A Study On Zhu Jian-er's Symphony No.1

Symphony No.1, which was composed by Jian-er Zhu in 1986, is regarded as one of first successful compositions depicting the Cultural Revolution of China in the contemporary history of Chinese musical composition. This extremely painstaking work cost the composer 8 years to finish it, yet its refined quality indicated, both in content and in style, a daring innovative spirit of the meticulous artist. Its well acceptance shows not only the beginning of Zhu's symphony composition, but also his unshakable status as one of the main composers in the contemporary China. Besides, an analysis of Symphony No.1 can be helpful to the study of other works written by the same musician.This paper consists of four chapters. The first chapter introduces the life of Zhu and other background information for Symphony No.1; chapter two analyzes themes in each movement from the aspects of theme materials, the method of turning and twelve-tone technique, through which the interrelationship between movements can be shown clearly; chapter three exposes the characteristic rhythm, tempo, which engender the unique structural force in this work; the final chapter analyzes the polyphony skills used in the composition.Along with the analysis of Symphony No.1, this paper also handles with some other works of Zhu's, in which the same skill was used in the composition, in order to explore the idea of principle of blending, which means in its essence the combination of tonality and atonality, nationality and the whole world, order and disorder, certainty and uncertainty, tradition and modern, etc. Naturally, Zhu perfectly synthesized these elements of modern, traditional and national skills in his compositions. Taking the crucial yet unredeemable historical period of the Cultural Revolution as its subject, Symphony No.1 is permeated with humanism. By studying this work, Zhu's profound historical consciousness and criticism are expressed vividly and thoroughly.