Xiao Shuxian

Xiao Shuxian (Simplified Chinese: 萧淑娴; Traditional Chinese: 蕭淑嫻; Pinyin: Xiāo Shúxián; sometimes spelled Hsiao Shu-sien) (April 4, 1905-November 26, 1991) was a Chinese composer and music educator.

Born in Tianjin, Xiao studied in Brussels at the Royal Conservatory, winning a prize there in 1932. From 1935 to 1954 she was married to Hermann Scherchen, a conductor; their daughter, Tona Scherchen, became a composer. Xiao spent 14 years working in Switzerland, where she helped to promote Chinese culture with her music and writing. Her 1938 "Chinese Children's Suite" for voice and piano was among the first works by a Chinese composer to become known in the west, as was her suite for orchestra "Huainian Zuguo" ("A Commemoration of My Homeland").

In 1950, motivated by a desire to help her homeland's development, Xiao returned to China with her three children. From then until her death she taught in Beijing at the Central Conservatory. In addition to her work as a teacher and composer, she translated various texts on Western musical thought into Chinese.

Xiao's style combines elements of Chinese folk culture with Western techniques; she developed it mainly through teaching polyphony in the 1950's. Most of her output consists of songs and works for piano.

Xiao died in Beijing.

References

Lindorff, Joyce. "Xiao Shuxian." The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers. Julie Anne Sadie and Rhian Samuel, eds. New York; London: W. W. Norton & Company, 1995. p. 505.