Yayue is the representative of China's ritual music. The drastic social changes in China in the 20th century once brought profound trauma to the 3,000-year elegant music culture. The music department of Tiantan was almost forgotten by the world, and elegant music became a masterpiece. However, the 5,000-year-old Chinese civilization has its own strong vitality. Thanks to the active efforts of the National Government and people of insight, Chinese Yayue, which has been interrupted for a hundred years, is playing again in the Tiantan Music Department, which not only symbolizes the continuation of China's music tradition, but also shows to later generations that although the long river of music may be temporarily cut off due to man-made obstacles, its turbulent undercurrent will eventually converge into a spring tide, which is caused by a driving force from the depths of national culture!
As early as more than 3,000 years ago, there was a special music institution in the court of Zhou Dynasty in China-Fu Ma Le, with as many as 1463 musicians (Le Zhi of Sui Shu). Daqu played in the Six Dynasties —— Da Juan by Huangdi, Da Xian by Yao Di, Da Shao by Shun Di, April by Yu Di, Da Yun by Shang Dynasty and Da Wu by Zhou Dynasty —— integrated song, dance and pleasure, and developed into the Han, Tang and Song Dynasties through continuous development. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the performance of Yayue (then called "Zhong He Shao Yue") was under the jurisdiction of Tiantan Music Department, and its scale and programs were the same as those of the previous dynasties: paying attention to etiquette and advocating elegance.
By the Qing Dynasty, there were more than 200 musicians in Tiantan Music Department, and its scale still exceeded that of today's big orchestras. Although the elegant music you see today has not reached the scale of the past, it is arranged in strict accordance with historical records from the form of performance to the content of music. For example, in the form of performance, the tradition of "beating the bell and changing the song" has been basically retained. Musical instruments are all made of eight-tone materials, namely, gold (bell), stone (chime), earth (drum), leather (drum), silk (harp, instrument), wood (bell, bell), musical instrument (sheng) and musical instrument. More importantly, elegant music must be played with musical instruments originated from the Central Plains of China, especially the use of chimes and chimes, in order to highlight the ancient acoustic concept of "golden sound and jade vibration". Nowadays, common musical instruments, such as pipa, erhu, dulcimer and suona, are all imported from abroad, so they cannot appear in gagaku bands.
Wu Jianjun from the Cultural Relics Department of Tiantan Park told reporters that as early as 1989, they started the research work of Zhonghe Shaole culture. At that time, it was mainly to prepare for the ceremony of praying for the New Year, and being moderate and having less fun was one of the contents of the ceremony. Some musical instruments were exhibited and some musical works were arranged. Yao An, deputy director of Tiantan Park, said that although the architecture of Tiantan is very attractive, it is difficult to fully display the ceremony scene at that time only by architecture, but using music is different. It can not only make people fully appreciate the atmosphere at that time, but also appreciate the ideological essence of ancient China culture.
Yao An said that in order to show the original appearance of Chinese music and less music, the staff searched for ancient books about emperors' music and dance in Ming and Qing dynasties from the National Library, the Palace Museum and other major museums and libraries, and sorted out more than 30 complete scores from nearly 10 million written materials. During the "Tiantan Culture Week" from June 22, 65438 to October 27, 65438, nine ancient music dedicated to heaven were officially performed, from the music played at the beginning of the ceremony to the music played at the end of the ceremony to celebrate the successful completion of the memorial ceremony, including Burning firewood to welcome the emperor, Biography of the Sea, Acacia and Taiping Order. (comprehensive)