«I Ching» in Chinese music: composition method of Chung Yiu Kwang

Abstract

The subject of the study is the original author's method of composition, developed by the modern Chinese composer Chung Yiu Kwang based on the 64 hexagrams of the “I-Ching”. The ancient Chinese philosophy of taiji attracted many composers of the second half of the twentieth century. Chung Yiu Kwang developed a quasi-serial writing technique: four 12-tone fundamental series are built on the tritone relationship of two hexachords - yin and yang. The purpose of the research is to study the implementation of the basic principles of the “I-Ching” in the composition system of Chung, using the example of the composer’s only serial piece “Under The Red Eaves”. For the first time in Russian musicology, the composition method of Chung Yiu Kwang was considered; a creative portrait of the composer and an overview of his main works are presented; the path of formation of his original technique is traced; аn analysis of the first hexagrams in the orchestral play “Under The Red Eaves” was carried out. The formation of the original composition method was due to the creative interests of Chung, his studies in New York, his acquaintance with Chou Wen-Chung and his students - representatives of the Chinese New Wave - Tan Dun, Zhou Long, Chen Yi. This predetermined the musician's turn to the synthesis of the ancient Chinese philosophy “I-Ching” with Western serial methods of organizing musical texture. Based on the symbolism of hexagrams and the ancient Chinese lü scale, the author builds a three-level system of interaction of pitch relations: the level of fundamental series, the level of complementarity of yin and yang segments that give rise to 12-tone rows, and the level of alternation of yin and yang tones in accordance with the change of dotted and solid lines in hexagrams..