Plum III- The belated Fragrance

An Ancient Plum Blossom describes a Chinese painting Mei Hua Tu (A Plum Blossom) by Ba Da Shan Ren. (Figure 1). The painting impressed me much because it shows an ancient plum blossom in an unusual way. In Chinese tradition, plum blossom represents one the virtue of human being— the moral integrity. But in this painting, the ancient Plum Blossom which has few flowers but a broken stump in the painting stands alone in winter—I feel that it talks more about a person's integrity in one's later years. The music begins with tremolos and followed with vigorous tune depicting the persistent plum blossom under the chily wind. In the third movement, the music ends with a quotation of the harmonic section in Mei Hua San Long (Three Variations of the Plum Blossom) of an ancient score of gu qin (Chinese ancient zither with seven strings) "Shen Qi Bi Pu" (The Mysterious Score). This harmonic section represents the nobility and elegance of plum blossom. I use this at the last few seconds because I want to reflects the idea of "person's integrity in one's later years" by a famous tune well known by audience.