The Butterfly Lovers/Liang Zhu/梁祝

I remember loving this song when I first heard it - it’s one of the few Chinese folk songs that was written down in the Western style.

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Here’s an excerpt:

It’s the story of two star-crossed lovers, the Chinese Romeo and Juliet, if you will, though I much prefer our version.

Basically, a girl named Zhu Yingtai disguises herself as a boy to go to school. While there, she befriends Liang Shanbo, and the two become close. When their period of study draws to a close, Zhu invites him to her home under the pretext of marrying her ’sister’ (actually her) to him. He agrees to visit her, but it is two years later before he actually goes.

Once in her hometown, Liang discovers the truth, and asks her parents for her hand in marriage, but they have already promised Zhu to a richer, more influencial man in the area named Ma Wencai.

Heartbroken, Liang takes up a magisterial post in a nearby region. He soon dies thereafter.

When Zhu is escorted to the Ma’s residence, she is prevented from moving past a certain point of her voyage by natural phenomena. She stops to ask the locals, only to learn that Liang’s tomb is in this area.

Zhu visits the tomb and cries. When her tears fall on the funerary mound, it splits open, and she jumps in.

The legend says that the people there saw two butterflies emerging from the tomb and flying away.

(Hence the name.)

The violin concerto is written in Western key but with Chinese chords, thereby giving the instrumentalist extreme complications. Plus it’s hard to play in certain parts because of the speed required. It’s not to everyone’s taste, and quite a few people have told me that they feel it sounds ‘off’ because of the Chinese tonalities used, but it is one of the few traditional pieces I love, so I thought I’d share.

Ta,

Sevenses