Lu Yen

For the Tang chancellor, see Lu Yan.
In this Chinese name, the family name is Lu.

Lu Yen (Chinese: 盧炎; pinyin: Lú Yán; Wade–Giles: Lu² Yen²; 20 November 1930 – 1 October 2008) was a Chinese-born Taiwanese composer.

Yen was born in Nanjing, China, and was educated in National Taiwan Normal University, Mannes College, City University of New York, and University of Pennsylvania. He received Taiwan's National Award for the Arts [zh] in 1993 and 1998. As a pupil of William Jay Sydeman, Mario Davidovsky, George Rochberg and George Crumb, Lu was well known of his atonal writings combining counterpoint skills. George Rochberg commented that Lu's music "has a unique scent".[1] Lu wrote in his article "My Artistic Journey" that he wished to write "music praising mother nature's great beauty and powers."[2] During 1967–2008, Lu wrote 6 solo instrumental works, 70+ chamber ensemble works (excluding art songs), 5 Chinese chamber works, 16 orchestral works, 1 Chinese orchestra piece, and 11 art songs. Among these works, there was a repeated theme about the sound of bell, which Lu always remembered from his childhood in the Jiangnan region of China. Two biographies were published in Taiwan, Lu Yen: A Cold Fire of Music,[3] written by Taiwanese poet Chen Li (陳黎) in 1997 and A Poetic Journey of Nostalgia,[4] by Canadian-Taiwanese composer Shyh-ji Chew (潘世姬) and Taiwanese composer Janet Jieru Chen (陳玠如) in 2004, both published by Taiwan's China Times Publishing Co. Digitalization data of Lu's art song manuscripts and analytic entries are available at Nation Music Archive and Taiwan Music Center of the National Center for Traditional Arts, Taipei, Taiwan.[5]

Lu died in Taipei, Taiwan. Soochow University (Taipei, Taiwan), where he taught music composition and counterpoint for 30 years, has a memorial room and a growing collection of Lu's manuscripts.[6] Lu's music could be heard in albums published by Music Forum, International Society for Contemporary Music-Taiwan Section, Asian Composers League – Taiwanese Composers Association and National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra.

  1. ^ Chen Li, Yen Lu: A Cold Fire of Music (盧炎：冷艷的音樂火燄) ISBN 957-13-2978-9, pp. 92–93: ...Yen Lu entered University of Pennsylvania in September, 1977. He remembered Rochberg asked him, 'You are already a professional composer, why are you here?' He answered, ' I am still searching in the dark.' Rochberg followed, 'Not only you, I am searching in the dark, too.' Lu had always remembered this dialogue clearly. Rochberg and Crumb both gave Lu great influences by telling him, 'write what's in your heart, no matter it's beautiful or not.' Rochberg also told Lu, 'Your work has a unique scent.' these words greatly encouraged Lu and gave him confidence on the lonely road of searching his own music. (盧炎是在一九七七年九月進入費城賓州大學音樂研究所的。盧炎猶記得洛克柏格問他：「你已經是專業的作曲家了，為什麼還要來學校？」盧炎答曰：「我覺得自己還在黑夜裡摸索。」洛克柏格跟著說：「不只是你呀，我也還在黑暗裡摸索呢。」這句話盧炎一直清楚記在心裡。洛克柏格與克蘭姆都給了盧炎觀念上極大的影響，他們告訴盧炎「作你心裡想作的東西，不管那音樂美夠不夠美」。洛克柏格曾對盧炎說：「你的作品具有獨特的芳香。」這給盧炎很大的鼓勵和自信，讓他更甘心安於寂寞，勤奮、持續地尋找他自己的音樂道路。)
  2. ^ "My Artistic Journey: 音樂的創作是我生活的目標，也就是我存在的理由。所以他是我對神明、對自然崇拜的儀禮。". Archived from the original on 2009-08-09. Retrieved 2009-09-08.
  3. ^ Yen Lu: A Cold Fire of Music (盧炎：冷艷的音樂火燄) ISBN 957-13-2978-9
  4. ^ Poetic Journey of Nostalgia(如詩的鄉愁之旅) ISBN 957-01-9355-7
  5. ^ Taiwan Music Center[permanent dead link‍]
  6. ^ invitation to the donation ceremony of Lu's manuscripts Archived 2011-10-07 at the Wayback Machine