Yayue
Encyclopedia
Yayue was originally a form of Chinese
classical music that was performed at imperial courts. The basic conventions of yayue were established in the Western Zhou
. Together with law
and rite
s, it formed the formal representation of aristocratic
political power. Yayue has also seen its influence in other parts of East Asia
, notably the gagaku
in Japan
, aak
in Korea
, and nhã nhạc in Vietnam
.
According to tradition, yayue was created by the Duke of Zhou
under commission from King Wu of Zhou
, shortly after the latter's conquest of Shang
. Incorporated within yayue were elements of shamanistic or religious
traditions, as well as early Chinese folk music
.
The Classic of Rites
records a number of situations where yayue might be performed. These included ceremonies
in honour of Heaven
and Earth
, the gods
or the ancestors. There were also detailed rules on the way they were to be performed at diplomatic meetings. Yayue was also used in outdoor activities, such as aristocratic archery
contests, during hunting
expeditions, and after the conclusion of a successful military campaign
. Yayue was characterised by its rigidity of form. When performed, it was stately and formal, serving to distinguish the aristocractic classes. It was sometimes also accompanied by lyrics
. Some of these are preserved in the Book of Songs
.
With the decline of the importance ceremony in the interstate relations of the Spring and Autumn Period, so did yayue. Marquis Wen of Wei, for example, was said to prefer the folk music of Wei and Zheng to court music, listening to which he habitually fell asleep. Confucius
famously lamented the downfall of classical music and the rites.
Some form of yayue still survived for imperial ceremonies and rituals until the fall of the Qing Dynasty
when it was eventually lost without imperial patronage to preserve it.
that has been performed at the Imperial court for several centuries. It consists of native Shinto religious music
and folk
, a Goguryeo
and Manchurian form, called komagaku
, and a Chinese
and South Asia form, called togaku
.
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
classical music that was performed at imperial courts. The basic conventions of yayue were established in the Western Zhou
Zhou Dynasty
The Zhou Dynasty was a Chinese dynasty that followed the Shang Dynasty and preceded the Qin Dynasty. Although the Zhou Dynasty lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history, the actual political and military control of China by the Ji family lasted only until 771 BC, a period known as...
. Together with law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
and rite
Rite
A rite is an established, ceremonious, usually religious act. Rites in this sense fall into three major categories:* rites of passage, generally changing an individual's social status, such as marriage, baptism, or graduation....
s, it formed the formal representation of aristocratic
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
political power. Yayue has also seen its influence in other parts of East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
, notably the gagaku
Gagaku
Gagaku is a type of Japanese classical music that has been performed at the Imperial Court in Kyoto for several centuries. It consists of three primary repertoires:#Native Shinto religious music and folk songs and dance, called kuniburi no utamai...
in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, aak
Aak
Aak is a genre of Korean court music. It is an imported form of Chinese ritual music. Aak is often labeled as "elegant music" in contrast with other traditional Korean music...
in Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
, and nhã nhạc in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
.
According to tradition, yayue was created by the Duke of Zhou
Duke of Zhou
The Duke of Zhou played a major role in consolidating the newly-founded Zhou Dynasty . He was the brother of King Wu of Zhou, the first king of the ancient Chinese Zhou Dynasty...
under commission from King Wu of Zhou
King Wu of Zhou
King Wu of Zhōu or King Wu of Chou was the first sovereign, or ruler of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty. The dates of his reign are 1046-1043 BCE or 1049/45-1043. Various sources quoted that he died at the age of 93, 54 or 43. He was considered a just and able leader. Zhou Gong Dan was one of his...
, shortly after the latter's conquest of Shang
Shang
The shang is a flat ritual upturned handbell employed by Bönpo and Asian shamans. The sizes of the shang range from approximately 3 to 20 inches in diameter. It is traditionally held to have originated in Zhangzhung and is symbolically similar to the tantric dril-bhu. Shang are traditionally...
. Incorporated within yayue were elements of shamanistic or religious
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
traditions, as well as early Chinese folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
.
The Classic of Rites
Classic of Rites
The Classic of Rites , also known as the Book of Rites, Book of Customs, the Record of Rites, was one of the Chinese Five Classics of the Confucian canon. It described the social forms, governmental system, and ancient/ceremonial rites of the Zhou Dynasty...
records a number of situations where yayue might be performed. These included ceremonies
Ceremony
A ceremony is an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan origin.-Ceremonial occasions:A ceremony may mark a rite of passage in a human life, marking the significance of, for example:* birth...
in honour of Heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
and Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
, the gods
Deity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
or the ancestors. There were also detailed rules on the way they were to be performed at diplomatic meetings. Yayue was also used in outdoor activities, such as aristocratic archery
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
contests, during hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
expeditions, and after the conclusion of a successful military campaign
Military campaign
In the military sciences, the term military campaign applies to large scale, long duration, significant military strategy plan incorporating a series of inter-related military operations or battles forming a distinct part of a larger conflict often called a war...
. Yayue was characterised by its rigidity of form. When performed, it was stately and formal, serving to distinguish the aristocractic classes. It was sometimes also accompanied by lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
. Some of these are preserved in the Book of Songs
Shi Jing
The Classic of Poetry , translated variously as the Book of Songs, the Book of Odes, and often known simply as its original name The Odes, is the earliest existing collection of Chinese poems and songs. It comprises 305 poems and songs, with many range from the 10th to the 7th centuries BC...
.
With the decline of the importance ceremony in the interstate relations of the Spring and Autumn Period, so did yayue. Marquis Wen of Wei, for example, was said to prefer the folk music of Wei and Zheng to court music, listening to which he habitually fell asleep. Confucius
Confucius
Confucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....
famously lamented the downfall of classical music and the rites.
Some form of yayue still survived for imperial ceremonies and rituals until the fall of the Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
when it was eventually lost without imperial patronage to preserve it.
Instruments used
Traditional Chinese musical instruments comprise a wide range of string instruments (both bowed and plucked), wind instruments, and percussion instruments. Traditionally, they were also classified according to the materials used in their construction.Silk (絲)
- GuqinGuqinThe guqin is the modern name for a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument of the zither family...
- Seven-stringed fretless zither - SeSe (instrument)The se is an ancient Chinese plucked zither . It is the ancestor of many Asian zithers, including the Chinese guzheng, the Korean gayageum and the Japanese koto. It has 25 strings with moveable bridges and has a range of up to five octaves.-History:The history of the se extends back to early...
- 25 stringed zither with moveable bridges (ancient sources say 13, 25 or 50 strings) - YazhengYazhengThe yazheng is a Chinese string instrument. It is a long zither similar to the guzheng but bowed by scraping with a sorghum stem dusted with resin, a bamboo stick, or a piece of forsythia wood...
(牙箏) - Bowed zither - ZhuZhu (instrument)The zhu was an ancient Chinese string instrument. Although it is no longer used, three very old specimens in varying degrees of preservation survive...
(筑) - Ancient zither, struck or plucked with a stick
Bamboo (竹)
- Dizi (笛子) - Transverse bamboo flute with buzzing membrane
- XiaoXiao (flute)The xiao is a Chinese vertical end-blown flute. It is generally made of dark brown bamboo . It is also sometimes called dòngxiāo , dòng meaning "hole." An ancient name for the xiāo is shùdí The xiao is a Chinese vertical end-blown flute. It is generally made of dark brown bamboo (called...
(簫) - End-blown flute - PaixiaoPaixiaoThe paixiao is an ancient Chinese wind instrument, a form of pan pipes. It is no longer used, having died out in ancient times, although in the 20th century it was reconstructed...
- Pan pipes - Chi (篪) - Ancient Chinese flute
- GuanGuan (instrument)The guan is a Chinese double reed wind instrument. The northern Chinese version is called guanzi or bili and the Cantonese version is called houguan . It is classified as a bamboo instrument in the Ba Yin system...
- A cylindrical double reedDouble reedA double reed is a type of reed used to produce sound in various wind instruments. The term double reed comes from the fact that there are two pieces of cane vibrating against each other. A single reed consists of one piece of cane which vibrates against a mouthpiece made of metal, hardened...
wind instrument
Wood (木)
- ZhuZhu (percussion instrument)The zhu was a percussion instrument used in the Confucian court ritual music of ancient China. It consisted of a wooden box that tapered from the top to the bottom, and was played by grasping a vertical wooden stick and striking it on the bottom face...
- A wooden box that tapers from the bottom, played by hitting a stick on the inside, used to mark beats or sections - YuYu (percussion instrument)The yu was a wooden percussion instrument carved in the shape of a tiger with a serrated back comprising 27 "teeth," used since ancient times in China for Confucian court ritual music...
- A wooden percussion instrument carved in the shape of a tiger with a serrated back, played by running a stick across it and to mark the ends of sections
Stone (石)
- BianqingBianqingThe bianqing is an ancient Chinese musical instrument consisting of a set of L-shaped flat stone chimes, played melodically. The chimes were hung in a wooden frame and struck with a mallet...
(simplified: 编磬; traditional: 編磬; pinyin: biānqìng) - A rack of hung stone tablets struck using a mallet
Metal (金)
- BianzhongBianzhongBianzhong is an ancient Chinese musical instrument consisting of a set of bronze bells, played melodically. These sets of chime bells were used as polyphonic musical instruments and some of these bells have been dated at between 2,000 to 3,600 years old. They were hung in a wooden frame and...
(編鐘) - 65 bronze bells hung on a rack, struck using poles - FangxiangFangxiangThe fangxiang is an ancient Chinese metallophone. The instrument consists of 16 tuned rectangular iron slabs laid in a frame in two rows. The slabs are struck with a hammer and played melodically...
- A set of tuned metal slabs (metallophoneMetallophoneA metallophone is any musical instrument consisting of tuned metal bars which are struck to make sound, usually with a mallet.Metallophones have been used in music for hundreds of years. There are several different types used in Balinese and Javanese gamelan ensembles, including the gendér, gangsa...
)
Gourd (匏)
- ShengSheng (instrument)The Chinese sheng is a mouth-blown free reed instrument consisting of vertical pipes.Traditionally, the sheng has been used as an accompaniment instrument for solo suona or dizi performances. It is one of the main instruments in kunqu and some other forms of Chinese opera...
- A free reed mouth organ consisting of varying number of bamboo pipes inserted into a gourd chamber with finger holes - YuYu (wind instrument)The yu was a free reed wind instrument used in ancient China. It was similar to the sheng, with multiple bamboo pipes fixed in a wind chest which may have been made of bamboo, wood, or gourd. Each pipe contained a free reed, which was also made of bamboo. Whereas the sheng was used to provide...
- An ancient free reed mouth organ similar to the sheng but generally larger
Yayue in East Asia
In Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese，when written in Chinese characters (漢字), Yayue '雅樂' is pronounced differently in the four languages.Yayue in Japan
Gagaku is a type of Japanese classical musicMusic of Japan
The music of Japan includes a wide array of performers in distinct styles both traditional and modern. The word for music in Japanese is 音楽 , combining the kanji 音 with the kanji 楽...
that has been performed at the Imperial court for several centuries. It consists of native Shinto religious music
Religious music
Religious music is music performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence.A lot of music has been composed to complement religion, and many composers have derived inspiration from their own religion. Many forms of traditional music have been adapted to fit religions'...
and folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, a Goguryeo
Goguryeo
Goguryeo or Koguryŏ was an ancient Korean kingdom located in present day northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula, southern Manchuria, and southern Russian Maritime province....
and Manchurian form, called komagaku
Komagaku
Komagaku is a form of Gagaku, or court music, that appeared in Japan around the beginning of the Nara period . It originated in Korea and is often played as a dance accompaniment....
, and a Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and South Asia form, called togaku
Togaku
Tōgaku is the Japanese pronunciation of an early style of music and dance from the Tang Dynasty in China...
.
Yayue in Vietnam
In Vietnam, Yayue (雅樂) is called 'Nhã nhạc'.Nhã=雅, nhạc=樂.See also
- Music of ChinaMusic of ChinaChinese Music has been made since the dawn of Chinese civilization with documents and artifacts providing evidence of a well-developed musical culture as early as the Zhou Dynasty...
- List of traditional Chinese musical instruments
- AakAakAak is a genre of Korean court music. It is an imported form of Chinese ritual music. Aak is often labeled as "elegant music" in contrast with other traditional Korean music...
- GagakuGagakuGagaku is a type of Japanese classical music that has been performed at the Imperial Court in Kyoto for several centuries. It consists of three primary repertoires:#Native Shinto religious music and folk songs and dance, called kuniburi no utamai...
- Nhã nhạc
- DangakDangakDangak is a genre of traditional Korean court music. The name means "Tang music," and the style was first adapted from Tang Dynasty Chinese music during the Unified Silla period in the late first millennium...