Fu Lei on Music

Author: Fu Lei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-11-01
Features: Fu Lei (1908-1966) was a renowned Chinese literary and artistic translator. Since the 1930s, he dedicated himself to introducing French literature, mainly translating works such as the long masterpiece Jean-Christophe by Roman Rolland, biographies Beethoven: The Master and His World and Tolstoy: A Biography, the classic novels Père Goriot and émile Zola by Balzac, and more than 30 other translated works including Carmen by Mérimée. He also wrote the monograph Twenty Lectures on World Masterpieces of Art and essays such as Beethoven’s Works and Spirit, Review of Three Gorges Valley, and Review of Spring Planting, Autumn Harvest. There are many articles discussing Letters from Fu Lei, but none have addressed the musical aspects of the letters. Therefore, the author intends to explore Fu Lei’s views on music in this article. Fu Lei was trained in the history of art; he studied European art history in Paris. His passion for music was entirely personal, and his musical cultivation was self-taught, based on a foundation of European art to appreciate European music. Occasionally, he incorporated the aesthetic perspectives of Chinese literati, resulting in some reviews and opinions that were quite humanistic—blending European art, music, and Chinese poetry into a synthesis of Sino-European musical artistry. This book includes Fu Lei’s musical critiques, analyses of musical compositions, and correspondence with Fu Cong and world masters, all of which are insightful and reveal profound understanding.