Date of Graduation
2018
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Type
DMA
College
College of Creative Arts
Department
School of Music
Committee Chair
Peter Amstutz
Committee Co-Chair
William Haller
Committee Member
Michael Ibrahim
Committee Member
Bruce S Kang
Committee Member
James Miltenberger
Abstract
Since the second half of the twentieth century, Asian composers have formed a new force which has been highly influential in Western classical music. Chinese-American composer Tan Dun is undoubtedly one of the most significant figures among living Asian composers. He gave his first opus number to the piano suite Eight Memories in Watercolor, originally titled Eight Sketches in Hunan Accent, which is now regarded as one of most important pieces in the modern Chinese piano repertoire.;This study aims first to gain a deeper understanding of this piece. After an introduction, Chapter Two presents an overview of Tan Dun's biography and his works for piano. Chapter Three covers the compositional background, general information, and formal structure of Eight Memories in Watercolor. Chapters Four and Five illustrate respectively the Chinese cultural and philosophical influence on this piece and the use of Chinese musical elements in this music. Chapter Six summarizes the previous findings and concludes the paper.
Recommended Citation
Xu, Qian, "Chinese Elements and Influence in Tan Dun's Eight Memories in Watercolor" (2018). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 6991.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/6991