"Youth Waltz" was a work I wrote in my sophomore year in college. The melody was full of hope for a better future and a youthful atmosphere. It was very popular with students at that time. More than half a century has passed. Not long ago, this song was played on the stage again. It also touched today's young people and just echoes this vigorous era.



What is the essence of music? It is beauty and aesthetic education. Our music should give people encouragement, strength, edification, joy and beauty.



After more than a century of development, Chinese symphonies are stepping into a new stage of promoting the local original peak with cultural consciousness and cultural confidence. This process itself is like a vibrant song of youth. How can this original path of Chinese Symphony be more exciting and fruitful?



In terms of creative thinking, I think we should actively advocate the Sinicization of modern techniques, the nationalization of music language and the scientization of music structure. Since the reform and opening up, Chinese music circles have actively studied the modern techniques of foreign music. The modern techniques of foreign countries should be learned, and we must not follow the old path of isolation and self-restraint. The problem is that the study and application of foreign modern techniques should be combined with China's reality, and cannot be divorced from the excellent cultural tradition of the Chinese nation, the music language of the Chinese nation, or the appreciation habits and social reality of the Chinese people.



Music language is the core of music creation, and melody is the soul of a work. So is the song, so is the symphony. There is no exception to those classics that have been handed down for a long time. The works of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky are the most popular and performed the most frequently. One of the reasons is that their works have beautiful language and vivid melody. It's just that the melodic instrument of the symphony has been musicalized, but even Beethoven's symphony of destiny also has a leading motive, and the music language runs through the development. The three symphonies, the butterfly lovers, the Yellow River and the ode to the red flag, have been around for decades, performed all over China, and established a brand of Chinese symphonic music in the world. The reasons for their success are various, but first of all, they all have beautiful and moving national music language. Therefore, in order to create popular and enduring Chinese symphonic works, we must solve the problem of music language. Simple sound stacking is not feasible. Modern techniques should be combined with beautiful music language. The nationalization of music language is the bridge to the success of music creation.



The power of structure is infinite, and it is also an important aspect to test the composer's skill. Whether the work can be improved to a certain extent depends on the author's ability to control the structure. In many works and even widely circulated works, there is a problem of lax structure. Hearing such places often makes people feel uncomfortable, and they will "run away" when listening. The imperfection of the structure weakens the strength of the work. Draw inferences from one instance, from a short song to a long symphony. To advocate the rational development of music structure is to stand on the overall, strategic and forward-looking height, and create according to the law of music's own development.



If Chinese Symphonies want to open up their own world, they also need to advocate the Sinicization of modern techniques. We should absorb and study all the outstanding achievements in the history of Symphony development at all times, at home and abroad, for our own use, and take the transmission of the national spirit and the spirit of the times as the creation essence and mission. The three classics of Chinese symphony, the butterfly lovers, the Yellow River and the ode to the red flag, all express the Chinese people's national feelings, national feelings and cultural spirit.



In the second half of the 20th century, the international rise of modern techniques of music writing has expanded the field of music technology and enriched the means of music writing and the expressiveness of works. This trend of thought has also poured into China, and it has a strong momentum and spread rapidly. For a time, what people say in professional classes, professional meetings, and personal works are all modern techniques. Anyone who doesn't do so is not fashionable enough, and is suspected of being conservative. In fact, this is a misunderstanding. Beethoven once said, "go and learn from Handel. He can get the maximum effect by simple means." Form serves content, and technology serves thought. Both form and technology should be chosen according to the ideological content of the work, not the more complex the technology, the better. Over the past decades, the birthplace of modern techniques has not yet emerged as a representative work recognized by the world. Practice tells us that creation that is divorced from reality, the people and the national soil will not work.



The works reflect the times, and the times choose the works. The surging revolution and the war of resistance against Japan gave birth to people's musicians Nie Er and xianxinghai. Nier never entered a conservatory of music. He devoted himself to the anti imperialist and anti feudal revolutionary struggle, created a large number of revolutionary songs about workers, and became a pioneer of revolutionary music. In the last year of his life, when he was 23, he composed the march of the volunteers, which became the National Anthem of the people's Republic of China. After returning from France, xianxinghai devoted himself to the Anti Japanese and national salvation singing movement. His fighting life laid the foundation for his later creation of the immortal Yellow River Cantata. During World War II, Shostakovich, who was fighting on the front line, wrote the famous Seventh Symphony Leningrad. On the day when German fascists announced that they would occupy Leningrad, Leningrad held a grand rally and performed this symphony to show their strong determination to defeat fascism.



Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, the Chinese people have made great historical achievements. Against this background, the three generations of composers, old, middle-aged and young, are enthusiastic in creating symphonies. Zhu Jianer, dumingxin, Wang Xilin and guozurong have written many symphonies; Middle aged composers such as yexiaogang, guowenjing, guanxia, tangjianping and zhangqianyi are very diligent; Young composers are also eager to try. Inspired by the new era, composers are struggling with their love for the motherland and the people. A number of new and good works are coming out, which will collide with the times with brilliant sparks.



Symphony is the treasure of world culture, the fruit of excellent music, the love of musicians and the needs of the people. Absorb the outstanding achievements of the world symphony, take the people as the center, embrace the new era, seek inspiration from life, passion, the truth, goodness and beauty of art, adhere to cultural self-confidence, and learn languages, tunes and melodies from ethnic folk music. It is worth striving for to walk out of the creative path of Chinese symphony and meet the new brilliance of symphony with Chinese characteristics. (fugengchen)



Fugengchen, a composer, was born in Heilongjiang in 1935. He used to be the deputy director of the education, science, culture, health and Sports Committee of the CPPCC National Committee. He is now the honorary chairman of the China Association for music and music and the honorary member of the China Federation of literary and art circles. His representative works include the monograph "works of Fu Gengchen", "Fu Gengchen talking about music", the film song "Lei Feng! Our comrades in arms", "Chairman Mao's words in mind", "red star song", "Yingshan Hong", the revolutionary poetry and Song Series "Dajiang song", the large-scale vocal suite "song of Mao Zedong" and "song of space flight", etc. He was awarded the title of "lifetime achievement music artist" by the Golden Bell award of Chinese music, and the title of "lifetime honorary member" by the International Council for music.