Robert Jones, associate professor of music, and Andrew Froelich, professor of music, will present a lecture-recital at the College Music Society National Conference in Portland, Ore., from Oct. 21-24. The title of their presentation is “A Musical Interpretation of the ‘Gu Shi’ Poetry of Li Po: Three Chinese Wine Songs by Richard Cumming.”
According to the presenters, Gu shi (old poetry) was the preferred poetic form of Li Po (705-762), celebrated poet of the T’ang Dynasty (618-907). Gu shi evolved from a Han Dynasty form that framed a rhymed verse with prose passages. This form more successfully expressed important themes of Chinese lyric poetry: human emotion and the natural world. Simile and metaphor were rare, used only when directly linked to the major idea. Individual passages never eclipsed a poem’s central theme.