During Huang Tzu's short lifetime of 34 years (1904-1938), he left us with 94 songs including various works in wind music, chamber music, polyphonic piano music, Chinese opera (sung without costume or makeup), chorus, solos, songs used for teaching, and even alma maters. At the same time he's also the first music composer in China to create symphony, Chinese opera (of the sort mentioned above), chorus, and concert music. He was the first to introduce the Western theory of composing music to China, wrote the very first book to be used as teaching material, and established the first orchestra.

On May 5, in the Huang Tzu Memorial Concert organized by the Council for Cultural Planning and Development, Executive Yuan, performed the songs we've grown up with, one after another filling the National Concert Hall with an atmosphere of nostalgia and longing.

A member of the Taipei City Symphony Orchestra says that every time he sings the line "Unite! Arise and fight!" he's moved and has a sense of group strength.

"Huang Tzu creates the best chorus effect by writing in a simple manner, using easily sung tunes, and a simple harmony," says musician Hsu Ch'ang-hui. Huang Tzu's works are the most representative of the period after the May Fourth Movement which was the new direction music took from the Mukden Incident on September 18, 1921 (which led to the Japanese occupation of Manchuria) to the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on July 7, 1937 (which triggered the Sino-Japanese War). He expressed the abundant and overflowing passion of the Chinese people during that era.

Huang Tzu was born in Soochow in 1904. After graduating from in Peking he went to the U.S. where he studied at Oberlin College in Ohio. He majored in psychology and minored in music. In 1928 he entered Yale University and studied theoretical composition exclusively. The following year he obtained a degree in music, returned home, and took over as dean of studies at the National Shanghai Music Conservatory and head of the Group of Theoretical Composition.

Aside from classes, Huang Tzu was busy at putting his own ideas into practice. He wrote many works which have a rather old classical flavor based on ancient-style poetry and works by his colleague Wei Han chang. The most worthy of mention is the work by Wei Han-chang based on Po Chu-i's "Song of Eternal Sorrow," in which the line "Sheer in the height of the dim blue-green void" was considered by the author to have successfully captured the Chinese harmony. This is considered the work of his that is richest in national color.

In the article "What Should We Do In Order to Compose Our Nation's Folk Music?" Huang Tzu said that he was really interested in learning the ways of Western music and applying what he learned to the research and revision of Chinese folksongs. The result was a new type of folk music. Huang Tzu's last goal was to write a history of Chinese music and the theory of harmonics.

To accomplish this he gave up his position at the school. In the spring of 1936 he went to Soochow to gather Taoist music. He observed the Taoist priests hold services for pacifying the ghosts in the T'ien Hou Temple, and listened to the Taoist priests perform the ancient songs. Chao Ch'ien, producer of the Huang Tzu Memorial Concert, says, "It must have been different from Huang Tzu's writing songs of resistance."

In 1938 he came down with typhoid fever, which put an end to his short life span of 34 years. Before he passed away he said to his wife Wang I-nien, "Go get a doctor quickly. I'm not ready to die yet. I still have the other half of the music history to finish!"

Huang Tzu devoted his life to Chinese music. Although he left behind an unfinished history of Chinese music, yet he also left the Chinese people with a host of songs which will be sung for generations to come.

[Picture Caption]

The Huang Tzu Memorial Concert was performed at the National Concert Hall on May 9, 1988.

The executive council of the Music & Art Society when it was formed in 1933: front row, left to right; Wei Han-chang, Huang Tzu and Hsiao You-mei, and Liu Hsueh-an. (photo courtesy of Chao Ch'in)

The Huang Tzu Memorial Concert was performed at the National Concert Hall on May 9, 1988.

The executive council of the Music & Art Society when it was formed in 1933: front row, left to right; Wei Han-chang, Huang Tzu and Hsiao You-mei, and Liu Hsueh-an. （photo courtesy of Chao Ch'in.