Beethoven in China, how the great composer became an icon in China

by Jindong Cai, Sheila Melvin

Beethoven’s music is the most frequently played of a classical composer in China today. First introduced to China in 1906, he inspired intellectuals like Lu Xun, who considered him a role model for dedication and aesthetic taste, and aspiring musicians. As a man who refused to bow to royalty, Beethoven was celebrated by the Communist Party in the early days of the revolution before he was banned for composing bourgeois music in the cultural vacuum of the 60s and 70s. After the Cultural Revolution and the death of Mao, ‘Beethoven fever’ would sweep the country, presaging his present-day popularity. Melvin and Cai explore the vicissitudes of Beethoven’s legacy in China, and the changing politics of the 20th century and its oscillating affiliation with Western classical music.

Genres: China, Music, History, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published August 1, 2015

About the author

Jindong Cai is an orchestra conductor and professor at Stanford University; he is also artistic director of the Stanford Pan-Asian Music Festival and principal guest conductor of the State Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet in Mongolia. He is the co-author of Rhapsody in Red: How Western Classical Music Became Chinese and is at work on a second book that explores China’s cultural rise. Jindong teaches a Stanford University seminar on “Music and Politics in China” and regularly gives talks on arts and culture in the PRC. He splits his time between the San Francisco Bay area and Beijing.

Reviews

[Addie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating reflections on the intersection between art and politics. There was a bit of cultural context I didn't quite understand, but still an interesting read.

Edit: Would recommend listening to the Emperor Concerto while reading this.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

People of Chinese origin live and work all over the world and have made an enormous contribution in many fields, so it is not surprising that some of the most gifted musicians of our time are Chinese in origin.  But what is surprising is the embrace of classical music in mainland China.  Even if it were not for the Cultural Revolution which rejected everything from the West, one might think that communist ideology and the politics of cultural identity would ensure the dominance of Chinese music.  Can we imagine The Great Helmsman listening to classical i.e. Western music??

Well, in Beethoven in China, (co-authored with Sheila Melvin) conductor Jindong Cai tells us he did:

Mao Zedong attended at least one performance of Beethoven’s music, and his wife – for whom I once conducted a youth orchestra in the Great Hall of the People – developed an odd fixation on the composer’s Sixth Symphony. Premier Zhou Enlai made a private study of all nine Beethoven symphonies because he wanted to choose one that Henry Kissinger would like to hear. Former president Jiang Zemin has said that it is not good if the Chinese people know nothing about Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony; in truth, many know much more. Romain Rolland’s Life of Beethoven has been required reading in Chinese middle schools for years; his ten-volume novel Jean-Christophe, which is based on the life of Beethoven, was one of the most popular foreign novels in twentieth-century China. I read it in the early 1980s, as did almost all my friends. (Loc 77)

The sub-title of Volume 1 of Jean Christophe offers a clue: Dawn, Morning, Youth, Revolt.

In the Introduction for this short book in the Penguin Specials collection, conductor and author Jindong Cai recounts listening to Beethoven on the sly during the years of the Cultural Revolution when it was banned... and goes on to describe his elation when he finally heard it played live in China.  That first time the conductor was Herbert von Karajan, and then...

Ozawa conducted the China Central Philharmonic’s performance of the Ninth later that year – I was so overwhelmed by the music that I jumped on stage and got him to autograph my program before the security guards could catch me. I still have the program, to which I also added my own youthful response to the performance: ‘It seems like my entire heart, my entire being, has dissolved into this magnificent, glorious symphony . . . Beethoven is unmatchable . . . This is real music – its power makes me forget everything.’ (Loc 64)

If you love Beethoven, you understand this in your heart and soul too.

How did this come about? Beethoven as a cultural icon in China actually has a long history and the Cultural Revolution is a ghastly hiatus along the way. China's humiliating defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-5) provoked the realisation that 'small' Japan had beaten 'large' China because it was a more advanced society.  An illustration by Japanese artist Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915) graphically demonstrates the superiority of their technology: as the file at Wikipedia says, the Japanese army was using a searchlight to locate its target. As discussed in my review of another Penguin Special, David Moser's A Billion Voices: China’s Search for a Common Language (2016), illiteracy was one of many factors that had led to China's stagnation in intellectual, economic, cultural and military development.

But the leaders of the push for change and modernisation needed a hero, and it became Beethoven.  Why? He endured hardships but transcended them.  He was a revolutionary (who famously supported Napoleon, and then, didn't.) He was inspiring.

Jindong Cai acknowledges Xiao Youmei (1884-1940) and Cai Yuanpei  (1868-1940) as the most ardent and successful promoters of reform through music – and music reform.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/11/18/b...

[Gabriel Olmeda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard Jindong Cai at the literary festival in Shangai and his talk was so unorganized but so captivating. I decided to get this short book and this book was a lot more organized and very intense. It was actually kind of inspirational. I highly recommend especially if you're living in China.

[tinebeest]

Quick read.