Research On Wuzhong String Music Of Late Ming And Early Qing Dynasty

Stringed instruments had been used to accompany Lyric Songs (Sanqu) in Yuan Dynasty. By the arrangements of music in early Ming Dynasty, a particular kind of singing mode occurred in imperial and feudatory music offices (Jiaofang), which used stringed instruments to accompany Southern and Northern Songs (giving priority to the latter). Its name was "Official String Music" (Xiansuo Guanqiang), and it represented the orthodox music of Ming Dynasty. After the gradual rising of Southern Songs, the consciousness of distinguishing Southern and Northern Songs in Ming Dynasty began to increase, then String Music finally became to the synonym of Northern Songs."Wuzhong String Music" (Wuzhong Xiansuo) was active in late Ming and early Qing Dynasty, and concentrated in Jiangnan region. Even Kunqu Opera was eclipsed by this kind of String Music for a time. This article focuses on the development history and artistic characteristics of Wuzhong String Music as a whole, and ultimately explains its meaning for Chinese opera history.The full text is divided into three chapters:Chapter One reproduces the specific process of Wuzhong String Music’s development. In middle and late Ming Dynasty, Official String Music was tending to decline. At the same time, a lot of new String Music emerged across the country. Against this background, in late Jiajing Period (1507-1566), Zhang Yetang brought "Central Plains String Music" (Zhongyuan Xiansuo) to Taicang, and he remoulded it as a kind of new String Music, which was close to Southern Songs. After that, many Wuzhong String Music heirs represented by Lu Junyang carried forward it. In the two hundred years of late Ming and early Qing Dynasty, Wuzhong String Music was popular in the whole Jiangnan region.Chapter Two analyses the unique artistic characteristics of Wuzhong String Music. In the aspect of musical instruments, Wuzhong String Music retained Chinese lute, and let new Sanxian and Chinese violin (Tiqin) become its symbol. In the aspect of tune, Wuzhong String Music was different from both Official String Music and Northern Songs in Kunqu Opera. In the aspect of repertoire, Wuzhong String Music continued to give priority to Northern Songs, and kept the literary form of Southern and Northern Songs.Chapter Three excavates the meaning for Chinese opera history of Wuzhong String Music’s refinement. As Wuzhong String Music became the main singing form of Northern Songs in the field of Jiangnan music, literati and musicians started to get involved in it. Since late Ming Dynasty, several kinds of music score of String Music had come out in a row. They refined Wuzhong String Music from several aspects such as pronunciation, sentence pattern, tempo, melody, etc. The standard of the refinement was the traditional phonology and metrical pattern of Northern Songs, with the purpose of making Wuzhong String Music the standard Northern Songs at that time.The music score of Wuzhong String Music born in late Ming and early Qing Dynasty could be regarded as carrying the Northern Songs retro dream of literati and musicians out of power, but when the Chinese Lute String Music of Inheritance from Remote Antiquity Music, which went beyond Wuzhong String Music, had been officialized, it meant that Ming Dynasty String Music of Northern Songs, with Southern Songs and even folk songs, had been accepted into the rites and music system of "Kang-Qian Flourishing Age" as the new music from the former dynasty.