The guqin is a plucked string instrument with more than 3,000 years of history in China. Many composers have explored piano music imitating the musical elements (i.e. the properties distinguishing different styles, eras, composers, regions, and pieces from one another such as rhythm, melody, harmony, timbre, dynamics, texture and form) of the guqin and produced many piano works inspired by the guqin. The effects differ in the creative techniques of such piano works across different periods. This paper takes three piano pieces – ‘Yangguan San Die’ (composed by Li Haiying in 1978), ‘#F Shang: Calligraphy and Qin rhyme’ (composed by Wang Lisan in 1981) and ‘Qin’ (composed by Ge Ganru in 1986) – as examples to study how the piano can, in different ways, imitate the musical elements of the guqin. Comparative analysis is used to assess the three piano pieces and explore the sublimation of the guqin within Chinese piano creations in so pianists can gain a deeper understanding of Chinese piano works influenced by the guqin.

Hou Jinjin, Lee Chie Tsang Isaiah. The Comparative Study of Imitation of the Guqin in Three Chinese Piano Works. Frontiers in Art Research (2022) Vol. 4, Issue 16: 44-53. https://doi.org/10.25236/FAR.2022.041607.

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