By incorporating recent achievements of music theorists, composers,
musicologists and ethnomusicologists, this monograph proposes a
multidimensional approach to the analysis of Chinese composers Chen Yi's
music for Western instruments. The analytical procedures are informed by
Richard Waterman's theory of syncretism and Peter Chang's research on
composers' reinterpretation of cultural elements, which serve to explore
Chen Yi's cultural and educational background in relation to her
composition. A set of factor proposed by Elliott Schwartz and Daniel
Godfrey are examined to discover underlying organizational principles.
The first two chapters provide an overview of Western and non-Western
composers' approaches to cross- cultural fusion in general and Chinese
composers' approaches in particular. The subsequent four chapters
present detailed analyses of Chen Yi's nine work with an emphasis on
underlying organizational principles. The final chapter contains a
summary of Chen Yi's personal style, the evolution of her concepts of
stylistic fusion and related techniques, and evaluates their
significance with respect to successful fusion.