Bach's traditions in polyphonic works for piano by Chinese composers

Tsao Xinyu Postgraduate student; Department of History of Performing Arts, Music Criticism and Media Technologies; Kazan State Conservatory named after N. G. Zhiganov 38 Bolshaya Krasnaya str., Kazan, 420015, Russia, Republic of Tatarstan cxy19971117@gmail.com

The history of the development of Chinese piano music in the twentieth century is inextricably linked with the development of Western European forms, genres and methods of organizing thematic material on the example of works of world classical music in the leading genres of piano music, namely sonatas, polyphonies, plays, etudes.

The current literature studies in detail the issues of historical periodization of the development of piano art in China ^{[2; 3; 7; 8; 12; 14; 15; 18; 19]}. The actual problems of studying piano music by Chinese composers are: the correlation of European and national principles in Chinese music, methods of implementing elements of Chinese traditional musical culture in works for the European piano instrument, issues of the influence of national thematism and the associated range of means of expression on the ways of organizing the form of piano works to music ^{[2; 8; 9; 14-19]}. Separate topics for discussion in the scientific literature are piano teaching, the spiritual and aesthetic aspect of studying the history of world piano art, the peculiarities of the worldview reflected in the figurative content of the works of European composers and the problems of understanding by Chinese musicians the logic of musical thinking new to them ^{[4; 6-8; 10-13; 22]}. The influence of the European and Russian piano schools was manifested in following the established trends in the development of piano performance.

The study of Chinese piano polyphonic music is an urgent task of modern musicology that requires special research. The subject of this article is polyphonic works for piano in various genres, namely the invention of "Deep at Night" by Zhu Shi, Fugue and Passacaglia from the cycle "24 fugues" (No. 8 and No. 24, respectively) Yu Suxian. The choice of genres in these works is not accidental ‒ the composers created them based on the samples of J. S. Bach and interpreted them in a peculiar way, using Bach's polyphonic techniques in the conditions of the "Chinese style". The purpose of the article was to discover the peculiarities of the interaction of the features that have developed in Bach's polyphony with the elements inherent in Chinese music. Revealing it, the author considers it a necessary task to pay attention to the conditions of acquaintance of Chinese musicians (in particular, pianists) with the music of J. S. Bach and the circumstances of studying his work.

The works of J. S. Bach occupy an important place in the piano pedagogy of China. In educational institutions of primary, secondary and higher levels of musical education, students study pieces from the "Music Notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach", inventions and symphonies, dances from partitas, preludes and fugues from the "Well-tempered Clavier", "Musical Offering" by the composer. The pedagogical tasks that are set for Chinese students mastering Bach's music: "to teach them to listen and hear each voice in a polyphonic presentation throughout its entire length, tracing by ear the logic of its development, its intonation, ... the "verticals" formed as a result of the movement of different voices..." [6. P. 178], are complemented by the acquaintance of a new For Chinese students, the content is deeply intellectual, sublime, connected with a spiritual culture and religion alien to the Chinese. The study of the historical context of Bach's work, its artistic and aesthetic content and its connections with the aesthetics of the Baroque, seems to be paramount when referring to this music by Chinese musicians - "the aesthetics of performing works for piano and musical style must remain within the strict framework of the academic norms of the Baroque" [28. C. 91]. In the study of the figurative and aesthetic side of Bach's music, Chinese musicologists often use a comparative historical approach. For example, Zhou Ziya's articles "A brief analysis of the similarities and differences between the musical styles of Bach and Handel in the Baroque period" ^[30] and Lin Jiani's "A brief analysis of the stylistic features of Bach's polyphonic musical works" ^[23] provide an in‒depth analysis of the uniqueness of the musical styles of two great Baroque musicians - Bach and Handel. Comparing the historical and biographical background, personal qualities, genres and techniques of composition of the two composers, the authors highlight the differences in their creative approach, as well as emphasize their contribution to Baroque music.

According to Tseng Xun, the analysis of the structure of polyphonic texture, intonation-rhythmic presentation of each voice, the choice of means of articulation, dynamics, a sense of tempo and its connection with the nature of music, familiarity with ornamentation is of great educational importance when studying Bach's works by younger schoolchildren. At the same time, the teacher must have the necessary historical and methodological knowledge to successfully study the works of the great composer. As a recommendation, the author recommends "listening to string quartets more" when forming the skill of horizontal hearing of polyphonic texture, controlling the sound of each voice [28. C. 90.].

A comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the composition technique and the artistic beauty of performing contrapuntal works for piano by Bach and performance recommendations are valuable not only for musicologists and piano performers, but for a wide range of music teachers and amateur musicians. The study and understanding of Bach's counterpoint technique allow performers to "reveal the musical secrets hidden in the works" [29. P. 266] and feel in Bach's music a huge potential for deep reflection and emotional expression.

The music of J. S. Bach had a great influence on the formation of Chinese compositional creativity in polyphonic genres and forms. The reference point to the work of the outstanding J. S. Bach ‒ the "father of polyphony" was natural for the first steps in the study of polyphonic forms and techniques. Traditions based on the study of Western European classics were laid down in the first decades of the twentieth century ‒ the years of the formation of the Chinese piano education system, performance and composition school. At the initial stage, the formation of the first conservatories ‒ Shanghai, Central ‒ and the activities of the first professors played an important role in this process. Among them, it is impossible not to mention the names of Sao Yumei, Huang Tzu, San Tong, as well as Russian musicians B. Zakharov, A. Cherepnin and many others [See About this: 2; 3; 9; 12; 13; 14; 15; 25].

Following B. Zakharov, the "father of piano education in modern China" ^[25] and other foreign piano teachers, Bach's works in the educational process are recommended as a basis for understanding the laws of musical composition, the peculiarities of voice science in musical tissue, the development of musical hearing and performing technique, and are analyzed as a sample composition. "Johann Sebastian Bach, the great composer of the Baroque era, made a significant contribution to the development of polyphonic music. Until now, Bach's works are mandatory in the repertoire for every piano lover in the learning process. His compositions, complex but strict in vocal studies, with a natural rhythm and pious emotional content, are loved by performers and are often performed at concerts," writes researcher Zhong Tong [29. p. 265].

The performance of Bach's keyboard works in the educational repertoire is complemented in higher musical educational institutions of China by studying the history and theory of polyphony as part of a lecture course and the practice of composing in various forms using a variety of compositional techniques and techniques. Often, the personality of a teacher combines several hypostases ‒ a theorist, a practitioner ‒ a composer and a pianist, a mentor ‒ teacher on the subject of "polyphony" and composition. In Chinese piano music, there are examples of teachers and theorists composing polyphonic works as a model for young musicians ‒ in particular, examples of compositions in "Bach" forms are the invention "Deep at Night" by Zhu Shi, Fugue and Passacaglia from the cycle "24 fugues" by Yu Xuxian.

Zhu Shi's two-voice invention "Deep in the Night" (1989) is modeled on J. S. Bach's inventions.

It is based on the popular melody of the Chinese Beijing opera "Deep in the Night". In the Beijing opera, this song is often used to express the nocturnal reflections of the characters, as well as to depict the scene at night, by Chinese composers it is often used to create treatments for various traditional instruments – erhu, guzheng, and also for piano [see about this, for example: 20; 26]. In the theme (in the pentatonic fret H-zhi), the basic tones of the melody of a folk song are preserved and melodic-rhythmic figurative changes are made, which do not deprive it of its pleasant simplicity. The second voice enters, imitating the initial motif of the theme an octave lower, and echoes the main one, forming an imitation-sub-vocal two-voice. The features of Peking opera are found in the rhythm: a rhythmic figure of four sixteenths with a dotted line on a strong lobe, a shift in rhythmic accents from the first lobe (combined with a variable size) are typical for Peking opera. On the nature of the execution of dotted lines in a group of four sixteenths, using the example of the piano piece by Chu Wanhua "Reflections of the Moon in the source", Qu Wa noted: "it is the "delay" of each sixteenth lobe that will give the flow of musical time a recognizable resemblance to the feature of conducting the bow when playing the erhu" [16. P. 31]. Imitation of folk instruments in Zhu Shi's invention is "given out" by melisms, tremolos, and the general nature of motional "transfers" between voices.

1. Zhu Shirui. The "Deep Night" invention

Also, in the spirit of the music of the Beijing opera, the code completion of the invocation was decided ‒ on loud dynamics, with accents, with compaction of texture and transition to homophonic-harmonic, and then chordal presentation of the theme (here it is modified intonationally), which gives it a solemn-anthemic character.

2. Zhu Shirui. The "Deep Night" invention, code

There are three sections in the invention: the exposition, the developing section and the reprise, but the theme and the answer in full are rarely heard. The developing section is non-contrasting, shadowing passages in the minor mood (with the cis foundation), syntactic fragmentation of phrases (2 bars each), chords at the ends of phrases appear here for the first time, as well as alternating pausing of one voice (or an extended sound) against the background of another voice entering with the theme, which is often found in the middle of Bach's compositions. In the reprise, the theme has been changed, including by expanding its scope ‒ intonations from the middle penetrate into its development, various variants of motifs overflow, passing from voice to voice, mutually complementing each other melodically and rhythmically.

Zhu Shi's invention "Deep in the Night" demonstrates the composer's original view of this genre and is its model in the Chinese national style.

An expression of respect and recognition of the greatness of Bach's genius is the appeal by Chinese composers to the form of the small polyphonic cycle "prelude and fugue", as well as the creation by Chinese composers of large polyphonic cycles of preludes and fugues or only fugues with the numerical designation 24. The composition of fugues in all 24 keys for Chinese composers aims to show the difference in the characters of the embodiment of national images in European polyphonic form. "The Well-tempered Clavier (48 preludes and fugues) represents Bach's highest achievement in the field of instrumental creativity and is one of the most important works in piano literature, which the world calls the "Old Testament" of piano music" [29. p. 265].

An interesting example of the interpretation of the fugue form, which is part of a large polyphonic cycle, is the double three-voice fugue No. 8 in D sharp minor from the cycle "24 fugues" by Yu Xuxian. The second theme of this fugue is taken from the theme of the fugue in D sharp minor from the first volume of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. In the preface to the collection, the composer outlines his idea of quoting and suggests combining Bach's music with Chinese pentatonics.

The first theme is exposed in the bass part: gradually unfolding from the tonic upwards, then cascading down through the sounds of the pentatonic, the melody returns to the main sound in the fourth bar.

3. Yu Xuxian. Fugue No. 8 from the cycle "24 fugues"

Then it contrasts with the second theme and is performed again in the same voice. The second theme of this fugue is the theme of Bach's fugue in D sharp minor, given in a mirror version in natural minor. The music is calm by nature, the character of Bach's fugue is preserved.

4. The theme of the fugue in D sharp minor by J. S. Bach

In bar 7, two themes end simultaneously on the "D-sharp" tonic. After that comes the connecting motif. In bars 9-12, both themes are held in the dominant key of A sharp minor, the middle voice is turned on by counterpoint, so both themes still sound in the extreme voices of the texture ‒ upper and lower. The connecting construction returns the key of D sharp minor. In bars 14-17, the themes are repeated in D sharp minor, changing voices, and the exposition ends on the tonic chord of D sharp minor.

The development (bars 17-20) begins with the first interlude ‒ it is two-voiced, built on a gamma-like movement, modulates in F sharp major. The themes enter in bars 21-24 in a parallel major key: the first ‒ slightly modified in its interval composition due to its pentatonic basis ‒ in the bass, the second – in the middle voice. The upper voice is a free counterpoint. The second interlude (bars 24-28), also two‒voiced, modulates in C major (key of the VI stage), preparing the conduct of both themes in this key in bars 29-32: the first theme is in the middle, the second in the upper voice on f. The free counterpoint continues to sound in the lower voice.

After a small connecting transition, a stretta occurs in the key of G sharp minor (bars 33-36): the first theme in G sharp minor takes place in the upper voice, in the middle voice a modified version of it enters the third part a quart lower (the second half of the theme is changed for the sake of euphony). The second theme, which contrasts with the first in its first performance in the stretch, sounds in a bass voice in a mirror image. As a result, a three-voice polyphonic structure is formed, combining imitation and contrast.

In bars 36-39, the second stretta enters in B minor (the fret contrast to the C major that sounded earlier in the interlude serves as a means of development), joining the first and being the canonical development of the second, Bach's, fugue theme. She enters in the upper voice, also on f, and after one bar in the middle voice, her imitation appears in the mirror version. The first theme sounds in the bass voice at the same time as the beginning of the stretch, thus forming a contrast.

In bars 39-41, the third interlude in G sharp minor is played, in which there is a decrease in tension.

The reprise begins in bars 42-45 ‒ the two themes combine in the key of D sharp minor. The first theme is played in the upper voice, the second is held synchronously in the middle and lower voices – in the usual and mirror views, respectively.

In bars 45-48, the third stretch comes in. The second theme in G sharp minor is conducted in the upper voice with step changes, since it begins with the V-scale of the fret, which gives it a Phrygian flavor. After one bar, the second theme is imitated in its original form in the bass voice, forming a canonical connection of the second theme to the duodecimum downwards. In the first theme, the individual notes in the middle voice have been changed to harmoniously combine the voices vertically.

The final reprise of the themes in bars 49-54 is code. The composer uses chord complexes, emphasizing the majesty of the fugue themes. The first theme in D sharp minor is played in the upper voice in a sextonic dubbing, the second theme is in the middle voice. In the lower voice, the polyphonic structure is supported by moves in the triad of D sharp minor down to the main tone. Thus, in this arrangement of themes, the polyphonic texture is mixed with the harmonic one. The dominant triad with a nono resolves into a tonic triad. In the final addition, the ascending passages rush upwards in thirds, ending with a mixed tonic chord containing major and minor thirds.

5. Yu Xuxian. Fugue No. 8 from the cycle "24 fugues", coda

Using the Bach theme as the second theme of the fugue, Yu Suxian immerses it in a different, pentatonic, fret field, the contrast of pentatonic and natural minor in combination of the two themes of the fugue is used by the composer as a dramatic means of development ‒ smoothed in the exposition, it manifests itself in the developing and reprise sections in vertical combinations of voices ‒ dissonant from the point of view of classical theories of polyphony (with quarts, seconds, septims), stretches. Intonationally, the themes are close to each other, and the fifth and quarter jumps in the Bach theme make it related to Chinese folk songs. The lack of thematism of the counter‒composition also serves dramatic tasks: its role is always performed by one of the themes of the fugue, thus the concentration of thematic development increases and leads to an increase in textural functions in the code: thickening the melody of the first theme into a sextuple, contrapuntal conducting of the second theme and harmonic support in the form of arpeggios with bass in the lower register - linear, horizontal logic is combined with harmonic, vertical.

Inheriting the traditions of Bach and his Passacaglia in C minor, Chinese composers turn to this form in their works. The analysis of J. S. Bach's Passacaglia in C Minor from the point of view of the genre (with its entire presentation as a musical example) is presented in a textbook in Chinese by the great Chinese theorist of polyphony and teacher Chen Mingzhi in his book "Polyphonic Music. Essay: A fundamental course" [20. pp. 260-276]. An example of a composition in the form of variations on an ostinate theme is the Passacaglia Fugue in B minor (three-voice) No. 24 from the cycle of 24 fugues "Yu Xuxian. In the passacaglia-fugue in B minor by Yu Xuxian, the structural features of both forms are combined: the minor fret, the three‒part size and the constant repetition of the ostinate bass theme are signs of the passacaglia, and the character of the fugue is obvious in the "superstructure" of the ostinate bass theme - the fugated presentation of the upper voices. The unifying stylistic means is pentatonics.

The ostinato theme is held three times in the exhibition. It begins with the first bar (vol. 1-9) in the bass voice, in B minor (fret H-yu). In the presentation of the theme, there is a deviation in F sharp minor with a return to the main tone. The theme of the passacaglia is restrained, majestic, severe in nature, and sounds in octaves throughout the work. Then it is repeated again (bars 9-18). In combination with it, the first exposition of the fugue theme takes place in the middle voice. Thoughtful in character, it is based on the initial motif of the four sounds of the passacaglia theme.

6. Yu Xuxian. Passacaglia-fugue No. 24 from the cycle "24 fugues"

At the third holding of the ostinato theme (bars 18-27), the fugue response enters in the lower F-jue mode in the upper voice with an anti-compound in the middle voice. Three contrapuntal voices in the 27th bar consistently end with a cadence with a clear sound of the H-yu tonic. It is also the end point of the fugue's exposure.

The development (bars 27-36) begins with the ostinate bass theme, which is held for the fourth time. In combination with it, the fugue theme sounds in D major (Re-gun) in the middle voice with an anti-compound in the soprano. This D major fugue theme also uses a G‒sharp alterationin interaction with a restrained bass theme. Measure 36 ends with a tonic chord. Further in the development, the ostinato theme will sound 4 more times: the fifth variation (bars 36-45) ‒ in combination with the fugue theme in the upper voice in a mirror treatment. The sixth variation (bars 45-54) is transferred to the upper voice, and the fugue theme in the C-y fret is transferred to the lower voice in octave duplication, ending on the tonic chord in B minor. The seventh and eighth variations (bars 54-63) are combined in the canonical stretch with the ostinate theme in the middle and upper voices. In bars 63-72, the ostinate bass theme takes place for the ninth time, again in the bass in octave dubbing, and the upper and middle voices are fugue interludes developed from the theme material, modulating in the key of B minor.

In the reprise, in bars 72 to 82, the ostinate bass theme is played for the tenth time with deafening force (on ff). The theme-response of the fugue in F sharp minor takes place in the upper voice, the theme enters the middle voice two bars later, thereby forming a canonical stretch, which ends in the 82nd bar with a tonic chord in B minor.

In the coda (bars 82-87), a fourth voice is added – the bass organ point "si": the ostinate theme now sounds in the middle voice – in the tenor – in B minor, the fugue theme in the viola modulates in the xi-jue mode (do-bekar is added), bringing a Phrygian flavor to the overall sound.

7. Yu Xuxian. Passacaglia-fugue No. 24 from the cycle "24 fugues", coda

The Passacaglia fugue from the Yu Xuxian cycle is proposed by the composer to demonstrate the interpretation of the classical form in the conditions of pentatonics.

The piano repertoire of Chinese music contains a huge variety of polyphonic works. A number of Chinese composers of the older generation, inspired by Bach's compositions, symphonies, preludes and fugues from the "Well-tempered Clavier", in many of their works rely on the traditions of Western European polyphonic music, the basis of which is Bach's music. "Bach is a great musician who connects the past and the future in the history of Western music, an epoch–making figure in the history of piano music, who laid the foundations of keyboard music" [28. p. 90]. The influence of Bach's polyphonic music manifests itself at different levels ‒ from the choice of genres and forms to individual polyphonic techniques and textured drawings. However, it should be noted that Chinese composers at the same time preserve the national character of music in their polyphonic works. It is found in the pentatonic fret base, trichord intonations, quotations of folk songs, the penetration of elements of Chinese folk drama ‒ the Beijing Opera, as well as the imitation of playing techniques on traditional instruments and the texture of a folk instrumental ensemble. The combination of such musically and stylistically different forms and means of expression forms unique examples of Chinese polyphony.