Biography
For decades a prevailing current in composition has involved merging longstanding European and American idioms with those of Pacific Asia. What once seemed novel had grown familiar, even routine, by the time Chou Wen-chung left China for the United States after the Second World War and began examining the legacies of both hemispheres—an undertaking that remained uncommon then.
Born in Chefoo in July 1923, Chou Wen-chung followed Chinese naming custom, placing the family name first. While still in China he earned an undergraduate degree in engineering with the intention of pursuing that profession. In 1946 he relocated to New Haven, Connecticut, and enrolled at Yale University’s architecture school, yet after one or two years he abandoned those studies and devoted nearly all his time to music under Nicholas Slonimsky. He also worked with Edgard Varèse, who later named him executor of his musical estate; Chou eventually resided in the house once owned by Varèse. In 1954 he completed a master’s degree in composition at Columbia University. Subsequent research centered on Chinese music, and he became the first technical assistant in Columbia’s Electronic Music Laboratory. Beginning in 1964 he joined the Columbia faculty and held administrative posts in the School of Arts. Among those he instructed were Bright Sheng, Tan Dun, Chinary Ung, and Zhou Long. Equally active as an organizer, he presided over CRI, Inc., established the Fritz Reiner Center for Contemporary Music, and created and led the Center for U.S.-China Arts Exchange, through which Isaac Stern and Luciano Pavarotti performed in China. After retiring in 1991 he continued to publish and speak widely on the convergence of Eastern and Western practices as well as on Asian and contemporary music.
His output remained modest; during the 1970s and early 1980s he ceased composing entirely. When he did write, Chou Wen-chung drew on Chinese tradition, folklore, or history and set those elements within conventional Western instrumental groupings. In contrast to Toru Takemitsu, who occasionally introduced an indigenous Asian instrument such as the shakuhachi, Chou preferred to translate the sonic characteristics of his sources—Chinese zither music, for instance—onto Western instruments, as he did for the solo piano piece The Willows are New in 1957. He likewise explored structural and philosophical principles drawn from the I Ching, evident in the 1966 orchestral score Pien. Beijing in the Mist, scored for ten players, appeared in 1986 as his first work after the long hiatus. It was followed by a Cello Concerto in 1992 and several additional chamber pieces. Only his final compositions incorporated Asian instruments. Eternal Pine, commissioned in 2008 by a gayageum ensemble, was subsequently recast as Ode to Eternal Pine for Western forces in 2009 and as Eternal Pine III for Chinese instruments in 2012.
Born in Chefoo in July 1923, Chou Wen-chung followed Chinese naming custom, placing the family name first. While still in China he earned an undergraduate degree in engineering with the intention of pursuing that profession. In 1946 he relocated to New Haven, Connecticut, and enrolled at Yale University’s architecture school, yet after one or two years he abandoned those studies and devoted nearly all his time to music under Nicholas Slonimsky. He also worked with Edgard Varèse, who later named him executor of his musical estate; Chou eventually resided in the house once owned by Varèse. In 1954 he completed a master’s degree in composition at Columbia University. Subsequent research centered on Chinese music, and he became the first technical assistant in Columbia’s Electronic Music Laboratory. Beginning in 1964 he joined the Columbia faculty and held administrative posts in the School of Arts. Among those he instructed were Bright Sheng, Tan Dun, Chinary Ung, and Zhou Long. Equally active as an organizer, he presided over CRI, Inc., established the Fritz Reiner Center for Contemporary Music, and created and led the Center for U.S.-China Arts Exchange, through which Isaac Stern and Luciano Pavarotti performed in China. After retiring in 1991 he continued to publish and speak widely on the convergence of Eastern and Western practices as well as on Asian and contemporary music.
His output remained modest; during the 1970s and early 1980s he ceased composing entirely. When he did write, Chou Wen-chung drew on Chinese tradition, folklore, or history and set those elements within conventional Western instrumental groupings. In contrast to Toru Takemitsu, who occasionally introduced an indigenous Asian instrument such as the shakuhachi, Chou preferred to translate the sonic characteristics of his sources—Chinese zither music, for instance—onto Western instruments, as he did for the solo piano piece The Willows are New in 1957. He likewise explored structural and philosophical principles drawn from the I Ching, evident in the 1966 orchestral score Pien. Beijing in the Mist, scored for ten players, appeared in 1986 as his first work after the long hiatus. It was followed by a Cello Concerto in 1992 and several additional chamber pieces. Only his final compositions incorporated Asian instruments. Eternal Pine, commissioned in 2008 by a gayageum ensemble, was subsequently recast as Ode to Eternal Pine for Western forces in 2009 and as Eternal Pine III for Chinese instruments in 2012.