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Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2010 An American Song Book?: An Analysis of the Flower Drum and Other Chinese Songs by Chin-Hsin Chen and Shih-Hsiang Chen Jennifer Talley Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC AN AMERICAN SONG BOOK?: AN ANALYSIS OF THE FLOWER DRUM AND OTHER CHINESE SONGS BY CHIN-HSIN CHEN AND SHIH-HSIANG CHEN. By JENNIFER TALLEY A Thesis submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2010 The members of the committee approve the thesis of Jennifer Talley on July 13, 2009. ___________________________________ Douglass Seaton Professor Directing Thesis ___________________________________ Frank Gunderson Committee Member ___________________________________ Charles E. Brewer Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members. ii I dedicate this thesis to Frank Leo Golowski Jr., Florence Loretta Golowski, Darrell James Scheppler, and Alberta E. Talley – four of the most extraordinary people I have had the privilege of knowing. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Like the Chens’ book, this thesis is also the result of a great deal of collaboration. It would have been impossible for me to create this document without the help of a variety of people, and I am very much indebted to their efforts. I would first like to thank my advisor Dr. Douglass Seaton who has invested a great deal of time and energy into helping me edit, organize, and refine this thesis. His guidance and patience have been invaluable, and working with him has been both a delight and an opportunity to become a better researcher and scholar. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee Dr. Charles E. Brewer and Dr. Frank Gunderson for their insightful comments and their careful readings of this document. In addition to my advisor and committee, I also would like to thank the many archivists that either helped me comb through their collections or sent me photocopies of documents in their collections. This document would not have been able to be written without information obtained from the John Day Company archives at Princeton University or the Henry Cowell Collection at the New York Public library, and I am indebted to Don C. Skemer of Princeton and Jonathan Hiam of the NYPL and their staff members for all of their help. E-mail correspondence from Jeni Dahmus and Jane Gottlieb of The Juilliard School and Jim Conrad of Texas A&M University, Commerce Campus were critical to creating a biographical sketch of Gladys Mayo, and I am extremely grateful for their willingness to send me excerpts and photocopies of their materials. I must also thank Dr. Cyril Birch for sharing his recollections of Mr. Chen, recommending several new sources of biographical information, and for illuminating Mr. Chen’s deep friendship with Sir Harold Acton. Lastly, I must thank my friend and colleague John Spilker for finding and transcribing several elusive reviews of the Chens’ book. His willingness to take time out of his research agenda has shown me the true meaning of collegiality, and I most humbly thank him for his efforts. Finally, I must thank all of the various people in my life who have helped me reach this point in my life and write this thesis. My friends, colleagues, and professors at Florida State have offered me an opportunity to grow both as a person and as a scholar, and I could not ask for a better or more supportive community in which to do work. I have been lucky in my life to have many wonderful mentors and role models of whom iv Dr. Tim Crain, Dr. Todd Sullivan, and Dr. Paul Bro are three. These professors pushed me throughout my undergraduate career to do my best and believed in me, and their encouragement and subtle hints helped me realize that I could succeed as a musicologist. I must also thank my dear friends and mentors Dr. Casey J. Hayes and Joe Morris for not only opening their home to me during my various research trips to New York, but also for allowing me to be a part of their extended family. They have offered me much needed guidance and love, and I am a better person for knowing both of them. I have also received a great deal of emotional support from Kristen Kelley-Braun, Flynn Dunbar, Andrew Miller, Dan Peo, Kelli Peo, Becky Rogers, and Amy Wright. These friends have endured many late night phone calls, listened to me explain my thesis over and over again, and offered many helpful suggestions. I am grateful for their infinite patience and deep and abiding friendship. Finally, I must thank my mother, Linda Talley, my sisters, Lauren and Amanda Talley, and my aunts Rita McClure, Carla Scheppler, Debroah LeSage, and Jenny Barker. I could not have asked for a better or more supportive family. They have helped me follow my dreams, and I am grateful to have such beautiful and loving people in my life. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF EXAMPLES...................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................viii LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................. ix ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................ x INTRODUCTION TO THE FLOWER DRUM AND OTHER CHINESE SONGS ............ 1 NO COOLIES ALLOWED: CHINESE AND AMERICAN RELATIONS AND STEREOTYPES OF THE CHINESE IN AMERICA: 1845-1940. ................................. 10 OPPORTUNITIES AND CONNECTIONS: THE CHENS AND THEIR BOOK.......... 24 EAST MEETS WEST: AN ANALYSIS OF THE FLOWER DRUM AND OTHER CHINESE SONGS............................................................................................................. 38 CONCLUSIONS............................................................................................................... 60 SOURCES......................................................................................................................... 64 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ............................................................................................ 73 vi LIST OF EXAMPLES Example 4.1: Beginning of “Song of the Hoe.”…...…………….……………………….43 Example 4.2: Chinese Text at the End of “Song of the Hoe.”….………………………...43 Example 4.3: Flower Drum No. 1 Phrase a, mm. 1-2…………………………………....47 Example 4.4: Flower Drum No. 1 Phrase aI, mm. 7-8……...…………………………...47 Example 4.5: Flower Drum No. 1 Phrase aII, mm. 15-16………………………………..47 Example 4.6: Flower Drum No. 1 Phrase b, mm. 3-4………………………...................48 Example 4.7: Flower Drum No. 1 Phrase c, mm. 5-6……………………………………48 Example 4.8: Flower Drum No. 1 Phrase d, mm. 13-14………………………………...48 Example 4.9: The “Gong/Drum Chord” From Flower Drum No. 1……………………..49 Example 4.10: Left-hand accompaniment m. 9-12………………………………………50 Example 4.11: Departure, second system…………………………………………….....51 Example 4.12: Departure, third system ……………………...………………………….51 Example 4.13: Meng Chiang Nu’s Lament, mm. 2-3, Qin-like accompaniment………...53 Example 4.14: Little Cabbage, mm. 1-4, Flute-like, duet-texture accompaniment .…………………………..……………………………………………..53 Example 4.15: Sunset, mm. 1-2, Lute-like or Qin-like accompaniment…………………53 Example 4.16: Husband Goes to War, mm.54-57, War drum and drone accompaniment…………………………………………………………………....54 Example 4.17:The Moon and Stars, first page…………………………………………...58 Example 4.18: First Page of March of the Volunteers…………………………………...59 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: “Mining Life in California: Chinese Miners.” Harper’s Weekly , 3 October 1857 ……..…………………………...………………………………16 Figure 2.2: Movie Poster for Paramount Picture’s The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu ………………………………………………...…………………………….21 Figure 2.3: A Rendering of Warner Oland as Charlie Chan……………………………..22 Figure 3.1: Front of the dust jacket for The Flower Drum and Other Chinese Songs…………………………………………………….……………………...29 Figure 4.1: The Flower Drum and Other Chinese Songs, open view…………………....39 Figure 4.2 – Flower Drum Play……………………………………….……………….....40 Figure 4.3 – Wife of Ch’i Liang…………………………………………………………....40 Figure 4.4 – 10,000 Soldiers Singing “Chee-Lai” in Suiyuan, 1937…………………….41 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1: List of sections and songs contained in each …………..…………..……………39 Table 4.2: Sections, Phrases, Measures, and Cadence Notes in Flower Drum No. 1 …………………..………………………………………………..………….…46 ix ABSTRACT The Flower Drum and Other Chinese Songs is a book of Chinese folk songs and culture that was created by Chih-Hsiang Chen, Chin-Hsin Yao Chen and published in 1943. This thesis is comprised of three major chapters, each dealing with a different aspect of the Chens’ book and their lives and an introduction and conclusion. Chapter 2 presents information regarding American’s treatment of Chinese immigrants and stereotypes of the Chinese. The Chens immigrated to America during a time of political turmoil in China and strong anti-Chinese sentiments in America. Between 1850 and 1940, Americans were known for treating the Chinese poorly and had passed a variety of anti-Chinese laws that culminated with the Chinese Exclusion act in 1881, which was renewed until its repeal in 1943. In addition to anti-Chinese legislation there were also a variety

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