Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 150-159).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington. / Also issued in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Indiana University, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 431-473).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 144-145).

Ma Sicong was a violinist, composer, and educator of the highest caliber in China who devoted his entire professional life to the instrument. Known for producing violin music in various styles and forms for more than fifty years, Ma Sicong contributed to the violin's popularization in China through his performance and composition with Chinese elements. His violin music incorporates principal melodies from Chinese folk music, and his talents as a mature Western composer talents blend these melodies into violin solos with a distinct national identity.The Inner Mongolia Suite and First Rondo by Ma Sicong, both of which are considered among the most outstanding violin solos ever written for the instrument, are examined in this dissertation, as is the composer's own playing experience, to gain a better understanding of the compositions and their meaning. There are several ramifications for Chinese composition for the violin due to the inclusion of national features that affected the design and development of the violin. The author also hopes that this dissertation can serve as a beneficial resource for future students interested in comparable topics. / Music Performance

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abstract: Contemporary Chinese composers have a rich palette from which to draw inspirations of the distinctive timbres of ancient instruments, the diverse musical types, and the development of musical instruments. Zhou Long, an internationally recognized Chinese-American composer, has created a compositional style that transfers the sounds and techniques of ancient Chinese musical traditions to modern Western instruments. An examination of Zhou Long’s compositions Secluded Orchid and Spirit of Chimes demonstrates his synthesis of Chinese and Western techniques as well as cross-cultural integration. To gain a better understanding of the compositional process of these two piano trios, the author conducted a personal interview with Zhou Long on October 21, 2016, during which he provided unique insight into the influences and inspirations of these pieces. This document describes how the history of ancient Chinese music, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, as well as Zhou Long’s life and education, influenced Seclude Orchid and Spirit of Chimes. The inspirations, formal structures, harmonic language, and compositional techniques that are presented in these works are also discussed. Finally, other repertoires of Zhou Long that share similar ideas or inspirations are explored. / Dissertation/Thesis / Secluded Orchid / Spirit of Chimes / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2017

The twentieth century saw the spread of Western art music across the world as Western ideology and values acquired increasing dominance in the global order. How did this process occur in China, what complexities does it display and what are its distinctive features? This thesis aims to provide a detailed and coherent understanding of the Westernisation of Chinese music in the 20th century, focusing on the ever-changing relationship between music and social ideology and the rise and evolution of national identity as expressed in music. This thesis views these issues through three crucial stages: the early period of the 20th century which witnessed the transition of Chinese society from an empire to a republic and included China's early modernisation; the era from the 1930s to 1940s comprising the Japanese intrusion and the rising of the Communist power; and the decades of economic and social reform from 1978 onwards. The thesis intertwines the concrete analysis of particular pieces of music with social context and demonstrates previously overlooked relationships between these stages. It also seeks to illustrate in the context of the appropriation of Western art music how certain concepts acquired new meanings in their translation from the European to the Chinese context, for example modernity, Marxism, colonialism, nationalism, tradition, liberalism, and so on.

This study first narrates on the importance of theory of lü-lü (theory of tone generation) in the history of Chinese music from the Chou Dynasty (ca. 400 B.C.) to the Chin Dynasty (ca. end of 19th century), its symbolism and ramification. The main body of this study is devoted to critical translation of Huang Ti-Pei's Perspectives of Chinese Music, particularly those sections which give chronological narratives and comparative critiques of major theories of lü-lü, in order to provide the western scholarship with documents toward understanding the evolution of tone system of Chinese music. The study concludes with a comparison of Chinese tone systems from ancient time to present, and offers comments on comparison of tone systems between the eastern and western musics.