A Study Of Chinese Culture Impact Upon Chinese Piano Composition In Early 20～(th) Century

It is historically recorded that as early as 1913 Zhao Yuanren made Huababan and Waves of the Xiangjiang River, the earliest Chinese piano melody that now is considered as a prelude to the composition of the five-tone-scale piano music. Until now an avalanche of excellent compositions have appeared in China, but the focus of this thesis is on the early 20^th century that reflects the peculiar characteristics of the oriental music culture and records a precious period of history in which the popular slogan "traditional Chinese learning as the base and Western learning for application" was put forward for the purpose rejuvenating China.The composition of Chinese piano music has been changing as the social and cultural factors of different historical stages have exerted a direct influence upon the composition. Thus this thesis, mainly from the perspective of sociology and culturology, is an attempt to make a survey into what cultural factors affected the composition of the early-20th-century Chinese piano music and into how sociological and cultural factors at the historical stage directly influenced the Piano Music composition.This thesis consists of three parts. The first part deals with the investigation into the beginning of the composition of Chinese piano music; the second part has mainly had a discussion of the impact of Chinese culture upon the composition of the early-20^th-century Chinese piano music; the third part is conclusion.In the first part, after a search for the source of the composition of Chinese piano music, the author has posited her own idea that the very origin of Chinese piano art lies in Huababan and Waves of the Xiangjiang River by Zhao Yuanren in 1913. In the second part, an attempt has been made to have a research on the impact of Chinese social changes and culture upon the composition of piano music in the early 20^th century by reviewing musical literature, comparing the piano repertoire, and analyzing the structure of piano music and music culturology. In the third part the author has obtained a tentative conclusion that significant and profound is the influence of Chinese culture on the composition of piano music in the early 20^th century.