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"For Art?" or "for Life?"

Author: ChengHuiLing
Tutor: LiXiaoFeng
School: Shandong University
Course: Art
Keywords: Pure music The music autonomic theory Aestheticism The traditional culture spirit
CLC: J601
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2008
Downloads: 193
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Abstract

Huang Zi is not only a very important composer and musical educationalist, but also a theoretician in musical esthetics aspect in modern music history. His music esthetics thought has symbolized the times, the some questions he proposed are discussing in the field of music esthetics today. His some viewpoints have also the inspiration to us now. However, Huang Zi’s esthetics thought is also self-contradictory, which not only manifests that his thought belongs to "Autonomie" or "Heteronomie", but in the social function of music and his "Pure music" theory.Huang Zi canonized "Pure music" of having external form beauty rather than "Program music". He believed that "Pure music" and the real life is no direct relation, and the music content is development in form, which are as a whole and not distinguished. So the music beauty lies in the beauty in form. The significance of music is in the music itself, as a result, to really understand music is to itself. In one hand he thought that "Pure music" is not contacted with the outside, while in the other hand he believed that the music have the functions of educating the morality, promote the solidarity, evoking the national consciousness. He also personally sets an example, when the nation is in the War of Resistance against Japan, and creates successively "Anti-Enemy Song", "Flag Is Fluttering" and so on to inspire the people. Huang Zi who put emphasis on the pure music believed that the music could save the nation! This is contrary in logic.How to understand Huang Zi’s contradictions? "To be for art" or "To be for life"? This article from his education and his times attempts to discover the causes of his self-contradictory thought.The full text is divided into five parts. The first part (Introduction) from the research results of other scholars raises the questions and the perspective of discussing. The second part (Chapter 1) is Huang Zi’s inconsistent aesthetic thought of music and its performance, including the relationship of music and objective reality, the music content and form as well as in the contradiction of music function. The third part (Chapter 2) and the fourth part (Chapter 3) is the key points which this article elaborates. Chapter 2 from the analysis of Huang Zi regarding "Pure music", pointed out that he was infected by the representative personage Eduard Hanslick’s esthetics thought and "aestheticism" in the West in the 19th century. But Kant’s philosophic thought had also established the basis of Huang Zi music esthetics thought. Chapter 3 from his times and the influence of the esthetics education retrospect to traditional education and the traditional spirit of the culture, especially the influence of Confucian music thought. The last part (Conclusion) is a summary of the previous exposition and further interpret, and the author thinks that the social background and the innate obligation of China’s intellectuals, make music impossible to be far away from the viewpoints of Huang Zi. On the contrary, he attached importance to the function of music and the relationship of life and music. "To be for art" or "To be for life"? In the thought contradiction, we apparently saw his choice.

"For Art?" or "for Life?"

Abstract

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