Music Unlimited II: “Still” (仍然)

Included in “Chinese Choral Music Anthology: Music Unlimited II.”

About the Work

Lin Huiyin’s poem has three stanzas, each beginning with the word “you” (你). In this piece, I chose the minor seventh chord to represent “you,” which also suits the pentatonic material used throughout. Formally, the work follows the stanzas of the poem and adds a closing section, for four sections in all. As the poem is by a woman poet, the voicing centers on the soprano part, giving the music a youthful, tender character.

The melodies are shaped by the natural cadence of spoken Chinese. The texture of each section varies (sometimes unison, sometimes antiphonal, sometimes led by the soprano melody) to match the changing content of the poem. For instance, the “you” that opens each stanza is set homophonically in the first stanza and contrapuntally in the second; in the third, the sopranos carry the main melody while the other voices sustain “you” as harmony, which also reflects the many facets of the “you” in the poem. In the third section, after “a stretch of stillness” (一片的沉靜), the final line of text is not sung; the music moves straight into the fourth section, in which a solo soprano recites the entire poem as if speaking, while the choir hums the harmony with closed mouths to express “forever guarding my soul” (永遠守住我的魂靈).

In tempo, too, the music follows the tone of the poem, gradually slowing from moderate to slow, and then from slow to no fixed tempo at all, as if voicing doubt and hesitation about a love.