By Xie Mei (translated by Li Yixiong) – IAWM Journal (2002)
Li Yiding, the highest ranking composer employed by China Central Television, was awarded the 19th Chinese TV Golden Eagle Prize in November 2001 for her theme song, The Years are Full of Emotion, written for the television play, Snow Has Disappeared without Any Trace. The prize, sponsored by the Chinese Literature and Art League and the Chinese Television Artists Association, is the only national artistic television prize determined by audience vote. On a sunny day, sitting on a comfortable sofa in a Starbucks Café in Beijing, I interviewed her, and we discussed her growth as a composer.
Xie Mei: Yiding, not long ago, the Chinese television audience selected your theme song, The Years are Full of Emotion, as their favorite, and it received the 19th Chinese TV Golden Eagle Award of 2001. Please explain how you composed the song.
Li Yiding: Snow Has Disappeared without Any Trace is a 20-part serialized TV play about anti-corruption. It is an important and serious dramatic presentation. When I composed the theme song, I did not write in abstract terms; I tried to capture the soul, that is, the meaning of this noble undertaking. Ms. Wang Jian, a famous poet who wrote the words of the song, made as many as 20 drafts before she was satisfied. The text for the song is,
Snow has disappeared without any trace.
Years are full of emotions.
Have you heard the steps of spring?
A season can neither go backwards
Nor change its color.
Look,
Trees are flourishing without any words.
The meaning is implied, and the words are encouraging and profound. As soon as I read the poem, I was deeply moved, and like the poet’s many lyrical drafts, I wrote many different musical drafts as well. The extraordinary expressiveness of the song made a strong impression on the listening audience. The main features are the wide musical range, the modulation, the change in dynamics from forte to piano, and a mood that changes from lyrical to spirited. While composing it, I never imaged I would win this special award.
XM: You have written many musical works that show depth of thought. Perhaps it is related to your own experience. Will you tell me about your background?
LY: With pleasure. Both my father and mother graduated from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Beijing Normal University. I grew up on the university campus and was a studious child. I began playing the piano when I was very young, and I have never stopped learning and practicing, which has been very helpful to me in my career.
Since my early years, I have had several special interests, one of which is literature. My father was a famous scholar of Chinese literature, and many books lined the bookshelves in our home. I enjoyed reading very much when I was young. Literature not only excited me deeply and enriched my life, but also gave me hope later in life, after having suffered some painful experiences. My eldest sister studied in the Soviet Union, and under her influence, I was exposed to many famous Russian novels, paintings and songs in my childhood. The profound and beautiful Russian melodies impressed and inspired me; they can never leave—Russian music remains in my heart.
I have also been especially interested in the northeastern region of China, and I have many memories of the years I spent there. At the time of the “Great Cultural Revolution” [1966-76], my father was suddenly slandered as a rebel, just because he once engaged in underground work during the time of the Japanese war against China (a part of World War II). I immediately lost my warm, comfortable home and began to taste loneliness. My second sister was forced to work in the Northeast, in the Yichun Forest region of Heilongjiang Province, thousands of kilometers away from Beijing. She took me with her. During this period, large numbers of students, young intellectuals, were sent to the countryside to learn from the peasants. They did manual labor and lived a very hard life.
The Yichun Forest region was far from the big cities, and everything was strange to me. My job was to pull wild grass in the large potato fields. I worked hard without saying a word, but I could not work fast enough to catch up with others. A little mute girl helped me, and I was deeply moved. My sister and I lived in a small house; one neighbor’s job was to saw wood and the other’s was to drive a tractor. The peasants did not care that we were daughters of a rebel. These simple, kind people took good care of us and showed us great sympathy. I have never forgotten them.
After one year, I was sent to work in a primary school as a teacher of music and Russian. Then, I became a pianist with the Yichun Song and Dance Ensemble. Because of my family background, I had to keep silent and practice the piano long hours. I wore such old clothing that nobody believed I could come from Beijing, the capital of China. During this period, I taught myself harmony and began to compose some songs. In 1977, the college examination system was restored. I passed the entrance examination with excellent scores and entered the Composition Department of Shenyang Conservatory of Music. I was hungry for knowledge and felt very much at home there.
XM: When did you begin to write musical compositions for movies and television dramas?
LY: After graduation, I was sent to China Central Television as a music editor. At that time, I had just gotten married, and my main ambition was to be a good wife and loving mother. Unfortunately, I had a mentally retarded child and had to spend much time with my family. My career, however, was progressing. I composed the music for the serialized television play, Xiao Long and Xiao Li, and for Oath of Friendship, a television drama co-produced by China and Pakistan. I also won prizes: the Feitian First Prize for a children’s TV play, and the President’s Prize. Even so, I still lacked self-confidence.
In 1990, by chance, I met Mr. Wang Fulin, a famous director of the television play, Dream of the Red Mansion. He commissioned me to compose the music for the TV drama, Macao Anecdotes. My rich life experiences over many years and my depth of feeling enabled me to create just the right music. Two of the of the songs, Dream of the Sea and Wind on the Sea, pleased the audience so much that I was awarded the first prize for excellence in television song writing. With such positive experiences, I began to gain self-confidence and developed a strong desire to create new musical works.
My personal life was just the opposite, since I was recently divorced from my former husband. Although I was heartbroken, I could forget my sorrows as long as I was able to compose. Creating music gave me the confidence to stand up and find myself again. Composing opened up new worlds in my life, and my career as a composer blossomed. From that time on, more and more directors have invited me to compose, and over the past ten years or so, I have written the music for14 movies and about 80 TV plays.
XM: What are the main movies and television plays for which you have composed music?
LY: For the movies: A Little Girl from Beijing, Winter of That Year, Happy Angels, Singing Deer in Golden Autumn, Police Affair in Childhood, Great Military Review, Great Chivalrous Football Players, and The Place My Old Father Once Stayed and Labored. For the TV plays: Oath of Friendship, Bang Bang is So Good, Changes in Golden Cock Valley, Either Crying or Laughing Means Loving, Golden Pea, Wen Yiduo, Bloody-Colored Frontier Pass, Snow Has Disappeared without Any Trace, Princess Wencheng, Eight-Petal Gesang Flower, and many more. I also wrote the music for Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the 84-part serialized TV play, which was seen not only in China but also in Japan, Korea and some countries in Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas.
XM: Based upon your vast experience in writing for movies and television, what advice would you give?
LY: Above all else, the composer must be certain that the music goes well with the drama and is in accordance with the demands of the director. It is therefore very important to know the play well and to exchange views with the director. In addition, the composer must be a person who has had rich life experiences and deep insights. My knowledge and love of literature has also been helpful. I recall that when I received the script of the television play, Wen Yiduo, I could not help being intoxicated by it. The college campus, the professor of Chinese literature, the young students—they were all familiar to me. My inspiration came in a flash. The opening lines of Wen Yiduo’s poem, Sleep, which was written in memory of his deceased daughter, served as the text for the theme song of the play.
Sleep, I let you sleep,
With the yellow earth
I cover you gently,
I let the Hades money fly slowly.
In the play, this is a memorial song that is sung after Wen Yiduo’s death. My second sister had just died at that time, and I was still grieving over her death. Upon reading the poem, I shivered and sobbed: a deep memory seemed to become a chorus, a humming sound appeared to linger in the sky. I imagined a soprano voice singing lightly and slowly with much feeling; the silence suggested sadness and the soul seemed to rise into paradise. The director was excited when he heard the opening of the song and said that was exactly the kind of expression he wanted.
XM: Romance of the Three Kingdoms is based on a historical theme. As a modern person, how can you master its musical style?
LY: I wrote the music for the 84-part serialized TV play with two other composers. It took us about four years to complete. I began by reading the original novel, and I tried to understand the atmosphere of the Han dynasty by studying Jianan literature, and by researching the architecture, clothing, jewelry and folk costumes. Gradually, I seemed to see the ministers and generals, scholars and warriors appearing in front of me. I almost felt as if I knew what they were thinking more than 2,000 years ago. At last, every time I picked up my pen, the musical inspiration from my heart would emerge from the tip of the pen and leap on to the musical score. The music has been described by many listeners as dignified and magnificent but of primitive simplicity.
XM: Later, you wrote a symphonic poem called Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which marked the beginning of your development as a composer of instrumental music.
LY: Yes. After composing the music for the television series, I was still excited about the project. I felt that I had much more to say, and I turned to the symphonic poem. The work introduces and develops five main themes to express the dramatic conflict and grandeur of the play. The themes crisscross, overlap, contrast, coexist, repeat and reappear. My aim was to produce a magnificent portrait of ancient China. I added a Chinese instrument, the Guanzi (a type of pipe with a unique sound), to the Western orchestra to establish a tragic and solemn mood, and I used traditional Western instruments in non-traditional ways.
XM: I believe you have recently written other instrumental compositions.
LY: In 1999 I traveled to Tibet to collect folk music for the TV play Princess Wencheng. The Tibetan people welcomed us warmly and sang their native songs for us. Tibet, the highest plateau in the world, is 5,000 meters above sea level. Beside Namco Lake, the highest lake in the world, blue and clear waves beat upon the banks. In the distance, the mountains are covered with white snow. Far away from the noisy bustle of the world, I felt as if my mind had been purified. On Zhaxi Island near the lake, there are two gigantic stones, whose shapes are very strange—peculiar but beautiful. Once again, nature’s great craftsmanship rewarded me.
The trip to Tibet was inspirational. When I returned to Beijing, I not only completed the music for the TV play but also wrote four instrumental works: Tibet Scenet, a piano prelude, performed for the first time in 2001 by the Austrian pianist Albert Sassman in Qingdao City, China. Tibet Langda is for string quartet. Guge Kingdom Ruins for cello and piano was premiered by Friedrich Gauwerky, a German cellist, in Beijing Concert Hall in 2001. Zhaxi Island Rhapsody for clarinet and piano was premiered by the Price Duo in Beijing Concert Hall on June 7, 2001. It was performed in 14 concerts in Beijing, Shanghai and Korea and also in the USA at the 12th Annual IAWM/NMWA Chamber Music Concert in Washington, D.C., on June 2, 2002.
Zhaxi Island Rhapsody is in two parts, Adagio and Allegro, within a single movement. It is written in accordance with the performance pattern of the Duixie, a Tibetan folk song and dance. The long melodic line of the clarinet reminds us of the bright sunlight on the plateau of Northern Tibet and carries us across time and space, bringing us to the forgotten ancient times. The piano imitates the percussion instruments to show the rhythms of the Duixie, both simple and solemn. The melody of the Duixie expresses bold, unrestrained and enthusiastic emotions. The meters are irregular: 2/4, 5/8 and 3/8. The polytonality that is used throughout is based upon an artificial mode composed of two keys a diminished fifth apart (C and G-flat). The tonality breaks through the limitations of traditional tonalities and modes and captures the expressiveness of Tibetan ancient music.
As a composer for movies and television, I believe it is necessary to write serious music to broaden my areas of creativity and improve my compositional skills. Among the composers I especially admire is Leonard Bernstein, a well-known American musician who attained great achievements in both popular and serious music. This is what I also wish to do.
XM: What are your plans as a Board Member of the IAWM and Liaison from China?
LY: Through my hard work, a Chamber Music Concert, part of the Volkswagen (China) Sound Foundation (2002) Free Concert Week, will be held in Poly Theatre in Beijing on July 25, 2002. Five of the composers are IAWM members: Deon Nielsen Price, Chen Yi, Li Yiding, Yao Henglu and Jin Jing. Li Hongying, pianist, and Li Xiang, cellist, also are IAWM members. This is just the first step. I hope that more Chinese women composers will introduce their musical works to the world and more foreign women composers’ works will be introduced in China. I also hope that an IAWM International Congress will be held in China in the near future.
Xie Mei is a reporter for the journal, Arts Today. Li Yixiong (Li Yiding’s sister) is professor of English at Shenyang Conservatory of Music.