Overview
Title: Monologue (Impressions on “The True Story of Ah Q”)
Composer: Chen Yi (b. 1953)
Composition Year: 1993
Instrumentation: Solo Clarinet in B-flat
Extended Techniques: Pitch bends, extreme altissimo
Difficulty Level: 4/5
For my first master’s recital in March 2021, I played two unaccompanied pieces. The first was David Maslanka’s Little Symphony on the name BArnEy CHilDS, and the second was the piece that I’ll be analyzing today: the Monologue (Impressions on the “The True Story of Ah Q”) (1993) by Chen Yi. This one was, admittedly, difficult for me to conceptualize as I was learning it, and even now I feel like I don’t fully have a grasp on this piece’s character and style. I could just be overthinking things, which I often do, but I do believe I still have some learning to do when it comes to the Monologue.
Chen Yi (b. 1953) is a Chinese composer whose music “blends Chinese and Western traditions, transcending cultural and musical boundaries” (according to her bio, found on the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s website). If you’ve ever listened to traditional Chinese music, you can probably imagine the kinds of sounds that she incorporates into her writing. Like some of the other composers I’ve highlighted in past analyses, Chen has written her share of works that feature the clarinet. In addition to the Monologue, she’s also given us two pieces for clarinet and piano: the Chinese Ancient Dances (2006) and the Three Bagatelles from China West, which can be played on either B-flat or E-flat clarinet. She has also used the clarinet in many of her chamber works. Before the COVID-19 pandemic began, I was supposed to play her piece Sparkle with the Temple University New Music Ensemble.
Quick side note: Like most other sources you’ll find, I write out the composer’s name using the Chinese convention of “Last Name First Name.” Chen Yi’s surname is “Chen,” which is why I refer to her as such in this article even though that word appears first.
Analysis
So now let’s take a closer look at the Monologue. The word “monologue” has an obvious meaning here, but what does the rest of the title mean? This one will take some explaining: “The True Story of Ah Q” is a novella that was written in 1921 by Chinese author Lu Xun (1881-1936). The story revolves around a man known as “Ah Q,” who is essentially a pathetic loser who continually finds himself on the losing end of confrontations but somehow manages to turn his losses into victories in his mind. For example, in one chapter, he loses a fight to a wealthy landlord, but then uses the beating to elevate his sense of importance because it technically means he has an affiliation with an important figure in his community. Ah Q performs this (admittedly admirable) mental gymnastics for nine chapters until he tries and fails to join the revolution and is subsequently executed by the government for treason. “The True Story of Ah Q” became popular among the Chinese public for its humor and its relentless satire of Chinese society at the time. One result of the novella’s success was the widespread adoption of the term “Ah Q-ism,” which refers to what Encyclopedia Britannica calls, “the Chinese penchant for rationalizing defeat as a ‘spiritual victory.’”
I’ll briefly explain the historical context for “The True Story of Ah Q,” since that might help you understand what kind of story we’re dealing with. In 1921, China was a democratic republic. The monarchy had been abolished in 1912, but many of the country’s old feudal systems remained in place, and, generally speaking, people’s lives weren’t improving the way they’d wanted. This eventually set the stage for the Communist revolution that led to the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 (the republicans retained control of Taiwan afterwards and still rule it as of this writing). It was the stagnant, conservative ways of the Chinese republic that Lu Xun was satirizing in his writing, and it is this satire that Chen Yi draws upon for her Monologue.
Still with me? Great, let’s talk about the music!
If we treat this piece as a reflection of the narrative behind “The True Story of Ah Q,” which seems to be Chen’s intent, then it helps to split this piece into different chunks. Please note that this is my personal interpretation and may not reflect the composer’s own “impressions” of the story.
Section 1: mm. 1-10. After an emphatic introduction, the piece introduces its principal theme, which seems to represent Ah Q. The theme comes twice: Once at mf and f, and then again, in a shortened form, at pp and an octave lower. I hear this section as Ah Q wandering around his village looking for someone to swindle, only to be spotted by his fellow villagers and forced to be sneakier. Make the pitch bends at mm 7-8 as smooth as possible, and don’t make the second one too long. Treat the sextuplet at m. 10 like you’re tossing the notes away into the void.
Section 2: mm 11-17.2. This part fits reasonably well under the fingers, so don’t get too worried about the technical challenges. This part is Ah Q moving in, trying to pull one over on an unsuspecting bystander, only to get beaten up and left on the side of the road. Aside from obvious demands on finger technique, the only really difficult thing about these thirty-second note runs is the register leaps. Practice all these leaps by playing one chunk, and then stop on the note immediately before the register jump. Take a second or two to prepare the voicing and the tongue, and then play the next chunk. Luckily, these chunks are easy to spot since they’re all in different registers and grouped under the same slurs. Don’t play this section too fast – it’s still adagio ad lib. Ironically, while clarity of sound is important, I hear everything before m. 15 as muffled dialogue, like someone talking (or shouting) behind a closed door. Perhaps Ah Q was getting into a fight inside someone’s shop? Make the crescendo at m. 14 huge, and for everything from mm. 15-17.2, make sure you’re putting the emphasis on the marcato and accented notes and not the runs.
Section 3: mm. 17.4-32. The principal theme returns in an augmented form – pay close attention to the rhythms! I think of this section as Ah Q slinking away and mulling over his defeat, trying to find a moral victory. Some of the pitch bends in this section are a little tricky. In m. 23, while smearing from E to D#, put your pinky down as you are bending the pitch, and then let the third finger cover the tone hole. The C#-D smeared grace notes are hard to play as actual “pitch bends” because of the nature of the clarinet – for these, lower the pitch with your embouchure on the C#, keep it lowered as you lift your finger off the C# key, and then bring it back up to normal on the D. The marcato E-flat and low E should have the most emphasis of any notes in this section. For the final pitch bend on the low E in m. 31, just do the best you can with your embouchure. You’re already at a very soft dynamic here, so this is more a matter of letting the note die away than anything else. Observe the full length of the rest in m. 32.
Section 4: mm. 33-53. Ah Q is back on his feet and going home, hoping to get some sleep before joining the revolution the following day. In m. 36, gradually add extra fingers in addition to using your embouchure to get a good pitch bend on that throat A. For the portion with all the whole notes, find ways to keep the sound from becoming stagnant – the use of subtle dynamic changes is the best way to do this. Do a slight decrescendo in m. 38, but make sure the one in m. 39 is bigger. Crescendo slightly in m. 40, then diminuendo slightly in m. 41 before getting to beat 4. Slight crescendo in m. 42, slight diminuendo in m. 43. The ornaments are how this part develops melodically, so give them a bit of emphasis. Be careful not to compress the sixteenth note triplets in mm. 39 and 41 – they are worth a full eighth-note. Mm. 52-53 make up a two-bar rest – fully observe it. I advise keeping the clarinet in playing position during this rest to maintain the atmosphere you’ve set up.
Section 5: mm. 54-end. Ah Q wakes up, having overslept, and frantically tries to escape the police who have come to arrest revolutionaries, only to be arrested and executed. Notice how the melody in m. 55 sounds similar to that of mm. 15-17 – bring out that similarity. It’s almost like this theme is the motif for when Ah Q loses a fight. Make the altissimo B-flat in m. 56 huge! Then make the sfz low E sudden and blunt. Observe the remaining measures as written, keeping all the subsequent Es short. Again, keep the clarinet in playing position for those last four bars rest – the silence Chen builds into those measures is part of the music. Keep the dramatic atmosphere you’ve created going until those bars are over.
And there you have it: My take on Chen Yi’s Monologue (Impressions on “The True Story of Ah Q”). It’s definitely one of the more abstract pieces I’ve tackled, and probably one of the hardest for me to conceptualize. Hopefully this breakdown makes it a little easier for you to do the same, because it’s definitely worth it. The effects this piece creates are great when pulled off correctly!
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