Background
Văn Cao was born on November 15, 1923, in Haiphong, Vietnam (then the territory of the French Indochina) to a poor working-class family.
Văn Cao (right) with a notable Vietnam People's Army general and Vietnamese politician Võ Nguyên Giáp.
Văn Cao. Photo by Nguyễn Đình Toàn.
Văn Cao with a Vietnamese, musician, songwriter and poet Trịnh Công Sơn.
Văn Cao's portrait by a Vietnamese painter Trần Văn Thọ.
Văn Cao was born on November 15, 1923, in Haiphong, Vietnam (then the territory of the French Indochina) to a poor working-class family.
Văn Cao was raised in the northern province of Nam Dinh. He wrote his first song, Buồn tàn thu, at the age of sixteen.
Văn Cao moved to Hanoi in 1941 where he composed many of his well-known songs, including Ben Xuan (The Shore of Spring), Suoi Mo (Dreamy Stream), and Cung Dan Xua (The Old Tune).
The music and the lyrics for the song that made him popular nationally, Tien Quan Ca (Marching Song), were written three years later at the request of the Military Administration School. First, it was chosen by President Ho Chi Minh to be the national anthem of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Later, after the reunification in 1976, the song became an anthem of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
The other patriotic songs of Văn Cao include Go Dong Da (Dong Da Mound), Song Lo (the Lo River), Tien Ve Ha Noi (Advance towards Hanoi). Thien Thai and Truong Chi songs are considered as the peak of his romantic works.
The reprisals of the Nhân Văn-Giai Phẩm affair of 1956 forced Văn Cao out of composing as a member of an opposition group Nhan Van Giai Pham. Almost all of his songs, except for "Tiến Quân Ca", "Làng Tôi", "Tiến Về Hà Nội" and "Trường Ca Sông Lô", were banned in North Vietnam till the rehabilitation of the author in 1987.
Văn Cao wrote the music for 1966 movie Lửa rừng (Flaming Jungle) by Phạm Văn Khoa.
Bến xuân
(Music by Văn Cao, lyrics in collaboration with Phạm Duy.)
1942Đêm sơn cước
(A Night in the Mountain)
Không quân Việt Nam
(Vietnamese Air Force)
1945Chiến sĩ Việt Nam
(Vietnamese soldiers)
1945Cung đàn xưa
(Melody of the Past)
Bài ca Chiến sĩ Hải quân
(Song for marines)
1945Trường ca sông Lô
(Lo River Epic)
1947Suối mơ
(Dream stream)
Mùa xuân đầu tiên
(First Spring)
1975Làng tôi
(My Village)
1947Ngày mai Van Cao
(Tomorrow)
Ngày mùa
(Harvest)
1948Bắc Sơn
1945Tiến Quân Ca
1944Trương Chi
1944Đàn chim Việt
Ca Ngợi Hồ Chủ Tịch
Thăng Long hành khúc ca
Văn Cao joined the national liberation struggle and became a member of Việt Minh coalition in 1943. He was also a member of an opposition group Nhan Van Giai Pham.
Văn Cao was a kind, gentle, and sensitive man who expressed confidence in his homeland through his music, poetry, and painting.
Physical Characteristics: Văn Cao died of lung cancer.