Văn Cao

Văn Cao
Born	Nguyễn Văn Cao 15 November 1923 Hai Phong, French Indochina
Died	10 July 1995 (aged 71) Hanoi, Vietnam
Nationality	Vietnamese
Occupation	Composer
Known for	Composing music
Notable work	"Tiến Quân Ca"

Văn Cao (born Nguyễn Văn Cao, Vietnamese pronunciation: [ŋʷjə̌ˀn van kaːw]; 15 November 1923 – 10 July 1995) was a Vietnamese composer whose works include Tiến Quân Ca, which became the national anthem of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.^[1][2] He, along with Phạm Duy and Trịnh Công Sơn, is widely considered one of the three most salient figures of modern (non-classical) Vietnamese music.^[3] He was also a noted poet and a painter.

In 1956, after the Nhân Văn–Giai Phẩm affair, a movement for political and cultural freedom, he had to stop composing. Most of his songs, except "Tiến Quân Ca", "Làng Tôi", "Tiến Về Hà Nội" and "Trường Ca Sông Lô" were prohibited in North Vietnam. In 1987, his songs were once again authorized in Vietnam.

In 1991 the American composer Robert Ashley composed the solo piano piece Văn Cao's Meditation, which is based on the image of Văn Cao playing his piano.

List of songs and poems

• Songs
  • "Bài ca Chiến sĩ Hải quân" (1945) ("Song for marines")
  • "Bắc Sơn" (1945) ("Bac-Son - a guerrilla center during the war with French colonialism")
  • "Bến xuân" (music by Văn Cao, words written together with Phạm Duy) (1942)
  • "Đàn chim Việt"
  • "Buồn tàn thu" (1939)
  • "Chiến sĩ Việt Nam" (1945) ("Vietnamese soldiers")
  • "Cung đàn xưa" ("Melody of the past")
  • "Đêm sơn cước" ("A night in the mountain")
  • "Gò Đống Đa" (1942) ("Dong-Da Hillock")
  • "Hò kéo gỗ Bạch Đằng Giang" (1941)
  • "Làng tôi" (1947) ("My Village")
  • "Không quân Việt Nam" (1945) ("Vietnamese air force")
  • "Ngày mai" ("Tomorrow")
  • "Ngày mùa" (1948) ("Harvest")
  • "Suối mơ" ("Dream stream")
  • "Thăng Long hành khúc ca"
  • "Thiên Thai" (1941) ("paradise")
  • "Thu cô liêu"
  • "Tiến về Hà Nội"
  • "Tiến Quân Ca" (1944)
  • "Tình ca Trung du"
  • "Trương Chi" (1943)
  • "Trường ca sông Lô" (1947) ("Lo river epic")
  • "Mùa xuân đầu tiên" (1975) ("First Spring")
  • "Mùa xuân đầu tiên" (1976) ("First Spring")
• "'Poems"'
  • "Anh có nghe không" ("Do you hear?". Published in "Giai phẩm" Spring (Feb) 1956)
  • "Những ngày báo hiệu mùa xuân" ("Days with signs of a spring to come")
  • "Lá" (1988) ("Leaves")

References

1. Dale Alan Olsen Popular Music of Vietnam: The Politics of Remembering 2008 "Văn Cao" p36-37, p129-130
2. Shepherd Continuum encyclopedia of popular music of the world "Văn Cao"
3. "Trinh Cong Son's love songs hit Hue palace". Tuổi Trẻ. 2011-03-30. Archived from the original on 2 April 2011.

External links

• Biography of Văn Cao
• Van Cao - Composer of Patriotism and Love