On the Nature of Songs in the New Yuefu

2023-03-27

There are still many controversies in the academic circles about the "New Yuefu" and "New Yuefu Movement" in the Tang Dynasty. Scholars such as Pei Fei, Luo Zongqiang, Zhou Ming, Wang Qixing, Wang Yunxi, and Huang Yaokun have questioned the existence of the New Yuefu Movement either from the perspective of the concept of "movement" or from the perspective of the concept of "new Yuefu". On the contrary, scholars such as Bian Xiaoxuan, Zhu Jiongyuan, Jian Changchun, Qiu Xieyou, He Shihai, Zhu Anqun, and Zhao Le affirmed this. Ge Xiaoyin's views on the concept of the new Yuefu in a broad and narrow sense are the most inclusive, and his views on the new Yuefu movement are also relatively comprehensive. One of the focuses of debate among various schools of thought is the issue of the entry of the new Yuefu into music, such as "As a poetic style, the new Yuefu has no symbol of the music of the ancient Yuefu" (Zhou Ming's "On the Tang Dynasty's No New Yuefu Movement"). This article attempts to analyze it from the perspective of the music of the New Yuefu. Firstly, literati Yuefu generally followed the rule of "poetry before sound" in the creation of lyrics. "Poetry before sound" is said because the ancient Yuefu of the Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties did not necessarily enter music at first. "The Book of Rites and Music of the Han Dynasty" states, "The ritual of sacrificing the suburbs to Emperor Wu... was to establish a Yuefu, collect poems and recite them at night, with the praise of Zhao, Dai, Qin, and Chu. Taking Li Yannian as the Xielu Duwei, dozens of people such as Sima Xiangru were cited for poetry and prose, briefly discussing the rhythm of Lu, and composing a song of 19 chapters in a tone of eight tones." Here, it is mentioned that there are two sources of Yuefu poetry in the Han Dynasty, one is to collect local poetry, and the other is to use literary poetry and prose. From the source, neither of them initially entered music: local poetry is sung in the form of "recitation", using the original singing methods of various places; Literati's poetry must be sung by musicians before it is sung. In Fang Hui's "Night Recitation" Examination, it is believed that the former is a recitation of a musical composition written by blind men, because the emperor cannot understand the sounds of the four directions, and must be covered by a musician using the "music language". This is actually worth discussing. When poetry collectors record local songs and poems, there is already a process of translation, which must be recorded in the "official language" of the time before being presented to the court. The most important thing is that the music itself still retains the "eulogy of Zhao, Dai, Qin, and Chu", which shows that it does not necessarily need to be combined by musicians. According to Liu Xiang's "Shuoyuan", the "Yue People's Song" produced during the Spring and Autumn Period was translated from Yue language into Chu language, but it was still sung in Yue voice. The so-called "silk is not as good as bamboo, and bamboo is not as good as meat" has become the most common performing method of pre Qin poetry without the ensemble of musicians, such as "oral recitation", "recitation", and "singing recitation" in literature, or "string recitation" accompanied by string instruments. In short, "recitation" does not necessarily involve music, but rather is a cadenced chant or oratorio. In the Tang Dynasty, Xinyufu was mostly created by literati, and initially it was often performed in the form of "singing" and "reciting". For example, "A boy sings a song of eternal regret, and a Hu can sing a piece of lute" (Li Chen's "Diao Bai Juyi"), and "Du Shiyi, I wonder if someone recited several pieces of yellow silk poetry yesterday" (Ren Hua's "Send Du Shiyi"). It can be seen that since ancient times, Yuefu poetry has existed in the form of "recitation" before entering Yuefu organs (later known as Taichang Temple, Jiaofang, and other institutions) for singing. Why would later generations believe that Yuefu poetry must have entered music? This view is probably a misunderstanding of the relevant discussion in Liu Xie's "Wen Xin Diao Long Yue Fu", which states: "Chen Si said that Li Yannian was idle in adding to or detracting from ancient poetry... Watching the chant of the Emperor Gaozu on the wind, the sigh of filial piety and martial arts came late, and the song child was heard, Mo

Edit:qihang    Responsible editor:xinglan

Source:GMW.cn

Special statement: if the pictures and texts reproduced or quoted on this site infringe your legitimate rights and interests, please contact this site, and this site will correct and delete them in time. For copyright issues and website cooperation, please contact through outlook new era email:lwxsd@liaowanghn.com

Return to list

Recommended Reading Change it

Links

Submission mailbox:lwxsd@liaowanghn.com Tel:020-817896455

粤ICP备19140089号 Copyright © 2019 by www.lwxsd.com.all rights reserved

>