Spring Dreams

Chen Yi (b. 1953)

text by Meng Hao-ran (AD 689-740)

Spring Dreams was commissioned by the Ithaca College School of Music, where it premiered in 1997.  In the beginning of the piece, several groups of ostinati are brought in gradually in various tempos, imitating the vivid pulse of birds singing.  There is a turning point in the middle of the poem when the poet clearly wakes up from his sweet dream by hearing a bird singing, and he realizes that many flowers must have been ruined by a night of wind and showers.  He sympathizes with the fallen petals as he treasures the beautiful springtime. 

Translation:

Spring dreams not conscious of dawning,
Not awoken till I hear birds singing;
O night long, wind and showers—
Know you how many petals falling?

~

Chen Yi serves as the Cravens/Millsap/Missouri Distinguished Professor at the Conservatory of the University of Missouri-Kansas City and is the recipient of the prestigious Charles Ives Living Award (2001-04) from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.  Dr. Chen was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005.  She holds bachelors and masters degrees in Music Composition from the Central Conservatory in Beijing and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Columbia University.  She served as Composer-in-Residence for the Women’s Philharmonic, Chanticleer, and Aptos Creative Arts Center (1993-96), and as a member of the composition faculty at Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University.  Chen Yi has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the National Endowment for the Arts.