Chinese Poems
For Six Girls' Choruses
by Chen Yi
SSAA - Sheet Music

Choral SSAA choir

SKU: PR.312417830

For Six Girls' Choruses. Composed by Chen Yi. Premiered by the San Francisco Girls' Choruses on May 24, 1999, at Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco. Choral. Performance Score. With Standard notation. Composed 1999. 24 pages. Duration 9 minutes. Theodore Presser Company #312-41783. Published by Theodore Presser Company (PR.312417830).

ISBN 9781491110508. UPC: 680160051366. 6.875 x 10.5 inches. Chinese. Text: Li Po; Anonymous. Anonymous, Li Po.

Commissioned by the San Francisco Girls’ Chorus, CHINESE POEMS is a suite of 5 settings of texts ranging from folk poetry to works by the famous poet Li Po, in a fascinating antiphonal treatment for 6 girls’ choruses.
Commissioned and premiered by the San Francisco Girls’ Chorus on May 24, 1999, at Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, Chinese Poems consists of five songs written for six different levels of girls’ chorus.  The text is taken from popular Chinese ancient poems, three written by prominent poets Li Po and Wang Zhi-huan in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), two selected for the Yuefu Collection of Poems, an anthology of ancient Chinese folk poems and songs, compiled by Guo Mao-qian in the Song Dynasty (960-1279).  Sung in Chinese, the five poems and songs express the Chinese thoughts inspired by the landscapes and daily life.  It’s the tradition carried on for a thousand years that I want to introduce to our new audiences.—Chen Yi  Up the Crane Tower (by Wang Zhi-huan, 8th century)Pale sun on hill dies,Yellow River seaward flows,To view thousand lis,One more flight we go. Notes: the YellowRiver is the second largest river of China.  “Li” is a Chinese mile, equivalent to 500 meters.  The poem means that there is no limit to knowledge, one should keep studying.  Picking the Seedpods of the Lotus (ancient folk song in the south)Picking the seedpods of the lotus in the south,O the flourishing lotus leaves,The fishes are playing in between(refrains)The fishes are playing East,The fishes are playing West,The fishes are playing South,The fishes are playing North. III.            Night Thoughts (by Li Po)On couch bright moon shone,Thought frost on ground foamedRaised head facing bright moonLowered head dreaming of home.     Chile Song (ancient folk song of Chile minority nationality in the north)The Chile Plains,Under  the Mount Yin.The qionglu-like sky,Above the open ground.Vast is the sky,Boundless the wilds,See the beasts of burdenOn the wind swept grass. Notes: “Chile” is a minority in the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-581).  Mount Yin is located in Inner Mongolia.  “Qionglu” is a Mongolian domed tent.  The Cataract of Mount Lu (by Li Po)In the warm sunlight, the purple smokes rising from the Censer Peak,In the distance, the cataract hanging between the gorges.The flying torrent drops straight down three thousand feet,I wonder if it were the Milky Way falling from the Ninth Heaven! Notes: In ancient China, people thought that there were nine heavens lying one on top of the other.  The ninth is the highest. English translation by Chen Yi. “… interspersing intricately wrought harmonies and graceful pentatonic melodies with the occasional chirrup and whooping glissando.”            —Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, May 16, 1999 “I would like you to know that in my many years of listening to choral performances (i am now 69 years old), I have never before experienced anything as thrilling as your composition performed by 325 girls.  It moved me to tears of absolute joy and exhilaration.  Both the composition and the way it was performed were mind boggling. Thank you for your major contribution to a wonderful experience!”—Harold Fardal, audience member, San Francisco Girls Chorus concert “…lovely, swirling sonorities produced by clusters of notes…”                                                  —Frank Albinder, San Francisco Classical Voice.