Four Etudes on the Theme of Picasso
This piece was commissioned by the Taiwan Wind Music Association and subsidized by the National Foundation for Culture and Arts. The music consists of four movements, each of which is about three minutes long. It is the designated music of the 6th Taiwan Wind Orchestra Association Cup Wind Orchestra Competition in 2006. The four movements are based on four famous Picasso paintings of different ages and styles:
I. Joy of Life (1946) : After the Second World War, Picasso returned to the Mediterranean region to live. Meanwhile, he met his wife Francoise Gilot, which made him renew his enthusiasm for painting and life. The profile silhouette of Francoise appears in the center of the painting. The tone of blue and yellow implies the Mediterranean Sea, sunshine and sand.
II. The Maid of Avignon (1907) : This painting is considered by some art historians as the origin of modern art. Avignon in the title is the name of a street in the red light district of Barcelona.
III. The Musketeers and Love (1969) : This painting is a famous return to Cubism by Picasso in his late years. The Musketeers suggest that the Musketeers in his later years are Picasso’s longing and dream to restore the youthful vigor of his early years.
IV. Guernica (1937) : In 1937, the Spanish town of Guernica was bombed by German warplanes, which killed and injured more than 2,000 innocent citizens. The patriotic Picasso completed this huge work, which adopted Cubist and surrealist techniques. In the painting, soldiers with mutilated limbs and horses on the ground screaming conveyed great shock power, and was later recognized as the most powerful declaration against the atrocities of war.