Faculty Sponsor(s)
Andrea Reinkemeyer
Location
Vivian A. Bull Music Center: Delkin Recital Hall
Subject Area
Music
Description
Paper Boat for Mezzo-Soprano and Cello (2016) is a setting of (Bingxin) Wanying Xie's 1923 poem by the same title. She wrote the poem while traveling from China to France for studies. The poem explores her uncertainty about the unknown and feelings of loneliness. Windblown, facing the sea, Bingxin could not help missing her home; she began folding paper boats to send home to her mother across the sea. Like Bingxin, I live a great distance from my family and often feel homesick. To express these emotions through music, I have used a minor key to convey sadness. The accompanying cello acts as the sea, unpredictable, yet always moving.
Text:
我从来不肯妄弃了一张纸，总是留着留着，叠成一只一只很小的船⼉，从舟上抛下在 海里。有的被天风吹卷到舟中的窗⾥，有的被海浪打湿，沾在船头上。 我仍是不灰⼼心地每天地叠着，总希望有一只能流到我要它到的地⽅去。母亲，倘若你梦中看见一只很小的白船⼉， 不要惊讶它无端入梦。 这是你至爱的女儿含着泪叠的，万水千山，求 它载着她的爱和悲哀归去。
冰⼼ (谢婉莹) 一九二三年八⽉二十七日
Translation:
I never leave a piece of paper. I always keep it, fold it into little boats, and throw the boats from the ship into the sea. Some of them fly back into the ship through the window, some of them get wet and stick to the front of the ship. I’m still folding them every day, always hoping there is one that can float to where I want it to go. Mother, if you see a very little boat in your dream, don’t be surprised to see it in your dream. This is what your daughter has folded with tears. It floats for a long way over land and sea, to come back home with love and sadness.
Bing Xin (Wanying Xie) 8/27/1923
Translated by Didan Yang
Recommended Citation
Yang, Didan and Xie, Wanying, "Paper Boat for Mezzo-Soprano and Cello (2016)" (2016). Linfield University Student Symposium: A Celebration of Scholarship and Creative Achievement. Event. Submission 24.
https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/symposium/2016/all/24
Paper Boat for Mezzo-Soprano and Cello (2016)
Vivian A. Bull Music Center: Delkin Recital Hall
Paper Boat for Mezzo-Soprano and Cello (2016) is a setting of (Bingxin) Wanying Xie's 1923 poem by the same title. She wrote the poem while traveling from China to France for studies. The poem explores her uncertainty about the unknown and feelings of loneliness. Windblown, facing the sea, Bingxin could not help missing her home; she began folding paper boats to send home to her mother across the sea. Like Bingxin, I live a great distance from my family and often feel homesick. To express these emotions through music, I have used a minor key to convey sadness. The accompanying cello acts as the sea, unpredictable, yet always moving.
Text:
我从来不肯妄弃了一张纸，总是留着留着，叠成一只一只很小的船⼉，从舟上抛下在 海里。有的被天风吹卷到舟中的窗⾥，有的被海浪打湿，沾在船头上。 我仍是不灰⼼心地每天地叠着，总希望有一只能流到我要它到的地⽅去。母亲，倘若你梦中看见一只很小的白船⼉， 不要惊讶它无端入梦。 这是你至爱的女儿含着泪叠的，万水千山，求 它载着她的爱和悲哀归去。
冰⼼ (谢婉莹) 一九二三年八⽉二十七日
Translation:
I never leave a piece of paper. I always keep it, fold it into little boats, and throw the boats from the ship into the sea. Some of them fly back into the ship through the window, some of them get wet and stick to the front of the ship. I’m still folding them every day, always hoping there is one that can float to where I want it to go. Mother, if you see a very little boat in your dream, don’t be surprised to see it in your dream. This is what your daughter has folded with tears. It floats for a long way over land and sea, to come back home with love and sadness.
Bing Xin (Wanying Xie) 8/27/1923
Translated by Didan Yang
