The fret-harmonic content of the Chinese melos (on the example of samples for the voice and piano in the modern arrangement)
Authors: Wang Duangui 
Published: January 2022

Formulation of the problem. The present article is devoted to the mental differences of the Chinese song tradition and analyzed the peculiarities of fret structures upon harmonizing the melody by modern authors. The musical stylistics of the Chinese folk song is based on the synthesis of the intonation (melodic, fret and rhythmic) features of traditional Chinese music with the lexemes of European classical music. Its content reveals the analysis of a major-minor functional system, qualitative (bar) rhythmics, containing genre formulas and techniques of the textural presentation (various forms of polyphony). The purpose of the article is to reveal the stylistic originality of the Chinese song – on the one hand; and on the other hand, to reveal the fret-harmonic features relating Chinese music with the folklore of other nations. For the European ear, the fret-harmonic originality of the Chinese melos, in addition to pentatonics, is marked by synthesizing various elements of the systems of the pitch-high organization which have set in the history of European music: archaic, modal, and tonal-functional. The relevance of the topic is due to the absence in the European theory of melody (“melos”, in the terminology by B. Asafiev) of the national-characteristic component. The study of the fret-harmonic content of the Chinese melos will partially fill in this gap. The purpose of the study is to reveal the stylistic originality of the Chinese song – on the one hand, and on the other, to discover the fret-harmonic parameters that relate Chinese music to the folklore of other nations. The object of the study is China’s song tradition in the diversity of authentic and modern samples of materials existing in the notation; the subject is the melos of the Chinese folk song in its relations with other principles of intonation. The presentation of the main material. In most of the samples of modern Chinese folk songs, the modal principle of the pitch-high organization, characteristic of folk music and European professional music of the pre-classical period, is combined with the tonal system of European classical music. For example, in “The Shepherd’s Song” exposition, not so much a single tonal center orientation (according to the European classical romantic tradition) was revealed, but rather the basis on several equal tones-foundations: h, e, a and d. If the fret-harmonic content of the entry is to be viewed from the angle of modality, then the fret structure of this tune turns out to be a mixed diatonics, combining the scale of the Ionian frets from c and the Dorian frets from d with the step rising in cadence VII, and from the point of view of the tonal principle of the pitch-high organization – as a movement from the tone C-dur to the tone d-moll. In song 15, the modal principle of the pitch-high organization is absent, although elements of the modality can be heard due to the use of side triads and seventh chords. With all the variety of melodic and rhythmic formulas, genre semantics, it is precisely the fret-harmonic content of selected song samples that reveals the general principles of the pitch-high organization. This is the archaic diatonic, based on the frets of the traditional musical cultures of the world; modal principle; European functional harmonic system; elements of the extended tonality from the experience of the music of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Their interaction constitutes the fret-harmonic specificity of the Chinese folk song tradition. The harmonization of the melodies selected as the material differs from the original by the presence of authorship; the fret-harmonic content, first of all, serves as its embodiment. Conclusion. Composers – authors of the modern arrangement of authentic melodies – are in search of an organic synthesis of various pitch-high systems and principles of organization. Among the main ones there is the archaic diatonics, based on the frets of the traditional musical cultures of the world; the modal principle; European functional harmonic system; the elements of an extended tonality borrowed from the experience of the music of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. By the nature of the interaction of the components the analyzed samples of Chinese melodies can be divided into several groups: 1) the songs in which the modal principle of the pitch-high organization prevails over the tone-functional one; 2) the songs, where both of these principles act simultaneously: for example, modal elements arise on a tonal basis; or on a modal basis – orientation to a single tonal center; 3) the cases in which the tonal-functional principle in melodies unambiguously prevails over the modal one; 4) the songs in which these principles “divide the spheres of influence”, acting in different sections of the form; 5) the samples of songs where the modal and tonal principles are in the organic unity, and they are not separated in time and do not suppress each other. Thus, the Chinese folklore material can be perceived by the ear, brought up in other musical traditions, quite adequately thanks to the reliance on the pitch-high systems that are universal for all musical cultures.