Louise Thái Thị Lang’s Fêtes du Têt: a musical representation of Vietnamese culture

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Date

2024-08

Authors

Nguyễn, Tùng Anh

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

University of Oregon

Abstract

Louise Thái Thị Lang was the first Vietnamese composer-performer to achieve an international reputation with the premiere of her piece Fêtes du Têt in Salle Pleyel, Paris, 1953. Even though she performed extensively in the 1950s and 1960s, Louise Thái Thị Lang’s works are virtually unknown to international and Vietnamese audiences, scholars, and musicians. My research will focus on the composer’s most significant piece - Fêtes du Têt – in terms of analytical, ethnomusicological, and anthropological study to offer a better picture of the composer’s biography, to prove the importance of her works in the Vietnamese classical music scene, and to realize the composer’s effort as a cultural ambassador representing Vietnam through her music. I hypothesize that the absence of her works after the 1950s was a direct consequence of the Vietnam War from 1954 to 1975 and partly because of the misinterpretation from Western critics and audiences about Vietnamese culture. I envision my research will prompt further studies about Vietnamese classical music in general and this composer in particular. Consequently, pianists will start to include her works in their repertoire.

Description

75 pages

Keywords

Vietnam, Piano, Culture, Asian, Impressionism, French Indochina, Vietnam War, Đờn Ca Tài Tử, Nguyên Đán, Cultural assumption

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