Listen to Master Ying playing the piano
Han Yu of the Tang Dynasty
The affectionate words between your children and your children, the kindness and resentment between you. Suddenly the situation became tense and the warriors went to the enemy's field.
The floating clouds and catkins have no roots, and the sky and the earth are vast and far away.
A hundred birds were chirping noisily, and suddenly a solitary phoenix was seen. If you climb too high, you can't get any higher, if you lose ground, your strength will plummet.
I have two ears to sigh, but I don’t know how to listen to the silk bamboo. After hearing Master Ying's playing, he got up and sat aside.
The push-hand stopped suddenly, and the clothes were wet with tears. You are sincere and capable, but you can't put ice and coal into my intestines!
Translation:
Let's learn how to talk softly like a pair of children. We gather together two pretty friends to talk secretly. How bold and unbridled is the flag spread like the wind, who is singing loudly and shouting, and there are warriors who are like electric horses, wielding long swords to kill the enemy and capture the king. It turns into floating clouds and willow catkins that have no roots and no roots, but the sky is round and the vast road is confusing. The chirping, chirping, chirping is clearly the feathery light rolling over the waves in the haze, and the shadowy figures standing on the trees are hundreds of phoenixes and phoenixes. The cliffs are so overwhelming that it is difficult to climb even a single step, and the black abyss is full of rocks falling thousands of feet below. I feel ashamed that I don’t have a pair of ears, but I am too unfamiliar with music and don’t know how to appreciate it. After listening to the sound of your piano, it is soft and strong, which makes people feel uplifted and strong. In a hurry, I stretched out my hand to cover the piano, tears already welling up in my eyes. Master Ying's good kung fu is truly extraordinary. Stop filling my chest with ice and fire.
Appreciation of works:
The more famous music poems of the Tang Dynasty include Li Qi's "Listening to Dong Da Playing the Hujia Nong and Saying Messages to the House", Li Bai's "Listening to Shu Monk Jun Playing the Qin", Li He's "Li Ping Kong Hou Yin", Bai Juyi's "Pipa Xing", etc. and Han Yu's chapter. Each chapter is different and each has its own merits. Joy, fear, sorrow, sudden changes, a mixture of emotions, indescribable, this is what Han Yu felt when he listened to Master Ying playing the piano. After reading the whole poem, Master Ying's superb piano skills can be heard.
The poem is divided into two parts. The first ten lines are a direct copy of the sound. The beginning of the sentence is unusual. It does not mention the person who plays the piano, nor does it explain the time and place of playing the piano. Instead, it sticks to the word "listening" in the title, goes straight to the point, and introduces the reader to the wonderful realm of music. The sound of the piano rises up, soft and fine, as if children are whispering and expressing their feelings to each other while rubbing their ears together. There are some scolding sounds mixed in, which is just an informal way to express your love for each other. Just as the listener is immersed in the tender and affectionate atmosphere, the sound of the piano suddenly becomes high-spirited and exciting, just like a brave soldier rushing into the enemy camp with his arms and horse, which looks extraordinary. Then the sound of the piano changed from hard to soft, rising and reverberating. Just like after a bloody battle, the enemy atmosphere has been wiped out. At this time, the sky is clear, the wind is gentle, a few white clouds are floating in the distance, and a few catkins are swaying nearby. They are floating uncertainly, if they are there or not, It's elusive, but it makes people think. The artistic conception displayed by the sound of the piano is lofty and vast, making people feel that the sky is far away and endless.
Suddenly, hundreds of birds chirped in unison, and the peaceful environment was replaced by a noisy scene. Among the birds, a phoenix was raised high and sang loudly. "If you can't climb high enough, you will lose your strength and plummet." This arrogant phoenix, unwilling to be associated with ordinary birds, was determined to make progress and suffered a lot of climbing, but in the end it still fell, and it fell so fast and miserably. In addition to using vivid metaphors to show the ups and downs of the sound of the piano, there seems to be another sustenance here. Connected with the following sentences such as "wet clothes and tears", it is likely to contain the poet's lament about his own situation. He wrote several memorials to analyze the gains and losses of political affairs, hoping that the authorities would be alert, eliminate the shortcomings, and work hard to govern. However, he was repeatedly criticized, and he could not help but feel a sense of anger and injustice in his heart. The sentence "wet clothes" is quite similar to "Jiangzhou Sima's green clothes are wet" in Bai Juyi's "Pipa Xing", except that the latter is expressed more directly and openly.
The last eight sentences describe your own feelings and reactions when listening to the piano, highlighting the beauty of the piano sound from the side. The two sentences "域yu" are words of self-effacement, indicating that one does not understand music and cannot fully understand its mysteries. Despite this, I was still deeply moved by Master Ying's music. First I felt restless, and then I burst into tears, which soaked my clothes and kept dripping. This kind of strong emotional stimulation was really unbearable, so I pushed my hands to stop it and couldn't bear to listen. The last two sentences further exaggerate Master Ying's superb piano skills. Ice and charcoal are not the same furnace, but Master Ying's piano music can lead people to a paradise of joy at one moment, and throw people into a hell of misery at the same time. It is like throwing charcoal into the listener's chest at the same time, making people unable to withstand this kind of emotional torment. Violent fluctuations.
The whole poem rises and falls like the tide of the Qiantang River, with turbulent waves, layer upon layer, and endless changes. The first couplet and the second couplet, and even the upper and lower sentences, have great ups and downs. For example, the first couplet "Intimate children's words, grudges and grudges between you" is written with the soft sound of the piano, full of harmonious tones, and there is a line in the middle. The word "resentment" makes the waves rise steeply and the gestures are full of gestures. The meaning of intimacy is stronger and it is full of life. Another example is that the first couplet is compared to the love of children, and the second couplet is intended to be heroic. These are two completely different voices, one soft and one strong, forming a disparate situation. If the third couplet changes again, from hard to soft, it will easily overlap with the first couplet. While realizing this ups and downs, the poet also opened up another new realm. It is lofty, vast, tranquil and pure, which is in sharp contrast to the intimate and personal feelings of the first couplet. The voice it displays is also different from the first couplet. Similarly, one (the first couplet) is soft and fine, which is purely a finger sound; the other (the three couplets) is melodious and melodious, which is the so-called overtone.
Although both are relatively soft, they have their own characteristics, accurately reflecting the rapid changes in the sound of the piano. Fang Dongshu, a native of the Qing Dynasty, said that Han Yu's poems were "changed and profound in usage" ("Zhao Mei Zhan Yan"). This is a good example.
Most of the poems written to music have made use of the synaesthesia function of the human five senses to transform sounds that are difficult to capture into visual images that are easier to feel. This poem imitates the sound in a subtle way and has a clear image, but it does not stick to the skin, so it appears elegant, ethereal, and mellow. The outstanding performance is: while copying the rhythm of the sound, he pays great attention to exploring the emotion contained in it. A good piano sound can be both pleasing to the ear and pleasing to the mind, and can empathize with one's emotions. A good piano sound can not only depict the sound, but also "paint emotions" and "paint aspirations", and describe the situations expressed by the piano sound one by one. While imitating the sounds, the poems may express the tenderness of children, imitate heroic ambitions, be full of attachment to nature, or contain otherworldly thoughts and sadness of hardships, and so on, all of which reveal profound emotions. affection.
Han Yu is a very creative literary giant. When he wrote poems and essays, he was able to get rid of restraints and find his own way. This poem is unique in both the setting and the wording. It shows readers two major realms in terms of creating realms: one is the realm within the music, that is, the situation composed of the sound and rhythm of the music; the other is the realm outside the music, that is, the realm where the music sounds in the listener (poet) the response received from oneself). The two are also separated and combined, just like shadow and form. This makes the artistic conception of the whole poem appear profound, meaningful and affectionate. Based on the choice of words and expressions, many of the poems are novel and appropriate, carefully polished and highly contagious. For example, the first two sentences rhyme with a thin tone. The words "女" and "语" in them have similar sounds to "er" and "ru", which makes it a bit convoluted to read. This peculiar phonological arrangement is exactly suitable for expressing the entangled mood between children. Later, when the high-spirited and exciting piano sounds are written, the Hong rhyme "ang", "chang", "yang", "huang", etc. are used instead. These all accurately express the emotions of the player and the impression of the listener. In addition, the interlaced use of five-character and seven-character poems coordinates with the rapid and intermittent sound of the piano, which also greatly enhances the expressive power of the poem. And so on, it is clearly shown that the poet is ingenious and does not stick to the rules and ink, but all the words are written in an orderly manner and each performs his own duties. The so-called "hard words, appropriate and powerful" is actually a major feature of Han Yu's poetic language.