs in April. Cheng Tianhe, who was working at the Theater of Shandong Province in Jinan, returned to Shanghai in support of his colleagues’ anti-Japanese efforts. He created a suite of eight war songs. 《8-1-3 戰歌》 (Ba-yi-san zhange, 8-1-3 War Song),^[8] the namesake of the collection, as well as 《巷戰》 (“Xiang zhang ,” Urban Fighting) were among the most popular war-time songs. The former first appeared on October 1 in the first issue of《戰歌》 (Zhange,War Songs), Liu Xue’an’s self-funded weekly.

On November 12, 1937, Shanghai fell into the hands of IJA, Liu Xue’an and many of his comrades wished to move their operation to Wuhan. The ongoing warfare forced them to make detours. During the first leg of the journey, on the Suiyan steamer (綏陽號) to Hongkong, Liu met Jiang Ling 江陵, an author and activist. While discussing Songhua jiang shang, which had reached every corner of China, they both felt that, even though it was a good work with excellent lyrics and music, it was too bleak emotionally. Liu suggested to follow up with two new songs to form a suit, using the second song as a bridge to turn the sadness into impetus to defeating Japanese.^[9]

They began their work on the steamer. Jiang provided the lyrics, and Liu composed the music for a new song 《流亡曲》 (“Liuwang qu,” Song of Exile) aka 《離家》 (“Lijia,” Leaving Home). After arriving in Wuhan, they completed the last song 《復仇曲》 (“Fuchou qu,” Song of Revanche) aka 《上前線》 (“Shang qianxian,” Going to the Battlefront). The three songs, became known as 《流亡三部曲》 (“Liuwang sanbuqu,” Three Songs of Exile), were widely performed during wartime and published in Zhange.^[10]

Prior to 8-1-3 Incident, Liu composed 《長城謠》 (“Chang‘cheng yáo,” Ballad of the Great Wall) for the movie 《關山萬里》 (“Guan shan wanli,” Ten Thousand Li of Passes and Mountains).^[11] Although the film was never finished, Liu released the song in Zhange. Soprano Zhou Xiaoyan 周小燕 led the chorus in a performance in Wuhan. In the following year, on her way to study in France, she recorded the song in Singapore for Pathé Record^[12] and popularized the song among the Chinese diasporas. Funds and donations supporting war efforts began pouring in from these communities.

Liu Xue’an should also be credited for the circulation of 《滿江紅—怒髮衝冠》 (“Man jiang hong—Nu fa chong guan,” Hair Pushing Up Against the Hat in Furor), with lyrics attributed to Yue Fei 岳飛 a general-in-exile of the Song Dynasty.^[13] Among the memorable poems set to the cipai 詞牌 (tune pattern)^[14] Man jiang hong 滿江紅, was 《金陵懷古》 (“Jinling huai‘gu,” Nostalgia of Jinling) by Sa Dulà 薩都剌, a poet of the Yuan Dynasty. A musical setting of this poem by Li Jinghui 黎錦暉, a popular song writer, first appeared in Yin yue za zhi 《音樂雜誌》 (Music Magazine, Peking University) in December of 1920. During the anti-Japanese student movement in the mid-1930s, Yang Yingliu 楊蔭瀏 adapted Li’s melody to “Nu fa chong guan 《怒髮衝冠》.” Liu Xue’an further edited the work to enhance the heroic spirit of the text.

As the nation endured the prolonged military conflicts, patriotic music continued to inspire the general public and warriors alike throughout the war years. To galvanize the masses, most vocal works from this period were written for chorus. Some were frequently performed as solo songs in later periods. Selected works among this group will be examined in the following posts.

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^[1] Mukden_incident_Wiki
^[2] 抗敵歌_Wiki_zh-tw
^[3] 旗正飄飄_Wiki_zh-tw
^[4] 羅家倫創作《玉門出塞》_鳳凰網
^[5] Manchukuo_Wiki
^[6] Along_the_Songhua_River_Wiki/en; 松花江上_Wiki/zh-tw
^[7] Battle_of_Shanghai_Wiki
^[8] 陳田鶴創作《8-1-3 戰歌》_抗日戰爭紀念網
^[9] 劉雪庵與流亡三部曲_www.cpcnews.cn
^[10] 流亡三部曲_baike.baidu.com
^[11] 長城謠_Wiki/zh-tw
^[12] Pathé Record (China), known as Pathé Orient in the early 1900s, was taken under Columbia Record and British EMI in the 1930s.
^[13] https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hant/滿江紅_(怒髮衝冠)_Wikisource/zh
^[14] Chinese Poetry (ix) Ci Lyric Verses/