Looking at the aesthetic differences between Chinese and Western music from art songs
? Usually people will say: Art has no borders, but under different aesthetic differences, art still has its own unique flavor. There are a thousand interpretations and understandings of art in the eyes of a thousand people. Since China and the West each have their own different social soil and cultural environment, Western aesthetic forms are accustomed to analysis, while China is accustomed to synthesis. Through the exploration of the differences between Chinese and Western social backgrounds and the characteristics of Chinese and Western cultures, as well as the aesthetic performance of Chinese and foreign art songs, it can be seen that beauty in music is reflected differently under the two different ideological and cultural systems of China and the West. of.
People often say that "art has no borders", but under different aesthetic concepts, art still has its own unique flavor. A thousand people There are a thousand realizations and understandings of art in his eyes. China and the West each have their own different social soil and cultural environment. Western aesthetic forms are accustomed to analysis, while China is accustomed to synthesis. This difference in thinking and expression also leads to differences in Chinese and Western music. The essence of the difference between Chinese and Western music is cultural difference, which is mainly caused by the different social functions and cultural roles played by Chinese and Western music. Therefore, the beauty of musical forms under the two different ideological and cultural systems of Chinese art songs and Western art songs is also different.
1. Comparison of Chinese and Western art songs
In the "New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians", "art song" is defined as "a song composed by a professional composer and It is a song genre with serious artistic meaning that is different from folk songs. In the "New Harvard Music Dictionary", "art songs" are further explained as "songs created for the purpose of chamber concerts" to distinguish them from folk songs and pop songs. song. It is traditionally music composed for poetry, and its lyrics are highly literary and different from most folk songs and pop songs. The accompaniment of art songs is formulated and created by the composer, rather than improvised by the performer. Western art songs originated from the romantic songs of the German and Austrian period in the 19th century. Chinese art songs were created based on the expression techniques of foreign art songs from the beginning, and at the same time they focused on integrating with my country's national language, national temperament and national emotional expression. According to a general definition, Chinese art songs are the product of Western music and have only a history of nearly a hundred years in our country. On the one hand, the birth of modern Chinese art songs was influenced by Western art songs, and on the other hand, it should be attributed to China's New Culture Movement. After the New Culture Movement, a group of people with a foundation in Chinese studies, who advocated individuality, freedom and emotional expression in creation, combined artistic trends with traditional Chinese culture and art to create Chinese art songs. Generally speaking, art songs are a musical art carrier that highly integrates poetry and music. It not only contains poetic literary elements, but also has strong lyrical and singing qualities of music. Therefore, Chinese art songs are like the stoic Chinese nation, with elegant, delicate, implicit, and rational character traits. They often use musical language to describe the external environment and atmosphere. The melody of the songs is fresh, beautiful and long, and the combination of lyrics and music is like Chinese traditional painting. The combination of music and Chinese poetry shows the musicality of a language and creates a beauty of artistic conception that can only be understood but cannot be expressed in words.
The modern Chinese art songs produced in the early 20th century are treasures in our country’s music culture. From the birth of Chinese art songs to today, a large number of Chinese art songs have been produced in various historical periods in China and were welcomed by the people at that time. works, and most of these works have distinctive characteristics of the times and rich connotations, vividly reflecting the real life, thoughts and emotions of the times. The creative idea of ??realism has always been the dominant idea in the creation of artistic songs by Chinese composers; using the past to describe the present, reflecting the times and praising the great rivers and mountains of the motherland and the beautiful life have always been the main themes in the creation of Chinese artistic songs. In the early creation practice of artistic songs by Zhao Yuanren, Huang Zi and others, they aimed at nationality, constantly absorbed excellent Western culture, learned from Western composition techniques, and boldly practiced the nationalization of Chinese artistic song creation. Therefore, striving to create artistic songs with Chinese national characteristics is the direction pursued by modern Chinese composers. In terms of the nationalization of Chinese art songs, we should "use the past for the present and use foreign materials for China", inherit and carry forward the excellent musical cultural heritage and valuable experience at home and abroad, and conduct a deeper exploration of the essence of Chinese traditional culture and national aesthetic tastes while learning and Learn from foreign music creation techniques and experiences to gain rich music creation nutrients and inspiration. Professor Luo Yifeng once summarized the nature of Chinese art songs into the following aspects: they have obvious characteristics of chamber music, the taste is elegant and intrinsic, they are creations rather than folk songs, their forms are exquisite but not large in scale, their singing voices are cultivated and controlled, and they have Poetic realm and profound emotions as well as personal expression and aesthetic pursuit. He also pointed out that the discovery of Chinese art songs is the foundation of its philosophical existence; immanence is the element of its aesthetic character; short narrative is the starting point of its creation; sophistication is the expression of its elegant culture.
Chinese people value subtlety, and this is also true in musical expression.
Generally speaking, Chinese music creation preferences put the theme at the end, as described in a poem, "Thousands of calls are coming out, still holding the pipa half-hidden". Western music, on the other hand, emphasizes boldness and is an open style. The theme appears at the beginning, and then the specific content is slowly elaborated, which is shocking.
In the entire Western culture, no other figure has been as widely represented in art as Jesus Christ. In terms of music, Jesus Christ, whose fraternity, tolerance, and humility reveal perseverance and strength, and who made selfless sacrifices for mankind, has become an aesthetic image that generations of musicians strive to express, and has become an eternal aesthetic ideal in music.
Since ancient Greek music, Western music has been the beginning of the exploration of musical structure’s motives, musical collections, themes, phrases, sections, various musical forms, and various genres. That is, exploring their own meaning and their role in the structure, exploring their expressive capabilities, etc., focusing on studying music from within the musical structure, exploring the expressive power of music and the aesthetics of music. Therefore, Western art songs have clear content, concise techniques, quick creation and direct expression of the heart. They can quickly capture momentary emotions and make a distinctive musical work complete in a relatively short period of time, vivid and touching.
Formal logic has greatly promoted and influenced the development of Western philosophy and science since its origin in Greece. Precisely because the Greek formal logic was relatively developed, the musical forms of later Western musical arts were consciously developed after they entered professional creation. There are folk songs and ballads, single and complex two-part and three-part forms, and rondos. Form, variation form, sonata form. Not only does it have a variety of genre structures, but it is also good at using various forms appropriately to express various emotions, thoughts, and contents.
2. Differences in aesthetics between Chinese and Western music
Cultural barriers such as customs and historical allusions are tangible external manifestations of cultural differences. And its inner, invisible manifestation is due to the archetypal differences in national psychology. In the West, people are more inclined to one ideology, that is, religion and theology. Therefore, mysterious religion became the basis for the survival and development of ancient Western society. Western culture is essentially a religious culture. In terms of aesthetic methods, China's ancient aesthetic thinking mode is "enlightenment is more important than understanding". It advocates that the aesthetic subject should enter the psychological state of "enlightenment" to experience beauty and create beauty, and requires the aesthetic subject to "understand" the mind and the object. In the complete unity of emotion and scenery, we can realize the life meaning and beautiful nature of all things in the universe.
The specific aesthetic differences between Chinese and Western music are mainly reflected in the following aspects.
1. Due to the differences in music regions, nationalities and times between China and the West, there are also differences between Chinese music aesthetics and Western music aesthetics. The source of China's musical aesthetic thoughts is the musical aesthetic thoughts proposed by Confucianism and Taoism, which were developed from many musical aesthetic views that were in their infancy before the Spring and Autumn Period. The development history of music aesthetics in China for more than two thousand years has always been dominated by Confucian and Taoist musical aesthetics. It not only pursues the harmonious unity of music and nature,
the harmonious unity of man and the universe, but also emphasizes the "Hong Tianyin Zhen". Oppose to restricting life and music. Therefore, the aesthetic standard of Chinese music is to be emotional but not wild, and to have desire but be reserved. Traditional Chinese aesthetics play an important role in the creation of Chinese music. Chinese music pursues profound and hazy artistic conception, and is characterized by being implicit, indifferent, and ethereal. It is characterized by its focus on lyricism and the pursuit of profound artistic conception. The highest state it pursues is artistic conception. Beautiful artistic conception can leave a beautiful space for the viewer's imagination, bring about ideological deepening and emotional sublimation. In the development process of Western aesthetics, there are two main schools of thought, namely "heteronomy theory" and "autonomy theory". The so-called "heteronomy theory" emphasizes that the beauty of music is influenced by things other than musical form (including emotional society). It emphasizes a kind of content, and the content determines the form, that is, emotional music aesthetics; while "autonomy theory" is just the opposite, it emphasizes The beauty of music only comes from the music itself. The internal elements determine the formal beauty of the music and emphasize the content of the music.
2. From the comparison of the characteristics of musical works, China and the West show different characteristics in music due to different ways of thinking. In short, China emphasizes re-creation in order to have one song for multiple purposes; the West attaches great importance to originality in order to have a special song only. "One song for many purposes" is based on the value orientation of respecting the style of the original work and the original appreciation habits. Only slight changes to a certain "basic tune" in the creation can give the song new connotation. ?Special music only? pursues the individuality of the work. No matter in the form of the work or in the creative techniques, the principle is not to repeat others or repeat yourself.
3. From the perspective of the creation methods of musical works, there are also differences between Chinese and Western creations. The creation method of traditional Chinese music works has the characteristics of collective nature and the integration of first and second creation. The so-called collective nature means that the labor condensed in the work is not the personal behavior of a certain composer. The so-called unity of first and second creation means that the composer is a singer or a performer at the time of creation. Composing is also the process of singing or playing. There is no division of labor between creation and creation, and it is highly improvisational. The creation method of Western music works (mainly referring to the works of Western professional composers) is individual and has the characteristics of separation of one and two creations. Western musical works are the work of individual composers and reflect their strong individual characteristics.
At the same time, the first and second degrees of creation are separated, that is, the composer's creation is only to complete the score.
Observing Chinese and Western music from the perspective of aesthetic concepts, we find that Chinese music pays attention to the artistic conception and charm of the work, emphasizes the wonder and character of creation, pays attention to the implicit and tactful expression, and prefers the moderation and moderation of artistic forms. Western music, on the other hand, has a strong religious flavor and moral education from the beginning, with relatively fixed forms of expression, often giving people a solemn and sacred feeling. With its own development, Western music gradually adds the flavor of life and reality, expresses feelings directly and intensely, and has a strong ability to express emotions. By the 20th century, it was difficult for people to understand and accept the bizarre musical phenomena in the West. However, Chinese art song creation organically combines Chinese poetry literature, Chinese folk songs, traditional European techniques, traditional Chinese music techniques, and modern creative techniques to form a rich and colorful art song with Chinese national characteristics and styles. At this time, the European art world was nourished by Eastern culture and gradually penetrated into European cultural tastes and life. European composers' interest in Chinese music also began to be expressed in exotic moods and themes. It opened up the cultural horizons of Westerners and set off a wave of "Chinese cultural craze".
In short, with the increasing internationalization and diversification of cultural development, the pursuit of multi-level and high-grade spiritual enjoyment has become a social fashion. The aesthetic value of art songs with fashionable taste and elegant style has gradually been favored by people. Attention has made art songs unprecedentedly prosperous in people's spiritual enjoyment space. Due to different social and cultural backgrounds, there are differences in music creation techniques and aesthetics. The creation of Chinese art songs is in constant collision with European culture. While drawing on the essence of Western music, it fully affirms its locality and maintains the original Gradually learn from and improve on the basis of style.
References:
[1] Li Shuming. On Chinese Art Songs [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Music Publishing House, 2009.
[2] Ye Lang. Principles of Aesthetics[M]. Beijing: Peking University Press, 2009.
[3] He Zhen. Cultural Differences and Challenges[M]. Beijing: Peking University Press Society, 2006.
[4]Wang Dengfeng, Cui Hong. Interpretation of Chinese Personality[M]. Beijing: Social Sciences Literature Press, 2005.
[5]Cai Jizhou. Comparison of Chinese and Western music from the perspective of thinking? Philosophical reflections on the research and creation of Chinese music [J]. Music Research, 2002, (3). ;