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卷二十四 志第四: 禮儀四

Volume 24 Treatises 4: Rites 4

Chapter 28 of 舊唐書 · Old Book of Tang
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1
調
Music was the tool the earliest sages used to govern the passions. People are born with blood and breath, with innate understanding—and with joy, anger, grief, and pleasure. Feeling answers to the world inside; shaped sound answers outside. The sage-kings set pitch to measure it, gave it words in praise, shook it through bronze and stone, breathed it through string and pipe—so the mind could be rinsed clean and brooding anger let go. Set it on a kingdom and the court falls into rank; set it on the world and gods and ghosts attend; set it at a feast and ruler and subject find accord; set it in the ranks and commoners and troops take heart.
2
西 滿 殿 調 調調 調
Under the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors every age kept its music officers—so Shun's court revived the shield-and-feather dance, and the Zhou made plucked strings and choral learning a pillar of rule. Once the ancient order failed and the Warring States threw up their dust, rites and music belonged to whichever lord held power, and the Ya and Song odes were traded down into vulgar hands. Qi's se and Yan's zhu—nothing left of clear, disciplined tone; eastern pot-drums and western lutes, each scoring out the shapes of lewd delight. It went so far that the war drum crossed into Han while Master Zhi let his strings fall silent. Yanling Zi was mocked for music that smelled of Zheng; Confucius stood up when he heard the Shao and could only sigh. When Qin Shihuang welded the realm into one, he treated every earlier king as beneath notice. The Qin palace rang wall to wall with bells and drums—and every piece was Zheng or Wei; song and dance lined the Han imperial temple—and none of it was the Xian or the Shao. The Ninefold rite and Six Changes survived as choreography; eight rows and four suspended choirs survived as numbers—but the feeling behind them scarcely arrived. All the Music Office handed on was outward shape. Under Han Wudi and Xuandi the throne championed the classics, collected night-recited verse and court poets' fu, sang mornings in the Orchid Hall and played evenings at the Bamboo Palace—then charged the pitch officers to compose the first sacral hymns. Prince Xian of Hejian hoarded old texts until his court overflowed with them; he trimmed the Odes and Hymns into scores and shaped dance sections after the Zhou Offices. Thereafter each dynasty copied the form and swapped the words; pipes and stones still sounded, but the spirit of the Jing and Ying hymns was feared lost. Later courts lolled to Sang of Pu and Doli mixed in; Guzhu and Kongsang pieces no longer obeyed circulating-tonic theory; tall tooth-boards and feather banners were all that was left—mere display of ritual gear. Players multiplied; true listeners grew scarce. After Yongjia the twin capitals turned to rubble; rites broke apart and music with them, and the written canon nearly vanished. The Jiangzuo states salvaged what scattered pieces they could and still kept something like music of a well-governed world. Northern Wei and Yuwen's line ruled the northern steppe; clear court music did not take root there—every household kept its own frontier habit. Even when they recruited artisans from Chang'an and Luoyang, they still staged the four-sided metal ensemble. Nothing in it pleased the ear; the title of court music was all that remained. Sui Wendi rose from a literati house and threw himself into restoring rites and music; on taking the throne he ordered Court Music Director Niu Hong and Libationer Xin Yanzhi to rebuild the elegant repertoire. Niu Hong gathered palace musicians and brooded over the task for years without finishing it; meanwhile suburban and temple rites made do with Yellow Bell alone. In the ninth year of Kaihuang, after Chen was pacified, the old Jiangzuo craftsmen and four-rack instruments were finally obtained. The emperor had them performed at court and sighed, "This is the true sound of Xia civilization. Without this undertaking of mine, how could the age have heard it?" He then tuned the five notes into fourteen modes, including the Five Xia, the two dances, ascent hymns, and inner-chamber music, using them for guest rites and sacrifices. Only then did the Sui possess a true elegant repertoire and found the Pure Shang Office to guard it. Soon Pitch Officer Zu Xiaosun, using Jing Fang's old arithmetic, stretched five tones and twelve pitches into sixty notes, then sixfold into three hundred sixty, cycling the tonic through the year—and so drafted temple music on paper. Ru scholars quarreled over it until the scheme was shelved. Under the Sui, court elegance meant those fourteen pure-music suites—nothing more. Sui collapsed in chaos, but the scores and instruments survived.
3
使 調 調 調 調
When Tang Gaozu took the throne he raised Zu Xiaosun to a post in the Ministry of Personnel, then made him Vice Director of Court Music and steadily leaned on him. Zu Xiaosun seized the moment and asked leave to compose new state music. Armies and administration consumed the court; reform waited, and the Music Office still performed from Sui books. In the ninth year of Wude, Zu Xiaosun was finally charged with overhauling the elegant repertoire; by the sixth month of the second year of Zhenguan it was ready for the throne. Taizong said, "The making of rites and music is generally how sages followed things and established teachings, using them as restraint and moderation. How could the flourishing or decline of governance come from this?" Censor-in-chief Du Yan answered, "The rise and fall of former ages truly came from music. When Chen was about to perish, it made Yushu houting hua; when Qi was about to perish, it made Banlü qu. Those who heard them on the road invariably grieved and wept; this is what is called the music of a perishing state. Viewing it from this, it was probably because of music." Taizong said, "Not so. Sounds can move people; this is the way of nature. Therefore those who are happy hear them and are pleased, while those who are worried listen and are saddened. The feelings of grief and joy lie in the human heart; they do not come from music. In the government of a state about to perish, its people must be suffering; because suffering hearts are moved, they hear the music and are saddened. How could there be grief and resentment in the sound of music that can make the pleased become sad? Now the tunes Yushu and Banlü still exist in full. I shall perform them for you, and I know you will certainly not grieve." Secretariat right vice director Wei Zheng advanced and said, "The ancients said, 'Rites, rites: does that mean jade and silk? Music, music: does that mean bells and drums?' Music lies in harmony among people and does not come from pitch tuning." The emperor took his point. Xiaosun again memorialized, "The old music of Chen and Liang mixed in the sounds of Wu and Chu; the old music of Zhou and Qi mostly involved the techniques of Hu and Rong. Thereupon, weighing south and north and testing them by ancient sounds, I made the elegant music of the Great Tang. With the twelve pitch pipes each following its month, they rotate and become the tonic. The Record of Rites says, 'Great music shares harmony with Heaven and Earth.' Therefore I made the music of the Twelve Harmonies, totaling thirty-one pieces and eighty-four modes. For sacrifice at the Circular Mound, Huangzhong is used as tonic; at the Square Marsh, Linzhong is used as tonic; in the ancestral temple, Taicu is used as tonic. For the five suburban altars, court congratulations, feasts, and banquets, the pitch pipe of the month is used as tonic." At first, Sui used only the single Huangzhong tonic, striking only seven bells, while the remaining five bells hung empty and were not struck. Once Zu Xiaosun restored circulating-tonic practice, every bell on the rack sounded; none was left idle. Heaven rites used Yuhe; earth rites Shunhe; ancestral temples Yonghe. Ascent hymns at heaven, earth, and temple alike used Suhe. When the emperor took the throne hall, Taihe sounded. Princes and dukes entering or leaving heard Shuhe. Imperial meals and toasts used Xiuhe. Imperial audiences used Zhenghe. The crown prince's full bell-set processions used Chenghe. New Year and winter-solstice state rites sang Zhaohe at the ascent hymn. When offering trays entered at suburban or temple rites, Yonghe. Pouring the libation, reading the prayer, drinking the blessing cup, receiving the sacrificial meat—Shouhe accompanied each. The five suburban qi-welcoming rites each took the month's pitch for its tone. Suburban and temple sacrifices also danced Huakang and Kaian. Zhou ritual's circulating tonic had been dead for ages; no one alive understood it until one morning brought it back—here was the start. After Zu Xiaosun's death, Pitch Officer Zhang Wenshou mined the Three Rites and argued that Xiaosun had only opened the work—suburban and border-sacrifice music still needed finishing. The throne ordered Zhang Wenshou and the Court Music ritual officers to revise the system together. Following the Zhou Offices: August Heaven took round bell as tonic, Yellow Bell as second, Great Cluster as third, Guxian as fifth, with the Yuhe dance. Mount Tai enfeoffment used the same score. Earth at the Square Mound: sealed bell tonic, Great Cluster second, Guxian third, Southern Lu fifth, Shunhe dance. Solemn rites at Liangfu shared the same score. Collective ancestral rites: Yellow Bell tonic, Great Lu second, Great Cluster third, Ying Bell fifth, Yonghe dance. Five suburban altars, sun, moon, stars, and spirits classed with Heaven: Yellow Bell tonic, Yuhe suite. Great La and Great Report rites cycled Yellow Bell, Great Cluster, Guxian, Flabby Guest, Yi Ze, and Wushe through Yuhe, Shunhe, and Yonghe. Bright Hall and rain-prayer rites: Yellow Bell tonic, Yuhe suite. Central Land, soil-and-grain altars, and plowing rites took Great Cluster; Rain Master Guxian; mountains and rivers Flabby Guest—all with Shunhe. Feasts for the deceased empress dowager: Yi Ze tonic, Yonghe dance. Grand banquets used Guxian and Flabby Guest modes. Imperial ritual meals at suburban or temple rites took the month's pitch and played Xiuhe. Imperial processions at suburban temples used Taihe; throne-hall processions Shuhe—both with Guxian as tonic. Imperial great archery: Guxian tonic, Zouyu suite. The crown prince's archery used Lishou. The crown prince's full bell procession: Guxian tonic, Yonghe suite. Strike Yellow Bell, sing Great Lu; strike Great Cluster, sing Ying Bell; strike Guxian, sing Southern Lu; strike Flabby Guest, sing Forest Bell; strike Yi Ze, sing Middle Lu; strike Wushe, sing Pinched Bell. With Huangzhong and Ruibin as the palace-tonic, the music has nine variations; With Dalü and Linzhong as the palace-tonic, the music has eight variations. With Taizu and Yize as the palace-tonic, the music has seven variations. With Jiazhong and Nanlü as the palace-tonic, the music has six variations. With Guqian and Wushe as the palace-tonic, the music has five variations. With Zhonglü and Yingzhong as the palace-tonic, the music has four variations. The Son of Heaven had twelve bells; upper dukes nine, marquises and earls seven, viscounts and barons five, ministers six, grandees four, and knights three. When the work was finished, it was performed. The Founding Ancestor praised it; ranks were then raised and gifts distributed according to merit.
4
In the fourteenth year an edict said: "Yin offered to ancestors and fathers to exalt merit and virtue; though we have lately added sincerity and purity, the temple music is still unfitting. The responsible offices should be ordered to examine former precedents in detail, fix regulations, and submit a memorial." The Eight Seats deliberated: "The seven temples display virtue; their meaning crowns ancestral sacrifice; the three ancestors in Heaven display it in solemn pairing. Reverence is fully harmonized; the way of great filial piety should be proclaimed. Therefore the eight rows are fully arrayed, and solemn rites take form in the dance positions; the four suspensions are fully deployed, spreading the great emblem through elegant tones. To examine the bright meaning of making music and select the august kings' proper canons—among what former sages practiced, nothing is greater. We bow before Your Majesty, Heaven-endowed with sympathetic penetration, following the dark ultimate. Filial governance is manifest and brilliant, shining across the realm; love and reverence pure and deep, pursuing honor for a hundred generations. Everlasting words bestow blessing; thereby praise is magnified. Bell-tones change their notes, spreading clangor at offerings; feather-flutes form their ranks, displaying vigorous tread at seasonal and ancestral sacrifices. Edicts then went to the canonical offices and elevated titles were added; following the sound and verifying the substance, we respectfully clarify honored names. We venture that the imperial numen increases blessing; the deep source long pours forth, surpassing Yan's swallowing of Shang and exceeding the dragon-disturbing founding of Han, storing brilliance in concealment and gradually issuing forth at the three divisions. The High Ancestor drew in earth and patched heaven, again spreading the realm's bounds, returning souls to flesh and bone, again creating the living. Vast is the imperial design, joining heaven and earth in greatness; splendid is the imperial way, matching the seven luminaries in brightness. Though sage traces and divine achievements cannot be fathomed; the warp of culture and woof of arms—we dare set them down in famous words. We respectfully prepare music sections to display the constant pattern. For the temples of Imperial Grandfather Hongnong, Duke Xuanjian, and Illustrious King, the music should jointly perform the dance Changfa. For the Founding Ancestor Emperor Jing's temple music, please perform the dance Daji. For the World Ancestor Emperor Yuan's temple music, please perform the dance Dacheng. For the High Ancestor Great Martial Emperor's temple music, please perform the dance Daming. For the Cultured Virtue Empress's temple music, please perform the dance Guangda. For the ascent hymns of the seven temples, we request that each chamber have a separate performance." The throne approved. In the twenty-third year, grand mentor Zhangsun Wuji and palace attendant Yu Zhining deliberated on Taizong's temple music, saying, "The Changes says, ‘Former kings made music to exalt virtue; Yin offered to the Supreme Lord to pair with ancestors and fathers.’ We request that the music be named the dance Chongde." The throne approved. Later, at the Cultured Virtue Empress's temple, the offices by ritual stopped the dance Guangda and advanced only the dance Chongde.
5
In the first year of Guangzhai, in the ninth month the High Ancestor's temple music took Juntian as its name. The Middle Ancestor's temple music performed the dance Taihe. In the sixth year of Kaiyuan, a tenth-month edict ordered the Sagacious Ancestor's temple to perform the dance Jingyun. In the sixth month of the twenty-ninth year the Court of Imperial Sacrifices memorialized: "According to the elegant music fixed on the day of the eastern feng at Mount Tai in the twelfth year, Yuanhe has six changes to bring down the Heavenly Spirit. Shunhe has eight changes to bring down the Earth Spirits. When the emperor processed, use Taihe. At the feng of Mount Tai, for the ascent hymn and offering of jade disks, use Suhe; to welcome the offering stands, use Yonghe; for libation offering and drinking the blessing, use Shouhe; to send off the civil and welcome the martial, use Shuhe; for the second and final libations, use Kai'an; to send off the spirits, use Jiazhong-palace Yuanhe. The spirit shrine is foremost; to send off the spirits use Linzhong-palace Shunhe. At offerings in the Grand Temple, to welcome the spirits use Yonghe; for libation to Offering Ancestor Emperor Xuan perform Guangda, to Illustrious Ancestor Emperor Guang perform Changfa, to Founding Ancestor Emperor Jing perform Dazheng, to World Ancestor Emperor Yuan perform Dacheng, to High Ancestor Emperor Shenyao perform Daming, to Founding Ancestor Emperor Wen perform Chongde, to High Ancestor Emperor Tianhuang perform Juntian, to Middle Ancestor Emperor Xiaohe perform Taihe, to Sagacious Ancestor Emperor Dasheng Zhen perform Jingyun; to remove the beans, perform Yonghe; to send off the spirits, use Huangzhong-palace Yonghe. We consider that the music sections are incomplete and have lacked repair for years. Since there was the eastern tour and personal audience at the nine temples, the sage feelings have been careful about ritual and refined prayers have sensed communion; in every case, several days before the sacrifice, the pitches and tones were examined and fixed. We request that these be compiled into the historical records and practiced for ten thousand generations." The issued ordinance said: "Princes, dukes, ministers, and scholars, down to the responsible offices, have repeatedly come to the gate and memorialized, requesting that 'Tang music' be the name—this is a matter of utmost impartiality; how could We decline? Thus Daxian, Dashao, Dahu, and Daxia all use the character da to mark their music sections. What is now fixed should be called Great Tang Music." From Imperial Grandfather Hongnong through the High Ancestor Great Martial Emperor's six temples—in Zhenguan an edict had already ordered Yan Shigu and others to fix music sections and dance names. By now the Court of Imperial Sacrifices again reported the offices' fixing of libation dances from Offering Ancestor Emperor Xuan through the Sagacious Ancestor Emperor Zhen's nine temples.
6
In the fourth month of the first year of Tianbao, the offices were ordered to fix the music at report-offerings in the temple of the Primordial Origin Emperor: use Huncheng to bring down the spirit and Taiyi to send it off. In the sixth month of the second year of Baoying, the responsible offices memorialized, "For Xuanzong’s temple music, perform Guangyun; for Suzong’s temple music, perform Weixin." In the fourteenth year of Dali, they requested Baoda for Daizong’s temple music. In the tenth month of the first year of Yongzhen, they requested Wenming for Dezong’s temple music. In the first year of Yuanhe, they requested Dashun for Shunzong’s temple music. In the fifteenth year of Yuanhe, they requested Xiangde for Xianzong’s temple music. For Emperor Muzong's temple music please perform Hening. For the Respectful Ancestor's temple music please perform Dajun. For the Cultured Ancestor's temple music please perform Wencheng. For the Martial Ancestor's temple music please perform Dading.
7
In the first year of Zhenguan, at a banquet for the assembled ministers they first performed the tune Prince of Qin Breaking the Battle Array. Taizong told the attending ministers: "When I was in the fief I repeatedly campaigned; the world thereby got this music—who would have thought it would today ascend to elegant music! Yet its display, raising, stamping, and vigor, though different from civil bearing, is what achievement came from, bringing us to today. Therefore it is clothed in music sections to show that we do not forget the root." Right Vice Director Feng Deyi advanced: "Your Majesty with sage martial quelled difficulty, established the pole and settled the people; achievement complete and transformation fixed, displaying music to image virtue—truly a magnificent achievement of succoring the age, a grand sight for generations to come. How could civil bearing and practiced ritual be comparable to it?" Taizong said: "Though I settled the realm by martial achievement, in the end I shall soothe the seas within by cultured virtue. The ways of civil and martial each follow their time. For you to say that civil bearing is not equal to vigorous stamping goes too far." Deyi bowed his head: "Your servant is not acute and is insufficient to know this." Thereafter he ordered Wei Zheng, Yu Shinan, Chu Liang, and Li Baiyao to revise the song texts, renaming it the dance Qide, increasing dancers to one hundred twenty, donning armor and grasping halberds to image battle-array methods. In the sixth year Taizong went in person to Qingshan Palace and banqueted his ministers on the Wei River's bank, composing a poem in ten rhymes. That palace was Taizong's birthplace. Whenever the imperial carriage visited he was especially moved with celebration, bestowing gifts on the hamlet—like Han's Wan and Pei. Thereupon Attendant for Drafting Lü Cai set the imperial poems to the Music Bureau, clothed them in strings and pipes, naming the tune Achievement Complete, Qingshan Celebration, ordering eight rows of children all wearing jinde caps and purple trousers and jackets, performing the dance Jiugong. At the winter solstice feast and when the state had great celebration, together with the dance Qide they were all performed in the court. In the seventh year Taizong devised the Battle-Array Dance Diagram: left round, right square, first echelon then five-deep, fish-scale and goose-file, winnow-spread and wing-unfold, interlaced bending and stretching, head and tail turning back upon each other—to image the battle array's form. He ordered Lü Cai to teach one hundred twenty music workers from the diagram, donning armor and grasping halberds to practice it. In all there were three changes; each change was four arrays, with coming and going, fast and slow, striking and thrusting images to match the song's beats—in several days it was done, and the name was changed to the dance Qide. On day guisi they performed the dances Qide and Jiugong; viewers seeing their restraint and vigorous tread all clutched their wrists and leapt, awestruck and trembling. The martial ministers and arrayed generals all offered long-life cups, saying, "This dance is entirely the form of Your Majesty's hundred battles and hundred victories." The assembled ministers all shouted "Long live the emperor!" More than ten southern peoples themselves requested to lead the dance; an edict permitted it, and only after a long while did it stop. In the fourteenth year an auspicious cloud appeared and the Yellow River cleared. Zhang Wenshou gathered the ancient meaning of Vermilion Goose and Heavenly Horse, composing the Jingyun River Clear Song, naming it banquet music; performed on strings and pipes, it was first among all music—the first performed at the great assembly was this.
8
使 調
In the eleventh month of the second year of Yonghui, Gaozong personally sacrificed at the southern suburb, and yellow-gate vice director Yuwen Jie memorialized, "By protocol, when the ministers attend court tomorrow and the music racks are removed, please perform the Nine Department Music." The emperor thereupon said: "As for the Breaking the Array dance—emotionally I cannot bear to watch it; the offices should furthermore not set it up." When he finished, he grieved a long while. In the first year of Xianqing, first month: Breaking-the-Array dance renamed Divine Merit in Breaking the Array. Second year: the Court presented the zither piece White Snow. Earlier the emperor, knowing ancient elegant zither pieces were sung but the practice had died out and surviving versions had wrong pitches, ordered skilled zither and mouth-organ workers to restore the old repertoire. The Court then memorialized: "Per the Book of Rites and Household Sayings, Shun played the five-string zither and sang the Ode to the Southern Breeze. Thus zither pieces and melodies were all meant to be sung. Zhang Hua's Bowu zhi also says: ‘White Snow is the name of the fifty-string se piece that the Plain Girl played for the Supreme Emperor.’ Again, the Chu grandee Song Yu replied to King Xiang: ‘A guest in Ying sang Yangchun baixue, and within the state only several dozen people harmonized with him.’ So White Snow was meant to be sung; its mode was so high that few could join in. Since Song Yu, a thousand years have passed with no one able to sing White Snow. Pursuant to the edict I fixed the modes of the old zither pieces, taught them, and set them to song. I used the imperial Snow Poems as White Snow's lyrics. Ancient and modern Music Bureau pieces also had sending-off vocals after the main tune—lord sings, ministers answer—as earlier histories show. I then took the snow poems composed in response by the attending ministers and others as the sending-off vocals, each in sixteen sections. They have now all been taught, and all harmonize in rhyme." The emperor approved and had the Court enter them in the Music Bureau. Sixth year, second month: Lü Cai composed zither songs including White Snow; the emperor wrote sixteen lyrics, entered in the Music Bureau. Sixth year, third month: planning the Liaodong campaign, he taught dance at camp and summoned Li Yifu, Ren Yaxiang, Xu Jingzong, Xu Yuanshi, Zhang Yanshi, Su Dingfang, Ashina Zhong, the King of Khotan Fuzhe, Shangguan Yi, and others to Luoyang Gate to watch. The piece was One Campaign, Great Settlement. Viewers received brocade silks of varying grades. In the second year of Linde, tenth month, edict: "Having pacified the realm and remade institutions, recording merit in music is long established. Yet suburban sacrifice still uses shield-and-axe dance on the four suspensions; prior courts' music lies stored and unperformed. Palace suspended civil dance at suburban and temple rites and banquets should use Merit Achieved, Celebration of Goodness—shoes, fly-whisks, former trousers-and-jacket dress and youths' caps. Military dance should use Divine Merit in Breaking the Array—armor and halberds; banner bearers also wear gilded armor. Numbers as in eight rows; add pipes, flutes, and song-drums south of the suspension; when they dance they join the palace suspended orchestra. As for the two kinds of dances within banquet music, they should still be set up separately according to the old practice." In the eleventh month of the third year of Shangyuan, an edict said, "The Shangyuan dance for sacrifices was formerly set for all major shrine offerings. From now on, only for sacrificial offerings at the Circular Mound, the Square Marsh, and the Grand Temple should this dance be used; for all other sacrifices it should be stopped." End of edict.
9
殿
Eleventh month, sixth day: Vice Director Wei Wanshi memorialized: "Per Zhenguan rites, suburban civil dance uses Joyful Harmony, Smooth Harmony, Eternal Harmony; dancers wear weimao caps and robes with yue flutes and pheasant feathers. Military dance uses Triumphant Peace; dancers wear pingmian caps with shields and axes. Under the tenth-month edict of the second year of Linde, civil dance became Merit Achieved, Celebration of Goodness and military dance became Divine Merit in Breaking the Array, with implements and dress changed as well. Since the edict, Celebration of Goodness cannot summon spirits and Divine Merit in Breaking the Array is not yet elegant music; though dress changed, the dances remain old and unaltered. Since the matter is not settled, we fear there must be a separate disposition." Recorded sixth of this month; edict: "Former civil and military dances cannot be abolished; implements and dress should follow the old way. When the Shangyuan dance is suspended, still perform Divine Merit in Breaking the Array and Merit Achieved, Celebration of Goodness; court dances must be performed outside the suspension. Dance placement should be reconsidered for a stable arrangement. Also record the six changes and symbolic forms of Kai'an and submit them." Wanshi again submitted with the collation officials: We respectfully note that the Kai'an Dance is a military dance created during Zhenguan. According to the Zhenguan Rites and the present rites, whenever military-dance music is performed at suburban or temple sacrifices, this is the dance used. In all, it has six changes: the first symbolizes the dragon rising in the fields of Shen; the second, conquering and pacifying Guanzhong; the third, eastern Xia submitting as guests; the fourth, the Jiang and Huai becoming tranquil; the fifth, the Xianyun being awed into submission; and the sixth, returning to position in exaltation, symbolizing the troops returning and reforming the army. We respectfully note that according to the Zhenguan Rites, on sacrificial days the military dance performs only six changes, just as Zhou's Dawu stopped the music after six completions. In music, if a piece is made because of a person, then it also stops according to that person. If a completed number is specified, then it stops when the number ends; one may not take the slowness or haste of the ceremony as the early or late endpoint of the music. This is what the rites mean by three sections, six completions, eight changes, and nine changes. In the present rites, the military dance is played through six completions, yet it does not stop when the count is finished. Since this does not model itself on antiquity, it cannot be followed in practice. As for the military dance Kai'an, we hope to request that, following the ancient rites and the Zhenguan Rites, the music stop after six completions. Within the standing-section performances, Pozhen yue has fifty-two repetitions; when revised into elegant music, it has only two repetitions and is named Qide. Within the standing-section performances, Qingshan yue has seven repetitions; when revised into elegant music, it has only one repetition and is named Jiugong. The Shangyuan Dance has twenty-nine repetitions, and now that it has entered elegant music, not one has been reduced. Whenever we observe sacrificial days, after the three offerings have already ended, the Shangyuan Dance is still not finished. Now Pozhen yue and Qingshan yue are added besides, and we fear that after the libation offerings, the songs and dances will become still longer. As for the three pieces within elegant music, Pozhen yue, Qingshan yue, and Shangyuan wu, we hope they will all be revised and harmonized, making their lengths correspond to the rites, in the hope of long-term stability. Pozhen yue symbolizes martial affairs, and Qingshan yue symbolizes civil affairs. Considering the ancient dances of the six dynasties, Yunmen, Daxian, Daxia, and Dashao were the civil dances of antiquity; Yin's Dahu and Zhou's Dawu were the military dances of antiquity. According to the ancient meaning transmitted by earlier Confucians, when a state obtains All Under Heaven by yielding ceremony, it first performs the civil dance. If it obtains All Under Heaven by campaigns and conquest, it first performs the military dance. We hope to request that on days when the two dances are used, Shengong Pozhen yue be performed first, followed by Gongcheng Qingshan yue. Earlier we received an edict that on sacrificial days at the Circular Mound, the Square Marsh, and the Grand Temple, the Shangyuan Dance should be used. Your servant, on the basis of the rites now in practice, wishes that after the August Sovereign has poured the offering, descended, and returned to his position, Kai'an should then be performed, with the music stopping after six changes. As for the three pieces Shengong Pozhen yue, Gongcheng Qingshan yue, and the Shangyuan Dance, after their revision is complete, they should be performed in sequence and with adjustment; then they can avoid conflicting with or disrupting the old music before and after them. If the responsible offices conduct the ceremony by proxy, we also request that they harmonize the performance according to the conduct of the rite.
10
Assent was given.
11
殿 滿
Third year, seventh month: the emperor feasted at Jiucheng Palace, Xianheng Hall, with Han Prince Yuanjia, Huo Prince Yuan gui, and northern and southern army generals. As music began, Wei Wanshi memorialized: "Breaking-the-Array is where imperial fortune began; it proclaims ancestral glory to endless posterity. Since the August Sovereign ruled the four seas it has lain dormant; the sage's grief was such that none below dared speak. Your servant in the Music Office fears neglect. According to the rites, on the day of sacrifice the Son of Heaven personally takes up shield and axe to dance the music of the former ancestors and share joy with All Under Heaven. Now Pozhen yue has long been abandoned, and those below have nothing to recite; how will this arouse the feeling of filial thought?" The emperor started, changed expression, granted the request, and ordered the dance. When it ended the emperor sighed, tears streaming; ministers wept and could not look up. After long silence he told the two princes: "Nearly thirty years without this dance; seeing it today stirs deep grief. Recalling the past, the royal enterprise was toilsome like this; I now guard the great enterprise—can I forget martial achievement? The ancients said: "Wealth and nobility do not fix a date with pride and extravagance—pride and extravagance come of themselves." I say that seeing this dance from time to time is to admonish and encourage myself, hoping to have no fault of fullness and excess; it is not for pleasure that it is performed and displayed." Attending ministers shouted long life.
12
調 涿鹿 便
On the twenty-first day of the first month of the second year of Tiaolu, Wu Zetian feasted from Luoyang’s south tower, and the Court performed Six Harmonies Returning to Purity. In the first month of the second year of Changshou, Wu Zetian personally offered at the Temple of Myriad Images. Earlier the emperor had composed Spirit Palace Grand Music for nine hundred dancers; now it was danced in the spirit palace courtyard. In the second year of Jinglong, the empress memorialized: "Consorts, princesses, and fifth-rank-and-above mothers and wives not ennobled through husband or son should receive drum-and-pipe music from relocation burial onward. Palace officials should also follow this." Attendant censor Tang Shao remonstrated: "Drum-and-pipe music was originally military display; when the Yellow Emperor won at Zhuolu it served as guard music. Drum pieces include Spirit Rhinoceros Roaring, Eagle and Falcon Struggling, Stone Falling from the Cliff, and Valiant's Wrath. Meritorious subjects alone received it by full rite. Men with achievement in the four directions receive favor and reward. Suburban sacrifice to Heaven and Earth is a weighty rite with only palace suspended music—no frame-drum racks. Military music therefore does not suit the spirits; how can bells and drums enter the inner quarters? Regulations for princesses and consorts and below allow only round fans, square fans, colored curtains, and brocade screens at burial. Adding drum-and-pipe is unheard of in any generation. Statute gave fifth-rank weddings and burials no drum-and-pipe; only capital fifth-rank officials might borrow fourth-rank drum-and-pipe. Granting it to fifth-rank mothers and wives gives fifth-rank officials what statute forbids. Rank derives from husband and son yet display exceeds them—illogical and hard to codify; on moral grounds it cannot be routine. We request that the previous edict be stopped and that each follow the regular statutes." The throne declined. In the first year of Yanzai, first month, twenty-third day: composed Transcending Antiquity, Long Years.
13
祿 使退 竿 西祿 使使 使
Xuanzong reigned many years and was skilled in music; banquets and public revels were held at the Diligence in Governance Tower. The day before, northern palace guard commandants of four armies led armored troops; before dawn they arrayed gear; the Minister of Ceremonies set screens; the Director of Palace Provisions prepared food. At daybreak the hundred officials attended; the secretariat announced inner solemnity and outer readiness; eunuchs with plain fans; the Son of Heaven opened the curtain for homage. When rites ended, plain fans lowered the curtain; regular court, tribute officers, nobles, two kings, and tribal chiefs ate and sat. Court great drums painted like brocade; musicians struck together; sound shook the gate-towers. The Director led elegant music; dozens per tone-color filed in from the south and ranked below the tower. Drums, flutes, gourds, and lutes filled the courtyard. Court standing- and seated-section performers danced by counted beats, interspersed with barbarian and foreign pieces. At sundown the inner stables led thirty pacing horses for Tilting Cup; they tossed heads and drummed tails in rhythm. A three-tier plank bed was set; they mounted and whirled like flight. He also had several hundred palace women emerge from curtains striking thunder-drums in Breaking the Array, Grand Peace, and Shangyuan. Though the Court had long practice, none matched this. In Longevity of Sagehood they turned bodies, changed dress, and formed characters like painting. Five-workshop envoys also led elephants in; some bowed, some danced, movements and drums in pitch—performing all day. In leisure from government he taught three hundred Court musicians' sons silk-and-bamboo; if one note erred when tones rose together, he detected and corrected it. They were styled Imperial Disciples, also Pear Garden disciples, from the academy near the forbidden Pear Garden. The Court also had a separate teaching academy for new tribute pieces. Each dawn Court drums and flutes sounded together at the Grand Music Office. The separate teaching academy rationed a thousand men; musicians dwelled at palace Yichun Courtyard. Xuanzong also composed more than forty new pieces and new scores. Each year on the first full-moon night he again went to the Diligence Tower for lanterns and music; nobles and kin borrowed tower rooms to watch. When night deepened and Court and prefectural scattered music ended, palace women bound frames before the tower for rope acts and pole climbing. Rope games and pole feats—strange and artful—had no equal. In the fifteenth year of Tianbao, when Xuanzong fled west, An Lushan's rebels hauled the capital's instruments and musicians' robes into Luoyang. Soon Suzong recovered the two capitals; for the great rites ritual objects were wholly lacking. He ordered Ritual Commissioner and Court Vice Director Yu Xiulie to send subordinates with the Eastern Capital retained court to the capital. An edict granted money for Xiulie to make performers' robes and great-dance dress; then musicians and the two dances were complete.
14
殿 使 殿 使 殿
Third month, nineteenth day: the emperor inspected the Court's old bells and chimes; since Sui the five transmitted tones had errors; he told Yu Xiulie: "The sage made music to match heaven-and-earth's harmony and yin-yang's order. In harmony people do not die young and things are not blighted. Metal, stone, silk, and bamboo are the instruments of music. Lately, whenever I attended suburban and temple sacrifices and heard the music, the gong and shang modes were sometimes disordered, or the bells and chimes were out of tune. Provide all the bells and chimes; I shall personally fix them inside the palace." The Grand Minister of Ceremonial presented them. The emperor assembled the musicians and tested them for several days, carefully learned the errors, and then ordered them recast and ground or engraved. On the twenty-fifth day one set was finished first. He summoned the directorate's music workers, went in person to the Three Halls to watch the trial performances, found that all matched the five tones, and sent the set to the Grand Minister of Ceremonial. On the twenty-eighth day he also composed thirty-one pieces within the palace and sent them to the Grand Minister of Ceremonial to be sung at suburban and temple rites. In the third year of Zhenyuan, in the fourth month, Hedong Military Commissioner Ma Sui presented the "Quelling Disturbances" suite. The emperor went to Linde Hall and ordered it performed for review. In the twelfth year, twelfth month, Zhaoyi Military Commissioner Wang Qianxiu presented the "Continuing Heaven's Birthday Sacred Music." In the fourteenth year, second month, Dezong personally composed the "Zhonghe Dance" and also had the Nine Department Music and palace song-dances performed. More than ten performers were arrayed in the courtyard. The emperor went to Linde Hall, gathered the hundred officials to view the new music and poems, and also ordered the Crown Prince to copy them out and display them to the officials. In the sixteenth year of Zhenyuan, in the first month, Nanzhao's Yi Mouxun composed the "Offering to the Sage Music and Dance" and had Wei Gao present it to the court. In the eighteenth year, first month, the king of Pyu came to present his kingdom's music.
15
In the tenth month of the eighth year of Dahe, the throne directed the Grand Minister of Ceremonial to follow the old staffing for Yunshao Music and have the newly arrived musicians rehearse at the directorate. By the tenth month of the first year of Kaicheng, the training was finished. In the third year the Wude Office received an imperial order for two scrolls of the Yünshao Music hanging chart and presented them.
16
簿 便 退 退
In the eighth month of the third year of Taihe, the Grand Minister of Ceremonial Rites Court memorialized: We respectfully note: victory music is the song music of drums and pipes. The Zhouguan, in "Grand Music Master," says, "When the royal army makes a great presentation, then victory music is performed." The commentary says, "It is music for presenting achievement." Again, in the office of the "Grand Minister of War," it says, "When the army has achievement, then victory music is presented at the altar of soil." The commentary says, "Military music is called kai." The Sima fa says, "When one achieves one's aim, then there is victory music; this is how joy is displayed." The Zuo Tradition records that when Duke Wen of Jin defeated Chu, he reformed the army and entered with victory music. Since Wei and Jin, drum-and-pipe songs and sections have often narrated the battle achievements of their time; thus, in successive ages, when victory was presented there was certainly a victory song. When Taizong pacified the eastern capital and defeated Song Jingang, and later when Su Dingfang captured Helu and Li Ji pacified Goguryeo, all entered the capital with full military display and victory songs. We have respectfully examined the ritual books of Zhenguan, Xianqing, and Kaiyuan, and none has ritual notes for it. Now, considering both present and ancient practice, we set out below the full protocols for its arrangements and for performing the songs. Whenever generals are commissioned to campaign and have great achievement, presenting captives and severed left ears, on that day Shence troops and guards should be prepared outside the eastern gate, as in the regular protocol for presenting captives. For the victory music, use two divisions of cymbal-and-pipe music: flutes, bili pipes, xiao pipes, jia pipes, cymbals, and drums, with two men for each category, and twenty-four singers. The musicians and others should ride horses and hold their instruments, arrayed in order according to the style of a guard procession. The director and assistant director of drums and pipes should lead in front, proceeding in separate files before the troops, horses, captives, and severed ears. When about to enter the capital gate, the drums and pipes should sound vigorously, alternating through the four pieces beginning with Pozhen yue. For the two pieces Pozhen yue and Yingshengqi, the Grand Ceremonial already has old lyrics. For Hechaohuan and Junchen tongqing yue, we have now composed and supplied lyrics. Pozhen yue: "Receiving command, we take leave of the sovereign, joining one another to punish rebellious ministers. All sing Pozhen yue, together rewarding the people of great peace." Yingshengqi: "Sagely virtue accords with flourishing fortune; in harmony and brightness, the myriad realms are clear. Heaven and earth rely on transformation and nurture; seas and mountains share in blessed radiance. Opened lands rejoice in plowing and sowing; weapons are melted away, and armies are laid to rest. Distant regions sing of imperial grace, holding gifts to congratulate rising peace." Hechaohuan: "Across the four seas the imperial wind spreads; for a thousand years the waters of virtue are clear. War robes will not be worn again; today we announce that achievement is complete." Junchen tongqing yue: "A sagely lord opens a flourishing calendar; loyal ministers present the great plan. You may see that after armor is laid down, this is the season of great peace." When the procession reaches the gates of the Grand Altar of Soil and the Grand Temple, the workers should dismount and array themselves outside the gates. According to the commentary to the Zhou li, "Grand Music Master," it says, "It is presented to the ancestors." The "Grand Minister of War" says, "First, victory music is presented at the altar of soil." When we respectfully examine the ritual protocols in detail, it would seem fitting to perform music inside the altar and temple. Yet we humbly consider that these are places of dignity and awe; loud joy from cymbals and pipes has no explicit text authorizing it and may violate solemn reverence. Now we request that in both cases they be arrayed outside the gates, without performing the songs. After the announcement and presentation rites are complete, they should again lead the procession and perform the pieces according to protocol. When they reach twenty paces outside the troop-and-weapon banner gate before the tower where the emperor is present, all the musicians should dismount and slowly proceed forward on foot. The minister of war, armored and helmeted and holding an axe, should lead in front along the central path inside the banner gate. The Zhou li says, "When the army has achievement, then the grand minister of war holds the pitch pipe in his left hand and grasps the axe in his right, thereby preceding the victory music." The commentary says, "The pitch pipe is used to listen to the army's sound, and the axe is used to make the general's authority." Now the technique of blowing the pitch pipe to listen to the sound has long been abandoned, so we request only that the axe be grasped, in order to preserve the ritual text. Next, two assistant pitch regulators, in official dress and holding batons, should also lead separately below the gate. The director and assistant director of drums and pipes should lead the musicians and others to their places, where they stand fixed. The minister of ceremonial should kneel before the musicians and state his full office and name: "Your servant, So-and-so, reports a matter and requests that victory music be performed." The assistant pitch regulators raise their batons, the drums and pipes sound greatly, and the four pieces beginning with Pozhen yue are performed throughout. When the music ends, the assistant pitch regulators lower their batons, and the minister of ceremonial kneels again and reports that the victory music is finished. The minister of war and minister of ceremonial withdraw. After the musicians and others have all gone outside the banner gate, the captives and severed ears are then led in for presentation, and congratulations are offered according to the separate protocol. There are separate ritual notes for presenting captives and severed ears. Only after the prisoners have been led out should they withdraw. We request that this be proclaimed and delivered to the appropriate office, compiled into the new rites, and that the musicians be ordered to teach and practice it.
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