THE MAGIC OF THE NIGHT IN WANG XIE'S «FALLING NIGHT FLOWER»: FROM FOLKLORIC MOTIFS TO IMPRESSIONISM

Abstract

The purpose of the work is to study the peculiarities of the musical language of the famous contemporary Chinese composer Wang Xi. To identify the stylistic features of the composer's language in general and in particular in the chamber instrumental work Falling Night Flower for yangqing and piano.
Demonstrate how the work embodies a broad interpretation of the symbols declared in the title. To explore the compositional logic and style of the work through a detailed analysis of its structural, tonal, and musical and expressive features.
The methodological basis of the work is determined by the structure and artistic specificity of the object and includes a musical and stylistic approach and a comprehensive musicological and structural analysis of the musical material itself. The scientific novelty of the work is determined by the fact that it is the first to study the chamber-instrumental composition «Falling Night Flower» for yangqing and piano by Wang Xie. The expressive means, architectonics, dramaturgy, and program compliance are analyzed in detail.
Conclusions: Wang Xie's «Falling Night Flower» for yangqin and piano ensemble is a programmatic work in which flowers have a symbolic meaning. In conveying his creative intention, the composer used the timbre features of the instruments, different ways of playing both the yangqing and the piano. Their ensemble sound, with some predominance of the Chinese cymbals, gave composer Wang Xie the opportunity to reproduce with the means of the piano and yangqing the richness of poetic pictures of Chinese nature, a diverse palette of moods, against which one can imagine a number of contrasting plots unfolding.
The cycle's quite clearly defined architectonics is skillfully combined with a number of expressive means that include elements of traditional Chinese music and features of impressionistic music writing. The principles and methods of development of thematic material, where variant development in combination with improvisation is dominant, are inherent in Chinese folklore and are also characteristic of impressionism.