''The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto'' (梁山伯与祝英台小提琴协奏曲; often abbreviated ) is one of the most famous Chinese works of orchestral music. It is an adaptation of an ancient legend, the ''

Butterfly Lovers The Butterfly Lovers is a Chinese legend centered around the tragic romance between Liang Shanbo () and Zhu Yingtai (), whose names form the Chinese title of the story. The title is often abbreviated as Liang Zhu (). The story was selected a ...

,'' and is written for Western-style

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

and solo

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

. This concerto is written using the traditional 5-note technique (

pentatonic scale A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to heptatonic scales, which have seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale). Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many ancient ci ...

). The piece draws inspiration from

Yue Opera Yue opera (), also known as Shaoxing opera, is a popular Chinese opera genre, with only Peking opera considered to be more popular nationwide. Originating in Shengzhou, Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province in 1906, Yue opera features actresses in male r ...

for its melodies, chord structures, and patterns, and attempts to imitate the playing techniques of Chinese musical instruments, including the

Erhu The (; ) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, that is sometimes known in the Western world as the ''Chinese violin'' or a ''Chinese two-stringed fiddle''. It is used as a solo instrument as ...

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 rangi ...

.He Zhanhao, Chen Gang. ''Violin Concerto Butterfly Lovers (Full Score)''. Shanghai Music Publishing House, Jul. 1996.See introductions printed on the LP Vinyl ''Violin Concerto, Liang Shan-Po And Chu Ying-Tai'' (Label: M-2311, China Record Company, 1977). These elements give the piece a distinctive Chinese sound, although scholars note the concerto still uses Western tonal harmonies and borrows from the Western

sonata form The sonata form (also sonata-allegro form or first movement form) is a musical form, musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle of t ...

History

The concerto was written in 1959 by two Chinese composers, (何占豪, born 1933) and Chen Gang (陈钢, born 1935), while they were students at the

Shanghai Conservatory of Music The Shanghai Conservatory of Music (SHCMusic) is a municipal public college in Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the City of Shanghai and is part of the Double First-Class Construction. The college was founded on November 27, 1927. The Sh ...

. While Gang was known as a top composer at the conservatory, He had previously worked for a Yue Opera troupe and was familiar with the opera style's conventions. The composition project began as the result of an activity in 1958 at the conservatory, where students were tasked with learning traditional Chinese works in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. He Zhanhao is more widely credited for the composition of the concerto. However, his main contribution was the famous opening theme, while most of the development was written by Chen Gang. This was revealed in an interview of by

China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is the State media, national television broadcaster of China, established in 1958. CCTV is operated by the National Radio and Television Administration which reports directly to the Publicity Department of th ...

with several artists contributed in the creation and popularity of this work in China and worldwide. The premiere of the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto took place at the Shanghai Music and Dance Festival on May 27, 1959, featuring 18-year-old violinist Yu Lina, as part of the celebration of the tenth anniversary year of the founding of the

. Chen and Yu recount that the inaugural performance enjoyed uproarious applause, which continued even after the composers and performers concluded their performance. The concerto was banned during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, as fellow composers and political figures associated the

folktale Oral literature, orature, or folk literature is a genre of literature that is spoken or sung in contrast to that which is written, though much oral literature has been transcribed. There is no standard definition, as anthropologists have used va ...

with anti-Communist themes that exalted the bourgeoisie, further promoting counter-revolutionary messages such as individual liberation and the supremacy of love. In 1978, the piece resurfaced at the Shanghai Spring festival, thereby signaling a larger revival of the piece in China and beyond. The concerto received widespread acclaim and several gold records throughout the 1980s. Today, the concerto is widely referred to as "our symphony" in China, as the piece blends Western orchestra form with Chinese folklore, musical tradition, and national pride. The piece was first recorded in 1959 with Yu as soloist and the Symphony Orchestra of Shanghai Music Conservatory conducted by Fan Chengwu, and later by Shen Rong in 1961 with the same orchestra and conductor. The latter recording was re-released in 1977 by China Record Company. A recording of the work with

Gil Shaham Gil Shaham (Hebrew: גיל שחם; born February 19, 1971) is an American violinist. His accolades include a Grammy Award in 1999, and he has performed as a soloist with such orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna P ...

as the violin soloist that is conducted by Lan Shui leading the

Singapore Symphony Orchestra The Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Singapore. Its principal concert venue is the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay. The orchestra also gives concerts at the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, and performs ...

is heard often on radio stations such as

WSMR (FM) WSMR (89.1 Hertz, MHz) is a non-commercial FM broadcasting, FM radio station City of license, licensed to Sarasota, Florida, United States. It is owned by the University of South Florida and programs a classical music radio format, format. WSMR ...

, Sarasota Manatee Classical.

Story and musical elements

The concerto is in one movement, but is broken into seven distinct sections. Each tells a different part of the story of the ''

''. Some of the melodies come from the

Chinese Opera Traditional Chinese opera (), or ''Xiqu'', is a form of musical theatre in China with roots going back to the early periods in China. It is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient China, and evolved gradually over more tha ...

of the same name or from traditional Chinese folk songs. The solo violin of the concerto is symbolic of Zhu Yingtai, the story's protagonist, and the cello part is symbolic of Liang Shanbo, her lover.

I. Adagio Cantabile

The concerto begins with two-fifths in D by the harp, after which a solo flute opens with a flowery melody, setting the scene of the story. A solo oboe enters with the strings in G major, after which the solo violinist enters and begins a simple melody. This melody comes from a Chinese folk song of the Yellow River (Huanghe), and tells the story of Zhu Yingtai's childhood. The solo violin is accompanied by a harp and other elements of the orchestra. On the road to Hangzhou for her studies, Zhu (disguised as a man) meets Liang for the first time; a cello solo intertwines with the violin, bringing a new, but still melodious theme and modulating to D major. As the cello exits, the orchestral tutti plays the same melody of the solo violin, with occasional violin entrances in between. As the first buds of love begin to blossom, a short violin cadenza using mostly the G-pentatonic scale expresses Zhu's joy of her and Liang's oath of fraternity.

II. Allegro

The orchestra begins the next section in E major, the violin entering with a fast and jovial melody, representing Zhu and Liang's busy three years of school. Many examples of violin technique are represented, namely spiccato, fast playing over a wide range of notes, and even arpeggios, in a standard display of difficulty for a violin concerto.

III. Adagio assai doloroso

As the end of their schooling draws near, Liang and Zhu grow sad as they realize that their time together is nearly over. Zhu invites Liang to visit her family and to court her sister. He doesn't know that Zhu is really inviting him to marry her. Liang promises to see Zhu again, but Liang waits before doing so.

IV. Pesante – Piu mosso – Duramente

When Zhu returns home, she finds that her father has promised her to the son of a rich family. The solo violin struggles against the forces of the orchestra, representing her protests against her father.

V. Lagrimoso

When Liang arrives, he sees Zhu and realizes that she is a woman, and they fall in love. The solo violin and cello solo play an emotional duet, one of the most famous and powerful sections of the work.

VI. Presto resoluto

The love duet between the two is replaced by anger as Liang learns that in his absence, Zhu has been betrothed to another. The solo violin launches into a brilliant and difficult passage, supported by chords from the orchestra, but eventually returns to the original melody representing love, accompanied again by the cello solo. Liang becomes sick and dies as the duet draws to a close. Another virtuosic section for the solo and orchestra combines both the slow melodies and the fast energetic passages introduced before. The section ends with the suicide of Zhu as the solo violin ends with an abrupt high note.

VII. Adagio cantabile

The lovers' parts are united by a final section, with the solo violin and the orchestra redeveloping the opening theme to build to a triumphant climax. The concerto ends bittersweetly with a final melodic phrase from the solo violin, concluding mysteriously on a high D from the strings. In the legend, Liang's grave opens and Zhu throws herself into the chasm; the ending portraying the lovers' transformation into butterflies, never to be separated again.

Instrumentation

This concerto is composed for solo

, 2

flutes The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

, 2

oboes The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

, 2

clarinets The clarinet is a single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. The clarinet family is the largest woodwin ...

in A, 2

bassoons The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

, 4

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (anatomy) * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * Horns (novel), ''Horns'' (novel), a dar ...

, 2

trumpets The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B o ...

, 3

trombones The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the air column inside the instrument to ...

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion instrument, percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a Membranophone, membrane called a drumhead, ...

, percussion ( gu ban,

cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sou ...

tam-tam A gongFrom Indonesian and ; ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ; ; ; ; is a percussion instrument originating from Southeast Asia, and used widely in Southeast Asian and East Asian musical traditions. Gongs are made of metal and are circular and fl ...

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, and

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

.He Zhanhao, Chen Gang. ''Violin Concerto Butterfly Lovers (Full Score)''. Shanghai Music Publishing House, Jul. 1996. The piece is now often performed with Chinese instruments playing the violin part, the most common being

, and

Liuqin The ''liuqin'' ( Chinese: , pinyin: ) is a three, four or five-stringed Chinese mandolin with a pear-shaped body. The range of its voice is much higher than other Chinese plucked string instrument, and it is used in both orchestral ...

; in such cases, the soloist is often accompanied by an orchestra consisting of Chinese instruments. This piece has also been adapted into other forms, including a piano concerto by Chen Gang and a piano solo by Sun Yilin (孙亦林, Jan 3, 1935 - Apr 5, 2015).Sun Yilin, ''A Collection of Piano Pieces based on Chinese Folk Songs'', Central Music Conservatory Press, Jan. 2005.

References

External links

Releasing Muse's Arrow to the World
brief autobiography of Chen Gang (translated from Chinese) {{Authority control Music of China Violin concertos Chinese classical music 1959 compositions