Zu Xiaosun (祖孝孫) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Zu Xiaosun as a musician and official. This record brings together 10 passages from 3 chapters across 2 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Zu Xiaosun	祖孝孫	Zu Xiaosun
Given	Xiaosun	孝孫	Xiaosun
Surname	Zu	祖	Zu
Personal name	Zu Xiaosun	祖孝孫	Zu Xiaosun

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · jiutangshu:085:s0134, jiuwudaishi:145:s0002
Sex: male
Strongly inferred · jiuwudaishi:144:s0156

Roles

Musician
Official

Life and dates

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 周廣順元年 · Western Year: AD 951
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:145:s0002
Source Date: Text: 唐太宗 · Western Interval: Start: AD 626 · End: AD 649
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:145:s0054
Source Date: Text: 貞觀 · Western Interval: Start: AD 627 · End: AD 649
Explicit event contextual date · jiutangshu:085:s0134
Source Date: Text: 貞觀 · Western Interval: Start: AD 627 · End: AD 649
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:144:s0156, jiuwudaishi:144:s0157, jiuwudaishi:144:s0158, jiuwudaishi:144:s0160
Source Date: Text: 貞觀中 · Western Interval: Start: AD 627 · End: AD 649
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:145:s0003

Places and affiliations

Label: Tang / 唐 · Relation: served
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:144:s0156
Polity: Tang / 唐 · Relation: served
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:145:s0054

Works and attributed material

Work: Twelve Harmonious Pieces / 十二和曲 · Relation: fixed
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:144:s0180

Events and relationships

Kind: music-reform · Role: reviser · Action: corrected-court-music-with-zhang-wenshou · Other Person Id: Zhang Wenshou (張文收)
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:145:s0054, jiuwudaishi:145:s0112
Kind: music-naming · Role: establisher · Action: fixed-two-dance-names-later-altered
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:145:s0002
Kind: cultural · Role: music-official · Action: renamed-Sui-dances-and-fixed-twelve-harmonious-pieces · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 貞觀 · Western Interval: Start: AD 627 · End: AD 649
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:144:s0156, jiuwudaishi:144:s0166, jiuwudaishi:144:s0180
Kind: music-naming · Role: renamer · Action: renamed-twelve-elegances-to-twelve-harmonies
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:145:s0017
Relation: colleague-of · Person Id: Zhang Wenshou (張文收)
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:145:s0054, jiuwudaishi:145:s0112

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Old Book of Tang, Chapter 85Volume 81 Biographies 31: Cui Dunli, Lu Chengqin, Liu Xiangdao, Li Jingxuan, Li Yiyan, Sun Chuyue, Le Yanwei, Zhao Renben · 1 passage

Open chapter

時太宗將創製禮樂，召文收於太常，令與少卿祖孝孫參定雅樂。 When Taizong was creating court music, Wenshou was called to the Imperial Sacrifices office to work with Zu Xiaosun.

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 144Volume 144: Treatises 6 Music 1 · 4 passages

Open chapter

貞觀作樂之時，祖孝孫改隋文舞為《治康之舞》武舞為《凱安之舞》。 When music was composed in the Zhenguan era, Zu Xiaosun changed the Sui civil dance to "Dance of Governing Tranquility" and the military dance to "Dance of Victorious Peace."

前朝行用年深，不可遽廢，俟國家偃伯靈臺，即別召工師，更其節奏，今改其名，具書如左：祖孝孫所定二舞名，文舞曰《治康之舞》，請改《治安之舞》； The former dynasty's usage has run deep over many years and cannot be abruptly abolished. When the state rests its weapons and the Spirit Terrace is at peace, skilled craftsmen will be summoned separately to revise their rhythms. For now their names are changed, fully recorded as follows: the two dances fixed by Zu Xiaosun—the civil dance called "Dance of Governing Tranquility"—please change to "Dance of Governing Peace";

其賓祭常用，別有《九夏之樂》，即《肆夏》、《皇夏》等是也，梁武帝善音樂，改《九夏》為《十二雅》，前朝祖孝孫改雅為和，示不相沿也。 For guest rites and sacrifices in common use there were separately the "Nine Summers Pieces," such as "Free Summer" and "August Summer." Emperor Wu of Liang was skilled in music and changed the "Nine Summers" to the "Twelve Elegances." In the previous dynasty Zu Xiaosun changed elegance to harmony, showing that one should not simply follow precedent.

祖孝孫元定《十二和曲》，開元朝又奏三和，遂有《十五和》之名。 Zu Xiaosun originally fixed the "Twelve Harmonious Pieces." In the Kaiyuan reign three more harmonious pieces were added, and thus arose the name "Fifteen Harmonious Pieces."

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 145Volume 145: Treatises 7 Music 2 · 5 passages

Open chapter

周廣順元年，太祖初即大位，惟新庶政，時太常卿邊蔚上疏請改舞名，其略云：「前朝改祖孝孫所定二舞名，文舞曰《治安之舞》，武舞曰《振德之舞》，今請改《治安》為《政和之舞》，《振德》為《善勝之舞》。 In the first year of Later Zhou's Guangshun reign, when Taizu first ascended the throne and set about renewing government, Director of Imperial Sacrifices Bian Wei memorialized the throne to rename certain court dances. In brief he wrote: "The previous dynasty had altered the two dances that Zu Xiaosun had established—the civil dance Pacifying the Realm and the martial dance Stirring Virtue. We ask that Pacifying the Realm be renamed Harmonious Governance and Stirring Virtue be renamed Good Victory.

梁武帝改《九夏》為《十二雅》，以協陽律、陰呂、十二管旋宮之義，祖孝孫改為《十二和》。 Emperor Wu of Liang had replaced the Nine Summers with the Twelve Elegances to align with the yang pitches, yin notes, and the twelve-pipe system of circulatory tonality; Zu Xiaosun later renamed them the Twelve Harmonies.

唐太宗復古道，乃用祖孝孫、張文收考正雅樂，而旋宮八十四調復見於時，在懸之器，方無啞者，安、史之亂，京都為墟，器之與工，十不存一，所用歌奏，漸多紕繆。 Emperor Taizong of Tang restored the ancient tradition and had Zu Xiaosun and Zhang Wenshou revise the court music, so that the eighty-four circulatory modes reappeared and no instrument in the bell-chime ensemble remained mute. The An and Shi rebellion left the capital in ruins; scarcely one instrument or craftsman in ten survived, and the music performed grew ever more corrupt.

唐太宗爰命舊工祖孝孫、張文收整比鄭譯、萬寶常所均七音八十四調，方得絲管並施，鐘石俱奏，七始之音復振，四廂之韻皆調。 Emperor Taizong of Tang ordered veteran masters Zu Xiaosun and Zhang Wenshou to reconcile the seven-note, eighty-four-mode system of Zheng Yi and Wan Baochang; only then could strings and pipes sound together with bells and stones, the seven foundational tones revive, and harmony return to all four sides of the ensemble.

樞密使王樸，采京房之準法，練梁武之通音，考鄭譯、寶常之七均，校孝孫、文收之九變，積黍累以審其度，聽聲詩以測其情，依權衡嘉量之前文，得備數和聲之大旨，施於鐘虡，足洽《簫韶》。 Privy Council Commissioner Wang Pu drew on Jing Fang's pitch standard, mastered Emperor Wu of Liang's universal tones, studied the seven keys of Zheng Yi and Wan Baochang and the nine transformations of Zu Xiaosun and Zhang Wenshou, calibrated measures with millet grains, tested pitches against the Sound Poems, followed ancient standards of weight and measure, recovered the principle of numbered harmony, and applied it to bells and stands until it matched the legendary Xiao-Shao music.