The Zhenzong period of the Song Dynasty was the heyday of the ritual music culture of the Northern Song Dynasty. During this period, Zhenzong not only inherited the "Taiping Family Law" established by Taizong, but also vigorously carried it forward and demonstrated the authority of the emperor with ceremonial activities. However, the court music institutions were in a highly secular state at the time, which contradicted the needs of Shinshu to promote the word yaleya. Against the backdrop of this contradiction, how exactly did the process of refinement of court music literature proceed? As a new word style, how did slow words gain the opportunity of court refinement in this process? These questions deserve to be explored in depth.
1. Ritual and music activities: an important means to demonstrate the authority of the emperor
In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, Taizu established the infrastructure of the law of the ancestors, focusing on the political tone of preventing microaggressions, checks and balances, etc. It was not until Taizong succeeded to the throne that he truly carried forward the law of his ancestors and made outstanding contributions in the social and cultural fields. Although Taizu regarded extravagance as a disadvantage and had little interest in ritual and ritual activities, Taizong attached great importance to such rituals, believing that grand ceremonial events were an effective way to show peace and prosperity and consolidate his rule.
During the reign of Taizong, he often held state-level banquets, sacrifices and other activities, and also opened the royal gardens for the people to visit the festivals, and built majestic buildings to show the majesty of the dynasty. Although these activities were considered extravagant, Taizong insisted that they were for the sake of peace and not prosperity. He organically integrated national banquets, sacrificial ceremonies, and large-scale buildings to form a complete system of ritual and music activities, aiming to promote the peaceful scene. This system was gradually inherited by later generations of the Northern Song Dynasty and became an important part of the "Law of the Ancestors".
After Zhenzong inherited the throne, he faced a severe test of consolidating his royal power. Due to the danger of being replaced at one time when he ascended the throne, the authority of Zhenzong's emperor was weakened. The alliance could have been used as an opportunity to show his merits, but Kou Zhun belittled the alliance under the city, making it impossible for Zhenzong to turn the situation around. In order to maintain the royal power, Zhenzong was determined to follow the example of Taizong and held ceremonial activities to show the dignity of the emperor.
During the reign of Zhenzong, he imitated Taizong's practices many times. For example, in the first month of the first year of the Dao, Zhenzong held a banquet in the Qianyuan Building to promote the concept of "people's peace and happiness"; In the first year of Jingde, Zhenzong held a large-scale folk tour in Jinmingchi. These activities all demonstrate the peaceful atmosphere of the dynasty, and they are also the continuation of Zhenzong's "Taiping Family Law" to Taizong. More importantly, Zhenzong also asserted his power through measures such as the Heavenly Book of Zen, the Conferral of Confessions, and religious activities in order to consolidate his dominance over subjects and foreigners.
2. The secularization of court music institutions
In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the court music institutions were mainly composed of two systems, Taichang Temple and Jiaofang, with a clear division of labor. Taichang Temple is in charge of the national orthodox music, and is in charge of the compilation, teaching and performance of elegant music. The Jiaofang system is in charge of secular music, and is responsible for teaching and performing popular music such as Yan music and Qing opera. However, with the passage of time, the two systems began to infiltrate, and the music of the church gradually entered the court, and its influence increased day by day.
The secularization of the church system is rooted in its source of personnel. Most of the students are recruited from the children of the family or the common people in the market, and they already have a considerable understanding and enthusiasm for secular music before entering the workshop. Even after joining the workshop and going through formal training, it is difficult to eradicate the preference for secular music in my heart. Therefore, when they rehearse court music, they often borrow elements of popular tunes, so that the works have a strong cheesy color.
In addition to the music itself, the behavior of the workshop staff also became a major driver of the secularization of the court. According to historical records, most of the people in Jiaofangle are rich and noble brothers, dissolute, drunken and lustful, and they are far from being literal doctors. Their lifestyle and aesthetic pursuits naturally influenced their music creation, making it full of a strong secular atmosphere. Shinshu witnessed this situation with his own eyes, and in the "Sacred Movement", he pointed out that "today's teachings, its people interpret customs".
Secularization is not only reflected in the music itself and the conduct of the musicians, but also in the performance occasions with a very secular atmosphere. In the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, the teaching workshop was required to accompany various occasions in the court, such as banquets, meetings, festivals, etc., and its performances were often reduced to a tool for drunkenness, lust, and horses. People of insight are deeply disturbed by this, such as Song Qi believes that "the emperors of modern times reuse the teaching workshop to enjoy people, open up the road, and run for the joy of once".
On the whole, the music of the Jiaofang in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty has been fully secularized, and it is not only incompatible with the elegant atmosphere of the court in terms of musical style, personnel style, and even performance occasions. This is contrary to the true sect's purpose of promoting Yale Ya and revitalizing the culture of ritual music, and must be corrected and reformed. At the beginning of his reign, although it was difficult for him to do anything for the time being due to the instability of the throne, he would definitely start to reorganize the court music institution in the middle and later periods, and open the way for the revival of ritual music.
3. The opportunity and promotion of music elegance
Faced with the secularization of court music institutions, Shinshu was deeply disturbed and determined to vigorously promote the reform of court music. First of all, he attached great importance to the construction of the national orthodox music system, and revised the "Dachang Rite Music Journal" twice, and incorporated the preparation, teaching, and performance of national music into the national legal system. At the same time, we will intensify the teaching and learning of Ya music, such as setting up a "song hall" under Chang Cheng to train children who understand music and rhythm.
In addition to the construction of the institutional level, Zhenzong also actively promoted Yahua from the perspective of music creation. As emperor, he personally led a movement of music literature, popularizing the aesthetic paradigm of Fusong literature to the field of music. Endowed with its solemn and elegant, vocal and stylistic characteristics, it has become the main path for Zhenzong to promote the elegance of music.
Zhenzong first started from himself, and repeatedly ordered the eunuchs to accompany the poems of the newly compiled Yuefu. For example, in July of the first year of Dazhong Xiangfu, he "personally made a poem and gave it a rhyme, and the edict of the church made a song for it". This poem is the first collection of official palace style poems of this dynasty, "Qin Ya Yuefu", which can be called the beginning of the Fusong music movement. Then, Zhenzong passed a decree requiring literati and ministers to participate in the creation of court music.
In the first month of the following year, Zhenzong "edicted more than 470 families to make a music house", involving a wide range, and none of the nobles, civil and military were spared. The literati had no choice but to compose the work, and the compilation of the Qin Ya Yue Fu was completed shortly thereafter. This work embodies Zhenzong's strict requirements for court music, not only using the standard four or six poems with rigorous rhythm, but also completely praising the dynasty and the ruler, which is incompatible with vulgar music.
Zhenzong's aesthetic of praise not only penetrated into the field of poetry, but later directly applied to the level of music and music. During this period, he once "made poems for concubines and concubines as music" and asked to compose and sing the poems of the concubines. There are palace people who have only written "Yu Li Ci" for him, the meaning of the words praises the emperor and queen is virtuous, and the two noble names of Yu Yi and Liren are used as the name of the song. This is a reflection of the true sect's desire to implement the aesthetic of praise into the music itself.
In general, Zhenzong advocated vigorously promoting the reform of court music from many aspects such as system, talent training, and creation, and the aesthetic orientation of Fusong literature became his main direction. Under the leadership of Zhenzong, a large number of solemn and upright music works were born, which brought great opportunities for the elegance of court music.
Fourth, the court opportunity of slow words and elegance
In the tide of Zhenzong's promotion of the elegance of court music, a new style of words, slow words, has also gained a unique opportunity to move from vulgar to elegant. The slow word was originally a folk song in the northwest, which was introduced to the Central Plains in the Liao Kingdom. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, with the large-scale import of Yan music, slow words were also widely popular among the people. But the original slow words were in the market, the tunes were simple, the meaning of the words was popular, and they were far from being elegant.
In order to revitalize Yale, Zhenzong not only attached importance to orthodox music, but also noticed the wide application of slow words in the military. At that time, drums and beats were often played in the military camp to help the fun, and the military and civilian exchanges were frequent, and the military music in the army gradually became popular in the civilian market. Zhenzong believes that this kind of military music is clear and high-pitched, and the atmosphere is wonderful, and it has the potential for elegant transformation.
Therefore, Zhenzong ordered the court music institution to refine and transform the military music, and combined it with Yan music to compile a new type of court music, which was called "Yajun music" in later generations. And this kind of music needs to be accompanied by Yazheng lyrics to be selected, so the lyricist began to create a new slow word for it. The famous lyricist Zhang Xian's "Poppy Beauty" and "Drunken Cloud Pavilion" came into being in this context.
As a new word style, slow words did not have a fixed format at the beginning, and their creative habits were different. In order to standardize and transform, Zhenzong vigorously promoted the creation of slow words. For example, Zhao Luan's "Yangguan Song", the meaning of the words praises the high wind and bright festival of the teacher, the atmosphere is magnificent and magnificent, and it is full of the characteristics of noble literati; And Zhang Xian's "Song of Ten Thousand Years" is an out-and-out tribute, praising the emperor's honor and the emperor's virtue and politics throughout. These lyrics are all from a collection of official poems planned and created by Zhenzong himself, which can be described as the best representative of the slow words of the court endowment.
Under the vigorous implementation of Zhenzong, the Fu body slow words gradually formed a relatively unified posture and creative norms. The length of the words and sentences are neat, the meaning of the words is solemn and elegant, and the language is beautiful and timeless, which are the distinctive characteristics of this type of words. For example, the word cloud of Ouyang Xiu's "Sheng Chazi" "Bao Pei has scorched Shanshan, and once upon a time entered the fairy town", the words are exquisite, demonstrating the superb literary accomplishment of the lyricist. This is incompatible with the original slow words in the market, and it can be described as completely elegant.
In general, the reason why slow words can get the opportunity to be refined in the Northern Song Dynasty is that they encountered the tide of Zhenzong's revitalization of Yale; the second is the integration of slow words, and the music itself is majestic, which meets the requirements of true elegance; The third is that Zhenzong personally led the creation of slow words with the purpose of voting. Under the promotion and standardization of the court, slow words have completed the transformation from secular to elegant, laying a solid foundation for the later generations of words.
5. The limitations of the elegance of court music
Zhenzong has indeed made unremitting efforts to promote the refinement of court music, and has achieved certain achievements. However, on the whole, there are still obvious limitations to this process of refinement.
First of all, the Yahua reform has a certain degree of reliance on the old conservative color. The refinement of court music advocated by Zhenzong was actually implemented under the guidance of the aesthetic concept of pursuing "retro". He continued to absorb elements of the old tradition, such as attaching importance to the compilation of orthodox music and adopting the old Chinese music style, in an attempt to carry forward the spirit of Yale by going back to the ancient system. However, this approach is self-contained, difficult to keep pace with the times, and often falls into formalism.
Second, in the process of implementation, Yahua reform often falls into mediocrity and bluntness. Although the poems and songs are rigorous and elegantly worded, they are often too similar and lack the spirit of innovation. This is the case of the "Qin Ya Le Fu", which was presided over by Zhenzong himself, and the vast majority of the books praise the royal works, with similar themes and mediocre content. Even loose and slow lyrics are often made up in pursuit of gorgeous forms, lacking a sense of truth.
Finally, the Yahua reform exacerbated the separation of court culture and folk culture to a certain extent. In order to achieve "elegance and integrity", Zhenzong tried his best to eliminate the elements of folk music, resulting in court music becoming more and more detached from the local folk culture. In contrast, folk music continues to burst into vitality and is popular in the streets and alleys, presenting a lively new atmosphere. On the other hand, court music gradually declined, unable to keep pace with the times, and lost its influence on the people.
On the whole, although the reform of Zhenzong Yahua court music has made certain achievements, it is difficult to achieve perfection due to the limitations of the times and the narrowness of aesthetic concepts. A large number of cutting-edge lyricists appeared in the later generations, such as Su Shi and Huang Tingjian, who broke the deadlock and created a novel and unique musical style, bringing new vitality and vitality to the art of Song poetry. In contrast, the long-term impact of the reform of court music is paled.