The many metamorphoses of The Butterfly Lovers - A unique and spectacular phenomenon in the world of music

The Butterfly Lovers first came into this world as a violin concerto. That was back in 1959; by now, it has become not only the best known piece of Chinese string music but also arguably a piece with the most diverse arrangements in Chinese music, both in terms of instrumentation and performing format.

On performing format alone, arrangements of Butterfly fall into two main categories: those that adhere to the concerto format and those that do not. The latter ranges from a capriccio for harmonica solo, a variation on the theme for piano solo, to a version for xylophone solo. One of its original creators, He Zhanhao, has come up with versions for pipa, zheng, huqin (erhu and gaohu), gehu and a piano quintet. Cheng Chai-man, former Dizi Principal of the HKCO, also wrote a quintet for dizi, huqin, pipa, cello and piano.

A Hong Kong composer, Kwan Sheng-yau, contributed to two versions: a zheng solo, and a gaohu and zhonghu solo with piano accompaniment. The latter was 'censored' when it was released as an album in Taiwan, owing to the political climate at the time and 'The Butterfly Lovers' was on the list of censored works from the Mainland. In order to get round the problem, the title of the recording was changed to Butterflies' Dream. Other versions of Butterfly include an SATB choral piece, and interestingly, a 'Chinese opera', with new lyrics set to the music and sung in Chinese operatic style. When one knows how this famous piece originated from Chinese opera and sees it retracing its step, one cannot but be amused how things can come full circle.

As for the other category, which are new arrangements following the concerto format, the first that rose to popularity was the gaohu version produced by Ng Tai-kong for EMI (Hong Kong) in December, 1968. Ng spent only one week working on the recording, writing the arrangement in the evening and doing the studio recording during the day, with Ng himself on the gaohu. The concerto part was played by an ad hoc orchestra formed specifically for the production of the record. It may well be described as a 'cultural hybrid' in music.

In 1977, Ng was appointed Music Director of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, which had just turned professional. Again he wrote a new arrangement for Butterfly, this time it was a concerto for gaohu with Chinese orchestra. It was premiered in 1978 and made music history as a remarkable proof that Chinese ethnic music can be 'symphonised'. In August 1983, this gaohu version was performed by the HKCO under the baton of He Zhanhao, who was very pleased by the acoustic effect of the new arrangement. He was commissioned by the HKCO to write a new arrangement of Butterfly himself, when Kuan Nai-chung was Music Director. He wrote another concerto for gaohu which was premiered in 1985. This was the version that the HKCO took to Taiwan three years later, in May 1988. By then, the ban was already lifted, and The Butterfly Lovers for Gaohu immediately took Taiwan by storm. It was this same arrangement by He that the HKCO recorded in its first album in 1987.

Other than these versions, Kuan Nai-chung also created a vocal arrangement for The Butterfly Lovers Concerto by using the theme and a variation on the theme in the development section of the original work as the melody, writing new lyrics in the vernacular dialect of Shaoxing to set to the music, and giving it a new orchestration. It was premiered by the HKCO in December, 1984, when Ng Tai-kong was Music Director.

He Zhanhao not only wrote a gaohu version of Butterfly; he also a pipa arrangement in 1984. It was cut into a recording, with the young pipa artist, He Shuying performing with the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra conducted by Xia Feiyun. Chen Gang, the other composer who co-wrote the original Butterfly, also came up with a piano version in 1985. It was premiered and recorded by Fei-Ping Hsu (piano) and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Kenneth Schermerhorn, before Hsu's untimely death in 2001.

The Hong Kong Phil has performed the gaohu and orchestra version of Butterfly many times over the years. It is obviously a more popular version, whether as a concert programme or as an audience's choice, than the piece for violin and Chinese orchestra on the stock repertoire of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. One thing is common, though, between these two 'hybrid' presentations, and that is, the names of the arrangers were never mentioned on their house programmes.

A 'hipper' version of The Butterfly Lovers also exists, in the form of a digitized arrangement by the versatile Hong Kong music-maker, Anthony Lun. In 1988, Lun performed it at a concert held at the Hong Kong Coliseum, by using a synthesizer to create, single-handedly, the whole orchestral sound.

The erhu version of Butterfly that is on the programme of the HKCO Valentine's Concert 2008 is an arrangement by He Zhanhao for the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra in 2000. It was first performed in Hong Kong two years' ago, but the present version incorporates some of his latest changes.

Counting the various arrangements created over the years, and those of Taiwan and the Mainland included, The Butterfly Lovers may well be described as a unique phenomenon in the music world because of its numerous metamorphoses. The phenomenon itself is worth exploring, but at the same time, we must admit that no matter in what incarnation, it is always warmly welcomed by the listeners. This is an important factor that contributes to the ongoing efforts to reinterpret it. The story of two young lovers who defy feudal restrictions and seek true love despite all odds, or even at the expense of their lives, has touched the hearts of all. The strong yearning for freedom, love and happiness is a universal theme with a universal appeal. That is why we can be confident that more new versions of The Butterfly Lovers will continue to appear, and continue to contribute to this legendary phenomenon in the world of music.