Choral Art of China: Determination of Composing Creativity, Performance and Education

Abstract

Compared to other types of musical art, the unity of three components – composer creativity, performance and education – in choral practice is the most deterministic. A vivid example of this is the choral art of China, each direction of which has its own characteristic features, peculiar ways of development, vectors of application determined by certain historical and socio-cultural factors, but in general they appear as an inseparable organic alloy. The purpose of the article is to highlight the trinity of composer creativity, performance and education as determinants of the development of choral art in China. The research methodology is based on a comprehensive approach based on historical-cultural, comparative, music-theoretical analysis of the material and theoretical modelling of the structural-logical and substantive characteristics of choral activity. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the fact that the trinity of composer creativity, performance and choral art education in China is considered for the first time as an immanent quality determined by historical development. Conclusions. Since the beginning of the 20th century, Chinese choral culture has been actively assimilating compositional, performing, and educational traditions of a foreign, mostly European, model. In the first half of the century, this was especially evident in the work of composers. Choirs by Chinese composers created in this period are based on the melody of patriotic songs in an organic synthesis with European writing techniques (including polyphonic). In the second half of the 20th century, the emphasis shifted towards performance, which was determined by the socio-political involvement of art, when choral work was a tool of political propaganda. At the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century, choral art in China becomes independent, specialised educational institutions are opened in the country, where the training of conducting and choral personnel is carried out. At each stage, each branch of choral art in China had its own characteristics, development trajectory, vectors of application. In general, separate components – composer creativity, performing and educational activities become an inseparable whole during the entire development. This determinism of Chinese choral culture ensured its successful development in the 20th and early 21st centuries.