The music of the Tang Dynasty was divided into big songs and small songs. The big song is magnificent, and the small song is light and lively. Some of the great songs, also known as Faqu, are related to religion in origin, so they are often mixed with Taoist music.

"King Qin Breaking Array Music" (also known as "Seven Virtues") was created by Taizong and belonged to martial arts. Lu Cai, Li Baiyao, Yu Shinan, Chu Liang, Wei Zheng and other lyrics.

One hundred and twenty people danced in armor and halberds, enjoying the feast, the Son of Heaven abdicated, and those who sat at the banquet were happy. This song

"The thunder drum, mixed with the music of the turtle, vibrates for hundreds of miles, turbulent the valley. "Qingshanle" (also known as "Nine Gong") is also made by Taizong and belongs to the literary dance.

This song is unique to the Western cool music, the most leisurely and elegant. There are sixty-four dancers, dressed in purple sleeves, wigs and leather boots.

Dance Anxu, like Wende Qia and the world is happy. "Neon Clothes and Feathers" was the most famous song at that time.

Bai Juyi has a poem:

"There are thousands of songs and dances, and I love the feather dance the most. It is said that on the night of the fifteenth day of the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Kaiyuan Dynasty, the Taoist priest Ye Fashan invited Xuanzong to visit the Moon Palace and listened to the fairy music "Purple Cloud Song".

This is the origin of the beautiful "Neon Clothes and Feather Song". The dancers wear emerald peacock tops and rainbow-like skirts, like fairies out of the dust, just like the Taoist feathers soaring.

The Sui Dynasty appeared in the concentration of foreign music and dance

"Nine music" was increased to ten in the Tang Dynasty, which shows the prosperity of song and dance. Under the influence of folk art, singing and dancing have moved closer to drama.

At this time, there is the so-called big noodles, also known as daimen, that is, the play performed with a mask. The famous repertoire is "The Song of the King of Lanling".

It is said that the king of Lanling in Northern Qi is tall and brave and brave to crown the three armies, but his appearance is handsome. Feeling that it was not enough to deter the enemy, he put on a woodcut mask and went into battle.

This play has been transmitted to Japan. In addition, "The King of Lanling", "Dialing the Head", and "Stepping on the Shake Niang", three famous song and dance dramas of the Tang Dynasty, all have short but complete stories, characters, and conflicts.

The development of the plot leads to the prescribed ending.

"King Qin Breaking Array Music" is a famous song and dance song in the Tang Dynasty, which was originally a military song in the early Tang Dynasty, mainly to praise the heroic achievements of Tang Taizong.

Tang Taizong personally designed the music and dance of King Qin's breaking formation for this song, and this song was also spread abroad. King Qin Breaking Array Music: King Qin refers to Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty (King Qin is his title).

In 620 AD, Li Shimin, the king of Qin, defeated the rebel Liu Wuzhou and consolidated the newly established Tang regime.

Therefore, his soldiers filled in the new words with the old song and sang a hymn for Li Shimin: "Accept the law to resign the head of state, and the prime minister will beg the traitors." The salty song "Breaking the Array Music", appreciating the Taiping people. ”

"The emperor of the four seas is quilted, and the water is clear for thousands of years; ”

"The Lord is holy to open the Chang calendar, and the ministers are loyal to the Great You; In 633 AD, Li Shimin personally designed the "Qin King's Breaking Array Music and Dance Map", according to the picture, it can be seen that the left side of the dance team is circular, the right side is square;

Taizong asked Lu Cai to teach one hundred and twenty-eight musicians according to the map, and often practiced wearing armor and holding halberds. This song is the theme song of this music and dance.

"King Qin's Breaking Array Music" was very famous at that time, and even spread to foreign countries. After Master Xuanzang arrived in India, the Indian king Shri Lo Yiduo summoned him and asked about this song.

During the Wu Zetian period, Japan sent an envoy to the Tang Dynasty, Masato Awata, to bring him back to Japan. This score has not survived in China, but in Japan there are five-string pipa scores, pipa scores, zheng scores, flute scores, etc., He Changlin will be preserved in Japan Tang biography five-string pipa score "Qin Wang Breaking Array Music" for interpretation, and Tang Kaile's lyrics and music combined into songs, held in 1983

"The Voice of China: Ancient Spectrum Sound Seeking Concert" was performed for the first time

"The Song of Ni Clothes and Feathers" is a famous French song of the Tang Dynasty. Legend has it that it was the creation of Li Longji of Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty during the Kaiyuan period.

Its content describes the myth that Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty wanted to go to the fairy and go to the Moon Palace to see the fairy, so the poet Bai Juyi of the Tang Dynasty saw the dancer when this song was performed in the court at that time during the Yuan and Yuan periods

"I don't wear people's clothes. Hongshang Xia shook her crown in a hurry, and she was tired of Pei Shanshan, "It's like a Taoist fairy."

So is its dancing

"Drifting back to the snow light, Yanran sent the dragon frightened, the little hanging hand was weak, and the clouds were about to be born when the skirt was swaying",

"The moth is slightly overwhelmed, and the wind sleeves are low. Shangyuan dotted the calyx green, and the queen mother waved her coat and said goodbye to Feiqiong" (Bai Juyi's "Song of Ni Clothes and Feathers"), it seems that its artistic conception is consistent with the myth of the Moon Palace.

The score of "The Song of Ni Clothes and Feathers" has long been lost, and only a few fragments are still preserved in Song Jiangkui's "Song of the White Stone Daoren".

According to the records of the Chinese and Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi's "Song of Ni Clothes and Feather Clothes and Weizhi", the whole song is divided into 36 (sections), which is composed of three parts: loose order (six songs), middle order (eighteen songs), and Qu Po (twelve songs).

The six pieces of the loose sequence are all free-rhythmic loose boards, played solo or in turns by chime, xiao, zheng, flute and other musical instruments, without dancing or singing, so-called

"Chime, Xiao, Zheng, and flute are mixed with each other, and the sound of hitting, blowing, playing, and blowing is endless",

"The six pieces of the scattered order are not moved, and the balcony is lazy and does not fly." The middle sequence, also known as the beat or song opening, may be a slow lyrical section, but there may be several changes from slow to fast in between.

It has singing and dancing, as well as instrumental accompaniment, the so-called

"At the beginning of the shooting, the autumn bamboo pole cracked and the spring ice was demolished." Qu Po, also known as dancing all over, is mainly danced, and may only be accompanied by musical instruments without singing.

In the beginning, there is the cause of loose plates, called

"Break". Bai Juyi's poem "Lying and Listening to the Dharma Song 'Ni Dress'" says: "After the hazy idle dream is first formed, the tactful and soft voice is broken", which shows that the melody is quite lyrical, but it quickly turns

The allegro part of "Twelve times of the complex sound and rapid section, jumping beads shake the jade and He sonorous". This part may have a transition from loose to allegro before moving to allegro

"False urging", there may also be several changes from fast to faster in the middle. At the end of this song, the rhythm slows down again, and then drags on a note to end, Bai Juyi notes to himself: "All the songs are about to end, and they all beat and speed up, but at the end of "Ni Dress", there is a long lead", it can be seen that "Ni Shang Yu Nong Song" due to the requirements of the song does not use extremely fast at the end like other big songs

"Shagon" to conclude. The accompaniment band of this song, in addition to the aforementioned chime, Xiao, zheng, and flute, Bai Juyi also mentioned

"Linglong Gong Hou Xie Hao Zheng, Chen Pet Shen Pingsheng. Clear strings and crisp pipes and slender hands, teach "Ni Dress" into a song" ("Ni Dress Feather Song and Weizhi"), that is, also use Gong Hou, 筚篥, sheng and other musical instruments.

When Tang Wenzong performed in the court, he used four jade chimes (frames) and one each of qin, se, zhu, xiao, bakneguan, sheng, and taro.

It seems that its orchestra is relatively close to the system of Qing music, which may have something to do with its pursuit of elegant effects.

The music of this song, according to the record of Tang Zhengcheng's "Jinyangmen Poetry Notes" quoted in "Biji Manzhi", its

"Scattered Order" was written by Tang Xuanzong after returning to the palace after returning to the palace with a view of his daughter mountain.

This part Bai Juyi thought it was quite exciting, so he said in the poem "Heavy Title Don't Bid One of the East Towers".

"After the new comb of the banquet Yiyun bun, Qu Ai's "Ni Dress" was not filmed". The song and the break were written after the "Brahman" song of Liangzhou Jin Tianzhu, and the melody was continued by absorbing it.

Therefore, in "The Song of Neon Clothes and Feathers", there are both domestic compositions and adapted tunes of foreign music.

Foreign music is taken from Indian Buddhist songs, and it is used to express the fairy stories of Chinese Taoism. It can be seen that the purpose of absorbing foreign music in "The Song of Neon Clothes and Feathers" is to arouse people's sense of novelty and express the unpredictable realm pursued by the author, which is artistically original.

The example of "The Song of Ni Clothes and Feathers" shows that the Tang Dynasty Daqu had a large and varied genre, and its artistic expression, artistic conception creation, and absorption and melting of foreign music all show the achievements of Tang Dynasty court music

China's Tang Dynasty's famous French songs: "Ni Clothes and Feather Clothes Song" is an ancient music masterpiece with the same name as "Water Tune", "Liangzhou", "Luyao (Green Waist)", and other big songs, but unfortunately they have been lost so far. But fortunately, the famous Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi loved this song and left behind such immortal poems as "Ni Clothes and Feather Song and Weizhi". The whole poem is sprinkled with 695 words, gathering description, imagination, lyricism, and earnest talk in one furnace, which is indispensable to Bai's pen. At the same time, it also provides precious first-hand information about the neon dress song for future generations, so that our future generations can have a glimpse of the leopard.

As early as the 50s, Mr. Yang Yinliu, a well-known ethnomusicologist in China, specifically discussed this poem. But I thought that maybe everyone didn't have Yang Wen in their hands (I myself lost this article in the 60s), and I was willing to use my stupid talent to ponder a thousand thoughts, so I wrote the following text for netizens to criticize and correct.

You may be familiar with this poem, but some people may not be familiar with it, so I will quote this poem below. I use the "All Tang Poems" version, and I want to make it clear that the original text is continuous without punctuation, and in order to be suitable for introduction and discussion on the computer screen, I have divided the whole poem into many paragraphs to introduce it word for word, and the original text is quoted and sub-paragraph numbered, and the words in parentheses are the original notes that are printed in small characters in the original poem, and they are also particularly important contents. Paragraphs are not necessarily properly divided, just for ease of storytelling.

"Ni Dress Feather Coat (a Dance Word) Song and Weizhi" - This is the title of the poem, and Weizhi is his friend Yuan Zhen.

1) "I used to be the emperor and served the emperor, I once accompanied the banquet in Zhaoyang, thousands of songs and hundreds of dances (one for ten thousand) dances, and I loved the neon dress dance the most. “

The first four sentences begin with a clear purpose, explaining that Bai Juyi heard and saw "Ni Dress and Feather Dance" in the palace during the Yuanhe period of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, what is said in the following poem is neither a narration nor a transcription of a book. And, among the thousands of songs and dances, his favorite is "Neon Dress Dance".

2) "During the dance, the cold food and spring breeze day, before the jade hook stopped the incense case, the dancer Yan Ruyu in front of the case, did not wear other people's (a work) vulgar clothes, rainbow clothes and xia walked and shook the crown, Tian Yingying Pei Shanshan, Wan Ting seemed not to let Luo Qi, Gu Tingle hung up. “

When singing and dancing, incense is offered under the jade hook as a stage, and the dancers' costumes are very particular. At this point, the dancers have appeared, and they are ready to dance.

3) "Chime Xiao Zheng flute mixed with each other, striking and playing the sound of blowing (at the beginning of the song, the music is not even, only the golden stone silk bamboo, the second sound, the beginning of the neon dress sequence, the same is the case), the scattered sequence of the six pieces of the clothes are not moved, and the balcony is not flying (the scattered sequence of the six is not beaten, so it is not danced). “

The song of the neon dress and feather coat began to be played, using various articulations such as percussion, struggling, playing, blowing, etc., and playing a variety of musical instruments such as chime, xiao, zheng, and flute. Note that the original note says: "The crowd is not in harmony", indicating that the whole orchestra is much more than these four instruments. At the beginning of the piece, the music is played in a loose order, and the music is relatively slow and scattered, and the sound is long and long. The loose sequence is played six times, and at this time, the dancer has not yet moved his clothes, and stays in a state of not flying, that is, not dancing.

4) "The middle sequence is the first to enter the shooting, the autumn bamboo pole cracks the spring ice (the middle sequence has a shot, also known as the shooting sequence), the fluttering spin (to the sound) back to the snow is light, Yan Ran sends the dragon to frighten, the willow is weak after the small hanging hand, and the clouds want to be born when the oblique is swaying (the four sentences are the initial state of the neon dress dance), the smoke moth is slightly overwhelmed, the wind sleeves are low and affectionate, the Shangyuan point is the calyx green, and the queen mother waves the coat and don't fly Qiong (Xu Feiqiong, calyx Luhua, all female fairies). The twelve deviations of the complex sound and the rapid section, the jumping beads shake the jade He Kengzheng (the neon dress breaks the twelve deviations and ends), Xiangluan dances but closes the wings, and the crane song is long at the end of the sound (all the songs will be finished, all the sound beats to promote speed, only the end of the neon clothes, the long lead also). “

This paragraph, using various metaphors, describes the entire music and dance of the neon dance:

After six times of the loose order, the middle order is followed. The middle sequence, also known as the beat sequence, is played as loudly as a rod cracking ice, and the dancers are fluttering. At the beginning of the dance, these dance movements were used: spinning, longitudinal, small hanging hands, oblique sloshing, etc., showing the posture of the smoke moth and the low wind sleeves, and then used the movements such as the motle and the wave of the jacket to show the image of a fairy like Shangyuan, Calyx Green, Queen Mother, and Feiqiong. The middle prelude was played several times, but there was no explanation. However, to complete so many actions, it will not be too short to extrapolate. The following is "Qu Po". The "breaking" of the neon dress has to be played twelve times, and it is fast and sonorous. The final piece of music is a long lead and ends on a long note, which is what distinguishes Ni Dress from other pieces.

5) "At that time, I was shocked at first sight, and it was not enough to stare at the truth, and I fell into the world for eight or nine years, and I never heard this song in my ears. Huancheng but listened to the language of the mandrill, Baxia only heard the cuckoo crying (from Jiangzhou Sima to Zhongzhou Thorn History), the second year of the transfer of Qian Tang, I was in the mood to ask (a smell) Sizhu. “

This paragraph is a cutscene, but one of them is worth mentioning: Eight or nine years in the world. It shows that Bai Juyi came into contact with Ni Xiang Song again after eight or nine years.

6) "Linglong Gong Hou Xie Hao Zheng, Chen Pet Li Shen Pingsheng, clear strings and crisp pipes and slender hands, teach Ni Shang a song (from Linglong below, all Hangzhou prostitute names). On the shore of the lake in front of the Xubai Pavilion, the front and back should be pressed three times, and then the concubine was thrown away, and now the stars are scattered. “

In Hangzhou, Bai Juyi taught Linglong, Xie Hao, Chen Chong, Shen Ping, and others to play neon clothes with gonghou, zheng, maoli, and sheng. Note that when Bai Juyi came to make this piece himself, it was very different from the performance in the palace: first, it only played the piece, and there was no mention of dance, and second, it only used about four musicians, and as mentioned above, the orchestra configuration was much more than these four instruments. And the music was played for a short time: only three times before and after. Since then, these people have all dispersed.

7) "In May this year, in Suzhou, I urged the white head to the twilight corner of the clock, greedy for the case and often invaded the night, and did not listen to the sheng song until the autumn. Autumn has nothing to do and is more boring, suddenly remember that there is nowhere to ask, Wen Jun is more happy in the department, ask if there are any neon clothes dancers? “

After that, Bai Juyi was transferred to Suzhou, busy with official affairs, and it was not until the autumn of that year that he remembered Ni Xiang Qu again. No one could play this song in Suzhou for a while, so I asked Yuan Zhen. Yuan Zhen's subordinates did not have anyone who could play the neon dress song, but they sent him the score. From this, it can be imagined that when Bai Juyi was transferred, he probably lost the score, because he also taught others when he was in Hangzhou.

8) The four pieces of flower paper are blue and red, and the neon clothes are recorded in it, and the thousands of postures are clearly seen, which is exactly the same as the sunrise dancer. It seems to be seen in front of me, the past and the present are the same, and the suspicion is called from the soul dream, as if written in a Danqing picture. I love Ni Shang Jun Hezhi, sent in the song (a citation) in the form of poetry, you don't see, I Song Yun: Breaking the Ni Clothes Feather Song (Long Hate Song Cloud);

These sentences are as clear as words and do not need to be explained. They vividly described Bai Juyi's joy when he saw the score. But I can say one thing: the score sent by Yuan Zhen is indeed the original version of the year, and it is the same as the Chaoyang dancer in every appearance.

9) The origin of everything has the master, Yang's Chuangsheng Jun made a score (Kaiyuan, Xiliangfu Festival Yang Jingshu made), Jun said that this dance is rare (a for it) people, must be (a made) poor girl in the city, Wu Demon Xiaoyu Fei made a smoke (the husband sent the girl Xiaoyu to the king after her death, his mother hugged it, and the smoke was dispersed), the more Yan Xi Shi turned into soil, the delicate flower smiled for a long time, and the baby hall ramie was empty.

Here it is said that the song of Ni Shang Yu Yi is the first year of the Xiliang Mansion Festival Yang Jingshu Chuangsheng, and Yuan Zhi - first of all, about who is the author, the following will also mention the transcription of the score. And Yuan Zhen's opinion is that there must be a daughter of Allure before he can teach this dance, and Bai Juyi thinks that the peerless beauty may not be found.

10) As you say, you are sincere, and you try to listen to me calmly: If you want the national color to be translated, but I am afraid that this dance will be abolished in the world. The advantages and disadvantages of Yan are far apart, most of them are only promoted by people, Li Juan (a Zuohui) Zhang Shijun is not suspicious, and he also intends to follow Yi (a time) and teach (Juan, state, the name of Su prostitute).

Bai Juyi's opinion is also very simple: if you want to spread this dance, you can't force the national color. He believes that the quality of appearance lies in people's upliftment, so he passed on the neon dress dance to Li Juan and Zhang Shi.

I have already introduced the poem "Ni Dress Feather Song and Micro" above, I don't know if you are interested. Next, I will try to talk about my superficial views on the Tang Dynasty neon dress song in this poem. In my discussions, I follow the principle of trying to be as objective as possible in my studies of what is said in the poem and reliable historical sources, and at the same time not to exclude some well-founded inferences, but to avoid adding too much imagination. If there is something wrong, please correct it.

As mentioned earlier, there are a lot of "original notes" in the original poem, and they are very important. You may say that this was added by Bai Juyi himself in order to make people understand, right? This may be the case, but in my opinion, there are three types of them: First, the author who is indeed infallible. For example, in sub-paragraph 5: "to transfer from Jiangzhou Sima to Zhongzhou Assassin History". This sentence clearly has the title of "giving". Second, in the third and fourth paragraphs, there are a lot of original notes on the description of the neon dress and feather dance. They are the most important, and they also involve the professionalism of music and dance, no matter in terms of tone and professionalism, they are generally considered to be self-inflicted. Three, no less: one does something. Such as: "one work", "one work", "one time" and so on. Obviously, when they were anthologies, they were annotated because there were different versions of the original poems, all of which had their basis. They are likely to be added by later generations, because if Bai Juyi finalizes the draft himself, he will only choose the correct one. Fortunately, they don't have much to do with music.

In the case of "Ni Clothes and Feather Clothes", the author heard and saw music and dance in the imperial palace, only music was mentioned in Hangzhou, and only dance was mentioned in Suzhou without mentioning music. It may be that the dancers in Suzhou have made too deep an impression on Bai Juyi, and when he talks about Suzhou in the memory of Jiangnan, what he thinks of is "Wu Wa's double dance drunk hibiscus", but if there is a dance, there must be fun.

Playing neon clothes, the band is big and small. The band in the palace is the largest, as mentioned in the poem, four instruments have been mentioned in the prose prelude to the sixth, and the scale of the band will not be small after the music is complete; when it comes to Hangzhou, the band has a total of four people, even if Bai Lao himself joins, there are only about five people; after arriving in Suzhou, the score is also lost, it is to ask for Yuan Zhen, the number of the band is not mentioned, according to the poetic scrutiny, the number of people will not be large. Bai Juyi is a good player at playing neon clothes, and this is still the case, which shows that with the passage of time, the music of neon clothes and feathers is indeed gradually declining.

After talking about it so much, I haven't gotten to the main topic yet, so let's talk about it in a few points:

1) The general structure of the "Neon Clothes and Feather Song".

According to the description of the whole poem, the structure includes: first, the loose order, the second is the middle order (also called the beat order), and the third is the three major parts.

The scatter order is the beginning part, and it is the scatter plate. This is very similar to the Kunqu opera that is still sung today. In today's Kunqu Opera, when a set of music cards begins, there are always several notes without a beat, which are recorded as "scattered" on the score. (For example, the song card "Da Hong Pao" of Kunqu Opera began to spread out, and it was written with a ruler: "Five or six feet of work six six, five five six five on (treble) B five", without marking the beat.) The loose sequence of "The Song of Ni Clothes and Feathers" is played six times, and it is the best part of the whole piece, because Bai Juyi said: "When the song loves the neon clothes and is not filmed" (see paragraph 8 above). After the loose prelude is played, it is the middle prelude.

The middle order, or beat order. As soon as it starts, there is a beat. The tone of the middle sequence is as crisp and loud as a rod cracking ice, and many of the dancers' movements appear here. If you are also a lover of Song words, then you can see from the words of the Song people that they are still remembering these "classic" actions. Below is a sentence from Jiang Jie's "Yan Guiliang" (Wind Lotus) in the Song Dynasty: "... When I was dancing, I ,... when I was dragging it"; ....Slowly, hands hanging down,... "You see, Jiang Jie used these dances to describe lotus flowers, which is also very appropriate." The middle prelude is played several times, and it is not explained in the poem, but according to other sources, the middle preface should be eighteen times. After the middle prelude, it will enter the song.

Qu Po, or Po, is a fast ending section, which Bai Juyi calls a "complex and urgent section", played twelve times, and then the ending. The speed of the regular ending is not reduced, but the neon dress is an exception, and its last ending is a long note, which the author calls "the long voice at the end of the crane song".

These are the outlines of the "Neon Clothes and Feather Song".

2) The content of "Neon Clothes and Feather Song".

The content is relatively simple and precise: first of all, it is "Faqu" in nature, which can be seen in the self-note of the third paragraph: "At the beginning of all Faqu, everyone is not happy, only gold, stone, silk and bamboo, and the second sound". Dharma music is music with Taoist overtones. Its content, to be more precise, describes the yearning of mortals for the flying immortals, and the earth's yearning for heaven is proved by the names of many female fairies from the names of the music and poems, such as Shangyuan, Calyx, Queen Mother, Feiqiong, etc.

3) The approximate length of the "Neon Clothes and Feather Song".

How long is the "Neon Dress and Feather Song" is a question that is of great interest to people today, and it is also very interesting to discuss.

To talk about length, we must first study a musical term used in Bai Juyi's poems: "partial" (is a variant of "through", the following is for the convenience of the text, when I say it, it is always written as "through"). The third sub-paragraph of the poem says: "The six pieces of the scattered order are not moved, and the balcony is full of clouds and does not fly (the six pieces of the scattered order are not beaten, so they do not dance)". It is explained that the loose sequence should be played six times, and when the loose sequence is played, the dancer has already appeared, but it is "not dancing". Therefore, this period of time should not be too long, otherwise it will not be reasonable. The prose sequence is Bai Juyi's favorite part, saying that it is "when the song loves Nishang before the shooting", and "when it is not filmed" is the prose order before the "beat order (that is, the middle sequence)", so it cannot be as short as the current Kunqu opera "scattered". So in today's terms, it's probably the length of a little song: three or four minutes. In this way, it may take about half a minute to go once. Of course, it is conceivable that the six "pans" will not be simple repetitions, and the specific tones between the pans should be different.

As for the "broken" part, the poem clearly says: "The complex sound is urgent and the section is twelve deviations, and the jumping beads shake the jade He Kengzheng (Ni Shang breaks the twelve deviations and ends)", which is a fast twelve times. On scrutiny, it may take twice as long as six times the sequence, but since it's a fast section, it might be a little shorter. Then even if it's in six or seven minutes.

Having said so much, you may say that these are all speculations based on the word "through", and the basis is not very sufficient. This is true, but the poem provides another clue for further study, and that is in sub-paragraph 8: "The four pieces of flower paper are blue and red, and the neon clothes are recorded in them".

These two important verses show that the entire song can be written in the space of "four flower notes". In ancient times, it was written in a notation, and the size of the text was equivalent to that of ordinary Chinese characters. Based on 15 vertical lines and 21 characters per line (I have read many old books, I think that the number of words per page is 21 x 16 is roughly appropriate), so that the whole score has about 1,200 notes. The three major speeds of the song are: Slow - Medium - Fast, so it can be estimated on average as a moderately slow speed. At a tempo of 60 to 70 characters per minute, the performance time of the whole piece is about 17 to 20 minutes.

Subtract this result from the estimated 3 to 4 minutes of loose order and 6 to 7 minutes of "breaking" in the previous paragraph, then the middle order is 8 to 9 minutes. As mentioned above, the middle order is eighteen times, and this result is also acceptable.

Is it possible that there are far more than 1,200 notes recorded in the "Four Notes"? It cannot be said that there is no such possibility, but it is unlikely. Because Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhi were not young at this time, they did not have glasses in ancient times, and literati with status like them generally chose large fonts to read when reading books, and the characters written were generally not too small, so I think it is not very possible for Yuan Zhi to use dense fly-headed small blocks to write scores. On the other hand, is it possible that Yuan Zhi wrote much less than 1200 notes in a large and sparse way? This is a bit more likely, but I consider that there is another possibility: that is, there may be a notation in the score like "here and there, play again", and if so, then the two possibilities are counteracted, and the time for the whole piece is still roughly that much.

Of course, there are still a lot of conjecture components in my research method, and the error is large. Some people may also say that it is not feasible to calculate the length of the "Ni Clothes and Feather Song" based on a Tang poem. This is a question I often ask myself. However, in the absence of more information in hand, let's study it first, even if it is a chat. Fortunately, I am an "amateur" researcher, and it is better to let everyone see the problem and then analyze it. In this way, the answer will get closer and closer to the objective facts.

Bai Juyi also wrote a poem, which mentioned the song of neon clothes and feathers, saying that "out of Guo has traveled fifteen miles, only a song of slow neon clothes". Old-fashioned chariots and horses walked on very smooth roads, and the moderate speed was about half a mile per minute, (nowadays' general-purpose bicycles, under the same conditions, are generally in a minute and a half miles.) Ride quickly, and you can reach a mile). Fifteen miles away, about thirty minutes to walk. Based on this result, it seems to take a little longer than the above estimate. But Bai Juyi clearly said here that it was "slow neon clothes", so he slowed down his singing style, and this result is also roughly consistent.

4) Author of "Neon Clothes and Feather Song".

There are many things to say about the author's question. But generally speaking, there is a more accepted saying: that is, it comes from the "Brahman" song presented by Yang Jingshu of the Xiliang Mansion Festival in the Kaiyuan Dynasty, and then adapted by Tang Xuanzong to "King James Decree". So sometimes it is said that it was made by Tang Xuanzong Li Longji. Liu Yuxi, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, said in the poem: "Sanxiang Post looks at the fairy mountain, and it is classified as a song of neon clothes and feathers", which is a representative of this statement. There are also people who made up Fang Shi Luo Gongyuan to lead Tang Xuanzong to the Moon Palace, and when he heard Xianle, Tang Xuanzong "remembered his voice secretly... Dan Yu Lingguan ... "Song of Neon Clothes and Feathers", such a mythical story. Excluding its mythological component, it is nothing more than Tang Xuanzong's adaptation of "King James Decree".

In the 9th paragraph of Bai Juyi's poem "Song of Ni Clothes and Feathers", it is written: "There is a master for everything that can be done, and Yang's Chuangsheng Jun made a score (Kaiyuan, Xiliangfu Jiedu Yang Jingshu made)," which is very clear and does not need to be explained. However, my opinion is that Bai Juyi is not talking about "the emperor makes a score", because the following is immediately after: "Jun Yan is rare in this dance, and it must be a poor girl in the city", the two "Jun" words appear at the same time, indicating that it refers to Yuan Zhen, and "Jun makes a score" is a score copied by Yuan Zhen.

There is no contradiction between this statement and Yang Jingshu's "Brahman" song, which was adapted by Tang Xuanzong. It's just that Bai Juyi didn't mention Tang Xuanzong

"King Qin Breaking Array Music" is a large-scale comprehensive song and dance drama integrating song, dance and music, and is a work of art that praises Tang Taizong Li Shimin's unification of China and his martial arts to determine the world. "Breaking the Array Music" was originally a kind of military song in the late Sui and early Tang Dynasties, mixed with the tone of turtle music. In 620 A.D. (the third year of Wude), Li Shimin, the king of Qin, defeated the rebel general Liu Wuzhou, so that the power of the Tang Dynasty, which had only been established for two years, was stable and the society was relatively stable.

At that time, some people filled in new words to the old military song "Breaking Array Music", which was popular in the late Sui and early Tang dynasties, to praise Li Shimin's merits, so it was welcomed and advocated by the rulers at that time after the performance.

On the third day of the first month of the first year of Zhenguan (627 AD), Li Shimin celebrated his complete victory and invited hundreds of civil and military officials to a banquet during the Spring Festival. At the moment of the banquet of the monarchs and ministers, Li Shimin ordered the musicians to sing and play "King Qin's Breaking Array Music". In the seventh year of Zhenguan (633 AD), Li Shimin drew the "Breaking Array Music and Dance Map" (similar to the current dance scene record) for this music and dance based on the experience of many years of experience in the career of Rong Ma.

This musical and dance formation, with a circle on the left and a circle on the right, has a battle formation in front and a team in the back.

After this dance was drawn with a picture, Li Shimin felt that "Qin Wang Breaking Array Music" was a popular military song among the people, and it was not very elegant if it was performed in the palace, so he ordered "Wei Zheng, Yu Shinan, Chu Liang, Li Baiyao and other civil officials to revise the lyrics", and renamed this music and dance "Seven Virtues Dance", and ordered Lu Cai, a minister who was proficient in music at that time, to rehearse the newly arranged "Qin King Breaking Array Music".

"King Qin's Breaking Array Music" was famous at home and abroad at that time. Tang Xuanzang went to India to investigate, and when he met with Xuanzang, the king of the ring of the sun in Central India once praised "King Qin's Breaking Array Music": "I heard that there is a son of heaven in the country of Maha Zhina (that is, China), who is less and spiritual, and longer and powerful. In the past, the first representative of chaos, the land fell apart, the soldiers actually rose, and the masses were poisonous, and the Qin King of Heaven, early Huai Yuan, Xingda Compassion, Saving Wisdom, uncertain sea, Fengjiao was far away, Deze Yuanqiao, Exotic, Muhua was a minister, the hooligan was his pavilion, and the salty song "Qin Wang Breaking the Array Music". Hearing its elegant song, it has been here for a long time. King Kumora, the king of the Indian kingdom of Kamobo, was also quite concerned about "King Qin's Breaking Array Music", and once asked Xuanzang:

"'There are many people in the Indian countries today who sing the praises of Maha Zhina's "Qin King's Breaking Array Music", and after hearing it for a long time, how can it be that the land of great virtue is evil?' King Kumora said,

"I don't mean that the great virtue is a native of this country, and he often admires weathering, and he has been looking east for a long time, and the mountains and rivers are blocked for no reason."

According to the record of the New Tang Dynasty Book and the Legend of Tubo, in the second year of Changqing of Tang Muzong (822 AD), that is, the 195th year of the production of "Qin King Breaking Array Music", the Tang Dynasty formed an alliance with Tubo. When the Tang envoys arrived in Tibet to participate in the alliance ceremony, Tubo used "music to play the music of the King of Qin" to set up a banquet to show the grandeur of the ceremony. It can be seen that "King Qin's Breaking Array Music" has become famous in neighboring countries and internationally.

"King Qin's Breaking Array Music" was not performed for 28 years during the reign of Gaozong Li Zhi. For some reason, Gaozong Li Zhi didn't like this music and dance. It was not until the third year of Yifeng (678 AD) that "King Qin's Breaking Array Music" was often performed in the court again. Later, Li Zhi changed "Qin Wang's Breaking Array Music" to "Shengong Breaking Array Music", reducing the original 120-member dance team to 64 people's Bahu Dance, and the band accompaniment was increased, and the musical instruments were added flutes, flutes, etc. Originally, the music was played 52 times, but it was changed to only two times, and the arrangement of the dance teams was changed from the original battle formation scene to the form of a sacrificial ceremony. Since then, "King Qin's Breaking Array Music" has become a traditional sacrificial program retained throughout the Tang Dynasty.

During the reign of Wu Zetian, an envoy named Awata Michima sent the Tang Dynasty to bring "Qin King Breaking Array Music" to Japan. Since then, "Qin Wang Breaking Array Music" has taken root and blossomed in Japan, and has been passed down to 9 kinds of scores in Japan, namely: five-string pipa score "Five-string Score Qin King Breaking Array Music", Zheng score "Renzhi Yaolu, Qin King Breaking Array Music", pipa score "Three Five to Record, Qin King Breaking Array Music", "Three Five to Record: Emperor Breaking Array Music", "Three Five Records to Record Sanshou Breaking Array Music", Sheng Score "Feng Sheng Score Lu Juan, Qin Wang Breaking Array Music", Yu Xiao Score "Central Plains Lusheng Copying Qin Huang (Wang)", flute score "Dragon Flute Record, Qin King Breaking Array Music", Pipa Score "Three Five Zhonglu · King Qin Breaking Array Music" and so on.

In the Tang Xuanzong period, Li Longji changed "Qin Wang's Broken Array Music" to "Little Broken Array Music", which was first included in the nine-part music and ten-part music, and then changed the nine-part music and ten-part music to the standing part and the sitting part play, and the scale of "Little Breaking Array Music" was much smaller than that of Li Zhi's adaptation. "Old Tang Dynasty Book Music Chronicles" cloud: "Breaking array music, created by Xuanzong, born in the Libu Dance, breaking array music, dancing four, golden armor." Later, Li Longji adapted and expanded "Breaking Array Music" into a huge music and dance that was several times more than the original 120 people at the time of Li Shimin. However, the "Qin King Breaking Array Music" performed by hundreds of people was all performed by palace maids in costumes.

The great poet Bai Juyi once saw the grand performance of "King Qin's Breaking Array Music" during the Yuanhe period (806-802 AD). In the poem "The Dance of the Seven Virtues of Xin Yuefu", he truly recorded the performance of "King Qin's Breaking Array Music" at that time, which provided a basis for future generations to study "Qin King's Breaking Array Music".

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the music of the King of Qin was no longer used in ceremonies, nor was it used in large-scale celebrations, but became a welcome music and dance. By the time of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, this song disappeared with the fall of the Tang Empire.

Source: Bright Day