Artist Thai Thi Lien – talented mother of Dang Thai Son

She died at 9:37 a.m. on January 31, at her home in Hanoi, at the age of 105. People’s Teacher Tran Thu Ha, her daughter, said that the artist was sick for a few days before passing away peacefully in the arms of her children and grandchildren. In the last years of her life, she was weak but mentally sharp. At the age of 100, she still spends time practicing the piano every day.

Many students remember her with the image of a talented artist, dedicated teacher pancreas, contributing to laying the foundation for the piano in Vietnam.

The artist was born in 1918 into a wealthy intellectual family in Ho Chi Minh City, his father is engineer Thai Van Lan, with French nationality. Ms. Lien learned piano from the age of four, 16 years old, she had her first concert at Saigon City Hall. She joined the revolution in 1946, was assigned the task of communicating and transferring documents, after her brother, lawyer Thai Van Lung, died.

Some time later, she went to France, passed the entrance exam to the Paris Conservatory, and continued her revolutionary activities. During this time, she was introduced by an acquaintance, met and married her first husband, Mr. Tran Ngoc Danh, a Vietnamese diplomat in France.

In 1948, Ms. Thai Thi Lien followed her husband to live in Prague (former Czechoslovakia) and became the first Vietnamese to have a university degree at the prestigious Prague Conservatory.

In 1952, from Czechoslovakia, she followed her husband to Viet Bac, but soon after, her husband contracted tuberculosis and died. At that time, her eldest daughter – Thu Ha – was only three years old, and she was pregnant with her second son – Thanh Binh. Returning to the country, she joined the Central People’s Dance Union and met Mr. Dang Dinh Hung – then a political member of the group. The two married and gave birth to a son, Dang Thai Son, in 1958. The artist’s name is a combination of his parents’ surnames – Dang and Thai.

During her time in Viet Bac, she transcribed and recorded many piano songs, many of which were inspired by folklore, such as melodies. Tambourine. Leaving the war zone, she embarked on a career as a teacher, laying the foundation for domestic piano art. In 1956, she was one of the seven founding members of the Vietnam School of Music, now the Vietnam National Academy of Music, in charge of the piano department and compiled the first set of textbooks.

Associate Professor, Dr. Le Anh Tuan – Director of the Vietnam National Academy of Music – said that when the school was founded, everything was zero. Ms. Thai Thi Lien compiled the curriculum with enthusiasm and love. love, passion and knowledge of a graduate from abroad. In the textbook, she put 60% of the songs adapted from folk tunes into professional piano teaching. In addition, she was one of the founders of the Vietnam Association of Performing Artists, in 1957.

Musician Do Hong Quan, one of her students, always keeps the memory of her childhood years when she taught each finger in a room on Tong Duy Tan Street, 1963. His father, musician Do Nhuan, played it. close to Mrs. Lien’s family, entrusting her children to her. “She has gone through two centuries, devoted herself and trained many generations of pianists across the country. I know this day will come, but her passing still makes generations of our students surprised. fever, grief,” said Mr. Do Hong Quan.

One of her life’s achievements is raising her children, including artist Dang Thai Son, to be successful.

Artist Dang Thai Son once said that during his childhood, his mother was the one who carried the family. His father at that time was one of the writers and artists who participated in the Humanist Giai Phong movement in the North in the years 1955-1958, so he lost his job, had to go to the farm to herd cows, and was not allowed to publish poetic works.

Just by teaching, she raised her husband, her two children, one of his own and their common child. The family’s small house on Tong Duy Tan street has two rooms. She and her youngest son Dang Thai Son often stay in the large room of 22 square meters, where she teaches her children the first notes. When the whole family was evacuated in Xuan Phu, Yen Dung, Bac Giang, in the cold winter nights, the chopin melody on the keyboard of his mother aroused the love of music in Dang Thai Son. She taught her son the piano for 11 years, instilling in him the spirit of discipline and seriousness with the profession.

Dang Thai Son used to be afraid to listen to his mother teaching at home because she was famous for being strict. He always had to do full homework. “I’m afraid of my children and arrogant students, so I rarely give compliments, all hinting somewhere to give me the motivation to rise up,” the man said. Currently, being a famous artist and teacher of many generations of students, Dang Thai Son still follows some of his mother’s principles such as: punctuality, discipline and loyalty to art.

Video of Dang Thai Son

In 2021, when returning home to publish his father’s book, Dang Thai Son talked about the big event in Ms. Lien’s life when she divorced Mr. Dang Dinh Hung in 1976. At that time, both were depressed and disoriented. Lacking a woman’s hand to take care of him, his father was “like a homeless man”. And his mother, who only knew music and was not good at dealing and socializing, lost the person who advised her on all life issues. In 1980, Dang Thai Son’s Chopin award saved the family. His mother then struggled to live in the South, had to stay at a friend’s house, relying on a meager contract salary. After her son won the prize, Mrs. Lien went to Russia to live with her son.

Fluent in English and French, for decades, she helped her son with administrative transactions, paperwork, and communication with the organizers. Both lived in Russia and then went to Japan, Canada. In 2013, when her health was weak, she returned to Hanoi.

Her daughter is People’s Teacher Tran Thu Ha, former director of the Hanoi Conservatory of Music. Dang Hong Quang, stepchild of Mr. Dang Dinh Hung – was also protected by her, later served as Dean of the Piano Department at the Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music.

“Through a life full of glory and bitterness, my mother has always devoted herself to art, family and generations of students,” said People’s Teacher Tran Thu Ha.

Ha Thu