Sinn Sing Hoi

Xian Xinghai or Sinn Sing Hoi (13 June 1905 – 30 October 1945) (Chinese: 冼星海; pinyin: Xiǎn Xīnghăi; Wade–Giles: Hsien Hsing-hai) was one of the earliest generation of Chinese composers influenced by western classical music and has influenced generations of Chinese musicians. Although he composed in all the major musical forms (two symphonies, a violin concerto, four large scale choral works, nearly 300 songs and an opera), he is best known for his Yellow River Cantata upon which the Yellow River Concerto for piano and orchestra is based.

Sinn Sing Hoi, with family heritage from Panyu, Guangdong Province (Canton), was born in Macau in 1905. He moved frequently in his early life with his mother as his father had died before Xian was born. Xian Xinghai moved with his mother to Singapore when he was six years old, he was enrolled in Yangzheng Primary School [1] for his primary education. It was while at Yangzheng Primary School that he took his first step into his musical career. His teacher, Ou Jianfu, first noticed Xian Xinghai's musical talent, and he was enrolled into the school's military band. Sinn Sing Hoi received training in both musical instruments as well as music. He was later brought to Guangzhou for further education by his then school principal, Mr Lin Yao Xiang, along with 19 other students. Sinn Sing Hoi started learning the clarinet in 1918 at the YMCA charity school attached to the Lingnan University in Guangzhou (Canton). In 1924 he studied in Saint Andrew's School of Singapore. In 1926 he joined the National Music Institute at Peking University to study music and in 1928 he entered National Shanghai Conservatory of Music to study violin and piano. The same year he published his well-known essay The Universal Music. In 1929 he went to Paris (where he met Ma Sicong who introduced him to many artists there) and was disliked by his teacher first because he didn't know how to play piano but one night he got home and was mad and composed a song which the teacher heard. The teacher came inside and was fascinated with his work and asked him to bring his piece of work to the university where the composers competed their work and he won and he was accepted to that music school. In 1934 he was the first Chinese student admitted to the Paris Conservatory to study senior composition with both Vincent D'Indy and Paul Dukas. During this period he composed Wind, Song of a Wanderer, Violin Sonata in D Minor, and other works.

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