Confucianist and Daoist Philosophies in Chinese Art Songs

Abstract

This dissertation presents discussions of approximately 100 Chinese art songs with a view toward their historical background and textual content as well as their connections to Confucianist and Daoist philosophies as they relate to culture and art. It is also an interpretive guide to enhance the appreciation and performance of these art songs. Nineteenth century western imperialism in China resulted in seismic changes in Chinese society. Musically, traditional folk music provided a foundation for a new genre, school songs, which led to another new genre, Chinese art songs. Music scholars have attributed the rise of Chinese art songs from the 1920s to the 1940s to a sociopolitical shift called the Chinese New Culture Movement (1915–ca. 1924). Those songs reflect a fusion of western and Chinese compositional techniques. Chinese art song composers largely employ the pentatonic mode in melodies to reflect the unique Chinese compositional style, combine the pentatonic mode with western compositional techniques, including harmony, musical forms, and modulation in piano accompaniment to strengthen and enrich artistic expression, and incorporate both modern Chinese poetry (written in colloquial language and expressing contemporary scientific and democratic thoughts) and classical Chinese poetry in lyrics to embody the depth and breadth of Chinese language arts. Besides the New Culture Movement and heritage music, the composition of many Chinese art songs is grounded in Confucianist and Daoist philosophies. Confucius (551 BCE–479 BCE), a Chinese ideologist, philosopher, and educator, emphasized the educational function of music. He believed that music should possess the moral connotation of benevolence, and the “kindness of content” is more important than the beauty of sound. “Kindness of content” refers to positive and morally uplifting aspects of music. Unlike Confucianism’s ethical music aesthetics, Daoism elucidates people’s relationship with the world, pursues the natural beauty of music, and promotes the employment of people’s natural dispositions and feelings to create music. This dissertation discusses how Chinese art songs reflect the music aesthetics of Confucianism and Daoism through analyzing the texts and compositional styles of representative works during the past 100 years. Specifically, this dissertation discusses a number of pertinent topics including the intonation of the Mandarin Chinese language, the relationship of the educational and social functions of music to the character and work of the junzi, and the meaning and implementation of shi (势). Pinyin, the official romanization system for the transliteration of Mandarin Chinese, includes initials, finals, and four tones. One useful source for helping non-Chinese speakers learn pinyin is the Introduction to Standard Chinese Pinyin System Textbook (《汉语拼音入门课本》) (Beijing: Beijing Language and Culture University Press (北京：北京语言大学出版社), 2020) by Helen H. Shen and Yunong Zhou. These tones help to differentiate the meanings of words and affect both the lyrical and musical structure of Chinese art songs. Junzi is a Confucianist ideal. Confucius emphasized the educational and social functions of music. He professed that the three essentials of education are poetry, rules and rituals, and music, and attached great importance to music education because it fosters the overall development of students and cultivates their personality and morality. In terms of the social function of music, he believed that music helps to improve social politics, harmonize social contradictions and interpersonal relationships, and provides the ruling class with an effective way to govern the country with morality, unite the people, and consolidate political power. According to Confucianism, being a junzi, the exemplary person, is the ideal personality to which people should aspire. Junzi possess the virtues of benevolence, wisdom, courage, righteousness, and courteousness. Confucius regarded balance as the highest moral standard. Confucianism advocates possessing a strong will when facing adversity and values unity. Also, Confucianism avers that it is essential for a leader to value talents. Confucius emphasized the philosophical view that everything in the universe is constantly changing and developing, with a concomitant, continuous effort to maintain balance through the changes. Unlike Confucianism’s ethical music aesthetics, Daoism advocates a natural music aesthetic with which it seeks to unify man and nature. Daoism emphasizes shi which refers to the proper context and conditions for an event to occur. Even with the presence of all other elements of success, such as material and financial resources, without the proper shi an event will not be completed. Daoism also advocates the spirit of persistence. These elements are analyzed in depth regarding their proper perspectives and relationships with Chinese art songs.