Background of Cold Night Trilogy  

Cold  

Night  

Trilogy,  

a  

Roman-fleuve  

book  

series  

as  

well  

as  

one  

of

Chiao  

Lee’s  

quintessential  

works,  

consists  

of  

three  

volumes:  

Wintry

Night,  

Abandoned  

Village,  

and  

Sole  

Lamp.  

In  

these  

grassroot  

stories,

we  

can  

learn  

how  

Hakka  

people  

kept  

striving  

for  

life  

as  

they  

set  

their

feet  

in  

Taiwan,  

how  

they  

were  

oppressed  

by  

the  

Japanese  

colonial

government,  

and  

how  

much  

they  

looked  

forward  

to  

returning  

home

from southeast Asia after World War II.

2. Let’s Go to the Mountains and Plow (Chinese Ensemble)

This  

piece  

tells  

a  

story  

about  

a  

long-term  

laborer,  

A-Qiang  

Peng.  

A-

Qiang  

used  

to  

work  

for  

his  

landlord  

Shan-Qing  

Yang  

in  

Ai-liao-jiao

(Gongguan  

Township).  

  

Because  

of  

a  

flood  

in  

spring,  

Shan-Qing

Yang’s  

farms  

were  

completely  

inundated.  

  

Struggling  

to  

feed  

his

family,  

A-Qing  

Peng,  

with  

the  

help  

of  

a  

frontier  

guard  

A-Han  

Liu,

took  

his  

wife  

and  

10  

children  

to  

leave  

Shi-wei-qiang,  

heading  

for  

the

mountain areas in the east of Dahu Village.

When  

Mr.  

Lee  

worked  

on  

this  

piece,  

he  

managed  

to  

employ  

the  

style

of  

Hakka  

folk  

songs.  

  

Hakka  

folk  

songs  

are  

mostly  

for  

chanting.  

 

Hakka  

famers  

love  

to  

sing  

their  

folk  

songs  

when  

they  

work  

in  

the

farm  

or  

mountains.  

  

To  

express  

such  

a  

heightened  

spirit,  

Mr.  

Lee

raised   

the   

register   

and   

blended   

in   

the   

minor   

second   

interval

inversion. 

   

At  

the  

end  

part  

of  

the  

piece,  

he  

used  

“banhu”  

to  

light  

a  

spark,  

imply

-

ing the Hakka style.

3. Malekem (Chinese Ensemble)

To  

have  

a  

proper  

land  

for  

cultivation,  

Hakka  

people  

in  

the  

past  

had  

no

choice  

but  

to  

go  

into  

the  

mountain  

areas.  

  

What  

they  

had  

to  

deal  

with

was  

not  

only  

the  

hard  

work  

but  

also  

the  

threat  

from  

the  

local  

aborig

-

ines.  

  

Since  

the  

local  

aborigines  

might  

feel  

offended  

or  

invaded,  

they

began  

to  

attack  

these  

Hakka  

people,  

and  

sometimes  

even  

cut  

their

heads  

off.  

 

This  

head-hunting  

slaughter  

is  

called  

“malekem”  

in  

one  

of

the  

aboriginal  

languages.  

  

This  

piece  

of  

music  

shows  

that  

instead  

of

giving  

up,  

the  

Hakka  

people  

conquered  

their  

fear,  

trying  

to  

defend  

for

their lands, just to feed their own families and survive.

4. Cold Night (Piano Concerto)

Cold  

Night  

is  

a  

piano  

concerto.  

  

Mr.  

Lee  

chose  

the  

piano  

for  

this

piece  

because  

of  

its  

wide  

range  

of  

notes  

and  

abundant  

expressive

-

ness.  

  

At  

the  

beginning  

of  

the  

piece,  

it  

tells  

how  

hard  

the  

Hakka  

an

-

cestors  

strove  

and  

worded  

to  

reclaim  

lands  

for  

cultivation.  

  

With  

the

progression  

of  

the  

music,  

we  

can  

comprehend  

how  

they  

suffered

from  

humiliation  

and  

oppression.  

  

Then  

at  

the  

end  

part,  

however,  

we

should  

still  

have  

a  

glimpse  

of  

a  

dim  

light  

of  

hope.  

  

  

Along  

with  

the

accompaniment  

of  

the  

Chinese  

orchestra,  

we  

can  

hear  

the  

arpeggio

on  

the  

piano  

telling  

the  

long  

and  

never-ending  

struggle  

of  

Hakka

people.

5. The War in Southeast Asia (Chinese Ensemble)

In  

1941,  

Japan,  

while  

invading  

China  

in  

the  

meantime,  

decided  

to

take  

the  

southeast  

Asian  

countries  

to  

obtain  

more  

resources.  

  

The

Japanese  

colonial  

government  

began  

to  

draft  

Taiwanese  

young  

men

to  

work  

or  

fight  

on  

the  

battlefield.  

  

A  

great  

number  

of  

Taiwanese

young  

men  

were  

sent  

to  

southeast  

Asia  

and  

could  

never  

come  

back

home.  

  

In  

this  

Chinese  

ensemble,  

trying  

to  

fully  

and  

clearly  

illustrate

the  

horror  

of  

the  

war,  

the  

melodic  

flow  

delivers  

a  

strong  

sense  

of  

ten

-

sion, pain, doubt, and hesitation.

6. Homecoming (Cello Concerto)

During  

1943  

and  

1944,  

about  

80,000  

Taiwanese  

young  

men  

were

forced  

to  

serve  

as  

military  

workers  

or  

so-called  

“voluntary”  

soldiers

on  

the  

battlefields  

in  

southeast

Asia  

or  

Mainland  

China.  

  

The  

horror

and  

cruelty  

of  

the  

war  

pushed  

these  

young  

men  

to  

the  

desperate

edge  

of  

death.  

  

The  

only  

thing  

that  

kept  

them  

staying  

alive  

was  

their

hope  

to  

return  

home.  

  

They  

seemed  

to  

be  

guided  

by  

a  

“sole  

lamp”,

walking  

wearily  

but  

steadily  

to  

their  

hometown.  

  

That  

is  

why  

Mr.

Lee  

has  

attempted  

to  

interpret  

this  

low  

but  

steady  

resonance  

with  

the

cello.  

  

The  

timbre  

and  

ambitus  

of  

the  

cello  

are  

somewhat  

similar  

to

those  

of  

human.  

 

As  

the  

portamento  

flows  

on  

the  

cello,  

accompanied

by  

the  

Chinese  

orchestra,  

it  

sounds  

like  

the  

distant  

yet  

constant  

call

-

ing from home for those young men still on their way.

Musical Composition of Cold Night Trilogy—The Hakka Musical Epic

Mr.  

Lee  

was  

still  

a  

college  

student  

when  

he  

read  

Wintry  

Night  

for  

the

first  

time.  

Since  

he  

was  

not  

so  

familiar  

with  

the  

entire  

historical  

back

-

ground  

of  

the  

story,  

he  

did  

not  

even  

finish  

all  

the  

three  

volumes.

Several   

years   

later,   

when   

he   

came   

back   

to   

Miaoli,   

having   

more

chances  

to  

inquire  

his  

elder  

family  

members  

about  

how  

they  

had  

lived

in  

the  

past,  

Mr.  

Lee  

became  

interested  

in  

the  

book  

series  

again.  

  

He

then  

finished  

reading  

the  

whole  

three  

volumes  

and  

studied  

the  

TV

drama  

based  

on  

the  

trilogy.  

 

And  

he  

was  

inspired  

to  

turn  

this  

profound

and  

touching  

story  

into  

a  

musical  

epic.  

  

It  

took  

Mr.  

Lee  

3  

years  

to

work  

on  

this  

2-hour  

composition,  

consisting  

of  

an  

overture,  

a  

piano

concerto,  

3  

Chinese  

ensembles,  

and  

a  

cello  

concerto.  

There  

are  

6  

parts

in this composition:

(1) Overture

(2) Let’s Go to the Mountains and Plow

(3) Malekem

(4) Wintry Night

(5) The War in Southeast Asia

(6) Homecoming.

Mr. Lee adopted traditional Hakka folk songs as the motif, along with the third and second interval

inversion and the solid arrangement of Chinese music, vocal music, piano and cello, to compose 8

grand movements in total.  As we listen to this work, we can surely feel the essence of Hakka spirit

and a slight feeling of nostalgia.