COMPOSER | CONDUCTOR | ORGANIST
Fly and Fade
飛﹒謝
Instrumentation: 5-part unaccompanied male chorus (T.T.Bar.B.B.)
Duration: ca. 4'
Lyricist: Adapted from various Chinese poems by David Ho-yi Chan
Language: Mandarin Chinese
Composition Date: 2015.07
Other Version(s): For 5-part mixed chorus (S.S.A.T.B.)/5-part female chorus (S.S.A.A.A.)
Remark: This piece is extracted from the music theatre work, Grieving Burial of Flowers（葬花﹒遺憾）and rearranged for choir. The original music theatre is commissioned by Yat Po Singers for International Composition Festival 2015.
Sample Recording:
(By the courtesy of Yat Po Singers. Shared with permission.)
Score Preview: PDF
Text in Original Language:
人生之三 《飛．謝》
花謝花飛飛滿天，紅消香斷有誰憐？
天若有情天亦老，人如無思人便輕。
人生若是久長時，亦只得無可奈何。
天若有情天亦老，月如無恨月常圓。
Programme Notes:
In the course of life, many things would just come and go like rain, hitting the ground and that is it. This kind of helplessness and botheration, many times, could only be contained in the innermost of hearts. Consumed and languished in loneliness, only leads to the grieving burial of flower. With reference to the poem, the Song of the Burial of Flowers by Dai-yu Lin in the Dream of Red Chamber, lamenting the exact emotions, Fly and Fade from the choral suite, “Grieving Burial of Flowers” breathes out the air of hopelessness and sings every regret of life.
Part 3: Fly and Fade
Flowers fade and fly, and flying fills the sky,
Their bloom departs, their perfume gone, yet who stands pitying by?
If heaven too had passions, even heaven would grow old,
Man will be at ease with none to ponder.
But so long as life goes on and on,
Remaining is choices of none.
If heaven too had passions even heaven would grow old,
The moon will always be round without hatred.