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Chinese Name: 梁祝-小提琴协奏曲
English Name: Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto
Composer: He ZhanHao 何占豪 Chen Gang 陈钢
Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto is based on the folklore “Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai（梁山伯与祝英台， Butterfly Lovers ）”. He Zhanhao and Chen Gang composed the Violin Concerto in 1958, using the melody of Yue opera as the material.
About the Story of Liang Shangbo and Zhu Yingtai
Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai also called Butterfly Lovers or Liang Zhu, It is one of the four great folk love stories in ancient China. Known as the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet
Since the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it has been popular among the people for more than 1700 years. It can be described as a household name in China and spread far-reaching. It is known as the masterpiece of love. Since ancient times, countless people have been infected by the sad and beautiful love between Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. The legend and love story of Liang Zhu are real events that did happen in history, supported by historical data and cultural relics.
Zhu Yingtai disguised herself as a man and went to school. She had feelings for her classmate Liang Shanbo. When Zhu Yingtai told her that she was a girl, they were close to each other and made a private appointment for life.
Unexpectedly, Zhu’s father had betrothed his daughter to another rich child. Liang Shanbo died of heartbreak when he heard the news. On the day of marriage, Yingtai knelt down in front of Shanbo’s tomb and cried. At this time, the sky fell and the earth burst and the rain poured. Yingtai jumped into the crack without hesitation and followed Shanbo. When the weather cleared after the rain, a pair of butterflies danced in front of Shanbo’s tomb, and the two were reunited in this way.
Composition Story of Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto
Composer he Zhanhao came from a family of Shaoxing local opera and Yue opera.
During school, he and Ding Zhiruo, Yu Lina and other students formed a “Violin nationalization experimental group” to explore the national style of performance. Prior to the creation of “Liang Zhu”, he Zhanhao had written a string quartet “Liang Zhu” according to the melody of Yue opera, which was the prototype of the Violin Concerto “Liang Zhu”. Later, Chen Gang, the head of the composition department from a western music family, collaborated with he Zhanhao in the creation of “both Chinese and Western” and “Liang Zhu” was born in the spark.
He Zhanhao said in the interview that “Liang Zhu” is by no means just a “creation” between him and Chen Gang. “Its melody comes from folk and Yue opera. It can be said that it is the common wisdom crystallization of many zither players and folk artists. Liang Zhu is actually the labor achievement of several generations in Chinese opera and music circles.”
Chen Gang said that He Zhanhao started from “nationalization” to “Liangzhu”, and he constructed the overall situation from the perspective of “internationalization”. Their cooperation happened to successfully use the “Esperanto” of symphonic music to tell ancient Chinese folklore; With the combination of the development principle of Sonata and dramatic narration, he created a concerto with a combination of Chinese and western, ancient and modern, and the central axis of his feelings is the common human nature and love of all mankind.
