The symbolism of various phenomena and objects in the European and Chinese
cultural traditions is quite significantly different, so their interpretation in poetic
reflections set to music has a peculiar semantic interpretation in comparison with
European vocal music. Since the chamber-vocal work of Chinese composers is
gaining more and more popularity not only in the artistic space of the state, but also
far beyond its borders, in countries with other cultural traditions, it seems appropriate
to substantiate the principles of interpretation of some leading thematic areas and
images in the solo songs of Chinese authors of the 20th century.
The dissertation clarifies the specifics of the combination of the traditional
national layer of musical expressiveness and European linguistic and stylistic
elements in the song work of Chinese composers. Analytical studies are concentrated
in a separate thematic area, marked by a bright characteristic in the Eastern
philosophical and aesthetic worldview, typical of the Chinese worldview – in the
images of nature, which in the cultural tradition of the Celestial Empire received the
widest symbolic embodiment. This choice is motivated by several factors. The first is
the central place that selected natural elements, phenomena and elements of living
nature occupy in the philosophical and aesthetic worldview of the Chinese people:
The philosophical interpretation of nature by Chinese thinkers is one of the most
important problems that they address in their works, allegories of natural elements
and phenomena form the basis of most rituals that date back to ancient times.
Since their understanding is too significantly different from the European
vision of the "man-nature" relationship, this example convincingly confirms the
specificity of artistic symbolism in the musical-poetic space of Chinese solo singing.
The second factor that determined the choice of the circle of images of nature is the
exceptional variety and differentiation of the mentioned subject in the chamber-vocal
works of both European and Chinese authors. Such a multifaceted nature of the
artifacts themselves allows comparative studies to be conducted on a sufficient
compendium of examples within the chosen genre. In most Chinese songs, the system
of musical and expressive means typical for European chamber and vocal music is
organically combined with the figurative symbolism of the national cultural tradition.
The figurative world of nature in Chinese solos is connected with those ritual
and ceremonial archetypes that were formed in ancient China, influenced the refined
metaphorical stylistics of poetic language, primarily in the literary heritage of the
Tang era, in "mountains and waters" poetic school. The texts of ancient poetry have
more than once formed the basis of modern solos, and even the style of poems by
modern authors praising the forces of nature is very often based on ancient examples.
In their work, they purposefully cover the main philosophical and ethical essence of
ancient Chinese literature, poetry, painting - the entire artistic syncretic integrity, and
transfer it to the modern ground of European achievements in composition technique.
But, despite the modernity of thinking, assimilation of the entire arsenal of European
compositional techniques, in the work of Chinese artists there is almost always a
meditative self-absorption that represents a different sense of space and time,
different from the linear European orientation. They always remain representatives of
the culture of their people.
The dissertation chose a special way of reflecting on the main problem: the
analysis of the symbolic meanings of the seasons, the water element, mountains and
flowers in Chinese mythology, philosophy, musical and poetic tradition and painting,
mainly in the formative period in China. Song and Tang eras and, on this basis,
identifying the peculiarities of the interpretation of the named elements and elements
of nature in musical and poetic samples of chamber and vocal creativity of Chinese
composers of the outlined period, taking into account symbolism in philosophical,
mythological, poetic works. and visual sources, in the clarification of folklore genre
prototypes and musical and poetic traditions, the influence of European
compositional techniques embodied in individual solos.
