(b Macao, 13 June 1905; d Moscow, 30 Oct 1945). Chinese composer. Educated in music schools and conservatories in Canton (1918), Beijing (1926) and Shanghai (1928), he travelled to France in 1930 to study composition with d’Indy and Dukas and take violin lessons. After a period at the Paris Conservatoire he returned to Shanghai in 1935; he subsequently worked for the Pathé (Baidai) Record Company, headed the music section of the left-wing New China (Xinhua) Film Company, and composed many songs for use in anti-Japanese popular movements. With the outbreak of war with Japan in 1937, Xian moved to Wuhan then to the Communist headquarters at Yan'an, where he became head of music at Lu Xun College of the Arts (1938), composed several significant nationalistic compositions, such as the cantata Huanghe (1939), and encouraged the study of folk music so that it could be better adapted by reformist composers. In 1940 he moved to Moscow for further study, and remained in various parts of the Soviet Union and Mongolia until his death. As with his contemporary Nie Er, Xian’s image was held up after his death by the Communist Party as that of a model revolutionary musician: his present reputation in Chinese musical circles stems more from politically motivated discussions of his life and personality than from the impact of specific compositions.
While he attempted to craft artworks which he hoped would raise musical standards within China, Xian’s compositional style was essentially populist. His melodies commonly employ folk or folk-like material, and textures and structures, even in his larger-scale works, are typically simple and clearly articulated. His harmonic language reflects both the influence of his foreign studies and of his attempts to develop a style more closely according to Chinese thematic material.
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Inst: Sym. no.1 ‘Minzu jiefang’ [National Liberation], 1935, rev. 1941; Sym. no.2 ‘Shenshang zhi zhan’ [Holy War], 1943; 3 Kazakh Dances, pf (1943); 4 sym. suites, 2 orchd |
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Vocal: Feng [Wind], S, cl, pf, c1933; Huanghe [Yellow River] (cant., Guang Weiran), 1939, rev. 1941, arr. pf conc. 1969; 3 other choral works; 2 ops; c250 mainly film and mass songs and a few art songs surviving, incl. Dao diren houfang qu [Go to the Enemy’s Rear] (Zhao Qihai), 1938 |
R.C. Kraus: Pianos and Politics in China: Middle-Class Ambitions and the Struggle over Western Music (New York, 1989), 40–69
Wang Yuhe: Zhongguo jin- xiandai yinyuejia pingzhuan [A critical biography of modern and contemporary Chinese music] (Beijing, 1992), 181–205
JONATHAN P.J. STOCK