Liu Tianhua (; 1895–1932) was a Chinese musician and composer best known for his innovative work for the ''

erhu The ''erhu'' (; ) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, which may also be called a ''Southern Fiddle'', and is sometimes known in the Western world as the ''Chinese violin'' or a ''Chinese two-s ...

''. Liu's students, such as Jiang Fengzhi and Chen Zhenduo, continued to contribute to the development of the ''erhu''. He was the younger brother of the poet

Liu Bannong Liu Bannong (; May 29, 1891 – July 14, 1934) or Liu Fu () was a Chinese poet and linguist. He was a leader in the May Fourth Movement. He made great contributions to modern Chinese literature, phonology and photography. Life A son of the edu ...

. He died in 1932 at the age of 37.

Work on Chinese music

Liu was a noted

and

pipa The pipa, pípá, or p'i-p'a () is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets rang ...

player, and an early pioneer in the modernisation of traditional Chinese music. He joined

Cai Yuanpei Cai Yuanpei (; 1868–1940) was a Chinese philosopher and politician who was an influential figure in the history of Chinese modern education. He made contributions to education reform with his own education ideology. He was the president of Pek ...

's Peking University Music Society as an instrumental instructor in 1922. He promoted Chinese music while he was at Peking University, founded the Society for the Improvement of Chinese Music (國樂改進社, ''Guóyuè Gǎijìnshè'') in 1927 and its periodical, the ''Music Magazine'' (音樂雜誌, ''Yīnyuè Zázhì''). The society organised classes and formed a musical ensemble to play Chinese music, a forerunner of the modern

Chinese orchestra The term Chinese orchestra is most commonly used to refer to the modern Chinese orchestra that is found in China and various overseas Chinese communities. This modern Chinese orchestra first developed out of Jiangnan sizhu ensemble in the 1920s i ...

. He made improvements to the traditional fiddle

huqin ''Huqin'' () is a family of bowed string instruments, more specifically, a spike fiddle popularly used in Chinese music. The instruments consist of a round, hexagonal, or octagonal sound box at the bottom with a neck attached that protrudes up ...

, in particular the

, so that it can become an instrument suitable for a modern stage performance, and wrote music for the instrument. He also made changes to the pipa, increasing the number of frets and used an

equal-tempered An equal temperament is a musical temperament or tuning system, which approximates just intervals by dividing an octave (or other interval) into equal steps. This means the ratio of the frequencies of any adjacent pair of notes is the same, w ...

tuning.

Compositions

Titles in

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

, Chinese characters and English translation.

Erhu

* Bìng Zhōng Yín () 1918 (recitation of ill-being; Soliloquy of a Convalescent)Translation on
record by Wei Chung-loh
(衛仲樂), 1938 * Yuè Yè () 1924 (moon night) * Kǔmèn zhī Ōu () 1926 (song of melancholy) * Bēi Gē () 1927 (song of lament) * Liáng Xiāo () 1928 (beautiful evening) * Xián Jū Yín () 1928 (recitation of leisure) * Kōng Shān Niǎo Yǔ () 1928 (bird song in a desolate mountain) * Guāngmíng Xíng () 1931 (towards brightness) * Dú Xián Cāo () 1932 (

Étude An étude (; ) or study is an instrumental musical composition, usually short, designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapidl ...

on a single string) * Zhú Yĭng Yáo Hóng () 1932 (shadows of candles, flickering red) * Studies for Erhu No 1 - 47

Pipa

*Gē Wǔ Yǐn () (Dance Prelude) *Gǎi Jìn Cāo () (Improved Étude) *Xū Lài () 1929 (Sound of Emptiness)「虛籟」含義到底為何？
“「虛」是「空虛」、「虛無」的意思，「籟」原是古代的一種簫，因為簫的聲音是從孔穴裡發出來的，又引申為從孔穴裡發出聲音，後來人們把籟泛指為聲音，「虛籟」是指沒有聲音，或是空虛的聲音。” (''Xū'' means empty and ''Lài'' is a classical instrument that is now generalized to mean "sound." ''Xū Lài'' therefore means "no sound" or "the sound of emptiness".)

Arrangement for ensemble

* Variations on Xinshuiling ()

References

External links

* *
iTunes: Chinese Traditional Erhu music Vol. 1 by Lei QiangTreasures Of Chinese Instrumental Music, ErhuiTunes: Treasures Of Chinese Instrumental Music, Erhu
1895 births 1932 deaths Chinese male composers Erhu players Pipa players Musicians from Suzhou People from Zhangjiagang Deaths from streptococcus infection Infectious disease deaths in China Chinese composers 20th-century composers Burials in Beijing 20th-century male musicians {{china-musician-stub