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| Latest update: | 19-04-2024 |
Tyzen Hsiao
1938 - 2015
Taiwan
| T. Hsiao |
Tyzen Hsiao (01/01/1938 - 24/02/2015) is a Taiwanese composer (born in Kaohsiung). He graduated Taiwan of the neo-Romantic school. Many of his vocal works set poems written in Taiwanese, the mother tongue of the majority of the island's residents. His compositions stand as a musical manifestation of the Taiwanese literature movement that revitalized the island's literary and performing arts in the 1970s and 1980s.
Ilha Formosa: Requiem for the Formosan Martyrs
| Period: | 21st century |
| Composed in: | 2001 |
| Musical form: | free |
| Text/libretto: | Min-yung Lee |
| In memory of: | the Formosan Martyrs |
Ilha Formosa contains:
01. If You Would Ask
02. Memory and Perception
03. Onward
04. This Beautiful Country
In the andante first movement, the island's most ancient voices offer their wisdom and admonish newcomers to give themselves completely to their new home. The third movement, in march tempo, encourages survivors of suffering to rise above their pain. The finale envisions an island that fulfils everything contained in the name Formosa.
01. If You Would Ask
If you would ask about the island's father, I will tell you of the sky. If you would ask about the island's mother, I will tell you of the sea. If you would ask about the island's past, I will tell you of tears, blood, sweat. If you would ask about the island's future, I will tell you of a bold new world.
02. Memory and Perception
For every victim we gladly engrave names into marble. For every victim we gladly weave flowers into wreaths. For every victim we will recite a poem. For every victim we will sing a song.
03. Onward
Do not surrender to self-pity and groans of despair. Do not complain and poison yourself with bitterness. Lift your hand to the azure blue. Set yourself upon a shining road.
04. This Beautiful Country
This beautiful country is our everlasting love. This beautiful country is our heart's treasure. And this little tapestry of dreams is but a sketch of our hopes for that beautiful country, a green peace.
01. If You Would Ask
02. Memory and Perception
03. Onward
04. This Beautiful Country
In the andante first movement, the island's most ancient voices offer their wisdom and admonish newcomers to give themselves completely to their new home. The third movement, in march tempo, encourages survivors of suffering to rise above their pain. The finale envisions an island that fulfils everything contained in the name Formosa.
01. If You Would Ask
If you would ask about the island's father, I will tell you of the sky. If you would ask about the island's mother, I will tell you of the sea. If you would ask about the island's past, I will tell you of tears, blood, sweat. If you would ask about the island's future, I will tell you of a bold new world.
02. Memory and Perception
For every victim we gladly engrave names into marble. For every victim we gladly weave flowers into wreaths. For every victim we will recite a poem. For every victim we will sing a song.
03. Onward
Do not surrender to self-pity and groans of despair. Do not complain and poison yourself with bitterness. Lift your hand to the azure blue. Set yourself upon a shining road.
04. This Beautiful Country
This beautiful country is our everlasting love. This beautiful country is our heart's treasure. And this little tapestry of dreams is but a sketch of our hopes for that beautiful country, a green peace.
| Author: | English translation by Tang Bodun |
| Source: | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilha_Formosa:_Requiem_for_the_Formosan_Martyrs |
Ilha Formosa: Requiem for the Formosan Martyrs (also Ilha Formosa Requiem or Formosan Requiem) (2001) is a composition for solo soprano, solo baritone, chorus and orchestra composed by Taiwanese composer Tyzen Hsiao (b.1938). The composition is based on a Taiwanese language poem by Min-Yung Lee. Ilha Formosa ("Beautiful Island") is the name given to the island on the maps made by Portuguese mariners in the Age of Discovery. The heart of the piece is the second movement in which the male and female soloists, in lyrical phrases, remember those who suffered in the White Terror and throughout Taiwan's history.