Three years—the traditional mourning period for one’s parents—have gone by since mom’s passing. Although, like anyone who tries to keep up with the fast-paced modern life, I did not put everything on hold, I never stopped thinking of her.
I was able to travel back to Taiwan for her memorial service and returned right before the COVID shutdown. Robert and I were both glad that mom never had to face the unfortunate situations and inconveniences of the pandemic.
Mom wore a jade bracelet on her arm for decades. She always said that, though not particularly beautiful with its sage color and some brownish “stains,” it brought her positive energy and protections. Now, the bracelet stays on my left arm. I would only take it off when playing some quick and heavy pieces. This way, mom is always by my side.
As I go about life and work, whenever something unusual happens, I hear mom’s voice commenting on it. Mom always had something to say about everything.
When I get frustrated with work, I think of her unyielding supports to my studies and my professional choices. Mom was a typical tiger parent. It took me years to realize that she only wanted to give me everything that she didn’t have as a child. I hope that my continuous efforts in trying to make some small contributions to the world around me will bring her comfort.
In the 1920s, Qing Zhu’s contemporaries, namely Xiao Youmei 蕭友梅 and Zhao Yuanren 趙元任, began using modern poetry in their art songs. Qing Zhu himself also contributed to poetic writing with his collection Shi qin xiang le 詩琴響了, published in 1931.[1] Nonetheless, for his own musical compositions, he seemed favored traditional poetry.
His setting of “Wo zhu Chang Jiang tou 我住長江頭” (I live near the headwaters of the Long River) appeared in the second issue of Yue yi in July of 1930. The lyric, written by Li Zhiyi 李之儀, was another ci of the Northern Song Dynasty. Unlike “The Great River Flows Eastwards,” sophisticated and rooted in historical anecdotes, Li’s poem was folklike yet personal, in which the protagonist, separated from her love, expressed her nostalgic thoughts and professed her faith. [2]
Qing Zhu’s musical treatment fully reflected the characters of the poem.
—The river
The “Long River 長江” in the poem is more commonly known as Yangtze River 揚子江 to Westerners.[3] It is the same river that inspired Su Shi 蘇軾 to write his Niannujiao 念奴嬌.
For thousands of years, the Long River irritated farmlands, provided transportation, and, most importantly, connected Chinese souls. Less temperamental than its northern counterpart, the Yellow River, it was beloved by Chinese people—commoners and elites alike, and, therefore, had been a frequent subject in literary works.
In the poem, the length of the river, indicated by its name, caused the separation of the lovers. At the same time, its water connected them and nurtured their love.
The word jun 君 is a polite form of second-person singular male pronoun. Among couples, it carries a sense of respect and, at the same time, endearment. Hence, the poem was written from a female point of view.
Should the musical setting be sung only by female voices? For the following reasons, the answer should be no:
•The lyrics were written by a male poet, emulating a feminine voice. •The subjects “love” and “faith” are universal and gender-neutral. •A male singer can present the piece either as a third-person narrator, as a second person receiving the message of love, or in first person unburdened by the gender specification.
—The setting
The vocal lines of Qing Zhu’s setting are tuneful yet simple. The steady and unaltered rhythm seems to represent the stoic and faithfulness of the protagonist. The continuous arpeggiations in the piano part, like a Greek chorus, bring forward the perpetuity of flowing river and the longing. A subtle countermelody, mostly in the tenor voice, accompanies the vocal line throughout.
The structure of the song is also straightforward. After a brief introduction, the first part of the poem, verses one to four, is presented in four musical phrases:
The one-sharp key signature leads many interpreters to believe that these phrases are in G major. This view is erroneous for several reasons:
•The first two measures and its two repetitions are made up of D major and B minor. Both would not be logical choice to establish the tonality of G major. •The first three phrases all end in E minor. •There is an absence of any cadential movement into G major.
The initial phrases are, in fact, in E pentatonic minor. A pentatonic minor scale consists of scale degrees. first, flat third, fourth, fifth, flat seventh. The configuration of E pentatonic minor, therefore, is E-G-A-B-D.[4] In Chinese terms, it will be in 羽[yu3/ㄩˇ] 調式 (mode): 羽-宮 [gong1/ㄍㄨㄥ]-商 [shang1/ㄕㄤ]-角 [jué/ㄐㄩㄝˊ]-徵 [zhǐ/ㄓˇ]. The f-sharp, in theory, is a lowered second pitch in the scale—變宮 [bian4/ㄅㄧㄢˋ] (modified “gong”).
With this masterly choice of tonality, Qing Zhu was able to establish the folk-song quality of the section. He was also able to transition smoothly into an A major cadence in the fourth phrase, leading into the new tonal center G major for the following verses.
The first part of the poem is a description of the geographic separation as well as the emotional connections through the river between the lovers. The second part, on the other hand, is a personal reflection of the protagonist. She first laments and questions the impossibility of reunification. Then, she professes her faithfulness.
Verse five starts with a D-7 chord and quickly settles into G major. The tonality remains clear throughout the section and ends with an authentic cadence in D major—not yet a musical conclusion.
Dappled by diminished-seventh in measures thirty-eight and forty-two, the second statement of verses five and six are darker than the first one. The shadow was cast away quickly in the following confirmative phrases. This time, an added seventh—c-natural—pushes the music forward into the third and final statement of verses five to eight.
The final section, measure fifty-three to sixty-eight, is clear off any tonal ambiguity. With the higher tessitura of the vocal line, the dynamic level should be easily achievable. It will be the pianist’s job to keep everything under control till the final chord.
