“The Eight Songs” by Zhao Jiping as the embodiment of the vocal and instrumental poem
Authors: Wang Duangui 
Published: June 2019

Formulation of the problem. An analysis of the genre-dramaturgical patterns in a poorly studied composition by the Chinese composer Zhao Jiping (2011) has been proposed. The relevance of the topic and the novelty of the received results of the genre-semantic analysis of the chosen vocal cycle are concluded in the search for the definition dictated by the artistic concept of its author – a cantata-type vocal poem (a small choir is introduced into the score). Among its criteria there are reliance on the orchestral accompaniment, the timbre variation of each song of the cycle, the poetry dictated by the presence of the image of the Poet, the symbolization of the poetic and intonation language, the cultural chronotope uniting the Time of History and its inclusion into the culture of the 21st century. The purpose of the article is to perform a genre-semantic analysis of “The Eight Songs” for Zhao Jiping’s voice and orchestra and to identify the main sound-image concepts of “the Chinese world view” that make up the drama of the vocal cycle. Analysis of the recent publications on the topic. In the second half of the 20th century, a new compositional approach to organizing vocal songs into a whole, poemness, appeared. In the articles by A. Belonenko (about “Petersburg” by G. Sviridov) and T. Zharkikh (about “Poemes pour Mi” by O. Messiaen), the research emphasis is placed on other problems of the organization of the vocal whole. For the first time, in the conditions of the poly-timbre vocal and orchestral synthesis and the national picture of the world poemness becomes the subject of a special interest of the singer-researcher. Research methods: the structural-functional analysis concerns the components of the composer’s text (the vocal melody and textural and timbre thematism of the orchestral part); the semantic one – reveals the symbolism of poetic texts; the genre analysis – aims to identify the individual interpretation of typical models of vocal music. The presentation of the main material. The poem principle became the embodiment of the author’s desire to unite several vocal miniatures into a single musical universe based on the common concept – the image of the Poet. The philosophical and religious feelings and thoughts contained in the texts chosen by the composer reflect not only his worldview, but also the national mentality and psychology of the world view of the “Chinese world view” (the chronotope of History). This rare quality of poetry – to unite the personality (I) and society (We) into a single “national image of the world” – is the essence of the symbolism of the ancient Chinese poetry of the Tang era. The desire to individualize the timbre composition in each of the parts of the cycle is a characteristic feature of many vocal and instrumental compositions of the 20th century. However, in Zhao Jiping’s work, the search for diversity acts simultaneously with the desire to preserve the timbre constants. As such, with this composer this role is represented by a string and bow group, as the carrier of the song beginning, which performs the function of the instrumental “nimbus” (more rarely, of the dialogue-counterpoint) in relation to the singer. In contrast to Western composers, Zhao Jiping does not seek to use “pure” timbres: vocals and xiao can be duplicated with the wind and plucked strings. The composer does not look for contrasting timbres in search of the associative community: on the contrary, he creates single-timbre groups (pipa + guzheng + harp, triangle + bells + cymbals) to vary the shades of the poetic text. Their “consonance” is close to assonance in poetry (from assono – “I sound in tune”), which in the musical context creates the timbre assonance. The symphonic instruments are combined in timbre groups (string, wind), and the ethnic often perform an individualized function (for example, guzheng with its irregular glissando in No. 2–4 gives a national flavour). The orchestral density, along with the gradual “academic turning” of timbres, increases from the second half of the sound of the cycle (No. 5) to the final. Xiao is replaced by the wind and brass (with No. 5), while the ethnic plucked is replaced by the harp. The gradual increase in the timbre multidimensionality of the texture also has the “opposite effect”, since it is combined with the enhancement of the timbre contrast in the final parts of the cycle and as a result of the “aggravation” of the chamberness. The most chamber part is number 6, where the brass is for the first time silenced, and only the pipa and guzheng are heard. The culmination of the “chamberness” is in the first stanza of the final: a duet of the voice and harp. Conclusion. The vocal-instrumental synthesis in the poem genre, identified in Zhao Jiping’s “The Eight Songs”, is characterized by the organic interaction of the national and European principles of musical thinking. The performers are faced with complex technical and psychological tasks that require a developed orchestral-timbre hearing, intellectualism and associative thinking. A vocal-instrumental poem is a way of modelling spiritual reality, in which the unity of time and space is manifested due to the poetic text, in which the integral sense-image of the Poet acts, personifying the sound-like concepts of the culture of its time and the history of an entire people (“national view of the world”), their “inclusion” into the musical chronotope of the 21st century.