Conclusion

Though European Music of the Romantic Period and Chinese Folk Music come from vastly different cultures, they seem to share certain musical elements, including, but not limited to, pentatonic melodies, homophonic texture with broken chord accompaniment, and weak cadences. Lizst’s Un Sospiro and Wang’s Liu Yang River provide significant evidence of these links; both use pentatonic melodies to express calmness and imply a lack of tonal center, but in different manners and for different purposes. Additionally, both pieces use homophonic texture with broken chord accompaniment to make the pieces more emotional and to show off the virtuosic skill of the pianist. Weak cadences are also utilized in both pieces to help the pieces flow better and have a gentler feeling. Furthermore, both pieces use the pentatonic melodies, homophonic texture with broken chord accompaniment, and weak cadences together to express the feeling implied by each of their titles. Un Sospiro conveys a calm and carefree emotion, like a sigh, and Liu Yang River conveys a lyrical, yet moving, emotion, similar to a river. Despite the differences of their cultures, the two pieces have united as one, as music,  which brings up the question: where did these similarities come from? Are they a result of mixing different styles of music? Or was is simply coincidence that these two cultures ended up using similar musical elements?