A study of two piano works and their roots in ancient Chinese poetry and literati music: Two poem classics of the Tang Dynasty by Xu, Zhenmin (b. 1934) and Three preludes by Gong, Xiaoting (b. 1970)

Abstract

This document studies Xu Zhenmin’s Two Poem Classics of the Tang Dynasty and Gong Xiaoting’s Three Preludes, and discusses how ancient Chinese poetry and literati music influence these two modern Chinese piano compositions. The author will introduce the general styles of the poetry in the Tang dynasty and the ci of the Song dynasty, the style of ancient Chinese literati music, and the timbre characteristics of guqin — one of the representative instruments of ancient Chinese literati music. Building on this understanding, the author will demonstrate how the elements of ancient Chinese poetry and literati music manifest in the two works of Xu and Gong. This document will also provide musical analyses and discuss performance interpretation of these two works.