The Master of the Nets' Garden
The Master of the Nets’ Garden, in the city of Suzhou in eastern China , dates back to the 12th century with significant developments taking place in the 18th and 19th centuries. Like archetypal Chinese gardens, it’s focus is on form and structure rather than horticultural variety. It combines elements of water, rock structures and architectural “window framing” to produce a masterpiece of feng shui. Although the garden is actually set in a relatively small plot (compared to the gardens of British stately homes), there are so many different “rooms” and settings that we actually got lost when we visited.
My composition has been inspired by the atmosphere of The Master of the Nets’ Garden, Xinghai Xian’s melodies, and Emmanuel Pahud's playing of the Andante, Telemann Concerto in G Major.
Xinhai Xian was born in Guangdong Province in 1905. He showed musical promise at an early age, learning to play the clarinet while at school, and later the violin and piano. “In 1934 he was the first Chinese student to enroll at the senior composition class of the Paris Music Academy.”3 He returned to China in 1935, to a country struggling with the invasion from Japan. He was an ardent patriot and communist, spending time in the Soviet Union, where he ultimately died an early death from pulmonary tuburculosis. His most famous work is the Yellow River Cantata, written in the late 1930’s. I have been unable to find out when February was composed, although most of his other existing scores seem to date from the 1930’s.
Xinghai Xian was part of a new genre of modern Chinese classical music, mixing traditional aspects, such as the pentatonic major scale, with the forms of classical composition that he had studied in Paris. February is in ternary form, 4/4, and broadly in the key of D pentatonic major as is typical of much Chinese traditional music.
I have been influenced by Xinghai Xian’s use of the pentatonic major scale (utilizing only notes 1 2 3 5 & 6 of the diatonic scale). February is in D major while my composition opens in F major. My composition modulates to D minor, incorporating notes outside of the pentatonic scale, as a result of Telemann’s influence, and a few blue notes in the final recapitulation are a result of more contemporary influences.
I have adopted Xian’s use of a rising five triplet motif to transition into the second subject - this has become a feature that occurs several times in The Master of the Nets Garden. My composition also draws on Telemann’s descending three note string motif and the opening melody of Telemann’s Andante, although I have transposed it into Dm (the relative minor of the piece) and reorganized it rhythmically. I use a cadenza played by the flute to modulate from F pentatonic major into Dm, and I abandon the pentatonic scale for this section The Master of the Nets Garden.
The requirement to analyze two works by other composers has provided me with a welcome opportunity to compose something not just inside my own head. I have learned much from listening closely to Telemann’s and Xian’s works. By adopting and modifying aspects of their works, I have managed to create something that sounds completely different to anything I have previously composed.
My composition has been inspired by the atmosphere of The Master of the Nets’ Garden, Xinghai Xian’s melodies, and Emmanuel Pahud's playing of the Andante, Telemann Concerto in G Major.
Xinhai Xian was born in Guangdong Province in 1905. He showed musical promise at an early age, learning to play the clarinet while at school, and later the violin and piano. “In 1934 he was the first Chinese student to enroll at the senior composition class of the Paris Music Academy.”3 He returned to China in 1935, to a country struggling with the invasion from Japan. He was an ardent patriot and communist, spending time in the Soviet Union, where he ultimately died an early death from pulmonary tuburculosis. His most famous work is the Yellow River Cantata, written in the late 1930’s. I have been unable to find out when February was composed, although most of his other existing scores seem to date from the 1930’s.
Xinghai Xian was part of a new genre of modern Chinese classical music, mixing traditional aspects, such as the pentatonic major scale, with the forms of classical composition that he had studied in Paris. February is in ternary form, 4/4, and broadly in the key of D pentatonic major as is typical of much Chinese traditional music.
I have been influenced by Xinghai Xian’s use of the pentatonic major scale (utilizing only notes 1 2 3 5 & 6 of the diatonic scale). February is in D major while my composition opens in F major. My composition modulates to D minor, incorporating notes outside of the pentatonic scale, as a result of Telemann’s influence, and a few blue notes in the final recapitulation are a result of more contemporary influences.
I have adopted Xian’s use of a rising five triplet motif to transition into the second subject - this has become a feature that occurs several times in The Master of the Nets Garden. My composition also draws on Telemann’s descending three note string motif and the opening melody of Telemann’s Andante, although I have transposed it into Dm (the relative minor of the piece) and reorganized it rhythmically. I use a cadenza played by the flute to modulate from F pentatonic major into Dm, and I abandon the pentatonic scale for this section The Master of the Nets Garden.
The requirement to analyze two works by other composers has provided me with a welcome opportunity to compose something not just inside my own head. I have learned much from listening closely to Telemann’s and Xian’s works. By adopting and modifying aspects of their works, I have managed to create something that sounds completely different to anything I have previously composed.