KOO, T. Z. [Tsu-Jen KU].
Songs of Cathay. An Anthology of Songs current in various Parts of China among her People.
Shanghai, Association Press, [1931].
Large 8vo, pp. [64], the first and last blank leaves used as pastedowns; lithographed music with text in English and Chinese; publisher’s blue cloth lettered and decorated with bamboo leaves in silver on upper cover, slightly shaken, upper board creased.
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Songs of Cathay. An Anthology of Songs current in various Parts of China among her People.
First edition, fourth impression, of a collection of twenty-five traditional Chinese songs compiled by the Chinese Christian leader Tsu-Jen Ku (1887–1971).
In the preface Ku acknowledges that Chinese music is a sealed book to most people in the West, and hopes that this volume will serve to introduce them to one branch of Chinese music, popular songs of ‘mountains and running brooks, of moonlit gardens … birds and flowers’ and of love. Because in China today ‘there is a distinct lack’ of patriotic songs, Ku has adapted new patriotic sentiments to some of the original airs; in No. 10, for example, originally ‘Ten Cups of Wine’, ‘in place of the old words, a song commemorating the Student Uprising on May Fourth 1919 is adapted to the music’.
Some of the songs were taken from books while others were collected by Ku ‘from temples, street-singers, and county folks’. ‘You will hear the lament of slave girls, the cry of orphans, the wailing of beggars, the chanting of priests, and the soft crooning of mothers over their babies’ cradles.’ Each song is introduced by a brief paragraph of explanation.
The idea for the book came from Dr Helena Rosa Wright, the family planning pioneer who worked for a time as associate professor of gynaecology at Shandong Christian University, and the English translations were supplied by Mrs W. A. Young of Mukden.
Of the various impressions Library Hub finds copies at Bodley, the British Library, Edinburgh, and SOAS only.
