"The first Chinese music heard in Europe : instruments and musicians in the study of Chinese music in Europe during the long 18th century" / Åberg, Måns Ahlstedt

Published in Early Music Oxford Academic, 2025

Available online through Boston College Libraries 

Abstract:

In existing studies of Sino-Western music history, there has been insufficient focus on the importance of the Chinese instruments that were brought to Europe. During the early modern era, such instruments were not only studied theoretically—they were also played. This article looks partly at the attempts to play Chinese instruments by European musicologists who were interested in the music of China and partly at the musical performances of four early Chinese visitors to Europe: Shen Fuzong (沈福宗), Loum Kiqua (林奇官), Fung Assing (馮亞星) and Fung Ahok (馮亞學). These activities are notable in music history as being the first occasions on which Chinese music was experienced by European listeners outside of East Asia. This article thus shows that Chinese soundworlds could be experienced by Europeans outside of China at the time—something that prior research had ruled out. The attitudes of the European listeners to these sounds mirror the historical development of Western opinions about China, from the Sinophile curiosity of the Enlightenment to the more dismissive attitude of the early 19th century.