A Historical Narrative And Theoretiical Reflection On Aesthetics Of Form And Content In Modern Chinese Musicology

The title of the thesis is "A Historical Narrative and Theoretical Reflection on Aesthetics of Form and Content in Modern Chinese Musicology", which focused on the discussions, which has been in progress since the early20th century in the field of musical aesthetics in China, about the dichotomy of form and content. It provides an outline of the history of this issue, tries to clarify the relevant problems, and discusses the validity of this pair of categories in music aesthetics.The thesis consists of four parts.First, the concept of form in music. Judging from the current situation of the study on this subject, there are two different sense of the concept of form, i. e. the disposition of parts in a whole, and the appearance of things. In the Chinese aesthetic theories of form, these two senses have more than often been mixed.Second, the concept of content in music. The clarification of this concept constitutes a both important and difficult task for this study. According to the ways of existence of music, the con-cept is defined in three senses. Firstly, it is something external to music, both physical and spiri-tual. Secondly, it exists within music, closely connected with the form of sound. Thirdly, it is a product of the interaction between the subject and the object.Third, the relationship between form and content in music. This part deals with the al-ready-existing aesthetics of the issue in China and identifies two influential forces, the theory of reflection based on Marxist dialectical materialism, and the musical aesthetic of heteronomy. An outline is given of the heated contention about musical form and content in China in the1980s, which is intended to reveal some fundamental problems.Finally, problems existing in the theoretical studies on this issue and possible resolutions. There are basically four problems:(1) ambiguity of the origin of the issue;(2) lack of consistency in the use of concepts;(3) confusion of subject and object; and (4) conflict between the ideas of the empirical and the logical. The author suggests that these problems can be fixed, at least par-tially, by the study from the perspective of the way of the existence of music.