Folk Song (Composition)

China's first real on the international stage, and China's first foreign violin masters to play the solo violin, respectively, is Ma Sicong composed "Homesickness" and the "First Rondo". Ma's "Homesickness" is the first Chinese violin masterpiece that can be called the world's finest, comparable to the well-known "Liang Zhu Violin Concerto".

Ma Sicong received his musical education in France, and his violin music composition began in the early 1930s of the last century. During this time, in addition to some "modernists" who had already begun their explorations, the post-romantic style of composition was still very much in vogue. Therefore, the use of folk music and folk songs is a very common way to write. A large number of Ma's violin compositions, including those composed during and after this period, are colored in this way.

The "Homesickness" and "Rondo No. 1" were both written in 1937, and they were also written using folk song tunes. We, China, with its many ethnic groups, are a great nation of folk songs. Whether it is Han, Manchu, Mongolian, Hui, Tibetan, or other ethnic groups, all have a large number of folk songs and rich musical materials. These two pieces of music were written using material from Inner Mongolian folk songs. Homesickness was originally the second movement of the large-scale orchestral piece Suiyuan Suite written by Ma Sicong. Suiyuan Suite" is also known as "Inner Mongolia Suite" because "Suiyuan" is the old name of the place, which was later included in Inner Mongolia. But nowadays, music publications refer to this piece as the Suiyuan Suite, so I'll follow suit. Ma Sicong has a lot of works using Inner Mongolian folk songs as creative materials, I think it is not only that most of the Inner Mongolian folk songs are characterized by both boldness, simplicity, and depth, but also related to their tunes are soothing and singable, and can adapt to the plasticity of various moods. The three movements of Suiyuan Suite are called Epic, Homesickness, and Dance Beyond the Seas. Since Ma's orchestral works are very violinized, they can all be performed in such a form as solo violin with piano accompaniment. Of the three movements, the second is especially beautiful and touching. When the orchestra of the former Soviet Union introduced Chinese works, they played it exclusively. Therefore, it was called "the first Chinese orchestral and violin piece that really stepped onto the international stage" (in addition, the first Chinese piano piece that stepped onto the international stage was He Luting's "Piccolo for Shepherd Boys"). Because of the particular popularity of "Homesickness" for solo violin, to this day, this piece (and also the later "Dance Beyond the Sea") has become almost exclusively for solo violin.

The theme of "Homesickness", as it is known, is a folk song with only eight bars: "Running Horses on the City Wall". The original poorer places in the northern hinterland, their earthen city walls are narrow but not wide. Running a horse on the wall, one can only go forward, but cannot turn the horse around and come back. This is the meaning of the song, and it indeed expresses the miserable feeling in the heart of the wanderer who can't come back to his home country. The tune of the simple folk song is essentially very beautiful. The author makes no modifications to it, but only lets the violin play it in the middle and lower registers. However, later on, the author follows this simple theme and writes several stylistically very unified developmental themes, which make this homesickness continue to elevate and develop, and finally reaches its peak when the violin plays an agitated double musical phrase. In this way, the violin once again plays this folk song theme in the high register, and with a serene, prolonged musical sound, it expresses the wanderer's nostalgia, and with a series of upward parallel fourths from low to high, the author condenses this unresolved nostalgia in the fading overtones of the very high tones. Has the wanderer returned? - No, he has not. No. He will never come back.

The First Rondo is written in the standard Rondo form. It is one of the most neatly written of our violin pieces, and this also shows the author's serious style of composition. The theme is from a bold and heroic Inner Mongolian folk song "Love Farewell", with a very characteristic syncopated rhythm. After the author's careful treatment and re-composition, with the addition of several sub-themes and a sing-songy slow contrasting theme, it finally becomes a fast, passionate and excellent piece. Personally, I think that although it is a non-titled piece of music, its musical image is clear, and it well reflects the strength and self-confidence of our nation. At the same time, it was also a showpiece to a certain extent under that playing environment at that time. In the 1950s, when David Oistrakh, a violin virtuoso from the former Soviet Union, came to China for a visit and performance, he specially chose to play this piece! Therefore, it is the first Chinese violin solo piece to be played by a foreign violin master.