Creative Combination of Chinese and Western Elements in Chen Yi’s Music for Cello and Orchestra

Abstract

The purpose of this examination is to present a study of Chen Yi’s two cello and orchestral works: Ballad, Dance and Fantasy and Eleanor’s Gift. To date, these are Chen Yi’s only works for this instrumentation. While Tao Li analyzed the first movement of Ballad, Dance and Fantasy in the journal Huangzhong, there are no complete analyses of either work. My scholarship attempts to fill this void, starting with an examination of Chen Yi’s personal journey and exploring the musical influences of her personal life. Her early life in China deeply influenced her musical aesthetic and compositional style, especially with the Chinese folk elements quoted in the Ballad, Dance and Fantasy. Chen Yi’s experience is representative of her entire generation and fighting for freedom and human rights, which is an underlying concept in Eleanor’s Gift. Analyzing the formal structure of both works, identifying the Chinese folk elements employed, and examining the properties stemming from Western classical music, reveals Chen Yi’s compositional approach that marries traditional Chinese heritage with contemporary abstract composition. The analyses also outline the differences and similarities of Chen Yi’s musical style presented in Ballad, Dance and Fantasy and Eleanor’s Gift. Since these two pieces have received limited attention, both on the concert stage and in the scholarly literature, this document produces original musical analyses that provide a window into the combined influences of Chinese and Western classical music in Chen Yi’s cello and orchestral writing.