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Chinese Name: 春节序曲
English Name: Spring Festival Overture
Composer: Li Huanzhi 李焕之
“Spring Festival Overture” is a symphony composed by Li Huanzhi. It was released in 1955 and won the “Golden Record Award” issued by China Record Corporation in 1989.
Composition Story of Spring Festival Overture
When the Chinese new year is coming, every Chinese people will hear a familiar melody ” Spring Festival Overture”, which has unconsciously become a musical and cultural symbol of the new year.
But why does it receive so much love from the Chinese people? In addition to the simple and pleasant melody of the music itself, this work also skillfully shows the colors of celebration, enthusiasm, joy and reunion, which is very in line with the preference of our compatriots for “Celebrating the New Year”.
What we need to pay more attention to is the indissoluble bond between Mr. Li Huanzhi, the composer of the Spring Festival Overture, and Northern Shaanxi YangGe, which is also the reason why this music has such strong vitality:
From 1955 to 1956, he integrated his life experience in Yan’an period into the materials based on the tone and rhythm of folk Yangge in Northern Shaanxi.
The lively melody vividly shows the scenes of people in the revolutionary base areas in the traditional festivals.
As the theme music of the Spring Festival Gala, “Spring Festival Overture” has been with us for countless warm years, but it has moved us far more than these: with its high popularity, it was selected as the “Chinese music classic of the 20th century” in 1993 and entered space on China’s first lunar exploration satellite “Chang’e-1” in 2007. The Spring Festival Overture, which belongs to the New Year Music of our Chinese people, is happy with us, the world and the universe!
About the Composer of Spring Festival Overture
Li Huanzhi (January 12, 1919 – March 19, 2000), born in Hong Kong, originally from Jinjiang, Fujian (now Jinjiang, Quanzhou), is a Chinese composer, conductor and music theorist. He graduated from Music Department of Lu Xun Arts College.
Li Huanzhi has created a large number of music works in his life, including the popular songs such as “the March for the Democratic Founding of the people’s Republic of China”, “the new China Youth March” and “the good socialism”. His orchestral works include the Spring Festival Suite, the first symphony – hero island, the Guqin string Chorus Su Wu, the guzheng Concerto Miluo River fantasy, and the one act opera autumn of a foreign country.
