Chamber Music Piano
SKU: PR.110418480
Composed by Chen Yi.
Performance Score.
Duration 6 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#110-41848. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.110418480).
ISBN
9781491136294. UPC:
680160688784.
Chen
Yi’s beautiful and
highly-textured tone poem
was inspired by ancient
Chinese poetry; its
melodic ideas were
developed from musical
phrases characteristic of
Chinese opera. Wang
Ya’s original verse as
translated by Chen Yi
reads:“SONG OF SPRING
OUTING”Ten thousand
apricot trees by the
riverside,Spring flowers
bloom after the wind at
night.Covered over the
garden, colors dark and
light,Mirrored in the
green water
ripples.
SONG OF
SPRING OUTING was
commissioned by the
Center for East Asian
Studies and the Asian
Classical Music
Initiative at the
University of Kansas in
2022 for Dr. Yi-Yang Chen
to premiere in 2023.The
work was inspired by an
ancient Chinese poem with
the same title:Song of
Spring Outingby Wang Ya
(Tang Dynasty)English
translation by Chen YiTen
thousand apricot trees by
the riverside,Spring
flowers bloom after the
wind at night.Covered
over the garden, colors
dark and light,Mirrored
in the green water
ripples.This inspiring
image is like taking a
walk through a beautiful
garden with layers of
colorful trees and
flowers, mirrored in the
green water.The opening
phrase of the music
introduces the signature
intervals, the leap of a
seventh found in Beijing
Opera fiddle’s
language, followed by
melodic material with a
major 2nd and perfect 4th
in pentatonic style as
the thematic materials.
[C-Bb-G in bars 1-2,
followed by the top
pitches A-B and Ab-E( in
bars 2-3]. This statement
is brought back
(Rehearsal F) in a
retrograded form of the
introduction at the
climatic end of the
piece.The musical form is
a combination of
variations on thematic
materials, and a rondo.
After the introductory
section, Rehearsal A
introduces an
improvisation-like
mountain song melody
(developed from the
pentatonic material in
the
introduction).Rehearsal B
brings in a lively
texture in short
groupings with staccato
in both hands (using the
seventh leap interval
introduced in the opening
of the piece).Rehearsals
C and D develop the
introduction’s
pentatonic melody and the
mountain tune (introduced
in Rehearsal A) with more
layers in the
texture.Rehearsal E
develops the material
presented in Rehearsal B,
with an extended range in
both ends of the
keyboard, increasing the
freshness and
excitement.
Melody of Spring
