Văn Cao

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Văn Cao

Văn Cao (November 15, 1923 – July 10, 1995) was a Vietnamese composer whose works include Tiến Quân Ca, which became the national anthem of the the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. He, along with Pham Duy and Trinh Cong Son, is widely considered one of the three most salient figures of modern Vietnamese music. He was also a noted poet and a painter.

He was born Nguyễn Văn Cao in Haiphong and grew up in the northern province of Nam Dinh.

In 1956, after the Nhân Văn - Giai Phẩm affair, a movement for political and cultural freedom, he had to stop composing. All his songs, except Tiến Quân Ca, were prohibited in North Vietnam. In 1987, his songs were once again authorized in Vietnam.

He died in Hanoi.

In 1992 the American composer Robert Ashley composed the solo piano piece Van Cao's Meditation, which is based on the image of Văn Cao playing his piano.

[edit] List of songs and poems

Songs
- Bài ca Chiến sĩ Hải quân (1945) (Song for marines)
- Bắc Sơn (1945) (Bac-Son - a guerrilla center during the war with French colonialism)
- Bến xuân, tức Đàn chim Việt (music by Văn Cao, words written together with Phạm Duy) (1942)
- Buồn tàn thu (1939)
- Chiến sĩ Việt Nam (1945) (Vietnamese soldiers)
- Cung đàn xưa (Melody of the past)
- Đêm sơn cước (A night in the mountain)
- Đêm xuân (Spring eve)
- Gò Đống Đa (1942) (Dong-Da Hillock)
- Hò kéo gỗ Bạch Đằng Giang (1941)
- Làng tôi (1947) (My Village)
- Không quân Việt Nam (1945) (Vietnamese air force)
- Ngày mai (Tomorrow)
- Ngày mùa (1948) (Harvest)
- Suối mơ (Dream stream)
- Thăng Long hành khúc ca
- Thiên Thai (1941) (paradise)
- Thu cô liêu
- Tiến về Hà Nội
- Tiến Quân Ca (1944)
- Tình ca Trung du
- Trương Chi (1943)
- Trường ca sông Lô (1947) (Lo river epic)
- Mùa xuân đầu tiên (1975) (First Spring)
- Mùa xuân đầu tiên (1976) (First Spring)

Poems
- Anh có nghe không (Do you hear?. Published in Giai phẩm Spring (Feb) 1956)
- Những ngày báo hiệu mùa xuân (Days with signs of a spring to come)
- Lá (1988) (Leaves)