Chou Wen-chung

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Chou Wen-chung ( Chinese  周文 中 , Pinyin Zhōu Wénzhōng ; born July 28, 1923 in Yantai , Republic of China ; † October 25, 2019 in New York City ) was an American composer of Chinese origin.

Life stations

Chou came to the United States in 1946. He studied architecture at Yale University and then composition at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston , a. a. with Nicolas Slonimsky and Carl McKinley . In New York he studied from 1949 with Otto Luening at Columbia University and privately with Bohuslav Martinů and Edgard Varèse , whose friend and longtime assistant he became. As a composer he drew attention to himself with his first works such as Landscapes (1949) and Seven Poems of Tang Dynasty (1952). a. were performed by Leopold Stokowski . He graduated in 1954 and conducted a research project on Chinese music from 1955 to 1957. In 1958 he became an American citizen, taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and at Brooklyn College , from 1964 then at Columbia University in New York, where he taught as a full professor of music from 1972-1984 . In 1978 he founded the Center for US-China Arts Exchange , which is dedicated to the cultural exchange between the USA and China. In 1982 he became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 1984 founded the Fritz Reiner Center for Contemporary Music , which he directed until 1991. He was also a member of international music organizations such as the International Society for Contemporary Music ISCM and the Asian Composers League . In 1994 the ISCM awarded him honorary membership.

Friendship with Edgard Varèse

Due to the friendship with the French-born composer Varèse, who died in 1965, Chou became the administrator of his music and writings. He wrote about him in 1966: Varèse: A Sketch of the Man and His Music. A Varèse Chronologie followed in 1966/67 .

Works (selection)

  • Landscapes , 1949
  • Seven Poems of Tang Dynasty , 1952
  • All in the Spring Wind , 1953
  • And the Fallen Petals , 1955
  • Riding the Wind , 1964
  • Yün , 1969
  • Beijing in the Mist , 1986
  • Echoes from the Gorge , 1989
  • Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra , 1992
  • String Quartet No. 1 Clouds , 1996
  • String Quartet No. 2 Streams , 2003
  • Eternal Pine I-IV , 2008-2013

literature

  • Peter M. Chang: Chou Wen-chung and His Music. A Musical and Biographical Profil of Cultural Synthesis. University of Illinois , Urbana-Champaign IL 1995 (dissertation).
  • Peter M. Chang: Chou Wen-Chung. The life and the work of a contemporary Chinese-born American composer . Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland 2006, ISBN 0-8108-5296-9 .
  • Chou Wen-chung special issue. In: MusikTexte . Vol. 118, August 2008, table of contents .

annotation

  1. ↑ The sources give different dates of birth: May 16, June 29 and July 29, 1923. Chou himself mentions, like New Grove, July 28, 1923.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mark A. Radice: Chou Wen-chung. A biographical essay . In: Mary I. Arlin, Mark A. Radice (Eds.): Polycultural Synthesis in the Music of Chou Wen-chung . Routledge , Abingdon 2018, ISBN 978-1-351-97404-2 (English, online in Google Book Search [accessed September 10, 2019]).
  2. ^ A b c Joanna C. Lee, Edward Green:  Chou Wen-chung. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  3. ↑ a b c Barbara Mittler:  Zhou Wenzhong, Chou Wen-chung. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 17 (Vina - Zykan). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2007, ISBN 978-3-7618-1137-5  ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
  4. ↑ Chronology on chouwenchung.org
  5. ↑ a b Chou Wen-chung. In: Wolfgang Ruf , Annette van Dyck-Hemming (Hrsg.): Riemann-Musik-Lexikon. Volume 1: A - Domh. 13th, updated new edition. Schott, Mainz 2012, ISBN 978-3-7957-0006-5 .
  6. ^ ISCM Honorary Members
  7. ↑ Chou Wen-Chung: Varèse: A Sketch of the Man and His Music. In: The Musical Quarterly. Vol. 52, No. 2, 1966, pp. 151-170, doi: 10.1093 / mq / LII.2.151 .
  8. ↑ Chou Wen-Chung: A Varèse Chronology. In: Perspectives of New Music. Vol. 5, No. 1, 1966, pp. 7-10, doi: 10.2307 / 832384 .
Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Chou is the family name here, Wen-chung is the first name.
personal data
SURNAME Chou, Wen-chung
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American-Chinese composer
DATE OF BIRTH July 28, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Yantai
DATE OF DEATH October 25, 2019
Place of death New York City