赛事楷模 世纪风范——简论第四届“上海之春”二胡比赛的历史意义

A Brief Study of the Historical Significance of the 4^(th) “Shanghai Spring” Erhu Competition in 1963

1963年4月7日至14日，全国首届二胡比赛在上海隆重举行。本次大赛是第四届“上海之春”的重要活动之一，也是中国有史以来的第一次规模最大的二胡比赛。这一年，距刘天华先生去世已经31年；距杨荫浏先生到无锡发现、采录阿炳的《二泉映月》等三首绝世之作也已经13年：二位尊师之后，从1949年到这次比赛之前，二胡领域又出现了上百首新曲目，且佳作迭出，颇令本界人士振奋：这一年，蒋风之、陆修棠、陈振铎等第二代二胡艺术家正值壮年，其技艺、素养也步入音乐人生之巅峰。

From April 7 to 14, 1963, the 1st National Erhu Competition was held in Shanghai. The competition was one of the major events in the 4^(th) 'Shanghai Spring' Music Festival, and China’s largest erhu competition in history. This was the year when the great erhu master Mr. Liu Tianhua had been dead for 31 years, and it had been 13 years since Mr. Yang Yinliu discovered Mr. A Bing in Wuxi and recorded his three greatest erhu pieces including 'The Moon Reflected on Erquan Spring'. During the period after the death of these two great musicians, i.e. from 1949 to 1963, over a hundred new works for erhu had been composed, many at quite high level, which was a really inspiring phenomenon to the circle of erhu music. This was the year when the second generation of erhu musicians such as Jiang Fengzhi, Lu Xiutang and Chen Zhenduo, were in their prime of life, and their techniques and artistry had already reached the summit of their music careers. This was the year when the third generation of erhu musicians, having been educated by the second generation, started their teaching or performing careers and when all the eight national conservatories of music established the erhu discipline courses with sufficient qualified teachers and increasing number of erhu students. It marks the new ear of rapid development for erhu education and performance. This was the year when China, after having suffered three years of natural disasters, recovered its economic vitality, and historical turning-points emerged for the social life, culture and arts of the nation. It was at this right moment with fine compositions, fine talents, music pioneers of high reputation, and the strong support from the social and cultural environment that the first erhu competition was organized. Would it be possible again if the competition were postponed one or two years later? I believe anyone who has experienced the suffering of that age would say'no'. That was because after the year of 1964, China’s political situation was immediately deteriorated under the left-wing movement, which brought the political, social and cultural life into such a horrible turmoil that no one ever dared to have the idea of organizing competitions of this kind. This means that the competition in the spring of 1963 was neither too early nor too late, but was at the very right moment. More significantly, this competition, serving as a link between the past and the future with far-reaching impact upon the art of erhu, turned over a new page for the development of erhu in the next half of the century, and moreover, became an extremely important turning-point in the centennial evolution of erhu. Thus, we have the story of this great historical event in the modern history of the art of erhu.