Power and Identity Transition in Symphonic Music

Shanghai Symphony Orchestra from the 1920s to the Early 1950s

Bibliographic Data

ID11416699
AuthorsMengyu Luo (0000-0003-0637-6511, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume36
Issue1-2
Pages126-142
Publication date2022-03-04
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCritical Arts (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0256-0046 • E-ISSN: 1992-6049
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02560046.2022.2066702
OpenAlexW4224996043
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited43

Power transition creates distinct social discourses, forming new identities in the process. This article takes the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as an epoch-making historical event and features the transformation of practices and power plays within the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra (SSO), the oldest symphony orchestra in Asia, before and after the PRC (from the 1920s to the early 1950s). This article aims to understand the transition of political power and subsequent identity negotiation within music and the broader context in Shanghai and China. The SSO was initially established by and catered for Western settlers in Shanghai. When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took over Mainland China in 1949, it first purified the SSO’s ethnicity. Due to Sino-Soviet relations, the SSO was used as cultural diplomacy to reaffirm China’s position in the socialist bloc. Materials for this research are mainly collected from the SSO Archive and Shanghai Municipal Archive, generally overlooked by existing literature

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Art history · China · Context (archaeology · Diplomacy · Identity (music · Mainland China · Media studies · Negotiation · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Symphony · Transition (genetics · Gender Studies · History · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Law · Music History and Culture · Musicology and Musical Analysis

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