Voices in the dark night of the early Republican era This was an era in which there had to be music. War dragged people into a dark night, and music was the only source of light and hope. In this period, elegant and moving “art songs” were a force for tranquility and peace of mind. These works had no grandiose commercial packaging, and still less were they written for profit. What their composers sought was an absolute level of aesthetic beauty. This artistic ambition, tempered by the war and chaos of that era, resulted in songs that are at once elegant and deeply moving, such as “Ballad of the Great Wall,” “A Fallen Flower Adrift,” “Sending Off,” and “Voice of the Western Wind.”