Comparative Study Of Chinese And South Korean Piano Works From 1950s To 1980s

As Asian countries, China and South Korea share a lot under the oriental cultural background, however, in different historical stages there are a lot of differences in the musical culture. In the 20th century, a comprehensive and systematic study of western theories of modern composition flourished in China and South Korea. Especially after 1950, European modern musical techniques began to develop in these two countries. At the same time, composers in China and South Korea were asked to develop their own national characteristics.Taking piano as the key, from the perspective of the composing techniques of piano works in these two countries, the thesis focuses on the comparison between China and South Korea after 1950.South Korea learned modern music in the 1950s, flourishing after 1970s, so called the Bloom of Modern Music, while China began to contact it in 1980s because of historical reasons. Chapter One illustrates the comparison between China and South Korea after 1950. In Chapter Two, the author made a comparison in traditional musical style on melody, musical mode, rhythm and tone quality between China and South Korea and then, made a study on how these two countries compose piano works using western modern musical techniques together with national traditional ones.Though influenced by western modern music, the composers in China and South Korea have been trying to keep the national traditional culture respectively. Using the modern aesthetic ideas, they are both trying to explore the unique musical styles that can manifest their national prestige. All in all, composers in China and South Korea made huge contributions to solve the contradictions between tradition and modern, between orient and occident, and between nationality and personality.