The Peach Blossom Fan (Tao Yu)
is a legendary play written by Kong Shangren of the early Qing Dynasty in 1699. In total, the play has 40 chapters divided into three sections. The story goes that during the period of the late Ming Dynasty, members of the Donglin Party fled for their lives to Nanjing and re-established “Fushe“ (the Restoration Society), fighting against the deposed official Ruan Dacheng. Dacheng remained a confederate of Wei Zhongxian, a eunuch who seized all the powers of the state. Hou Fangyu, one of the mainstays of the Restoration Society, met a geisha named Li Xiangjun, and the two fell in love. Hou Fangyu sent a fan inscribed with a poem to Li Xiangjun and married her. Ruan Dacheng asked someone to send a substantial dowry to ingratiate himself with Hou Fangyu, but the dowry was handed back by Li Xiangjun after she learnt the identity of the sender. For this reason, Ruan Dacheng harboured resentment in his heart. After Emperor Hongguang took the throne, Ruan Dacheng was reappointed to an important position. He took the opportunity to falsely incriminate Hou Fangyu, forcing him to seek shelter from Shi Kefa, and coercing Li Xiangjun to marry someone else. Li did not yield to him and hit her head against the wall to commit suicide. She failed, and the blood spattered on the fan. Yang Longyou, a friend of Hou Fangyu, used the blood drops to draw a branch of peach blossoms with them. When the Ming Dynasty collapsed, Li Xiangjun went to live in the mountains and became a nun. And when Yangzhou fell, Hou Fangyu fled to Nanjing to look for Li Xiangjun. He finally converted to Taoism, following Li Xiangjun’s path. The Peach Blossom Fan is said to be “a painting of social scenes in late dynasty” periods, in which the contents are complicated, the roles various, and the scenes motley.
The music here describes one of these scenes. A transformation of the flute brings a new quality to the sound, which seems like a human scream; it enters into dialogue with the voice of the flutist. Moreover, an installation of a lighting system in the tube of the flute adds a subtle light variation which follows the fingering changes. The electroacoustic part is written for six channels that contrast with the flute on the stage.
Tao Yu
