Li Xiangting
Encyclopedia
Prof. Li Xiangting is considered one of the master players of the guqin
. He was born in Liaoyuan
, Jilin
in 1940. At an early point he became interested in the guqin and studied under Zha Fuxi
. He entered the Central Conservatory of Music
in Beijing
, China
in 1958, graduated in 1963 and would later serve as a leading professor there. He is a primary inheritor of the styles and repertoires of Wu Jinglüe
and Guan Pinghu
and has played a central role in the continuing professionalization and popularization of the guqin.
under Pu Xuezhai (溥雪齋) and Pan Su (潘素). In 1958, he gained entry into the Central Conservatory of Music to study guqin under Wu Jinglüe
(吳景略). He graduated in 1963, began teaching, and has since taught many of the important performers of the next generation of guqin players. In 1989, he accepted a fellowship to Cambridge University, London, to research guqin improvisation, and lectured on guqin and xiao
as a visiting fellow at the Music Department of the School of Oriental and African Studies
(SOAS), University of London
倫敦大學亞非學院. He returned to China in 1994 and resumed teaching at the Central Conservatory of Music. Currently, he is a Professor
at the Central Conservatory of Music, President of the China Guqin Committee 中國琴會, Vice-President of the Beijing Guqin Research Association 北京古琴研究會, a member of the Oriental Artists' Association 英國東方美術家協會, a committee member of the China Musicians' Association 中國音樂家協會民族音樂委員會, executive member of the International Cultural Exchange Center of China 中國國際文法交流中心, senior advisor to the North America Guqin Association 北美琴社, advisor to the Hezhan Qin Society of Taipei 臺北和真琴社 and to the Guqin Society of Gaoxiong City 高雄琴社, and artistic advisor to the London Youlan Qin Society 倫敦幽蘭琴社.
Since 1963, more than 400 students from China and overseas have studied guqin under Professor Li Xiangting. Besides performing in China, Li Xiangting has also staged over fifty recitals in many countries including the U.S.
, England
, Germany
, Japan
, Australia
, Holland, Switzerland
, Finland
, Austria
, Italy
, Singapore
, Taiwan
, Hong Kong
and New Zealand
. He has also lectured at various universities. The recital he held in 1982 at the Oriental Music Festival in Durham
, England was the first of its kind in the history of the guqin. Another recital he gave in 1992 at the De Laville Theatre in Paris
, with a seating capacity of 1000, attracted a full house, making it the largest ever attendance for a guqin recital. The radio and television stations of China and the radio stations of England and France have broadcast a number of programs featuring his guqin music. He has also recorded and arranged solo guqin music for a number of films and television dramas, including The Emperor's Shadow
, "An Appreciative Audience" and Zhuge Liang
. He was involved in the musical arrangement for the art education film "Qin" and the television Drama "The Courtship of the Phoenix".
Professor Li Xiangting's major written works include A Brief Introduction to the Art of Guqin Music 【略談古琴音樂藝術】, The Artistry of Zha Fuxi's Performances on the Guqin 【查阜西生生古琴藝術】, The Artistry of Wu Jinglüe's Performances on the Guqin 【吳景略先生古琴演奏藝術】, Discussion on Who was the Author of the 'Qin Cao' , An Outline for Research into Improvisation in Guqin Performance 【古琴即興演奏研究大綱】 and the poem Self- mocking 【自嘲】 in old and new literary forms. He has written an article entitled Qin for the in the Encyclopedia of China
and published the book Aesthetics and Musical Ideology in Guqin Performance during the Tang Dynasty 【唐代古琴演奏美學及音樂思想研究】 in Taipei
.
Professor Li's guqin compositions include Boat Song of the Three Gorges 《三峽船歌》 and Building a Road in the Wind and Snow 《風雪築路》. He has recorded more than ten albums including the Art of Li Xiangting's Guqin Performance 《李祥霆古琴藝術》, a number of cassettes and video tapes published by the China Record Companies and the French National Radio Record Company, former West Berlin, New Zealand, USA, Hong Kong and Taiwan. He took part in the annual exhibition of the Chinese Art House in 1988 and held a solo art exhibition at the University of London in 1989. In 1991, he gave speeches on the Dot and Line Aesthetics of Chinese Painting and Guqin Music 『古琴音樂與國畫的點線之美』 at the Victoria University of Wellington
, New Zealand. His biography is in the Directory of Chinese Artists and the Celebrities of Who's Who of Contemporary Chinese Artists.
Prof. Li has also published three albums on improvisation and extemporisation on the qin, which uses titles and poems of Tang poetry
, Song verse
and Yuan drama as themes. He uses both qin and xiao
, individually as well as in duet (on separate tracks mixed into one track), as well as singing/reciting poetry in one. These albums are called Tangren Shiyi 【唐人詩意】, Songren Ciyi 【宋人詞意】 and Yuanqu Guyun 【元曲古韻】 respectively.
His album called Sleeping Lotus has been named a 2005 Narcissus Award Finalist by New Age Retailer 「新世紀零售商二零零五年水仙獎決賽選手」. Winners (not announced) and Finalists will appear in the Jan/Feb 2006 issue of New Age Retailer magazine.
to produce two CDs, entitled The Tao of Healing and The Tao of Peace. The Tao of Healing won the Coalition of Visionary Retailer's (COVR) Award for best New Age
Album of the Year in 2001 「遠見零售商聯盟二零零一年最好新世紀音樂唱片獎勝利」.
In 2003 at the Edinburgh Festival
, Prof. Li was the only performer to give a recital in the Chinese section.
Guqin
The guqin is the modern name for a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument of the zither family...
. He was born in Liaoyuan
Liaoyuan
Liaoyuan is a prefecture-level city in the west of Jilin province in Northeast China, bounded on the west by Liaoning province. Liaoyuan city lies some 100 km southeast of Changchun, the capital of Jilin province. Covering an area of 5,125 square kilometers, Liaoyuan is the smallest among the...
, Jilin
Jilin
Jilin , is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the northeastern part of the country. Jilin borders North Korea and Russia to the east, Heilongjiang to the north, Liaoning to the south, and Inner Mongolia to the west...
in 1940. At an early point he became interested in the guqin and studied under Zha Fuxi
Zha Fuxi
Zha Fuxi was a leading player and scholar of the guqin. Born in Jiangxi, he started learning guqin in his childhood. In 1936, he co-founded the Jinyu Society Qin Society which later became one of the major national musical organizations for the guqin.Apart from his profession on guqin, he worked...
. He entered the Central Conservatory of Music
Central Conservatory of Music
The Central Conservatory of Music is the national leading music school in Beijing, China.Founded in 1950, the Conservatory offers courses to both Chinese nationals and foreign students, and caters for all levels from primary up to postgraduate programmes...
in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
in 1958, graduated in 1963 and would later serve as a leading professor there. He is a primary inheritor of the styles and repertoires of Wu Jinglüe
Wu Jinglüe
Wu Jinglüe is considered one of the most important guqin players of the 20th century and was also an active researcher and teacher...
and Guan Pinghu
Guan Pinghu
Guan Pinghu , was a leading player of the guqin , a Chinese 7-string bridgeless zither. Born in Suzhou, Jiangsu, Guan came from an artistic family, and started to learn the guqin from his father, Guan Nianci. After the death of his father when he was thirteen, Guan continued with his father’s...
and has played a central role in the continuing professionalization and popularization of the guqin.
Biography
Not only did he study qin from Zha Fuxi, be also studied Chinese paintingChinese painting
Chinese painting is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world. The earliest paintings were not representational but ornamental; they consisted of patterns or designs rather than pictures. Early pottery was painted with spirals, zigzags, dots, or animals...
under Pu Xuezhai (溥雪齋) and Pan Su (潘素). In 1958, he gained entry into the Central Conservatory of Music to study guqin under Wu Jinglüe
Wu Jinglüe
Wu Jinglüe is considered one of the most important guqin players of the 20th century and was also an active researcher and teacher...
(吳景略). He graduated in 1963, began teaching, and has since taught many of the important performers of the next generation of guqin players. In 1989, he accepted a fellowship to Cambridge University, London, to research guqin improvisation, and lectured on guqin and xiao
Xiao
Xiao may refer to:* Xiào, “filial piety", or "being good to parents", a virtue* Xiao , a Chinese end-blown flute* Xiao , a rank used for field officers in the Chinese military* Xiao , a Chinese surname* Xiao County, in Anhui, China...
as a visiting fellow at the Music Department of the School of Oriental and African Studies
School of Oriental and African Studies
The School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...
(SOAS), University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
倫敦大學亞非學院. He returned to China in 1994 and resumed teaching at the Central Conservatory of Music. Currently, he is a Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
at the Central Conservatory of Music, President of the China Guqin Committee 中國琴會, Vice-President of the Beijing Guqin Research Association 北京古琴研究會, a member of the Oriental Artists' Association 英國東方美術家協會, a committee member of the China Musicians' Association 中國音樂家協會民族音樂委員會, executive member of the International Cultural Exchange Center of China 中國國際文法交流中心, senior advisor to the North America Guqin Association 北美琴社, advisor to the Hezhan Qin Society of Taipei 臺北和真琴社 and to the Guqin Society of Gaoxiong City 高雄琴社, and artistic advisor to the London Youlan Qin Society 倫敦幽蘭琴社.
Since 1963, more than 400 students from China and overseas have studied guqin under Professor Li Xiangting. Besides performing in China, Li Xiangting has also staged over fifty recitals in many countries including the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Holland, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. He has also lectured at various universities. The recital he held in 1982 at the Oriental Music Festival in Durham
Durham
Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...
, England was the first of its kind in the history of the guqin. Another recital he gave in 1992 at the De Laville Theatre in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, with a seating capacity of 1000, attracted a full house, making it the largest ever attendance for a guqin recital. The radio and television stations of China and the radio stations of England and France have broadcast a number of programs featuring his guqin music. He has also recorded and arranged solo guqin music for a number of films and television dramas, including The Emperor's Shadow
The Emperor's Shadow
The Emperor's Shadow is a 1996 Chinese historical film directed by Zhou Xiaowen and starring Jiang Wen, Ge You, Xu Qing and Ge Zhijun. It was the most expensive Chinese film produced at the time of its release.-Plot:...
, "An Appreciative Audience" and Zhuge Liang
Zhuge Liang
Zhuge Liang was a chancellor of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. He is often recognised as the greatest and most accomplished strategist of his era....
. He was involved in the musical arrangement for the art education film "Qin" and the television Drama "The Courtship of the Phoenix".
Professor Li Xiangting's major written works include A Brief Introduction to the Art of Guqin Music 【略談古琴音樂藝術】, The Artistry of Zha Fuxi's Performances on the Guqin 【查阜西生生古琴藝術】, The Artistry of Wu Jinglüe's Performances on the Guqin 【吳景略先生古琴演奏藝術】, Discussion on Who was the Author of the 'Qin Cao' , An Outline for Research into Improvisation in Guqin Performance 【古琴即興演奏研究大綱】 and the poem Self- mocking 【自嘲】 in old and new literary forms. He has written an article entitled Qin for the in the Encyclopedia of China
Encyclopedia of China
The Encyclopedia of China is the first large-entry modern encyclopedia in the Chinese language. The compilation began at 1978. Published by the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, the encyclopedia was issued one volume at a time, beginning in 1980 with a volume on astronomy; the final volume...
and published the book Aesthetics and Musical Ideology in Guqin Performance during the Tang Dynasty 【唐代古琴演奏美學及音樂思想研究】 in Taipei
Taipei
Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
.
Professor Li's guqin compositions include Boat Song of the Three Gorges 《三峽船歌》 and Building a Road in the Wind and Snow 《風雪築路》. He has recorded more than ten albums including the Art of Li Xiangting's Guqin Performance 《李祥霆古琴藝術》, a number of cassettes and video tapes published by the China Record Companies and the French National Radio Record Company, former West Berlin, New Zealand, USA, Hong Kong and Taiwan. He took part in the annual exhibition of the Chinese Art House in 1988 and held a solo art exhibition at the University of London in 1989. In 1991, he gave speeches on the Dot and Line Aesthetics of Chinese Painting and Guqin Music 『古琴音樂與國畫的點線之美』 at the Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a former constituent college of the University of New Zealand. It is particularly well known for its programmes in law, the humanities, and some scientific disciplines, but offers a broad range of other courses...
, New Zealand. His biography is in the Directory of Chinese Artists and the Celebrities of Who's Who of Contemporary Chinese Artists.
Prof. Li has also published three albums on improvisation and extemporisation on the qin, which uses titles and poems of Tang poetry
Shi (poetry)
Shi is the Chinese word for "poetry" or "poem", anciently associated with Chinese poetry. In modern times, shi can and has been used as an umbrella term to mean poetry in any form or language, whether or not Chinese; but, it may imply or be used to refer certain classical forms of poetry, for...
, Song verse
Ci (poetry)
Ci is a kind of lyric Classical Chinese poetry using a poetic meter based upon certain patterns of fixed-rhythm formal types. For speakers of English, the word "ci" is pronounced somewhat like "tsuh"...
and Yuan drama as themes. He uses both qin and xiao
Xiao
Xiao may refer to:* Xiào, “filial piety", or "being good to parents", a virtue* Xiao , a Chinese end-blown flute* Xiao , a rank used for field officers in the Chinese military* Xiao , a Chinese surname* Xiao County, in Anhui, China...
, individually as well as in duet (on separate tracks mixed into one track), as well as singing/reciting poetry in one. These albums are called Tangren Shiyi 【唐人詩意】, Songren Ciyi 【宋人詞意】 and Yuanqu Guyun 【元曲古韻】 respectively.
Artistic achievements
Prof. Li released his first guqin instructional video CD in 2000 【古琴教學】. In November 1994, Professor Li Xiangting received the "Outstanding Ethnic Artists of Writings and Paintings Award" granted by the Chinese Artists' Association and the Chinese Authors' Association. His guqin album the Glow of Sunset and Flowing Water won the Golden Tripod Award in Taipei. In 2002, the special program about his guqin improvisation by the China National Radio Station won the Best Production Award at the Shanghai International Music Festival.His album called Sleeping Lotus has been named a 2005 Narcissus Award Finalist by New Age Retailer 「新世紀零售商二零零五年水仙獎決賽選手」. Winners (not announced) and Finalists will appear in the Jan/Feb 2006 issue of New Age Retailer magazine.
Collaborations
Prof. Li collaborated with Dean EvensonDean Evenson
Dean Evenson is a New Age musician and producer. He plays several instruments including the flute, percussion, synthesizer and keyboards. In the New Age genre, his music is generally sounds of nature combined with flute melodies and other instruments for ambient and meditative purposes.In 1979, he...
to produce two CDs, entitled The Tao of Healing and The Tao of Peace. The Tao of Healing won the Coalition of Visionary Retailer's (COVR) Award for best New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
Album of the Year in 2001 「遠見零售商聯盟二零零一年最好新世紀音樂唱片獎勝利」.
In 2003 at the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
, Prof. Li was the only performer to give a recital in the Chinese section.