Chinese classical music - classic, eternal, warm, romantic. When classical music flows out, you can realize that what flows in the air is the mountain, the flowing water, the silk bamboo, the winter snow, and the endless call of life through the ages. The feeling of being inexplicable and inexhaustible is precisely the unique beauty of Chinese classical music.
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Chinese classical music has gone through the vicissitudes of the times, still unconsciously touching our souls, under the eternal sun, across time and space, its melodious echo is like a diamond - still classic, eternal, warm and romantic. There are famous Chinese classical songs played by guzheng, flute, erhu, pipa, big drum and other national instruments. When the music flows out of your speaker, you can clearly see that what flows in the air is the mountain, the water, the leaf falling, the winter snow, the eternal life, the indescribable and inexhaustible touch, that is the beauty of Chinese classical music that you have never experienced. When did Chinese music start? This problem is quite difficult to determine, according to ancient texts, when Fuxi Nuwa was born, there were already inventions of "qin", "se" and "箫". At this time, the "qin" is the predecessor of the "guqin" that is now spoken of. There are countless stories about the poems written around the guqin, including the poem "Lady of the Guqin, Youzhi of the Qinser". There is a story that "Boya is good at drums and pianos, Zhong Zi is good at listening, Zi is dead, Boya breaks the strings, and never returns to the drum and piano for life", which shows that the sound of the piano is the voice of the heart, and the guqin occupies a very high position in Chinese music. The origin of "kite" is "Ser", and it has the same magic as "qin". Because it was popular in Qin at the time of the Spring and Autumn Period, it was called "Qin Zheng" in history. The sound of "kite" is gorgeous and beautiful, bright and lyrical, singing strongly, and is good at expressing the artistic conception of clouds and flowing water. Today we will "qin" and "zither" juxtaposed, presented in front of your eyes, I hope you can appreciate the cultural origin and heavy artistic heritage of the broad spirit of the Chinese nation in the sound of the melodious piano. Here we share the appreciation of the guzheng of the musical works of the music master Su Yuanbo.
Su Yuanbo was born in the Guizi (present-day Kuqa, Xinjiang) region during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and his family has been a music worker for generations. Famous court musician and pipa player from the Northern Zhou to The Sui Dynasty. A native of the Guizi kingdom of the Western Regions, whose ancestors were musical families, he entered The Zhou Dynasty with Princess Ashina, the daughter of the Turkic Wooden Pole Khan, and Emperor Wu of Zhou.
He learned from his father all the "five dans" and "seven tones" (five dans are five jun, equivalent to huang zhong, tai tu, Gu xie, lin zhong, nan lu and other five jun, each with seven tones) and other palace tuning theories, he brought this theory to the Central Plains, and the musician Zheng Yi at that time learned the guizi pipa and the guizi music tune theory from Su Yuanbo and created the theory of eighty-four tones.
The Su music system established the theoretical basis of the famous Twenty-Eight Tones of Yan Music in the Tang Dynasty, which was an important turning point in the history of the development of ancient music in China, and made outstanding contributions to the development of the music law of the Han People. The pipa has thus flourished and has become the main national instrument in China.
The theory of "five dan and seven sounds" taught by Giona played a major role in changing the music of the Central Plains. It has effectively promoted the establishment and development of China's ancient palace adjustment system. The establishment and application of the palace tune theory is a major progress in China's ancient musical culture, which not only established norms for music technology, but also had a profound impact on the development of later Song Ci, Yuanqu and even Chinese drama.
Although Su Yuanbo's musical thought did not have much benefit in the political pattern of the division of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the positive impact on musical aesthetics after centuries of sad thoughts could not be erased. The unimpeded entry of Hu Le in the Western Regions into the Central Plains laid the foundation for the formation of Yan le in the Sui and Tang dynasties, and at the same time, the degree of enlightenment of words broke through the unification of scriptures, brought about a great unified pattern of music, and opened the way for the prosperity of the Sui and Tang dynasties.
As one of the founders of China's ancient palace tuning theory, Su Qibo not only made outstanding contributions to the development of ancient music in China. This theory also spread to foreign countries, and also had an impact on the music and dance of India, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Myanmar and other countries. The Su's music system laid the theoretical foundation of the famous Twenty-Eight Tones of Yan Music in the Tang Dynasty, which was an important turning point in the history of the development of ancient music in China, and made outstanding contributions to the development of Han folk music, so it was an epoch-making figure in the history of Chinese music.
The musical achievements of the court musician Su Yuanbo of the Southern and Northern Dynasties are inseparable from the background of his time and his creative feelings. In the era of national turmoil and national division, he was able to spread pipa instruments and a wide variety of musical instruments to the Central Plains with his own talents, which not only had a profound impact on the history of literature, but also brought about a new movement for the development of court music. In the history of the musical development of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, he became a milestone and turning point figure, and made outstanding contributions to the development of court music.
Historical Contribution: "Wudan Seven Sounds" Theory, Representative Works: "Five-String Pipa"
The structure of the five-string lute is roughly the same as that of the four-string lute, the resonance box is mostly semi-pear-shaped, and there are ten grades on the panel, and the piano is divided into two sides of the head, three on the left and two on the right. The strings use silk strings, the two outer strings use sub-strings (the fixed strings are the same), and the inwards are the middle string, the old string, and the tangle. The five-stringed pipa flourished in the Sui and Tang dynasties. The five-stringed pipa of the Tang Dynasty was very elaborately made, and the panels were also glued with leather or tortoiseshell sheets, which were also inlaid or painted with various ornaments or patterns.
The five-stringed pipa originally originated in India, and then gradually matured in Persia, Gandhara and other places, and then introduced to China. Unlike the path of the four-string pipa from Khotan in the southern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang to the Chinese mainland, the five-string pipa gradually entered the Central Plains through the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang, around Guizi (present-day Kuqa, Xinjiang, China) and Yanqi.
In the Southern and Northern Dynasties, especially the Northern Qi five-string pipa has gradually entered the Central Plains, which can be verified from the picture of the western pipa musician obliquely holding the straight five-string pipa in the picture of the music and dance on the porcelain pot excavated from the northern Qi tomb in Anyang, Henan, and it can be seen from the joyful picture of song and dance that the guizi music, including the five-string pipa, is not only widely popular in the Central Plains but also popular, and has developed rapidly.
In 582, a minister named Zheng Yi (郑義) wrote a book to Sui Gaozu (隋高祖) "Commandments of the People who Seek Knowledge, Collect Shangshu; And Participate in Music". According to Zheng Yi's sonata, we know that Su Yuanbo was born into a traditional musical family, and his father was a famous musician in the Western Regions. Su Yuanbo learned from her father since childhood, was good at playing the pipa, and was proficient in music theory. It was probably for this reason that he was summoned to the court of the Turkic king. In 567, the Turkic Muzhan Khan married his daughter to The Northern Zhou Emperor Yuwen Yong, and Su Yuanbo arrived inland with Empress Ashina. Since then, he has been active in the Central Plains music scene as a musician. Zheng Yi was a very famous musician at that time. However, he was inspired by Su Yuanbo's playing the pipa in the Central Plains popular music, "within seven voices, three voices, every constant visit, and finally unable to pass", and it was precisely because of the revelation when Su Yuanbo played the pipa that he understood the reasoning, and thus "composed more than twenty books to clarify his purpose", and also "declared the imperial court with his books and made it right".
Su Yuanbo brought the seven-tone theory in the Western Guizi music to the Central Plains, thus promoting the improvement and development of music theory in the interior. As a result of this outstanding contribution of Su Yuanbo, the influence of Guizile in the Central Plains was further enhanced. Guizile became an important one of the nine musics of the Sui Dynasty. Its rhythm later evolved not only into the twenty-eight tones of Sui and Tang Yan music, but also influenced the music and dance used by ancient emperors to sacrifice heaven and earth, ancestors and pilgrimages), folk music (that is, folk music and dance) and theatrical music. Therefore, in the Liao Shi Lezhi there is such a record: "Zheng translated the voice of Su Yuanbo's seven dans... From the pleasure of elegance, all this sound." He also said, "Twenty-eight tones of the right four dans, without the law, with the lute strings and the harmony, all with turbidity to clear, superimposed on their voices, the lower ones are cloudy, the upper ones are clear... The cover is from the Kubukoku No. Ryūzōū". The famous modern scholar Wang Guowei also said in his book "Examination of Song and Yuan Opera": "The eighty-five tones of Guizi, of which the eighteenth tone of Guizi is particularly popular.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the five-string pipa reached its peak. At that time, the famous pipa players Cao Miaoda, Cao Shengnu, Cao Brahmin and Su Qibo, who came to the court from the Western Guizi (Xinjiang Kucha), brought a wealth of foreign musical instruments to the Sui and Tang Han court, including the five-string pipa, which spread Hu Le widely in the Tang Dynasty through their pipa performance, and promoted the mutual integration of Hu Le with tang Yan music and Yale in the later Chinese court. The five-string pipa occupies a very important position in China's court music and has made very important contributions to the musical development of the Sui and Tang dynasties.
The Museum of Chinese Musical Instruments at the Music Research Institute of the China Academy of Arts in Beijing collects two five-stringed pipas. One of them is a five-string pipa imitating the Tang Dynasty screw tungsten held by the Shosoin In-institute in Japan, wood wood, with a total length of 112 cm, a face width of 27 cm, straight, five pins, and bone binding strings, and the original screw inlays are replaced by painted. The only difference is that on both sides of the strings in the upper part of the panel, there are two symmetrical crescent-shaped sound holes. This piano was originally the collection of Cheng Yanqiu, a famous Peking Opera performance artist in China, and in 1958, Mr. Cheng donated it to the country. Another five-stringed lute is more unique, rosewood, the total length of 109.5 cm, the resonance box is semi-long pear-shaped, covered with paulownia wood panels, the width of the face is 22.8 cm, the flat head is bent backwards, in the shape of a book, the chord groove is opened in front, the two sides are placed on the left three right two of the redwood violin, the surface of the body is engraved with twist-shaped ornamentation, the end is inlaid with bone flowers, straight items, four phases and twelve products, redwood phases, old bamboo products, Zhang with five silk strings.
In 1958, Mr. Mei Lanfang donated all 240 ancient and modern ethnic instruments he treasured to the state free of charge, including this five-string pipa. In recent years, Suzhou National Musical Instrument Factory No. 1 has copied a five-string pipa from the Zhengcang Courtyard, which has been included in the large-scale album of "Chinese Musical Instrument Illustrations".
It is rumored that Su Qibo once had a poignant love, and it is precisely because of this love that Su Qibo mysteriously disappeared. Whether the legend is true or not, it is also the reverie of posterity about his mysterious life.
Since Su Qibo came to the Northern Zhou Imperial Palace, he often played guizi music for the imperial palace and the dignitaries, and all major festivals or major events, Su Qibo must participate, because he was already the leader of the guizi band, and he was talented, and his appearance was also very handsome and temperamental, which was the charm of the artist. Because of his fame, many female relatives and maids in the palace admired him, and many women were spring-hearted.
Once, When Yang Awu, the daughter of Yang Jian, the minister of the prime minister, was so excited that she couldn't help but shout loudly when she listened to Su Qibo playing the guizi music, she then gave Su Wubo a letter and expressed her admiration. Yang Awu's appearance is very beautiful, and he is talented, and he also likes to play musical instruments and dances, especially likes to watch Su Qibo's performances.
Originally, Su Qibo thought about his life and spent it in the palace, often performing and studying music, which made him lose his youth and love. But the appearance of Yang Awu did ignite the fire of Su Qibo's love. So the two men exchanged letters and told each other about the pain of lovesickness.
Who knew that an accident made Yang Awu's letter fall into the hands of his father Yang Jian, who was very angry after reading it, so he called his daughter to the front and said: "He is a drama, and he is more than ten years older than you, and our family is prominent in the imperial court, how can he match you?" The thought that you died prematurely, I will marry you to Wang Fengxiao, who is the right doorman. ”
Later, Su Qibo knew that her love affair with Yang Awu was known to Yang Jian, and her heart was both worried and afraid. He feared that Yang Ah Wu would submit to Yang Jian and be punished. The fear is that as a music worker, he will be persecuted by Yang Jian and will not let him communicate with Yang Awu.
As Yang Jian overthrew the Northern Zhou Dynasty and established the Sui Dynasty, Su Jian could not sleep every day, firstly because he missed Yang Awu too much, and second, because he felt that Yang Jian would poison him. Shortly after Yang Jian took the throne, Su Qibo mysteriously disappeared, but no one knew where Su Qibo went, which became a mystery for eternity.
As a generation of famous musicians, the name of Su Qibo has been recorded in history, and together with his turtle music, it has been passed down by later generations, and has been called "the famous music master of the Western Regions" by posterity.
Appreciation of the classical famous pipa song "Ten Faces Ambush"
The pipa song "Ten Faces Ambush" is one of the top ten ancient chinese songs, an excellent musical cultural heritage, and a representative work in the art of pipa. "Ten Faces Ambush" depicts the scene of the Chu-Han war "Battle of Xiaxia", the whole song has a complete structure, and the rich musical characteristics of the playing technique are outstanding. Analyzing the artistic characteristics of "Ten Faces Ambush" is undoubtedly of great significance for deepening the understanding of excellent traditional music culture and inheriting traditional music culture.
The traditional pipa song "Ten Faces Ambush" is also known as "Suiyang Pingchu". It is uncertain when the Ten Faces Ambush originated, but the earliest musical score was found in the Huaqiu Frequency Pipa Notation (1819). Ming Wang Youding (1598-1662) wrote the article "Sizhaotang Collection : Biography of Tang Pipa" (四照堂集: Tang Pipa Biography) and wrote that Tang Ying, a pipa player, had played "Chu Han". Since the advent of Hua Qiuping's "Pipa Notation" in 1818 AD, all subsequent pipa score collections have contained "Ten Faces Ambush" score. Each version differs in segment and segment headings. as:
The "Fahrenheit Genealogy" is called the "Ten Faces", which is transmitted by Wang Junxi, who is directly subordinate to wang Junxi, and the thirteen paragraphs;
"Li Clan Genealogy" is titled "Suiyang Pingchu", by Sui Qin Hanzi; Jinshan Zhou Ruiqing Houqing School, Fan Eighteen Duan;
The Yangzheng Xuan Spectrum is called "Ten Faces", a "Suiyang Pingchu", fan eighteen paragraphs;
"Yingzhou Ancient Tune" is called "Ten Faces Ambush", where ten paragraphs.
I. Introduction to the pipa song "Ten Faces Ambush": Traditional pipa music is divided into wenqu and wuqu, and "Ten Faces Ambush" belongs to wuqu. "Ten Faces Ambush" depicts the "Battle of Xiaxia" in the Chu-Han War, and the protagonist is Liu Bang. The "Battle of Xiaxia" is undoubtedly a very famous battle in China's history, and the pipa song "Ten Faces Ambush" perfectly shows the fierceness and tragedy of this classic war through the pipa art, and portrays the Chu-Han dispute of sword and light sword shadow vividly and vividly. "Ten Faces Ambush" is different from some literary and melodic styles with soothing rhythms and beautiful melodies, its rhythm is changeable, exciting and magnificent, and the scenes are blended, which has a strong appeal. There have been more than ten versions of "Ten Faces Ambush" circulating so far, and the artistic characteristics and techniques of different genres are also slightly different, of which the Pudong school, the renamed school and the Wang school are the most widely circulated. As a classic representative work in pipa music, "Ten Faces Ambush" can be said to be a treasure in classical art from any point of view. [1] To this day, after thousands of years of performance, "Ten Faces Ambush" is still one of the most representative masterpieces in the field of pipa art.
Second, the curved structure of "Ten Faces Ambush": "Ten Faces Ambush" uses the traditional large-scale set of structure mode in China, the whole song has three major parts, thirteen sections, the first part is "pre-war preparation", which mainly includes "beating drums", "trumpets", "blowing" and "firing cannons", etc. These four small sections will be lined up with soldiers, and the war preparation scene full of flags will be vividly highlighted. The second part is the "war process", which mainly includes "ambush", "small war", "big war" and "shout", showing the scene of fighting each other on the battlefield and galloping horses with exciting and magnificent musical colors, and at the same time, in the "big war" part, the homesickness of the Chu army generals in the background of "embattled" is also depicted, making this section even more poignant and tragic. The third part is "The End of the War", including "Triumph" and "Collecting Troops back to camp", etc., depicting the triumphant war scene of Liu Bang leading the army after his victory. This section shows the atmosphere of joy and peace after the victory, and the rhythm is relatively soothing compared to the first two parts. Overall, the three parts of the whole song show the characteristics of "starting and bearing and turning".
Third, the playing skills of "Ten Faces Ambush": the musical rhythm of the first part is from slow to fast, the rhythm is strong, the main use of wheel blowing techniques in the playing skills, through the application of techniques with large strength and deep string, showing a sharp and strong musical effect, very aural shock; in the horn part, the wheel finger is applied, the sweeping string strength changes from weak to strong, the musical mood gradually becomes stronger, and the number of strings is gradually stronger, and the number of strings is gradually stronger; in the "cannon" part, the shading technique is used, and the emotions are neat and intense, which is intended to show the upright and refreshing style of the Han soldiers.
In the second part, the two parts of "ambush" and "small battle" mainly use the push and pull technique of double line and twisted strings in the performance, which is a bright rhythm and strong playing technique depicting the fierce scene of the Chu and Han armies fighting under the bridge, so that the audience seems to feel the battle scene of the Chu army being ambushed and the Han army ambushed by the whole army. The "Great War" part shows the sound of horseshoes on the battlefield by clipping the empty strings, and then uses the long wheel playing method to depict the bleak scene of Zhang Liang blowing the flute, alluding to the imminent defeat of the Chu army. The "Scream" part is the most emotional part of the whole song, and this part uses pushing, chanting, pulling, long rolling, long wheel, etc. in the playing technique, playing a fierce war situation.
The final "End of war" part as the end of the whole song, the music atmosphere has changed greatly compared with the first two parts, and the main application of sweeping strings, splitting strings, strokes, etc. in the playing techniques, the tune is smooth and slow, the rhythm is free, and people have endless memories after listening. Among them, the sweeping string is strong, neat and crisp, and the speed is fast, which sets off the victory situation of Liu Bang, the king of Han, after a great victory.
Musical characteristics of "Ten Faces Ambush": As a martial arts song, the musical characteristics of "Ten Faces Ambush" are also very distinct, first of all, expressed in emotion. Although the whole mainly shows the magnificent, fierce and tragic war scenes, it also integrates the rendering of the Chu army and the tragic ending of Xiang Yu, the king of Chu, especially in the second half of the second part, the performance of "Embattled Song" highlights the cruelty of war, and also highlights the emotional nature of the whole song through the sad atmosphere. The emotional characteristics are undoubtedly the finishing touch of the pipa song "Ten Faces Ambush".
Conclusion: In summary, as a rare treasure of traditional music and art, the pipa song "Ten Faces Ambush" plays an epic and tragic Chu-Han war scene with a pipa, and its artistic characteristics need to be deeply studied and analyzed, and more energy should be spent on the inheritance and development of this cultural and artistic classic in the future, so that more people can feel the charm of excellent traditional culture.
Music thus becomes the best symbol of time. Classical Chinese philosophy, especially classical music philosophy, that is, Le Daozheng, is because of this, and has a deep understanding of time. In this regard, Classical Chinese philosophy, especially classical music philosophy, that is, the Tao of Music, has long had a profound understanding, and modern Western philosophy and science have also begun to pay great attention to it.
Chinese classical music, its mysterious charm can also remind us of the ancient legend, let us feel a transcendent ideological realm, feel the shocking power of national culture.