Music Unlimited II: “Fisherman’s Song” (漁歌子)

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

About the Work

This piece does not set out to depict the picturesque scenery of the poem, nor the poet’s carefree detachment from the world. Instead, it attempts to have a four-part mixed choir recite a poem as a single whole. In keeping with this concept, the text is never repeated, and the work is only twenty-six bars long.

In setting the text, guided by this holistic concept, when the voices pass the same syllable among them, its initial consonant is not repeated. For example, when several voices sing “xi” (西) in turn, only the first voice to enter pronounces the initial (consonant); the remaining voices simply extend the syllable. The endings of syllables can be treated in the same way. The rising and falling tones inherent in Chinese can then flow across the full range of the choir, from one voice part to another.

Harmonically, the piece is built mainly on combinations of major thirds and perfect fourths (including their inversions). The last line of the poem is sung in unison, the only place in the piece with a melody.