| Chou Wen-Chung is the first Chinese composer receiving wide recognition among Western audiences of contemporary music for his practices in the integration of Chinese and Western materials in his compositions. Chou's successful musical fusion owes to his social and cultural background, and his knowledge of all branches of fine arts such as poetry, painting, architecture, drama, and music also provides him a comprehensive approach to his musical creation. This study takes Chinese aesthetics as a point of departure, and aims to seek out cultural connections with Chou's musical language. In this study, Windswept Peaks was chosen to be a model piece for examining his "re-merger" of Eastern and Western musical concepts.; Chapter One is an introduction which provides background information on Chou's biography and classification of his composition. Chapter Two begins with an introductory look at Chinese aesthetics and alternates them with discussions on Chou's musical techniques. Chinese philosophy and the schools of Confucianism and Taoism, the Chinese instrument qin, and Chinese architecture in garden design are shown to be related to Chou's rich vocabulary in timbres, and to his devices in register, layer, mode, rhythm, and form.; Chapter Three is concerned with Chou's modal system, developed under the inspiration of the I-Ching principle. A comparison of I-Ching applications between Western music history and Chou's theory is made, and three relationships and modal scales are also explained.; Chapter Four provides an analysis of Windswept Peaks (1990), a quartet for violin, cello, clarinet, and piano, and discusses on its aesthetic association with qin, Chinese calligraphy, Moderation (ChungYung), Chinese garden design, and principles of yin and yang. The technical designs in form, mode, timbre, articulation, tempo, pitch order, register, dynamics, density, and rhythm are analyzed in detail.; Chapter Five is a discussion and conclusion to this dissertation. |
