Xian Xinghai was born in Macau in 1905.
He moved with his mother to Singapore when he was six years old, and was enrolled at Yangzheng School for his primary education. It was while at Yangzheng Primary School that he took the first step in his musical career.
He was later brought to Canton for further education by his then school principal, Lin Yaoxiang, along with nineteen other students. Still later, back in Singapore, he studied at St. Andrew's School.
In 1926 he joined the National Music Institute at Peking University. The same year he published his well-known essay "Universal Music".
In 1929 he went to Paris (where he met Ma Sicong who introduced him to many artists). There he studied composition with d’Indy and Dukas, and composed a Violin Sonata in D Minor.
He returned to Shanghai in 1935 and headed the music section of the left-wing New China (Xinhua) Film Company, and composed many songs for use in anti-Japanese popular movements.
With the outbreak of war with Japan in 1937, he moved to Wu-Han and later to the Communist headquarters at Yan-An, where he became head of music at Lu-Xun College of the Arts.
His compositional style was essentially populist. His melodies commonly employ folk or simple folk-like material, and textures and structures, even in his larger-scale works, are typically clearly articulated. His harmonic language reflects the influence both of his foreign studies and of his attempts to develop works more closely in accord wth Chinese thematic material.
He composed in all the major musical forms (two symphonies, a violin concerto, four large-scale choral works, nearly three hundred songs and one opera).
Symphony no. 1 [National Liberation], 1935
Symphony no. 2 [Holy War], 1943
He moved with his mother to Singapore when he was six years old, and was enrolled at Yangzheng School for his primary education. It was while at Yangzheng Primary School that he took the first step in his musical career.
He was later brought to Canton for further education by his then school principal, Lin Yaoxiang, along with nineteen other students. Still later, back in Singapore, he studied at St. Andrew's School.
In 1926 he joined the National Music Institute at Peking University. The same year he published his well-known essay "Universal Music".
In 1929 he went to Paris (where he met Ma Sicong who introduced him to many artists). There he studied composition with d’Indy and Dukas, and composed a Violin Sonata in D Minor.
He returned to Shanghai in 1935 and headed the music section of the left-wing New China (Xinhua) Film Company, and composed many songs for use in anti-Japanese popular movements.
With the outbreak of war with Japan in 1937, he moved to Wu-Han and later to the Communist headquarters at Yan-An, where he became head of music at Lu-Xun College of the Arts.
His compositional style was essentially populist. His melodies commonly employ folk or simple folk-like material, and textures and structures, even in his larger-scale works, are typically clearly articulated. His harmonic language reflects the influence both of his foreign studies and of his attempts to develop works more closely in accord wth Chinese thematic material.
He composed in all the major musical forms (two symphonies, a violin concerto, four large-scale choral works, nearly three hundred songs and one opera).
Symphony no. 1 [National Liberation], 1935
Symphony no. 2 [Holy War], 1943
Comment