Traditional Chinese Music as an Object of Perception, Representation, and Reinterpretation in Western European Musical Culture

Abstract

In the context of active intercultural interaction, the Chinese musical tradition has become an important object of sustained interest for European composers, musicologists and performers. Initially, this interest was associated mainly with the external sonic distinctiveness of Chinese music—its timbral qualities, modal organization, and acoustic plasticity. Later, it gradually developed into deeper artistic reflection and creative reinterpretation. The article examines the main stages and mechanisms of the perception of traditional Chinese music in Western European culture. The study is based on historical-cultural, comparative-analytical, and musicological methods. It analyzes the transformation of Chinese musical tradition from an object of external reception into a factor influencing compositional thought. Particular attention is paid to three representative cases: Claude Debussy’s Pagodes, Zhou Wen-chung’s The Willows Are New, and Tan Dun’s Water Concerto. The analysis demonstrates that Chinese musical tradition contributed to new conceptions of musical time, timbre, texture, and acoustic space. The study concludes that traditional Chinese music in Western musical culture functions not as a passive object of observation but as an active source of new artistic models and intercultural compositional thinking.