The tune of Farewell is selected from the American song Dreaming of Home and Mother written by John P. Odway. When Li Shutong was studying in Japan, the Japanese lyricist Tong Qiuxi wrote a lyric called "Sorrow of Travel" with the melody of dreaming of home and mother. Li Shutong's Farewell is based on Ningen's Sorrow of Travel. Farewell does not involve enlightenment, but it has a long meaning, and the combination of music and literature is perfect. Lyrics are written in long and short sentences, with concise language, sincere feelings and far-reaching artistic conception. The song is a trilogy structure, and each paragraph consists of two phrases. The first and third paragraphs are exactly the same, and the music is gentle and undulating, depicting pavilions, ancient roads, sunsets, flute sounds and other night scenes, setting off a quiet and cold atmosphere. In the second paragraph, the first phrase is in sharp contrast with before, and the mood becomes excited, which seems to be a deep sigh. The second sentence reproduces the second sentence of the first paragraph with a slight change, which appropriately expresses the feeling of parting from friends. These similar and even repetitive phrases do not give people the impression of being tedious and rambling in the song, but strengthen the integrity and unity of the work and give it a special aesthetic feeling. "Outside the pavilion, by the ancient road, the grass is green. The evening breeze blows the willow flute, and the sunset is over the mountain … "The faint flute blows out sadness, and the beautiful lyrics write farewell, which makes people have mixed feelings. The echo from beginning to end, the poet's feeling: he who sees through the world of mortals.
This widely sung song is Li Shutong's masterpiece.
Li Shutong is an enlightenment pioneer in the history of modern songs in China. Li Shutong, who accepted the European music culture, brought some ready-made European song tunes and wrote his own lyrics. These songs are widely circulated throughout the country. The tune has a strong foreign flavor, and the lyrics have a strong ancient poetic rhyme. This is the original song, and it also announces the arrival of a new era. Li Shutong accomplished the historical mission of the enlightener with such songs.
Li Shutong is not only the most outstanding author of "school songs" in China, but also the author who paid early attention to the inheritance of national traditional culture. 1905 Edited and published the Collection of Songs of Chinese Studies for school teaching, that is, selected 13 songs from The Book of Songs, Songs of the South and Ancient Poems, accompanied by western and Japanese tunes, together with the translated scores of two Kunqu operas. Among them, Song of the Motherland is a few school songs with China folk tunes as lyrics, which has aroused students' patriotic enthusiasm. Soon, he went to Japan to study western music, art and drama theory, with emphasis on piano. He once founded the first music magazine in China, and strongly advocated the social education function of music, that is, "thinking deeply about morality, promoting social soundness, cultivating temperament and feeling spiritual essence". At the same time, he also published "My Motherland", "Sui" and other music songs that are concerned about the country and the people.
Li Shutong preserved more than 70 pieces of music and songs in his life. The music songs compiled inherit the fine tradition of Chinese classical poetry, and most of them are lyric works with scenery as the theme. The words filled out will always be beautiful, cadence, profound artistic conception and rich charm. In addition, he has a comprehensive knowledge of Chinese and western music culture, most of which are European and American pop songs. The melody is beautiful and moving, fresh and smooth, and the combination of lyrics and songs is appropriate and smooth, which brings out the best in each other and reaches a high artistic level. Therefore, his music works are widely loved by young students and intellectuals, such as Farewell, Memories of Childhood, Dream and West Lake. Farewell, in particular, was successfully selected as an episode or theme song by the films Early February and Old Things in the South of the City, and became a symbol of the thoughts and feelings of young students or intellectuals in China in a historical period. Spring outing, composed by himself, is the earliest chorus song in China.
Outside the exhibition hall,
Along the ancient road,
The grass is blue
The evening breeze blows the willow flute,
The sunset is beyond the mountain.
The horizon of heaven,
A corner of the earth,
A close friend has half a broken heart.
A pot of turbid wine is full of joy,
Don't go to Meng Han tonight.