PhD Student, EALC & TAPS
“Neither Horse Nor Donkey”: Nationalization of Voice at Shanghai Music Conservatory in 1958
Time: Friday, February 9, 3:00-5:00pm CT
Location: Room 319, Center for East Asian Studies (1155 E. 60th St)
★This workshop is co-hosted by the Music and Sound workshop★
Abstract: Responding to the “indigenous versus foreign throat debate” (土洋嗓之争) in early PRC, overseen by Premier Zhou Enlai, an experiment that sought to “nationalize the voice” (声乐民族化) was carried out at the Shanghai Music Conservatory in 1958. Working with rare first-hand accounts, my article shows that the voice nationalization consists of two simultaneous processes: to make voice “scientific” (incorporating the Italian bel canto system), and to capture the “flavor” of the Chinese language in singing (such as vowel shapes and tune-intonation relationship). The voice experiment undertaken represents a radical case in which the ontological boundaries of Western opera and Chinese opera were transcended through a dynamic two-way dialectical experiment. While the concept of “nationalization” often evokes notions of cultural protectionism that prioritizes indigenous culture, this voice experimentation is not a one-way prioritization of a national voice culture, but one that fundamentally seeks to incorporate the Western vocal system and techniques. While the resulting newly created opera is nowadays prevalently perceived as a “hybridization” of Western and Chinese opera, the conceptual framework of “hybridization” does not fully capture the process and vision of the voice reform in its historical and political context, especially in view of Mao’s “Talk to Music Workers” in 1956. This paper examines the interpreted “scientific” connotations of Italian bel canto in its perceived association with anatomical terminology, modernity, vocal sustainability, as well as the experiment’s paradoxes regarding appropriation, creativity in cultural hegemony, and whether the voice is intrinsically apolitical. This paper also reveals the comparable weight between the technical details and their ideological and cultural significance in this artistic transformation process.
Presenter: Susanna Sun is a current second-year PhD student in the joint program of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Theatre and Performance Studies at The University of Chicago. Her main research focus is Chinese opera through approaches across disciplines and media forms, particularly the process of transmediation. She is interested in the specific topics of opera films, opera reforms, cross-dressing performance, and the Ming–Qing drama tradition, and in broader topics such as philosophy, gender, and cross-cultural exchange. She draws upon a variety of methodological approaches and strives to bring attention to the perspectives of the opera performers. She is deeply passionate about Chinese opera and has experience performing Yue opera, an all-female genre, from a young age.
Discussant: Jacob Reed is a PhD candidate in music theory and history at the University of Chicago. His dissertation project, “Negotiating Grammars: Encounters Between Music and Text” examines domains where language and music supplement, replace, and fight with one another, drawing on examples and tools from sources including hip-hop, pop music, and Kunqu theory. He also performs widely on keyboard instruments, playing organ recitals, collaborative piano, and basso continuo throughout the Chicagoland area.
