Zeng Zhi_

Zeng Zhi_ (1879-1929) Zemin, a native of Shanghai. His father, Zeng Zhu, was appointed president of the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce in 1905. In 1901, Zeng and his wife Cao Rujin went to Japan to study. The following year, he participated in the "Music Seminar" organized by Shen Xingong. In 1903, he published "Music Theory" and "Singing and Teaching Methods" in the "Jiangsu" magazine published in Tokyo. Among them, 6 songs including "Training Soldiers" and "Spring Outing" were printed in contrast with five-line notation and simplified notation. This is the earliest publicly developed school song that can be seen, and it is also the earliest record of the official use of simplified musical notation by the Chinese.

Chinese name: Zeng Zhi_

Nationality: Chinese

Birthplace: Shanghai

Date of birth: 1879

Date of death: 1929

Occupation: musician, music educator

Main achievements: Published the earliest music theory textbook

Representative work: "On Music Education" ", "A Brief Introduction to Harmony"

Character Introduction

Zeng Zhi_ is an indispensable and important figure in the history of modern music in my country. Zeng Zhi_, courtesy name Zemin, also known as Zelin, was born in Shanghai in 1879. He died of illness in 1929 at the age of 50. He was one of the first batch of enthusiastic young people to study in Japan in the early 20th century. He was a music activist in the enlightenment era of modern new music in my country - the "School Music and Songs" period. He was also one of the earliest music theorists in the history of modern music in my country. A pioneer in trying to establish a modern music school and a pioneer in juvenile music education.

Zeng Zhi_’s father, Zeng Zhu, was a patriotic businessman with reform ideas and a former president of the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce. He had an important influence on Zeng Zhi_’s later path of advocating new music. Zeng Zhi_ taught in the primary school affiliated with Nanyang Public School in Shanghai in his early years. In 1901, he and his wife Cao Rujin went to Japan to study. At his father's request, he majored in law at Waseda University and graduated from the school. Cao Rujin studied painting and music at the Women's Practical School. She was one of the earliest female students in my country to study violin in Japan.

While staying in Japan, Zeng Zhi quickly developed a strong interest in the new music after the Meiji Restoration in Japan, and came up with the idea of ??learning Western music. In 1902, he joined the "Music Seminar" organized by Shen Xingong in Tokyo and became the most active member. In 1903, he entered the Tokyo Music School and began to carry out extensive musical activities in Japan. In the same year, Zeng Zhi published his own lyrics for "Training Soldiers", "Spring Outing", "Yangtze River", "Naval Battle", "New", "Autumn Insects", etc. These songs are the earliest publicly published "school songs" discovered in my country, and they are also one of the early records of the formal use of simplified musical notation by the Chinese that can be seen today.

Artistic Achievements

Yaya Concert

In May 1904, Zeng relaunched the organization based on the "Music Seminar" founded by Shen Xingong "Yaya Concert" is the first new music society in modern my country. Zeng’s wife, Cao Rujin, was the first girl in my country to study violin in Japan. The association's purpose is to "develop social music in schools and inspire the national spirit." At the "Graduates Farewell" concert that year, the Zeng couple's piano ensemble became the most eye-catching performance. Reports at the time praised it as "leisurely brave and vigorous, as if it were in the European music world, and it is refreshing." Clear, refreshed." In July of the same year, Zeng translated and published the "Music Theory Textbook" (published by Shanghai Guangzhi Book Company), which was the earliest relatively complete music theory textbook published at that time.

National Concert

In 1905, the second issue of "Lion Wake" published the "National Concert Advertisement" signed by the promoters Zhu Shaoping and Zeng Zhi_, announcing that " "National Concert" "aims to cultivate noble skills, explore the origin, expand national music ideas, and promote national music spirit", and has established "Military Music Department", "Orchestral Ensemble Department" and "General Department", and it is already an amateur music school School.

Educational achievements

Establishing schools

In 1907, Zeng Zhi returned to his motherland from Japan.

It was the eve of the Revolution of 1911, the decadent Qing Dynasty was on the verge of collapse, and the revolutionary wave was surging. Some progressive intellectuals wrote songs to spread patriotic revolutionary ideas and arouse the people to overthrow the autocratic dynasty. On the eve of the heroic death of revolutionary Qiu Jin, in 1907, the Chinese Women's Newspaper (edited by Qiu Jin) published the song "Encouraging Women's Rights" (signed "Jianhu Women") written by herself, calling on women to break free from feudal oppression. He bravely threw himself into the revolutionary struggle to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and "restore the country".

In the summer after Zeng Zhi_ returned to China, he, Gao Yanyun, Feng Yaxiong and others founded the "Summer Music Seminar" in Shanghai. This was an organization that used the summer vacation to teach Western music. The subjects taught at the seminar include music classics, harmony, organ, dulcimer, trumpet, recorder, transverse flute, bass drum, snare drum, etc. Zeng Zhi introduced the educational method of the "National Concert" founded in Japan to the country to develop music education in our country. Zeng Zhi studied music in Japan and continued to engage in music activities after returning to China. His father thought it was "not doing his job properly", but Zeng Zhi did not change his interest.

Zeng Zhi_ was not satisfied with setting up seminars. His ideal was to open a formal music school. According to Feng Yaxiong's recollection in a conversation in 1959, they wanted to set up a music school after returning from Japan, but they were unable to do so because the social atmosphere for setting up a music school had not yet been formed at that time. In 1908, Zeng Zhi_ got an opportunity to realize his wish. In accordance with his father's last will and testament, he founded the "Shanghai Poor Children's Home", located near the then Shanghai Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau (today's Jiangnan Shipyard). In 1909, Zeng Zhi founded an orchestra in the orphanage, with Feng Yaxiong and Gao Yanyun in charge of teaching. This is the first orchestra in the history of modern Chinese music that is entirely organized by the Chinese themselves. On June 3, 1910, the Shanghai Children's Home Orchestra made its first public appearance at the wedding and memorial service commemorating the second anniversary of Zeng Zhu's death from illness, and performed many programs. It is worth noting that they performed Handel's orchestral "March", Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute" and other works. It should be said to be a miracle that the orphanage orchestra was able to play a world-famous piece like "The Magic Flute" within a short period of time after its establishment. The group photo of the "Shanghai Children's Home Orchestra" in 1910 also left us with precious picture information. It can be seen from this precious photo that there are 39 members in the band. The one holding the baton in front of the band is Zeng Zhi, and the one holding the violin on the left is his wife Cao Rujin.

With the efforts of Zeng Zhi_ and others, the Shanghai Children's Home Orchestra quickly developed into a larger orchestra. From the formal formation of the orchestra at the end of 1909, with about 20 people, to 1911 In September, it had grown to 81 people. In 1915, at the Panama World's Fair held in San Francisco, the Shanghai Children's Home won a special gold medal for its string orchestra organization method.

"On Music Education"

Zeng Zhi_ also published "On Music Education" in the "Xinmin Congbao" founded and edited by Liang Qichao. This article is the earliest in my country. This is a paper that systematically explains the issues of modern music education. In addition, the books he compiled or translated include "A Brief Introduction to Harmony", "National Singing Collection", "Organ Practice Methods", "Simple March" and so on. From the above incomplete statistics, it is not difficult to see the contribution that the versatile Zeng Zhi_ made to the modern music industry during his five years in Japan. Therefore, Liang Qichao made this comment in "Poetic Talk in the Ice Drinking Room": "Shanghai Zeng Zhi_ studied at the Tokyo Music School for many years. In fact, he is the first person in our country to achieve this kind of study."

"和"Sound Brief Meaning"

The "Music Education Theory" published subsequently is the earliest paper in my country that systematically elaborates on the issues of modern music education. Later, the article "A Brief Introduction to Harmony" published continuously in the magazine "Awakening Lion" was the first article written by a Chinese person to describe the knowledge of Western harmony, and became a pioneer in introducing Western harmony to our country.

Other related publications

In 1903, Zeng Zhi published "Music Theory" and "Singing" in the "Jiangsu" magazine published by the "Jiangsu Association" in Tokyo. and Teaching Methods", and also published six songs in the form of comparison of five-line notation and simplified musical notation: "Military Training", "Spring Outing", "Yangtze River", "Naval Battle", "New", and "Autumn Insects". This is what we know today The earliest school music song I have seen published publicly. The next year, he published a translation of "Teaching Music Preliminaries" by Ropuya from the United States. In April of the same year, he edited and published "Educational Singing Collection", which is a fairly complete music and song textbook. It was published almost simultaneously with Shen Xingong's "School Singing Collection". The two books have similar approaches but similar goals. In May 1904, on the basis of the "Music Seminar" founded by Shen Xingong, Zeng Zhi launched the first new music society in the history of modern Chinese music - "Yaya Concert", whose purpose was to "develop School social music inspires the national spirit.” In the same year, at the "farewell concert for graduates", one of the most eye-catching performances was "Zeng Zhi and his wife's dulcimer ensemble". The "Xinmin Congbao" at that time reported and praised their performance as "leisure and leisurely" Yongjian, like entering the European music world, makes people refreshed and refreshed." Whether the example cited in the comment is appropriate is debatable, but it illustrates from another perspective that the dulcimer (piano) playing skills of the couple are indeed extraordinary. Also in this year, he translated from Japanese the "Music Theory Textbook" compiled by the British. This is the earliest relatively complete music theory textbook in the history of modern music in my country. On the front of the book is a poem written by Liang Qichao, the "owner of the Ice Drinking Room". The "narration".

The creative spirit of songs and songs

He also has profound and unique insights into the creative concepts and methods of school music: "The so-called school songs in our country today are ten times more profound in their writing. "There is even a word for word in the reading book, even if you use dozens of lines of lectures and still don't know it," he opposes those who use clichés such as "cold lamps and twilight rain" and "blood and tears to freeze the heart" to learn "the attitude of love, poverty, madness and resentment", or The old poems and chapters that use "subtle and profound words" to gain a "famous and unique reputation" are "not musicians of education." He pointed out that "school lyrics are not difficult for Xieya, but difficult for Xiezi" and should be "suitable for the theoretical practice of education" as the goal. "See the big from the small and inspire ambition", "Seek peace, beauty, vitality and vitality". It is necessary to make "children learn it in a simple and interesting way". He believes that the principle of creating school music and songs is to "use the simplest literature, preserve the deep meaning, and publish it as an article. It is better to be vulgar than to write, to be straightforward to be melodious, to be natural to be filled in, and to be fluent instead of being ancient. "The words want to be strict but the righteousness wants to be upright, the energy wants to be strong but the spirit wants to flow, the words want to be short but the heart wants to be long, the taste wants to be high but the conduct wants to be pure." He also pointed out that the creation of school music and songs at that time mainly used foreign tunes to write lyrics. We further put forward the requirements that "music and song cannot be separated" and "song and music should not be incompatible with each other", and believed that "departure and separation are the major dangers of music".

Great Music Educator

In the summer of 1913, due to the military disaster in southern Shanghai and other reasons, Zeng Zhi_’s family moved to Peking and worked as a lawyer while still engaging in music activities. At this time, his interest turned to the study of traditional Chinese folk music and his concern for the improvement of Peking Opera music. He held a "Chinese and Western Concert" in Beijing, trying to improve Chinese opera (Peking Opera) music and using Chinese and Western instruments to accompany the opera. Two years later, the association ceased operations due to lack of funds and other reasons.

In his later years, Zeng Zhi broke away from music activities, and his temperament became cold, arrogant and withdrawn. He often drank to relieve his sorrows, and his will became increasingly depressed. At that time, Zeng Zhi_ was a progressive intellectual who sympathized with the revolution and had great ambitions. However, when his ideals were not realized, he became disheartened and became negative. This can be said to be the helplessness and tragedy of some musicians at that time. In the social context of the time, this was not an isolated phenomenon.

Zeng Zhi_ believes that the conservative and self-sustaining idea of ??"thinking that everything in today's world can be compared to our ancient country" is the reason for the backwardness of modern Chinese music. Zeng Zhi advocated: "It is not difficult to achieve ideal development and social progress without breaking away from the ancient and self-reliant nature of one thing. The same is true for music."

"All this makes us believe that in the history of modern Chinese music, Zeng Zhi_, as an accomplished music educator, music theorist and music activist, should not be forgotten.