The erhu opera Good Night was composed by Liu Tianhua, a famous modern musician in China, on the New Year's Eve of1928 65438+1October 22nd. The proper name of this song is Song of New Year's Eve, also called Good Night. In fact, Liu Tianhua didn't decide the title of the song after it was written, but a few days later, he chose "Singing New Year's Eve" from the titles given by the students. But later, people often take night as their name, because the former seems too narrative, while the latter is not only in line with the writing situation at that time, but also more artistic. "Good" is beautiful, "night" is night, and "good night" is a beautiful night. "Its moments of beauty" means good times and pleasant scenery. This song was improvised by Liu Tianhua and his students when they celebrated their birthdays. According to the traditional custom of our country, every time we get together on New Year's Eve, we happily wait for the arrival of the first day of the Lunar New Year to show our mentality of rejuvenation. As you can imagine, it's freezing and white outside, and the house is warm as spring, brightly lit, with drums and firecrackers flashing from time to time. It can be said that people's mood is so pleasant at a good time. That night, Liu Tianhua invited some students who stayed in school for the winter vacation due to economic difficulties and other reasons to spend the holidays at his home along the East River outside the west gate of Guo Liang Factory in Dongcheng. At this time, Liu Tianhua was in a particularly comfortable mood. First, because he and his colleagues have just established the National Music Improvement Society and published Music Magazine; Second, I learned that at the end of last year (1927165438+127 October), the only "National Conservatory of Music" in the history of China was established in Shanghai. Therefore, he also wanted to set up the "National Beiping Conservatory of Music" in Beiping, so he invited his classmates to get together on New Year's Eve and looked forward to the bright future of music and art education. In this joyful mood, an exquisite and singing erhu sketch came into being. According to student Jin Shibin's article "A Happy Night", the process of music that night is described: "The whipping sound outside the wall, the bright indoor lights, and the drunkenness of the host and guests make the atmosphere of this festival more and more intense. ..... After a few random performances and listening to some famous songs of scientific products, Teacher Liu suddenly said: I haven't composed music for a long time. I want to make a small erhu today to commemorate today's happiness. ..... So, Mr. Liu wrote it down while pulling it. There was a pause in the middle of writing. A few of us tried to practice first, and when we were ready to play, we unceremoniously urged Mr. Liu to finish it. Under such a busy warehouse, this music score is completely made. " (Originally published in the second issue of Volume I of Music Magazine). The records they listened to included Schumann's violin Dream and China Cantonese music Autumn Moon in Han Palace. We don't know whether Liu was inspired by these music, but improvised it thoughtfully. But it can be said for sure that this song seems to be Liu Tianhua's improvisation, but it has a profound knowledge and skill foundation and knot of national music and western music behind it. Only by combining this long-term accumulation with Mr. Wang's natural intelligence and inspiration can such a brilliant work be produced.
Night is the only improvisation among Liu Tianhua's ten Erhu songs, and it is also the fastest, shortest and easiest to play. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to call it a "little singing", which truly reflects the author's momentary true feelings, so the whole song is completed in one fell swoop. Music begins with the pentatonic scale with the most China music characteristics. Very ethnic and popular: 3 5 6 1 2 is 1 phrase, and the second sentence is extended by 3 beats. After that, the melody of the sentence 1 changes slightly. The third sentence is divided into two sections, and the section 1 is the repetition of the second sentence that extends the melody by 3 beats. Then, after disassembling the head, repeat:, tighten the pattern:, and then tighten it to:, thus completing the 1 section of the music. It seems that the author used the traditional techniques of expanding, contracting, lifting and lifting, thus forming the presentation part of music. The mood of this part is generally stable, while the melody of the second part is full of twists and turns. First, the melody twists and turns in the bass area, and the range expands upward, reaching the second hand's highest note:, then the melody twists and turns slightly downward, and then repeats eight octaves upward:, followed by a longer wave-like falling melody:, extending to the lowest note:. The phrases in the above paragraphs seem to be composed of clauses, but they are very coherent. Then it changes repeatedly in the second position: then it jumps to the highest note of the third hand, and the music reaches its climax; then it uses the downward tuning mode; and when it enters the lowest note, it seems that the mood gradually recovers after ups and downs. After the sentence is adjusted, once again, the phrase growth has twists and turns. First, it's in the treble zone in position three. Then with the gradual decline of the melody, it reaches the first position, but falls on the second note, indicating that it is not completely closed. Then raise the octave with syncopation rhythm, then pull the melody to the second position again, then enter the first hollow chord with the lowest position:, and then slow down slightly. Finally, the whole song is ended with the overtone of hollow chord octave height, which gives people infinite comfort and reverie. From the author's emotional analysis, this kind of ups and downs, patchwork application, fully embodies the author's "choppy" mentality. From the perspective of phrases, after rising from the lowest note to the highest note, it will generally drop to the lowest note. Sometimes it reaches the treble zone in the second position, and sometimes it reaches the treble zone in the third position. In short, phrases are long and short, divided and combined, freely extended and freely played. It shows that the author's mood is calm and comfortable on the whole, but in peace, he always seems to be full of thoughts and associations, so he has the display and impulse to turn up the melody, but finally returns to peace in peace. Structurally speaking, although the author absorbed the structure of a copy form in the west, it was not obvious and prominent. On the contrary, it adopts the traditional means of free expansion of phrases and infiltration of melody core tones, which makes music thoughts develop and sublimate in a wave-like way. Melody ups and downs, distinct levels, breathing is also very good, in one go, there is a feeling of growing up, making people very smooth, comfortable and cordial. In fact, the use of phrase pause and syncopation rhythm in music is not the style of western phrases, but has the characteristics of China lyric music, especially the structure of aria phrases. This combination of Chinese and western music structures and techniques has reached a seamless and natural level. There is no far-fetched feeling, it is really a stroke of genius. In the range, the author's extensive use of the second and third positions is the innovation of erhu skills. When explaining Moonlit Night and Singing Outside Night, Liu once said: "There is a so-called' three-handed' playing method on the Huqin, which is not long, and will soon be separated from the three-stringed and pipa instruments." As early as 19 17, Liu studied erhu and pipa from Zhou Shaomei, a master of Chinese music at that time, who was known as "the king of the three outstanding artists". But also familiar with and studied the violin, so it is very natural to use three positions in his erhu creation and performance, and it is also a manifestation of his determination to reform and innovate. Moreover, Liu also believes that "there are three pieces in the world, which are very imprecise and cannot give full play to their strengths." I thought it could be divided into seven parts, as many as twelve. "This view is actually drawing on and absorbing the concept of the second position of the violin, and the concept of the third position is widely used in traditional Chinese musical instruments. Liu Neng introduced the two-degree system to western violins, which had a far-reaching impact on the breakthrough of national musical instruments. In this song, we can find that the three melodies written by Liu are very natural and comfortable to play, and there is no trace of copying mechanically. In playing, the constant ups and downs of melody require profound longbow playing skills. The bow should be full, steady, tepid, and can be freely retracted with the ups and downs of the melody and the strength. The left fingering should be clear and flexible, and the sliding should pay more attention to the combination of soft and hard, so as to accurately express the content of music. What I want to point out here is that Liu's long-span sliding tone has a lot to do with his research on the traditional "three-string drama". It is hard to imagine that in old China at that time, people like Liu Tianhua could not only play national musical instruments such as erhu and Dalong, but also play the violin and piano, the king of western musical instruments. Liu Tianhua was indeed the first person who could not stop Chinese and western musical instruments, which required great strategic vision and musical ambition. Tactically, he attached great importance to the collection of folk music and widely absorbed the nutrients of folk music. The purpose and purpose of his study of western music is clear, that is, "to promote the improvement of China music. "The light of this thought has been fully reflected in the music short film Good Night.
Nowadays, Good Night has become a well-known erhu masterpiece, and won the "China 20th Century Music Classic Award" by the Chinese National Culture Promotion Association with 1993. The explanation has been unanimously affirmed by the audience and experts. Huang Yijun, a famous conductor of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, once adapted it into a western string ensemble. In concerts for foreign VIPs and friends, this song is often introduced to the audience as an orchestra or an additional track, which is also the best embodiment of enhancing our national self-confidence.