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Huang Tzu (1904-1938), a well-known Chinese composer, created nearly 100 musical works across a wide range of topics and genres. He was also a music educator with a large student following who would have a great influence on the music of modern China. To celebrate the 110th anniversary of Huang's birth, the Hong Kong Public Libraries of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and Shanghai Conservatory of Music are jointly holding the "International Roving Exhibition on Music Manuscripts of Mr Huang Tzu", which runs from today until October 27 at the Arts Resource Centre on the 10/F of Hong Kong Central Library (HKCL).
In addition to introducing Huang's background and achievements, the exhibition also displays a selection of his letters, exam sheets and manuscripts, including his first anti-Japanese patriotic composition "The Battle Song", as well as the "art songs" "The Family Song", "Homesickness" and "Thoughts in Spring".
A talk titled "The Art Songs of Huang Tzu" will be held on October 22 (Wednesday) at 6.30pm at the Lecture Theatre on the G/F of HKCL for the public to learn more about this remarkable musician. The Director of the Scientific Research Office of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Professor Qian Renping, will be the speaker and the Chief Librarian of HKCL, Dr Jim Chang will act as moderator.
Even as a youngster Huang was very talented and had a great ear for music. In 1929, he graduated from Yale School of Music in Oberlin and his graduation work "In Memoriam" was debuted by the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, marking the first-ever performance of a musical work by a Chinese composer in the Western world. He then returned to China and started teaching at the University of Shanghai. He was appointed by the National Conservatory of Music as Director of Academic Affairs and became a full-time lecturer in music theory and composition. He taught music courses including harmony, counterpoint, fugue, musical form and instrumental arrangement, and nurtured a group of outstanding students who themselves went on to make significant contributions to the creation and education of music in modern China. Among them were the famous "Four Disciples" - He Luting, Chen Tianhe, Liu Xuean, and Jiang Dingxian. Still a young man, Huang unfortunately died of typhoid fever in Shanghai in 1938.
The exhibition is an exchange project under the Conference on Cooperative Development and Sharing of Chinese Resources (CCDSCR). The original manuscripts will be on display during the 10th CCDSCR from October 21 to 23. Replicas will be displayed on other days.
Admission to the exhibition and talk is free. The talk will be conducted in Putonghua on a first-come, first-served basis.
For enquiries, please call 2921 0259.
Ends/Friday, October 3, 2014
Issued at HKT 14:50
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