Ton-That Tiet
Encyclopedia
Tôn Thất Tiết is a Vietnam
ese music composer.
in central Vietnam
in 1933, Tiet came to Paris
in 1958 to study composition at the Paris Conservatoire. He attended Jean Rivier
and André Jolivet
classes for composition. He was at first drawn to the serial technique but from 1966 on he turned to another mode of inspiration.
Of André Jolivet he said: "As a professor, he has never tried to influence me, nor push me toward any special kind of style. Our professor-student relationship was of a spiritual order. Yet through his suggestion and what Rivier had said, I came to realize that it was in the oriental way of thinking that I would find my style in music. I owe to Rivier the language and the shaping of my music which, as Jolivet has said, should be "a mean to express ideas and not an aim in itself.".
In fact, Tôn-Thất Tiết's music has a special language in which both oriental and occidental trends are fused, although the inspiration and thoughts are drawn basically from oriental sources. This is obvious in many of his works such as Kiem Ai (Universal Love, 1978) for choir and orchestra, The Game of the Five Elements, (1982–1990), or Prajna paramita - the basic sutra of Buddhism - for 6 voices and instrumental ensemble, (1988) and Chu Ky, a series of seven instrumental pieces.
Tôn-Thất Tiết composed the scores for Trần Anh Hùng
's three feature films: The Scent of Green Papaya
, Cyclo
, and The Vertical Ray of the Sun
, and has also collaborated with French choreographer Régine Chopinot on two of her dance pieces: Parole de feu (1995) and Danse du temps (1999).
In 1993, he founded the France-Vietnam Music Association to promote the development of traditional music in Vietnam.
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
ese music composer.
Biography
Born in HuêHue
Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...
in central Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
in 1933, Tiet came to 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...
in 1958 to study composition at the Paris Conservatoire. He attended Jean Rivier
Jean Rivier
Jean Rivier was a French composer of classical music.He composed over two hundred works, including music for orchestra, chamber groups, chorus, piano, and solo instruments....
and André Jolivet
André Jolivet
André Jolivet was a French composer. Known for his devotion to French culture and musical thought, Jolivet's music draws on his interest in acoustics and atonality as well as both ancient and modern influences in music, particularly on instruments used in ancient times...
classes for composition. He was at first drawn to the serial technique but from 1966 on he turned to another mode of inspiration.
Of André Jolivet he said: "As a professor, he has never tried to influence me, nor push me toward any special kind of style. Our professor-student relationship was of a spiritual order. Yet through his suggestion and what Rivier had said, I came to realize that it was in the oriental way of thinking that I would find my style in music. I owe to Rivier the language and the shaping of my music which, as Jolivet has said, should be "a mean to express ideas and not an aim in itself.".
In fact, Tôn-Thất Tiết's music has a special language in which both oriental and occidental trends are fused, although the inspiration and thoughts are drawn basically from oriental sources. This is obvious in many of his works such as Kiem Ai (Universal Love, 1978) for choir and orchestra, The Game of the Five Elements, (1982–1990), or Prajna paramita - the basic sutra of Buddhism - for 6 voices and instrumental ensemble, (1988) and Chu Ky, a series of seven instrumental pieces.
Tôn-Thất Tiết composed the scores for Trần Anh Hùng
Tran Anh Hung
Trần Anh Hùng is a French film director of Vietnamese ancestry.He was born in Đà Nẵng, Central Vietnam, and emigrated to France when he was 12 following the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975....
's three feature films: The Scent of Green Papaya
The Scent of Green Papaya
The Scent of Green Papaya is a Vietnamese-language film produced in France by Lazennec Production, and directed by Vietnamese-French director Tran Anh Hung....
, Cyclo
Cyclo
Cyclo may refer to:* Cycle rickshaw* Cyclo , a 1995 Vietnamese film* Cyclo , a 2001 album by Ryoji Ikeda and Carsten Nicolai* A chemical compound with a cyclic structure such as a cycloalkane* Cyclo-cross bicycle* Cyclo Industries...
, and The Vertical Ray of the Sun
The Vertical Ray of the Sun
The Vertical Ray of the Sun is the third feature film by Vietnamese-born French director Trần Anh Hùng. It was released in 2000 and is the final part of what many now consider to be Tran's "Vietnam trilogy."...
, and has also collaborated with French choreographer Régine Chopinot on two of her dance pieces: Parole de feu (1995) and Danse du temps (1999).
In 1993, he founded the France-Vietnam Music Association to promote the development of traditional music in Vietnam.