Date of Award

Spring 2026

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

School of Music

First Advisor

Phillip Bush

Abstract

This study focuses on the music depiction of "water" and explores the similarities and differences between the piano works of modern Chinese compositions and French composer Claude Debussy, with particular attention to musical texture and performance techniques. It begins by examining the aesthetic parallels and cultural differences between French Symbolist literature and classical Chinese poetry, both of which are grounded in symbolic expression, indirect suggestion, and sensory resonance. Influenced deeply by Symbolist poets such as Mallarmé and Verlaine, Debussy often approached music composition through the lens of poetic thinking, constructing soundscapes rich in implication and ambiguity. Similarly, symbolic imagery plays a central role in Chinese poetic aesthetics, supported by a long tradition of philosophical reflection on music, such as the ideas of “sound following the eternal” and “music arising from the heart.”The study compares representative water-themed pieces by Debussy, such as Reflets dans l’eau and Jardins sous la pluie, with modern Chinese piano works such as Spring River in the Moonlight (Chunjiang Zhouying) by Chu Wanghua and Anchored at Maple Bridge at Night (Fengqiao Yebo) by Lin Shengxi. Through a close analysis of musical texture, voice layering, tonal color, and expressive performance techniques, this reesearch aims to uncover shared artistic strategies and possible cultural influences. It further investigates how Chinese composers, within the broader context of globalization, have absorbed and reinterpreted elements of Western modern music to form a distinctive voice rooted in traditional aesthetics yet open to intercultural dialogue.

Rights

© 2026, JingXia Kuang

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