HUTENG DANCEComposed byHe ZhanhaoIn the Sui (581-618) and Tang (618-907) Dynasties, the music anddance from Qiuci, an ancient city state that onceexisted around the present Kuche, Xinjiang,in northwest China, won wide popularity in the central-region of China and hada profound influence on the development of the music and dance of the Hanpeople. The beautiful Huteng dance is a genre of the Qiuci dance. It was developed on the basis of theintroduction of the dance techniques of north Indiaand Persia.Unfortunately, the music has been lost. With Persian and Oriental tunes as themain musical material, the present Huteng Dance isbased on the composer’s profound study of a vast amount of historical data.Though it was originally composed as part of the score of the drama The Qin King Li Shimin, owing to its beautiful melody and integralstructure, it has frequently been performed as an independent concert piece.BY THE YILI RIVERComposed byHe ZhanhaoThe Yili is a river flowing through the north area of Xinjiang.With Xinjiang folk-songsas the material, Bythe Yili River is a set of variations on a singletheme. Somewhat like a rondo, its first and third parts are descriptions of acelebrators’ party. Lyrical and beautiful, the central part depicts a youngcouple in love, meeting by the Yili Riverand strollings by its banks.FESTIVE HORSE RACEComposed byHe Zhanhao and Wang LingkangHorseracing is part of the custom of some Chinese minority peoples. The first partof Festive Horse Race depicts thepeople riding happily on horseback to the site of the horse race festival. Thesecond part is a picture of the horse racers from different directionscompeting keenly for the prize.ETERNAL REGRET OF LIN’ANArranged byHe ZhanhaoLin’an(modern Hangzhou) was China’s capitalin the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). The zhongruanconcerto Eternal Regret of Lin’an is based on the tragedy of YueFei (1103-1142), a great national hero and famousgeneral, who was put into prison in Lin’an andmurdered there by the capitulationist officialsheaded by Qin Gui who favoured surrender because of his keeping up resistanceagainst the invasion of the Nuzhens, a tribe from thenorth. The concerto for the zhongruan, a Chinese pluckedinstrument, Eternal Regret of Lin’an was composed by He Zhanhaousing the ancient tune The River All Redas the basic musical material and by reference to another zhongruan concerto TheRiver All Red by Lin Liangji. The music expressesthe grief and indignation of Yue Feiin prison.This workwon the Prize of Composition at the 14th Shanghai Spring Music Festival in1991. THE BUTTERFLY LOVERSOriginal byHe Zhanhao and Chen Gang arranged by He ZhanhaoThe legendof the Butterfly Lovers is well known throughout China. Zhu Yingtai,a talented girl had disguised herself as a man and was on her way to Hangzhou for the sake ofschooling, met Liang Shanbo,a poor scholar who was also going to Hangzhou to study. They soon foundmuch in common and swore regarding each other as blood brothers. In the threeyears’ study together, they developed deep friendship. Later Zhu Yingtai was urged by her father to go back home. By thenshe had fallen in love with Liang, but she was shy toexpress her love directly to him. On the eve of departure, when saying good-byeto the teacher’s wife, Zhu told her that she was really a girl and asked her toact as a matchmaker between her and Liang. Liang was reluctant to say good-bye to Zhu and walkedeighteen miles to send her. On the way, Zhu Yingtairepeatedly made use of the scenery they saw as metaphors to hint to Liang Shanbo that she wasactually a girl. She also implicitly revealed again and again her desire tomarry him, but the simple Liang Shanbodid not take her hint. At parting the helpless Zhu could do nothing else butoffer the pretext that she had a younger sister, whom she was willing to makehis wife. She urged him again and again to go to her home as soon as possibleto marry her younger sister. It was only after Liangreturned to the school that he knows about the truth from the teacher’s wife. Theexcited Liang arranged to go Zhu’s home. In femaledress, Zhu met him in the study room upstairs. She was very sad to tell himthat her father had betrothed her to Ma Wencai, ayoung man from a rich family. Liang was upset andfinally left sorrowfully. Soon after he died of depression.On the day of Zhu’s wedding, when the wedding procession from Zhu’s to Ma’shouse passed by Liang’s grave, Zhu insisted ongetting down from the bridal sedan and mourning by Liang’sgrave. At that time a thunderstorm began. In the heavy rain, Liang’s grave suddenly cracked. Zhu immediately threwherself into the crack, then the grave closed again. Afterthe storm, there appeared a colourful rainbow acrossthe bright sky. Among the flowers, a couple of butterflies fluttered. It wassaid that there were the souls of the immortal lovers that had turned intobutterflies. Based on the legend, there have been various regional operas staged.In theearly 1950s, the filming of the Shaoxing opera The Butterfly Lovers made the legend evenmore widely known. It was on the basis of the melody of the Shaoxingopera that He Zhanhao and Chen Gang, both youngstudents of Shanghai Conservatory of Music, composed a violin concerto in 1959.Though it was composed with western composition techniques, the concerto isinfused with rich Chinese national colour. Since itsappearance, it has not only achieved wide popularity in China butbecome the best-known modern Chinese orchestral piece abroad. Thirty yearslater, He Zhanhao, one of the composers of the violinconcerto, arranged it as a concerto for the zheng, anancient Chinese plucked stringed instrument, and orchestra.This singlemovement concerto is in sonata form. The exposition, the development and the recapitulationrespectively depict the three stages of the dramatic conflict - Falling inlove, Resisting Marriage and Turning into Butterflies.The Exposition: Falling in LoveIn thebeginning, against the mild strings, the piano plays the pretty melodydepicting the beautiful spring sights of Jiangnan.Accompanied by delicate arpeggios, the solo zhengplays the poetic love theme. Then a dialogue between the zhengand the cello depicts Zhu and Liang making acquaintancewith each other. The lively rondo describes the intimate friendship between Zhuand Liang during three years’ study together. Whenthe music slows down, the moving melody exquisitely portrays their reluctanceto say good-bye to each other when parting.The Development: Resisting ForcedMarriageThe sombre ominous music is the symbol of harsh feudal power.On the piano is played the theme of Zhu’s father compelling her to accept theforced marriage. The zheng first expresses Zhu’ssorrow in a free rhythm, then, with strongly syncopated chords, plays the themeof Zhu resisting the marriage. This theme is derived from these secondarythemes. It alternates with Zhu’s father’s theme, developing the unswervingimage of Zhu, who was faithful to her love for Liang.The touchingly grievous dialogue between the zhengand the cello profoundly pictures the scene of Zhu’s tragic meeting with Liang in the study room upstairs. Then the music turns todescribe Liang’s death, Zhu’s weeping in front of Liang’s grave and the grave’s cracking. With the lastphrase on the zheng depicting Zhu’s jumping into thegrave, the music reaches its climax.Recapitulation: Turning intoButterfliesThe themeof love between Liang and Zhu is recapitulated. Liang and Zhu’s souls have turned into a couple of colourful butterflies fluttering together among theflowers. They would never be separated, and their faithful love has beenpraised by people from generation to generation.HEZHANHAOA native ofZhuji, Zhejiang,He Zhanhao was born in 1933. He once worked with the orchestraof the Zhejiang ShaoxingOpera Troupe. Later he entered the Shanghaiconservatory of Music to take a refresher course in the violin. He formed withseveral classmates, an experimental group of national school of the violin. Theviolin concerto The Butterfly Lovers wasmade as a result of their experiments. After graduation, he transferred to theComposition Department and began to study composition under Ding Shande. In addition to TheButterfly Lovers, his important works include string quartet Martyr’s Diary, the symphonic poem Longhua Pagoda and others.