Composer Hong Dang leaves a huge musical legacy with more than 700 works (Photo: Tran Le Chien) Hanoi (VNA) - Composer Hong Dang left a huge musical legacy with more than 700 works of all genres. His works included songs, symphonies, choruses, soundtracks, and scores for the theatre. Many of his compositions are still unknown to people.
Huge musical legacy
Musician Hong Dang was born in Yen Thanh district, the central province of Nghe An, and was a talented musician from a young age. At 9-10 years old, he read books on music in French, and wrote his first song at the age of 12.
He later went to Hanoi to study as part of the first generation at the Vietnam National Academy of Music and became a lecturer there.
"Composer Hong Dang is a well-known name, an erudite, humble artist who has made a great contribution to Vietnamese music. Hong Dang’s musical legacy is very rich and diverse. Talking about him, people immediately think of Hoa Sua (Milkwood Pine Flower), Bien Hat Chieu Nay (Sea Sings in the Afternoon), but those are just a few highlights in the musical career that he left. His work will continue to accompany the development of the country's culture," said Associate Professor, Doctor Nguyen The Ky, Chairman of the Central Council for Theory and Criticism of Literature and Art.
Composer Hong Dang and Associate Professor, Doctor Nguyen The Ky (Courtesy photo of facebook) Ky highlighted the deepness, academic and lyric expression and cultural identity in the composer’s works, saying the musical researchers and critics should learn more Hong Dang’s musical legacy. His works need to be introduced to the public via the language of performing art.
Sharing this view, poet, musical composer and critic Nguyen Thuy Kha said Hong Dang’s contributions to Vietnamese music are undeniable, and the talented artist has really contributed to the transformation of Vietnamese music since the beginning to current times.
Apart from composing musical works, Hong Dang wrote books about orchestra instruments and singing for students studying arrangement and composition.
With his great contributions to music, Hong Dang was awarded the State Prize for Literature and Arts in 2001.
A wise man, a great personality
In 1982, the script for the cartoon "Co Mot Som Ga Trong Khong Gay” (There was a rooster that didn't crow) by poet Thuy Kha was made into a movie with music by Hong Dang. Since that time, the two got to know each other and became close.
In 1994, poet Thuy Kha and composer Hong Dang joined hands in an art programme themed "Half a century of Vietnamese music" at the Hanoi Opera House for four consecutive nights, making a memorable mark in their careers and friendship.
Poet and musical composer Thuy Kha – a close friend of Hong Dang (Photo provided by Thuy Kha) "We always cooperated during our work, and Hong Dang will live forever in my mind," said poet Thuy Kha.
The poet said he personally likes the song “Bien Hat Chieu Nay” because of its message that humankind should forget the pain and look toward music.
Hong Dang composed Bien Hat Chieu Nay for a documentary about the navy. The beauty of Vietnamese seas and islands inspired him to write the song in just 20 minutes.
For the next generation, composer Hong Dang has always been a sincere and devoted brother and teacher, said Duc Trinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Musicians’ Association.
In 2021, composer Hong Dang won Grand Prize at the annual Bui Xuan Phai Awards for the song Hoa Sua and Ky Niem Thanh Pho Tuoi Tho (Memories of Childhood City). The awards, launched by The Thao & Van Hoa (Culture & Sports) daily under the Vietnam News Agency, aim to honour the contributions of individuals and organisations to Hanoi and their love for the capital.
The lyric of song "Ky Niem Thanh Pho Tuoi Tho"Journalist Do Thu Ha, in remembering the composer, said this is the purest and most loving song about the summer of Hanoi, and about the childhood of many generations./.
