Comparative Study On The Development Of Sailor's Song In China And Western Europe From 19^th Century

In looking at music history, we find that historical developments nourish music style and music style reflects the movement of human history. In many countries or regions, composers in their creative process exhibit many unique characteristics. The special characters are derived from social life and help the music style distinguished each other.Sailor's song is a traditional vocal music. It is one of the oldest music forms. Its origin and development is deeply involved in human being's daily life and special custom. Sailor's song experiences a long developing history. It initially functions as working tools to help people working on boat, but it ends up on the stage as a media of entertainment. Eventually, it evolves into art song as well as instrumental music.The research purpose presents in the preface along with current research progression, research method, and the important of this study. There are four chapers in this thesis.In the first chaper, Sailor's song is defined. Initially, Sailor's song is used by boat workers as a command to coordinate workers working together. With the invention of steam power, machines substitute the boatman as a moving power. As a result, Sailor lost its ground to machines and Sailor's song is no more function as a coordinate command. But Sailor's song as a music genre survived and continues to develop. It reaches its summit during the romantic period. Venice-style with lyric characteristics is the typical Western European sailor's song. Later, Sailor' song appears in instrumental composition, especially in piano composition. Due to the slow developing of capitalism in China, primeval working way is still kept in many areas. As a result, people still use the sailor's song to coordinate the movement. But, Professional musician adapt sailor's song and develop it into many styles and forms. Composers deliberately created music with specific national identities. Chinese Sailor's song reaches its summit in native instrumental composition areas.In chaper two, the origin of Chinese and Western European Sailor's song is discussed. Historical background, geographic location, culture environment, and social change are examined in detailed. Chinese Sailor's Song originates from old form of Wuge and Xiqu in ancient time and spreads in today's Hunan\Hubei and Zhejiang\Jiangsu area. Although it is a folk song initially, it develops into many styles and forms in Chinese long history. Unaccompanied vocal music is its original format. Later, numerous instruments are added up to accompany the singer. Its content includes social and life style of every stratum with all kinds of emotion. Western European Sailor's Song represents by Barcarolle which is a song in 6/8 or 12/8 time sung by Venetian gondoliers, with an accompaniment suggesting the rocking of a boat. Due to the special location, the fast booming of economy, and the unique culture environments, Venice style sailor's song develops into one of the most famous miniature form in the music history.In chaper three, many Chinese and Western European music literatures andexamples since nineteenth century are categorized and examined. The study focuseson music style as well as artistic expression. The major styles and the courses ofdevelopment in different period are summarized. The Western Europe Sailor's songsare mainly divided into vocal music and piano composition. Throughout thecomparative analysis of many romantic compositions in early, middle, and late period,we find that the development of Western Europe Sailor's songs are create by theprofessional musician and each composition has its own individual characteristics.Moreover, the change of Sailor's song in each period is a response to thecorresponding aesthetics ideological trend. The composer's creation concept has agreat influence on the music styles. Chinese Sailor's song is very complicated and hasthe distinguishing historical feature. In addition, the same music could be interpretedin different ways. Two Chinese Sailor's songs named "The earth with shining of themoon" and "Sailor's song of Jiangyin" are two masterpieces. They demonstrate thedevelopment and the spreading process of Chinese Sailor's song. The first Sailor'ssong is dated back to ancient times. And the second song is no late than nineteenthcentury. They are still performed on the stage today. Chinese Sailor's songs fall intotwo categories since nineteenth century. The traditional songs belong to folk song and the concert music is composed by professional musician. But, both categories share the similar regional and ethnic characteristics. Furthermore, the musicians whose contribution are significant on inheriting, developing, and innovating the Chinese Sailor's songs are listed here. The individual examples are examined.The fourth chaper is based on the discussion of chaper two and chaper three. The comparative study on the creative method, the function of expression, and the aesthetic of Sailor's song between China and Western Europe is emphasized. Chinese Sailor's song has the following characters: the performer does not always repeat same composition in the same way. The melody is used with another texture. The music is creatively used in different circumstance. The Western Europe Sailor's song is straightly used. The music is interpreted in same manner regardless individual difference. Each individual melody only fit the corresponding words. In Western European Sailor's song, composer great value humanities. The harmony is reached through the resolution of conflicts and the dissonant is resolve to consonant. Romantic aesthetic has a great influence on Western European's sailor's song. The personal feeling is expressed directly and freely. Individual ideas and emotion reflects in every composition. On the other hand, the harmony between Human Being and nature is emphasized in Chinese Sailor's song. The music is used to express the ordinary life and to appreciate the beauty of the great nature. Personal feeling is minimized to the lowest level.In conclusion, Chinese and Western Europe Sailor's songs belong to the same music category and share the common creative path in a board scope. But there are the significant differences when the detailed aspects are examined. Because of the geographic location, Chinese and Western European do not share the same values. They response and participate in music through numerous path. As the results, China and Western European Composers chose different expressions and method to interpret the sailor's song.