In 1932, the "January 28" artillery fire woke up the 20-year-old Nie Er. When he was a violinist in the singing and dancing troupe, he was eager to do something for Anti-Japanese War .
Nie Er
In troubled times, what can a violinist do for Anti-Japanese War ? Nie Er thought about it and thought of a way to perform condolences for the 19th Route Army of the Anti-Japanese Team. He suggested to the friends of the song and dance troupe:
"We organize a battlefield performance troupe to comfort the anti-Japanese heroes who fought bloody battles."
Nie Er's proposal was supported by the song and dance troupe, and soon the condolence group was established. After
, Nie Er brought the actors from the condolence group to the edge of the battlefield, a simple wounded soldiers' transfer station. This transfer station is full of fortifications made of sandbags, and wounded soldiers are leaning everywhere inside. As soon as they entered the transfer station, Nie Er and the actors smelled a strong smell of blood and the smell of smoke and potion.
witnessed such a shocking and cruel scene for the first time, Nie Er and the actors were at a loss. After a brief fear, Nie Er plucked up the courage to give a speech to the wounded soldiers:
"Dear warriors, heroes of the anti-Japanese war! Today is the New Year of the Lunar New Year, we will greet you all! Thank you for your heroic resistance to the war here for our people, for millions of women and children, and for our country..."
Nie Er's generous speech infected the soldiers. They struggled to support their injured bodies, applauded politely, and expressed their gratitude. The applause inspired the actresses, who showed their confidence in performing on the stage and started singing.
However, the actresses' voices and the sounds of gunfires nearby, making them look strange and abrupt. Some of the soldiers were surprised, some shook their heads and smiled bitterly, some moaned loudly due to pain, some closed their eyes to rest because of boredom, and some couldn't help but squint and whispered to each other.
The actresses also felt their funnyness and stopped singing. For a moment, the atmosphere on the scene became extremely awkward. A choking smell of gunpowder came to his nose, as if reminding Nie Er and everyone on the scene: This is the battlefield.
Nie Er wanted to bring the actresses to the heroes who fought for the country, but as a result, all the condolences became "singers who did not know the hatred of the country." Such a result made Nie Er feel heartbroken, and he could not hide his disappointment in the singing and dancing genre. Then, he also became suspicious of the work he was doing.
That night, Nie Er did not fall asleep all night, and he began to realize that his singing and dancing career had been abandoned by the people he admired. "Hmph, in the face of national crisis, only those wealthy businessmen who do not know the hatred of the destruction can hear these songs all day long." When it was almost dawn, Nie Er opened his eyes widened and said to himself.
, once regarded by Nie Er as the "most meaningful and valuable" work, suddenly became less attractive to him: his entire world began to shake.
"Has music and art become out of place? No, there should be really exciting music, but where are they? What kind of music should be accepted by the general public?" When I woke up early to dress, Nie Er was still thinking hard in his mind.
Nie Er walked to the extremely deserted street with his heart's doubts. The streets of Shanghai, which used to be lively, are now completely panic: all the shops are closed, and there are moving cars everywhere, fleeing people, and burning houses destroyed by bombs.
An indescribable anger rose from the bottom of his heart. He hated the Japanese and imperialism. Nie Er was more convinced than ever that he would participate in the anti-Japanese war no matter what method he used.
Thinking of "anti-Japanese war", Nie Er naturally thought of the playwright Tian Han whom he had just met. Speaking of which, he was introduced to the current song and dance club. "Yes, go find him! Yes!" Nie Er's eyes lit up. He was sure that this person who was 14 years older than him and who had been helping him could solve his doubts.
Nie Er, who is not famous compared to Tian Han (right)
, was already well-known at this time.Compared to pure artists, Tian Han is not so "pure" because: while he is engaged in literary and artistic activities, he actively participates in political activities. His art is always combined with politics.
Just one year before he met Nie Er, that is, in March 1930, as one of the initiators, he participated in the founding conference of the China Left Wing Writers Alliance and was elected as one of the seven-person executive committee, and then participated in the China Freedom Movement League. He also did another big thing back then: founding the left-wing dramatists alliance .
Nie Er also joined the Left-wing Drama League and its Drama Review Group under the introduction of Tian Han, and participated in many various activities of left-wing literature and art. Nie Er unknowingly embarked on the path of using art revolution, but he himself did not realize it.
"What kind of music is what the general public accepts?" After finding Tian Han, Nie Er asked directly without greetings. Tian Han looked at Nie Er and didn't know how to answer for a moment. After seeing Nie Er for the first time and listening to him playing the violin, Tian Han confirmed that he was a genius, but he was young after all and many links were not completed. His question today made Tian Han feel that he was a little "understood". But his question was too big and he couldn't answer it. After thinking for a long time, he said:
"You have to go to the general public first!"
Tian Han's words deeply trembled Nie Er. He opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but he didn't say it in the end. This sentence is actually not only an answer, but also a method.
Shortly after that, Nie Er, who became more radical, was expelled from the Song and Dance Club for frequently participating in left-wing literary and artistic activities. After losing his job again, he simply focused more on various left-wing literary and artistic activities.
Nie Er (second from left) and the alliance of Chinese left-wing dramatists
Nie Er's condition was very bad at this time: his health was very average, because he was often hospitalized, and he borrowed a lot of foreign debts. But because he had already begun to look for real creation, he was very calm. At the beginning of his diary on January 29, 1934, he wrote:
"1934 is my music year!"
Nie Er used his future tense to write about his confidence in his career and personal future. Indeed, when a person knows the method, he will definitely be optimistic and confident.
Sure enough, shortly after Nie Er wrote this page of diary, several film companies came to hire him. Finally, he accepted an invitation from a friend and decided to go to the "Central Angry Chao Opera Club" orchestra, where he provided him with generous treatment.
However, he soon learned that this band was a subordinate organization established by Chiang Kai-shek to command the fifth "encirclement and suppression" of the Central Red Army in the Soviet area. "Why are foreign enemies going to do something about 'security'?" Nie Er canceled his itinerary without thinking.
Nie Er thought it very clearly: it’s just right if you don’t have a job, you can write things and create with peace of mind.
Nie Er (left) and his friend
After lying for many months, Nie Er, with the help of the Shanghai Left-wing Literature and Art Organization, officially entered the music department of the "Oriental Eid Records Company" run by the British. Here, he mainly assisted Renguang and An'e in the work of copying and composing music. Nie Er's work partner An E was later Tian Han's wife.
has been completely changed by Nie Er to use his work to sell progressive music records to expand the social influence of left-wing literature and art. At Baida Company, Nie Er also organized a "Sen Sen Guo Band", which was Nie Er's reform experiment and exploration of folk music performance in my country.
Nie Er became a complete revolutionary, and his creations began to undergo tremendous changes.
When he was creating the new opera " Yangtze River Storm " written by Tian Han, he often went to the docks in Shanghai to observe and experience the working life of dock workers. He not only talks with them, but also works with them. He also often hums the horns that workers hum when they work.
is also here. Nie Er deeply felt the words "Go to the people" that Tian Han said. He looked at the dock workers shouting "Aiyiyuho" while sweating profusely carrying marijuana bags and carrying wooden boxes to move forward with difficulty. His heart was shocked.And his experience of working as a hard laborer in Yunfeng Shenzhuang was also activated. He once sighed:
"A mass roar shakes my heart, it is the moan and roar of the coolies! I am going to write a song with this motivation."
Nie Er integrated his personal experience and the shouts of workers he felt at the dock into the newly created songs, and finally composed four interludes of "Door Worker", "Brick Break", "Piling Song" and "Coolly Song" that truly reflect the voice of the working class.
When performing "Yangzi River Storm", Nie Er also successfully played the role of the male protagonist "Brickworker Lao Wang". The audience under the stage could no longer distinguish: whether it was Nie Er or Lao Wang, a brick worker, on the stage.
When Nie Er was writing the theme song "New Women" for the film "New Women", Nie Er went deep into the female workers' homes to understand the hardships of their lives and explored their distress and desires. Even the way they have to go to work, he has to follow.
With Nie Er's efforts, he successfully created the "New Women" group of six relatively independent songs, including "The Slaves" and "The New Women".
set of songs tells the story of their life of not seeing the sun every day and guarding machines as cows and horses for 12 hours a day, and also expressing their unwillingness to be slaves for generations.
After the set of songs "New Women" created by Nie Er came out, countless new women held his hands and sighed in tears: "You have composed all our hearts."
It is precisely because of Nie Er's outstanding performance in creation that when Nie Er was preparing for filming the Anti-Japanese War film "Son and Clouds" written by Tian Han and Xia Yan, Nie Er was once again given the task of creating the theme song.
Nie Er
mentions the specificity of his obtaining this task, and there is an unknown story behind it.
In early 1935, shortly after Tian Han adapted the movie "Son and Clouds" and the Kuomintang spies came to arrest him. In a hurry, he wrote the lyrics on a small cigarette wrapping paper. When he was arrested in prison, he was not even sure whether the small note could be found.
After Xia Yan got the script left by Tian Han, he was lucky enough to find the cigarette backing paper with the lyrics written on it. The cigarette backing paper is written on the lyrics of " March ".
After hearing about this, Nie Er took the initiative to find Xia Yan and asked: "Leave the composition to me, I'll do it!" When Xia Yan looked at Nie Er, his face was full of anger.
The arrest of Tian Han stimulated Nie Er, and the "March of the Volunteers" written by Tian Han on the cigarette backing made him even more excited:
"Get up, people who don't want to be slaves! Build our flesh and blood into our new Great Wall. When the Chinese nation is at its most dangerous time, everyone is forced to make the last roar. Get up! Get up! Get up! We are united and brave the enemy's planes and cannons to advance, move forward, move forward, move forward!"
That night, when Nie Er returned to his residence, his whole body was completely in the creative state. When he was preparing to compose the music when he returned to his residence, these fragments began to appear in his mind:
"The desolate shouts of street boys, the dock workers' majestic labor horn , the female workers' singing for liberation, the mother's sad and loving eyes, the cry of the victims, the roar of the north wind of the Great Wall, the soldiers charging in the loud military horns, and the loud bang of Japanese planes..."
There was a gushing flame that shocked him to sleep and sit still in his chest. On the first night, he sat down at the piano and played violently, paced quickly in the room, and then lay on the table while drawing and slapped. Nie Er made a big noise, and his landlord who lived downstairs felt the earth shaking above his head. She ran up in a panic and knocked on the door to see Nie Er was lying on the table and painting "bean sprouts" to play!
The landlord’s wife thought that “drawing bean sprouts” was actually Nie Er lying on the table and composes the music with the stalks. She didn’t understand the stalks, and she didn’t know that her tenant was a great composer. She was so angry that she cursed:
“You play the piano all day long on weekdays, so it’s okay if I endure it.Now, such a big man doesn’t do serious things, so he’s going to draw bean sprouts! If you want to draw, draw quietly, but you have to make a lot of trouble, and it’s still midnight, and I don’t know which nerve you have misunderstood! "
Nie Er's creation cannot be interrupted. Of course, he has no time to explain to his landlord's wife. Every time the landlord's wife comes up to criticize him, he apologizes respectfully.
Nie Er's residence
But before the landlord's wife goes downstairs, Nie Er's creation passion is rushing like a tide, so he quickly lay on the table, drawing desperately, and keeps chanting in his mouth, his pen can hardly keep up with him That surging passion.
The landlord's wife was angry and found that the next night, her tenant was still so crazy. She was so angry that she knocked on his door again and cursed. Nie Er was still the same as last time: apologize respectfully, send off the guests, and then return to the table to continue to create crazy.
After dawn, Nie Er knocked on the door of director Xu Xingzhi . As soon as he entered the door, he excitedly raised the music score in his hand and shouted:
"Okay! Man! "March of the Volunteers" has been compiled. "
" is great! "The director was very happy: "Can you try it? "While having this intention, Nie Er held the music score in one hand and sang loudly on the table with the beat of the other:
"Get up, people who don't want to be slaves!" Build our flesh and blood into our new Great Wall. When the Chinese nation is at its most dangerous time, everyone is forced to make the last roar..."
When Nie Er tried to sing, the deeply infected Xu Xingzhi was completely immersed in the song, almost completely forgot where he was at this moment. It took him a long time to stop and he came back to his senses from the excitement.
"The whole song is well composed! "Xu Xingzhi praised. That morning, both of them were very excited. After making subtle modifications to the song, they sang them all at the same time.
The most important thing is that after discussion, they changed the last sentence to:
"We are united and brave the enemy's artillery fire and move forward! Advance in the enemy's artillery fire! go ahead! go ahead! Enter! "
Due to the addition of repetition, the last three "progress" ended with a strong and powerful resting talisman, and showed the emotion of moving forward with firm and brave steps more brightly and strongly.
"March of the Volunteers" music score
" is perfect, perfect! "After the chorus, Nie Er slapped the table excitedly and said. He told Xu Xingzhi the conflict between the landlord's wife and him. After hearing this, Xu Xingzhi joked: "I didn't drive you away, or sent you to asylum , even if it's a cheaper one. ”
Nie Er also half-jokingly said, “I don’t dare to play the piano at home in the future. "Xu Xingzhi smiled and comforted him: "You should sing this song to her. When she is happy, everything will be fine. "
That day, Nie Er was still excited after coming out of Xu Xingzhi's residence. He kept humming the "March of the Volunteer Army" on the street. He wished that everyone on the street would hum this song with him. He was convinced that it could become a war song that stirred up countless Chinese people.
At that time, Nie Er would never have thought that one day in the future, hundreds of millions of Chinese people, accounting for one fifth of the world's population, would sing the "March of the Volunteer Army" with the same passion and ambition as him.
On May 1, 1935, the "China Daily" published this song. On May 24, with the premiere of "Storm and Children", the theme song "March of the Volunteer Army" immediately spread throughout the country. A war song to call on the people to rise up to fight against the Japanese invaders.
Nie Er finally felt at ease: he created a song accepted by the people, and this song must be accepted by the anti-Japanese warriors he respected.
"March of the Volunteers" was popular all over the country, Nie Er left Shanghai to avoid the pursuit of National Government . He left Shanghai on April 15. His original plan was to borrow from Japan to go to Europe and the Soviet Union for investigation and study.
Obviously, Nie Er, who had found the method of saving the country in art, was full of confidence in the future.
After arriving in Japan, Nie Er lived in a Japanese friend's home.During this period, several young people went to Huzhuo Beach to swim almost every day. July 16th is the day when Nie Er's first "March Plan" is completed. He wrote in his diary:
"Japanese conversation and reading ability have indeed improved. I have listened to a lot of music performances, and I have practiced violin for more time than in China, and I have realized the first 'March plan' in advance."
In April 1935, Nie Er (first from left) and his friends
Just when Nie Er was confidently preparing to enter the second "March plan", unfortunately happened -
On July 17, at around 1:30 pm, Nie Er asked his friends to swim at the beach as usual. The wind was strong that day, but the young and energetic Nie Er did not take the wind and waves seriously at all. The sudden loud noise when the waves came and Nie Er's cheerful laughter came one after another. Everyone was infected by the laughter and did not realize that the danger had arrived.
It was not until they condensed into large chunks of sea water hit people like stones that they found that Nie Er was no longer in the crowd after retreating to the shore. For a moment, the sound of the tide and the shouts sounded.
However, no matter how people shout, they can never see the young man who is bravely laughing at the sea again.
Early the next morning, Japanese fishermen found Nie Er's body on the nearby beach. These fishermen said:
"The young man wearing swimsuit has a smile on his white face."
Only Nie Er, who wrote "March of the Volunteers", can face the cruel god of death with a smile! The year he passed away unexpectedly, Nie Er was only 23 years old. After the bad news came, the people of the whole country expressed great sorrow and condolences. Many patriots and cultural figures are deeply regretful of losing such a musical genius. The front page headlines of various newspapers and magazines are missing this pioneer fighter who sounded the horn of alert at the most dangerous time of the Chinese nation.
htmlOn August 16, the 30th day after Nie Er's death, people from all walks of life in Shanghai held a grand memorial service for him, and countless people spontaneously came to participate in the memorial activities. People sang "March of the Volunteers" and remembered this great musical genius.Guo Moruo wrote a memorial poem for Nie Er and said:
"The public loves your new voice, and the public is relying on you to wake up... Nie Er, our musician, you will always play high among the public, we are fighting tomorrow, as your music reward!"
At the end of August, Nie Er's ashes and relics returned to Shanghai under the escort of his fellow villagers Zhang He and Zheng Ziping. The next year, Nie Er's third brother, Nie Xulun, welcomed his ashes and relics back to his hometown.
Shortly after the outbreak of the full-scale anti-Japanese war, his ashes were buried next to Biji Mountain, Xishan Forest Park facing Dianchi Lake in the western suburbs of Kunming.
Nie Er's cemetery
Nie Er's later epitaph is still from Guo Moruo's head. A few of the sentences are written like this:
"Comrade Nie Er, the "March of the Volunteers" he composed has been selected as the substitute national anthem. Those who hear the voices are all naturally raising patriotic thoughts, solemn and grand aspiring spirit, and resolutely interested in the common goal. Nie Er shouts, majestic, he lives with national , and will live forever!"
As Guo Moruo wrote in Nie Er's epitaph: "Nie Er is majestic, has lived forever with the national horoscope, and will live forever!"
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