He Luting

{{Short description|Chinese musician (1903–1999)}}

{{distinguish|text=Lu Ting, the SNH48 member born in 1992}}

{{family name hatnote|Hè|lang=Chinese}}

{{Infobox classical composer

|name=He Luting

|image=位于上海音乐学院内的贺绿汀雕像.jpg

|image_size=290

|caption=statue in Shanghai Conservatory of Music

|birth_date={{Birth date|1903|07|20}}

|birth_place={{QING}} Shaoyang County, Hunan

|death_date={{Death date and age|1999|04|27|1903|07|20}}

|death_place={{PRC}} Shanghai

|era=20th century

}}

He Luting (traditional: 賀綠汀; simplified: 贺绿汀; pinyin: Hè Lùtīng; July 20, 1903 – April 27, 1999) was a Chinese composer of the early 20th century. He composed songs for Chinese films beginning in the 1930s, some of which remain popular.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uduUSGj0n9gC&dq=%22ren+guang%22+%22he+luting%22&pg=PA331|title=Constructing Nationhood in Modern East Asia|isbn=0472067354|last1=Chow|first1=Kai-Wing|last2=Doak|first2=Kevin Michael|last3=Fu|first3=Poshek|year=2001|publisher=University of Michigan Press }}

During the 1930s, He studied at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music under Huang Tzu and Russian composer Alexander Tcherepnin. Tcherepnin named him winner of a piano composition contest in 1934 for his work Buffalo Boy's Flute (Mu Tong Duan Di,《牧童短笛》), which made him famous nationwide.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PxzNLwDPP0EC&dq=%22He+L%C3%BCting%22+composer&pg=PA125|title=Rhapsody in Red: How Western Classical Music Became Chinese|isbn=9780875861791|last1=Melvin|first1=Sheila|last2=Cai|first2=Jindong|year=2004|publisher=Algora }} His best-known compositions are "Song of the Four Seasons" (Si Ji Ge,《四季歌》) and "The Wandering Songstress" (Tianya Ge Nü,《天涯歌女》), with lyrics by Tian Han), both composed for the 1937 film Street Angel and sung by Zhou Xuan.{{Cite web |url=http://mediadiary.livejournal.com/tag/film-sound |title=The page was not found! |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713153910/http://mediadiary.livejournal.com/tag/film-sound |archive-date=13 July 2012 |url-status=dead}}

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Street Angel (1937 film).ogv|with 《四季歌》 and 《天涯歌女》

He Luting had a complicated relationship with the Chinese Communist Party. He became a member after moving to Shanghai, and during the Second Sino-Japanese War he wrote several songs for the "mass song movement", most famously the "Guerrillas' Song".{{cite book |last1=Kouwenhoven |first1=Frank |title=He Luting |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000049472 |publisher=Grove Music |year=2001 |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.49472 |isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 |access-date=20 March 2021}} After the Communist victory in the Civil War, he was appointed director of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. But during the Cultural Revolution, He Luting became a target due to his association with Western music and particularly his defence of Claude Debussy. He refused to confess despite being subjected to physical abuse and interrogation on public television. Alex Ross claimed that no composer had ever made a braver stand against totalitarianism.{{cite book |title=The Rest Is Noise: Listening To The Twentieth Century |last=Ross |first=Alex |year=2007 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Girous |isbn=978-0-374-24939-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/restisnoiseliste00ross/page/518 518] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/restisnoiseliste00ross/page/518 }} After the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, He Luting returned to his position as Director of the Shanghai Conservatory and was allowed to travel overseas, visiting Australia in 1979.{{cite journal |last=Whittington |first=Stephen | url=https://www.academia.edu/17680605|title= ...from_a_thatched_hut_-_Exploring_Transcultural_Composition|journal=Transcultural Encounters in Knowledge Production and Consumption |date= 2015 |page=109 |accessdate=12 November 2015}} In 1984 he retired from his position, retaining the title of honorary director. The main concert hall at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music is named after He.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/shanghai/listings/film-and-stage/theater/has/he-luting-concert-hall/ |title=He Luting, composer |access-date=2008-12-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100227011125/http://www.dewdrop-world.net/albums/China2008/China2008-Pages/Image30.html |archive-date=2010-02-27 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://www.dewdrop-world.net/albums/China2008/China2008-Pages/Image30.html |title=He Luting, composer |accessdate=2008-12-21 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100227011125/http://www.dewdrop-world.net/albums/China2008/China2008-Pages/Image30.html |archivedate=2010-02-27 }}