Xian Xinghai

Xian Xinghai (Chinese冼星海; Hsien Hsing -hai, born June 13, 1905 in Panyu, Guangzhou, † October 30, 1945 in Moscow) was a Chinese composer.

Born the son of a fisherman and a laundress, Xian Xinghai studied music in Beijing, Shanghai and from 1930 in Paris ( with Vincent d' Indy and Paul Dukas ). 1935 Xian Xinghai returned back to China to fight against the Japanese occupation. In 1939 he was a member of the Communist Party. From 1940 until his death he lived in Moscow.

His 1939 cantata written " The Yellow River " (on poems by Guang Weiran ) is one of the most popular works of contemporary Chinese music. Cantata This later became the starting point for a collective composition, the Piano Concerto " The Yellow River ". Xian Xinghai tried, like most Chinese composers of his generation, European classical music to connect with Chinese traditions.

• Man
• Chinese composer
• Composer of classical music ( 20th century)
• Born in 1905
• Died in 1945