Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in ‘C’ Major (1879 to 2010)
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This item was submitted to Loughborough University as a PhD thesis by the author and is made available in the Institutional Repository (https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/) under the following Creative Commons Licence conditions. For the full text of this licence, please go to: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in ‘C’ Major (1879 to 2010) By Mengyu Luo A Doctoral thesis Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements For the award of Doctor of Philosophy Loughborough University 15th March © by Mengyu Luo (2013) 1 Abstract Shanghai Symphony Orchestra is a fascinating institution. It was first founded in 1879 under the name of ‘Shanghai Public Band’ and was later, in 1907, developed into an orchestra with 33 members under the baton of German conductor Rudolf Buck. Since Mario Paci—an Italian pianist—became its conductor in 1919, the Orchestra developed swiftly and was crowned ‘the best in the Far East’ 远东第一 by a Japanese musician Tanabe Hisao 田边尚雄 in 1923. At that time, Shanghai was semi-colonized by the International Settlement and the French Concession controlled by the Shanghai Municipal Council and the French Council respectively. They were both exempt from local Chinese authority. The Orchestra was an affiliated organization of the former: the Shanghai Municipal Council. When the Chinese Communist Party took over mainland China in 1949, the Orchestra underwent dramatic transformations. It was applied as a political propaganda tool performing music by composers from the socialist camp and adapting folk Chinese songs to Western classical instruments in order to serve the masses. This egalitarian ideology went to extremes in the notorious 10-year Cultural Revolution. Surprisingly, the SSO was not disbanded; rather it was appropriated by the CCP to create background music for revolutionary modern operas such as Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy 《智取威虎山》. The end of Cultural Revolution after Mao’s death in 1976 ushered in a brand new Reform-and-Opening-up era marked by Deng Xiaoping’s public claim: ‘Getting rich is glorious!’ Unlike previous decades when the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra together with music it performed was made to entertain the general masses, elitism came back under a social entourage characterized by Chinese-style socialism. The concept of elite, however, is worth a further thought. Shanghai is not only home to a large number of Chinese middle class but also constitutes a promising paradise for millions of nouveau riches which resembles, to a great extent, the venture land for those Shanghailanders a century ago. This thesis, as the title indicates, puts the historical development of the Shanghai 2 Symphony Orchestra from 1879 to 2010 in C major applying Pierre Bourdieu’s cultural capital theory so as to understand how this extraordinary musical ‘currency’ is produced, represented, appropriated and received by different groups of people in Shanghai across five distinct historical stages. Cultural appropriation tactics and other relevant theories such as cultural imperialism and post colonialism are also combined to make sense of particular social environment in due course. To put the SSO in ‘C’ major does not infer that this musical institution and music it performed through all these years are reduced to economic analysis. Nonetheless, the inner value of music itself is highlighted in each historical period. A psychological concept—affordance, first applied by Tia DeNora in music sociology, is also integrated to help comprehend how and what Chinese people or the whole nation latched on to certain pieces of music performed at the SSO in different historical phases. Moreover, musicological analysis is carried out in due course to elaborate on the feasibility of, for example, adopting Chinese folk songs to Western classical instruments and creating a hybrid music type during Cultural Revolution. Aesthetic value of music is thus realized in the meantime. Archival research is mostly used in this thesis supplemented by one focus group and one in-depth interview with retired players at the SSO. Fieldwork of this research is mainly based in the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Archive; although materials from Shanghai Library and Shanghai Municipal Archive are also collected and made use of. Key Words: Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Archival Research, Cultural Capital, Cultural Appropriation, Affordance, Music Sociology. 3 Acknowledgements First and foremost, great gratitude goes to my supervisor—John Downey, Professor of Comparative Media. He has offered great help and support for me throughout my entire PhD study from the initial idea forming to writing up of this thesis. He gave me valuable comments and suggestions on my work. During my five-month fieldwork in Shanghai, he also contributed much of his precious time via Skype to help me with my work. John also supervised my master’s dissertation (2010) which was concerned with comparison between Western classical music concert audiences in Birmingham, UK and Shanghai, China. This thesis could not have been completed without guidance and encouragement from him. His knowledge and perspective on academic issues did and will always inspire me in my future work. I also owe a huge thank-you to my beloved parents: Luo Laiwang and Liang Xiuzhen and my other family members as well: grandparents, aunts and cousin—Chen Jie. Their selfless love, support and company were, are and will always be the inner strengths that make me move on. My parents are both senior high school teachers and it is they who made me learn the cello at a young age while neither of them is Western classical music lover. It is also this experience that contributed to my approach and perspective to this research project. I am deeply grateful to archivists Mr Yang Ning, Miss Hu Minda, Miss Hu Yanqiong and their colleagues at the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra who have kindly offered me great help and support during my fieldwork there. Mr Yang, in particular, provided me a desk space at their office and arranged a focus group for me involving nine retired players once worked at the SSO. His understanding of Western classical music impressed me to a great extent. Of course, my gratitude also goes to the nine retired players and among them Mr Wen Tan gave me great help and information in an in-depth interview afterwards. I would also like to say thank you to Professor Tang Yating from Shanghai Music 4 Conservatory who helped me apply for visiting scholar there during my stay in Shanghai and offered me valuable information on relevant research concerning the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. His intelligence and commitment to research greatly encouraged me. I am very lucky to receive suggestion from Mike Gane, Emeritus Professor from my department. He generously lent me his doctoral thesis: ‘Social Changes in English Music and Music Making 1800-1970, with Special Reference to the Symphony Orchestra’ (Gane, 1973) when he heard about my project. My ideas got developed from talks with him as well. I am also fortunate to get in contact with Professor Robert Bickers from Bristol University after I read his article on the Shanghai Municipal Orchestra and emailed him. He showed me a number of funding sources on China related studies and suggested Professor Tang Yating from Shanghai Music Conservatory and Dr Thoralf Klein from Loughborough University to me. Dr Thoralf Klein is also an expert on Chinese history who helped me further my understanding on historical study. His insight into Chinese music also shed light on my research greatly. I appreciate the help and support from the whole faculty of Social Sciences Department at Loughborough University, especially the administrator Deirdre Lombard who is always willing to help under all conditions. My thanks also go to Strings that Sing string orchestra in Loughborough University. I am very lucky to be a cello player in that amazing group since I first came to Loughborough in 2009. John Bean, the conductor and my cello teacher together with all other players brought great laughter and joy to my life in UK. Their pure passion and love for music infected me a lot. I am thankful for the Foreign Languages Department in my previous university—Civil Aviation University of China where I improved my English skills during my bachelor’s study. Professor Zhu Jingcai, head of the Department, supervised my bachelor’s dissertation and offered me great help in applying for 5 universities in UK. His kindness and devotion to English teaching are great treasures in my future life. Last but not least, I would like to express gratitude to my lovely friends both in China and in UK especially those that I had known since primary school such as Zhao Lümengzi and friends I made during my first year PhD study like my best housemate Guo Puqin. It is their constant and strong belief in me that get me through each difficulty I had. I would also like to thank my good friend Zheng Shaoyan in particular for his support and encouragement during my time in UK and personalities I learnt from him. 6 Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................................. 2 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................... 4 Contents ............................................................................................................................................ 7 List of Charts .............................................................................................................................