The Сulture of Nü-shu in Tan Dun’s Symphony

 In 2013 Tan Dun created one of his most “representative compositions” — “The Secret Songs of Women” — Symphony for harp, 13 micro films, and orchestra. Nü-shu is the only female script in the world, distributed in Jianggyong County, Hunan Province (China), which is an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity recognized by UNESCO. The origin of Nü-shu writing has not yet been established, but it has always given people the impression of mystery. Tan Dun claims that he is “not an archaeologist” but uses “musical anthropology” to find his way to this precious human cultural heritage. In the course of his work, he discovered that the ancient Nü-shu includes not only calligraphy and embroidery, but also music. He decided to videotape everything and made 13 micro films from more than 200 hours of video material. The use of video in this work is necessary because real folk performers cannot follow the conductor’s instructions and perform with the orchestra. In this case, video recording allows the public to realize the work at its maximum authenticity. The composer strove to preserve as much as possible the true nature of music, for which he avoided the developed accompaniments of the orchestra. In the present article, the verbal contents of each part, the nature of themes and their modal organization (with the identification of Chinese national structures), and the specificity of orchestral means, often containing pictorial moments, are considered. The composition of the entire cycle is determined by the presence of a group of recurring musical themes and a thematic generalization of the whole in the final part. Tan Dun believes that “Nüshu” is a kind of world culture and strives to pass it on to all parts of the world.