Cantata from the Yellow River

The Yellow River ( Chinese  黃河大合唱  /  黄河大合唱 , Pinyin Huang He dàhéchàng , English The Yellow River Cantata ) is a famous in China sacrosanct Popularity enjoying cantata on poems by Guang Weiran (1913-2002) supported by the Chinese composer Xian Xinghai (1905–1945) was composed. It was written in Yan'an in 1939 during the Second Sino-Japanese War and is one of the best-known works of recent Chinese music. It premiered on April 13 of the same year in the Shaanbei Gongxue Hall of Yan'an, and the work soon spread throughout China.

This work was influenced by a patriotic poetry by Guang Weiran, which was also adopted as text. The programmatic relationship between the river and the cantata is - in terms of European standards - comparable to the Moldau in Smetana's symphonic work Mein Vaterland .

The 7th movement Baowei Huang He ( Defend the Yellow River ) is the most popular.

Text example (Ode to the Yellow River)

The following text excerpt comes from the 2nd sentence: Ode to the Yellow River / Price song for the Yellow River / Praise for the Yellow River ( Huang He song ):

Chinese	Pinyin	translation
啊！ 黄河! 你 是 中华民族 的 摇篮! 五 千年 的 古国 文化, 从 你 这儿 发源; 多少 英雄 的 故事, 在 你 的 身边 扮演! 啊！ 黄河! 你 是 伟大 坚强, # 像 一个 巨人 出现 在 亚洲平原 之上, 用 你 那 英雄 的 体魄 筑 成 我们 民族 的 屏障.	A! Huáng Hé! Nǐ shì zhōnghuá mínzú de yáolán! wǔqiān nián de gǔ guó wénhuà, zòng nǐ zhèr fāyuán; duōshao yīngxióng de gùshi, zài nǐ de shēnbiān bànyǎn! A! Huáng Hé! Nǐ shì wěidà jiānqiáng, xiàng yīgè jùrén chūxiàn zài yàzhōu píngyuán zhīshàng, yòng nǐ nà yīngxióng de tǐpò zhùchéng wǒmen mínzú de píngzhàng	Ah! Yellow River! You are the cradle of the Chinese people! Five thousand year old culture come from you; How many heroic stories took place on your shores! Ah! Yellow River! You are big and strong, you appear like a giant in the Asian plain, use your heroic appearance to set up the watch of our people.

"Defend the Yellow River"

Defend the Yellow River (Chinese: Baowei Huang He ) is the most famous movement of the cantata. It is also one of the pieces in the musical The East is Red ( Dongfang hong ) and serves as the basis for the 4th movement of the piano concerto The Yellow River .

The following passage is filled with particular pathos:

Chinese	Pinyin	translation
风 在 吼 ， 马 在 叫. 黄河 在 咆哮 ， 黄河 在 咆哮. 河西 山岗 万丈 高, 河东 河北 高梁 熟 了. 万 山 丛中, 抗日 英雄 真不少! 青纱帐 里, 游击 健儿 逞 英豪! 端起 了土 枪 洋枪, 挥动 着 大刀 长矛, 保卫 家乡! 保卫 黄河! 保卫 华北! 保卫 全 中国!	Fēng zài hǒu, mǎ zài jiào. Huáng Hé zài páoxiào, Huáng Hé zài páoxiào. Héxī shāngǎng wànzhàng gāo, Hédōng Héběi gāoliáng shú le. Wànshān cóng zhōng, kàng-Rì yīngxióng zhēn bùshǎo! Qīngshāzhàng lǐ, yóujī jiànr chěng yīng háo! Duān qǐ le tǔ qiāng yáng qiāng, huī dòng zhe dà dāo chángmáo Bǎowèi jiāxiāng! Bǎowèi Huáng Hé! Bǎowèi Huáběi! Bǎowèi quán Zhōngguó!	The wind howls, the horses neigh. The yellow river roars loudly, the yellow river roars loudly, The hills to the west of the river rise high In its east and north the sorghum ripens. There are many brave heroes in the mountains who fight the Japanese! Behind the green curtain of grain, they fight in guerrilla warfare, the heroes! With foreign and own rifles, wave machetes and spears, defend the homeland! Defend the Yellow River! Defend Northern China, Defend All of China!

Sentences and cast

The work exists in different editions, with eight to nine movements and in different scoring.

sentences

The following eight-sentence version is often used:

1. Huang He chuanfu qu «黄河 船夫 曲» Yellow River - Song of the boatmen (mixed choir, in the original: male voices)
2. Huang He song "黄河 颂" Ode to the Yellow River (tenor or baritone solo)
3. Huang He zhi shui tianshang lai «黄河 之 水 天上 来» The water of the Yellow River comes from heaven ( chant , originally accompanied by the Sanxian (three-string fretless sound), later changed to pipa accompaniment )
4. Huang Shui yao «黄 水 谣» Ballad from the Yellow River (divided female choir, originally sung by the choir)
5. Huang He duikou qu «河边 对口 曲» Alternating song by the river (male voices duet and choir with mixed voices, originally male voices duet)
6. Huang He yuan «黄河 怨» Wrath of the Yellow River (soprano solo, for concerts the original version is often revised and three female voices are added as accompaniment)
7. Baowei Huang He «保卫 黄河» Defend the Yellow River (Canon)
8. Nuhou ba, Huang He «怒吼 吧 ， 黄河» Roaring Yellow River (mixed choir)

influence

Later the piece became the starting point for the piano concerto The Yellow River , a collective composition in which classical European music was combined with Chinese tradition.

See also

• A hundred patriotic songs

literature

• Xian Xinghai quanji冼星海 全集 (Collected Works of Xing Xinghai), 10 vols. (Guangdong gaodeng jiaoye chubanshe 广东 高等教育 出版社, 1989–1990)
• Xiangtang Hong: Performing the Yellow River Cantata . (PDF) Diss. 2009 (Urbana, Illinois)

Videos

• Sound sample - tudou.com

Web links

• 怒吼 吧 ， 黄河！ 纪念 人民 音乐家 冼星海 诞辰 (1905 年 6 月 13 日) xici.net (Chinese)

References and footnotes

1. ↑ cf. Xin (Cindy) Wang: “Using that heroic physique of yours. To become the guardian of our people ”: The Sacrosanct Popularity of Xian Xinghai's Yellow River Cantata  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   In: xincindywang.com
2. ↑ Chinese 光 未然
3. ↑ chin. 陕北 公 学 - An educational institution operated since 1937 by the Communist Party in Yan'an in northern Shaanxi , the forerunner of the Chinese People's University (Zhōngguó rénmín dàxué 中国 人民 大学) in Beijing (see chinatoday.com.cn ) .
4. ↑ In 2007 she supplied one of the pieces with which the Chinese lunar probe Chang'e-1 was equipped; see. german.cri.cn: China's moon mission (with sound sample: "Praise for the Yellow River")
5. ↑ Chinese  保衛 黃河  /  保卫 黄河 , English Defend the Yellow River
6. ↑ Sound samples: tudou.com (reciter: Qu Xianhe瞿 弦 和; conductor: Yan Liangkun严 良 堃; ensemble: Central Philharmonic Orchestra (Zhongyang yuetuan jiaoxiangxuetuan 中央 乐团 交响乐团) & Central Philharmonic Choir (Zhongyang yuetuan) & v.乐团 hechang .ku6.com ( Memento of the original from April 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Male choir) or tudou.com (with special CCTV-1 theatricality). 
7. ↑ cf. blog.zty.cc (PDF; 695 kB)