Dawn of Spring for full orchestra
Date
2013Metadata
[+] Show full item recordAbstract
The orchestral work Dawn of Spring was inspired by a poem with the same title, which
was written by MENG Haoran, one of the most famous ancient Chinese poets during the Tang
dynasty. The poet described a lively picture of a spring morning in four sentences: I wake up at
the dawn of spring/And hear the birds everywhere sing/As sounded the wind and rain overnight/I
wonder how many blooms alight. The music comes from a string quartet that I originally
composed two years ago. The duration is around eight minutes. Many composers write music for spring, but different people may have different ideas
about the same thing. In this piece, I hope the listeners will can not only imagine the pictures
drawn in the poem, but also experience my feeling of spring. The music is separated into four sections besides the introduction. The pitch materials of
this piece are influenced by Chinese folk music. In the first section, I use music to express the
movement of insects waking up. The beginning five notes (DECGA) form a motive, which has
been developed throughout the whole piece. The second section features the rhythmic motive
with triplets successively in woodwind, and the music is trying to imitate the gesture of birds.
Section three is a counterpoint /canon section, which is based on a peaceful atmosphere and creates a sleepy feeling. The last section is not only describing the picture of falling petals after
the thunder storm, but also a big recapitulation for the whole piece. The climax appears in the
last few measures and expresses the emotion of treasuring the life.
Table of Contents
Abstract -- Instrumentation -- Score
Degree
M.M.