Xuan
Item
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Score title
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Xuan
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Composer
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Chen Yi
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Program note
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Commissioned by Ithaca College School of Music for its annual Choral Music Festival
Dedicated with deep admiration to Professor Karel Husa on his 80th birthday on August 7, 2001
Premiered by the Ithaca College Chorus on November 10, 2001, directed by Professor Lawrence Doebler
The text to XUAN is taken from the book Dao De Jing, written by Lao Zi in the Zhou Dynasty (6th century B.C.). This book forms the Chinese way of thought called Taoism. The word Dao means "the way the universe works." The word De means "power," referring to the potential energy that comes from being in the right place and in the right frame of mind at the right time. The word Jing means "classic." Xuan means profound and ineffable. The following is the English translation of the text.
The Dao that can be explained
Is not the Dao of the Eternal.
The name that can be named
Is not the name of the Eternal.
The nameless originated Heaven and Earth.
The named is the Mother of All Things.
Thus, without expectation
One will always perceive the subtlety;
And, with expectation
One will always perceive the boundary.
These two have different names,
Yet their source is the same.
Together they are called profound.
Profound and mysterious,
The gateway to the Collective Subtlety.
Chen Yi