In the history of our country, there are several people who are known as "art emperors". Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Zhao Ji, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, and Li Yu, the later master of the Southern Tang Dynasty, are the most famous. Among them, Li Longji is famous for his outstanding musical talent. Zhao Ji's calligraphy and painting and Li Yu's lyrics are still praised today. Different from Zhao Ji and Li Yu, Li Longji not only had artistic talent, but his political ability was better than his artistic ability. Unlike Zhao Ji and Li Yu, who eventually became the king of subjugation, he created a glorious political situation like the "Kaiyuan Prosperous Age".
1. Life of Li Longji
Li Longji (685-762) was the great-grandson of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty, the direct grandson of Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi and Wu Zetian, and the third son of Emperor Ruizong Li Dan. A son. When he was five years old, Wu Zetian changed the name of the country to Zhou, demoted Li Dan to the imperial heir and imprisoned him in the palace. Li Longji's childhood was basically spent in coups and power struggles in the palace. In the Shenlong Coup of 705, Wu Zetian abdicated to Zhongzong. In 708, Li Longji was appointed as the governor of Luzhou and began to cultivate party members in preparation for seizing the throne. In 710, Empress Wei and Princess Anle poisoned Tang Zhongzong and plotted to usurp the throne. Li Longji and Princess Taiping launched a coup, killed Empress Wei and her party members, and then supported Ruizhong Li Dan to ascend the throne. After Ruizhong ascended the throne, he named Li Longji the crown prince. In 712, Ruizong passed the throne to Li Longji and abdicated himself to become the Supreme Emperor. In 713, Princess Taiping and her followers were killed before she launched a coup. After that, Li Longji changed his reign name to "Kaiyuan", worked hard and forged ahead, and created a new situation of "Kaiyuan prosperity".
In the Tianbao period after Kaiyuan, Li Longji made Yang Guozhong his prime minister because he loved Concubine Yang. When the "Anshi Rebellion" broke out in 755, Li Longji and his royal family fled to Sichuan. At Maweipo, the accompanying army forced him to kill Concubine Yang and killed the Yang family before heading to Sichuan. Prince Li Heng ascended the throne in Shuofang and named Li Longji the Supreme Emperor. It was not until 757 that the Tang army recaptured Luoyang and Chang'an before welcoming Li Longji back to Chang'an. In 760, Li Longji was imprisoned in Ganlu Hall by the eunuch Li Fuguo. On April 5, 762, Li Longji passed away with deep longing for Concubine Yang and guilt for the country.
2. Emperor Li Longji
In the prosperous age of Kaiyuan, Li Longji not only suppressed his noble relatives politically, consolidated imperial power, selected talents, rectified the administration of officials, advocated frugality, and suppressed Extravagant and other measures were taken, and the economy was vigorously developed to create a situation of great social and economic prosperity. He also focused on foreign exchanges, strengthening trade with neighboring countries, and also focused on cultural exchanges with neighboring countries, especially exchanges with Japan, which had a great impact on Japan.
In addition to creating new situations in the political and economic aspects of the Kaiyuan era, it also opened up new situations in culture.
In terms of religion, unlike the Han Dynasty, which "exclusively respected Confucianism", the Tang Dynasty had three religions: Confucianism, Monkhood, and Taoism. This situation was particularly prominent in the Li Longji era, when the three religions developed in parallel. In this situation, a new situation emerged throughout the country in which Confucianism flourished, Buddhism flourished, and Taoism became popular and developed harmoniously. Chinese people have freedom of belief in these three religions. They can convert from Confucianism to Buddhism, or from Buddhism to Taoism. This situation is unprecedented and unprecedented. In addition to these three major sects, the Tang Dynasty also allowed other sects to be introduced into China, such as Nestorianism, Islam, etc. Due to freedom of belief and the coexistence of multiple cultures, people's ideas have more room for development.
In terms of the development of Tang poetry, due to Li Longji's emphasis on culture and education, his open policies, and the freedom of thought and speech among literati, Tang poetry in this period reached its peak, with the emergence of the Pastoral Poetry School, the Frontier Poetry School, and the Frontier Poetry School. Realism school, etc., a large number of famous poets such as Li Bai, Du Fu, Wang Wei, Wang Changling, Gao Shi and Cen Shen were the main poets at this time. Their poems have their own characteristics and become true descriptions of the style of the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
In terms of painting, because the Tang Dynasty had an atmosphere of prosperity, prosperity and social stability, frequent exchanges with foreign countries, and good at absorbing foreign culture, there were many famous schools and masters of painting in the Kaiyuan period. Due to the continuous updating of painting techniques, the themes of expression were diverse. Paintings in the Tang Dynasty were divided into types such as figures, flowers and birds, landscapes, ghosts and gods, and houses.
During the prosperous age of Kaiyuan, the development of painting, especially figure painting, was the most significant. Painters paid more and more attention to the reflection of real life, and also focused on the depiction of character when painting figures. The representative figure is Wu Daozi, known as the sage of painting. His attainments in painting were extremely high and he was deeply appreciated by Li Longji. After entering the palace, he became a doctor of internal medicine. Wu Daozi was good at painting figures as well as landscapes. In terms of figure painting, he was good at painting Buddhist and Taoist figures. There were many temples in Chang'an and Luoyang at that time, and Wu Daozi left more than 300 murals of Buddhist and Taoist figures in these temples. These characters have different shapes and appear vivid and three-dimensional. In addition to murals, he also left more than 150 scroll paintings of figures, the most famous of which are "The Picture of the King of Heaven Delivering His Son", "The Picture of the Golden Bridge" and "The Picture of Zhongkui with Ten Fingers".
In the prosperous age of Kaiyuan, in addition to figure painting reaching its artistic peak, landscape painting also gradually matured. Due to the geographical differences between the north and the south, two major systems, green and ink, emerged. At the same time, due to the development of religion, religious paintings, murals in grottoes, mausoleums and temples have also achieved unprecedented development.
These murals not only reflected the social fashion of the time, but also left a vivid portrayal of the music and dance of the Tang Dynasty.
Due to the unprecedented development of politics, economy, and culture in the Tang Dynasty, the aesthetic concepts of the Tang Dynasty are also different from our traditional aesthetic concepts. Since ancient times, our country's aesthetic standards for women have been based on slenderness and slenderness. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there was a legend that "the King of Chu had such a slim waist that many died of starvation in the palace." In the Han Dynasty, there was Zhao Feiyan who could do palm dancing. , these are all representatives of slimness. But in the Tang Dynasty, fatness was regarded as beauty. The representative figure was Li Longji's beloved concubine Yang Yuhuan. In addition, in the figure paintings and sculptures left by the Tang Dynasty, women also regard plumpness as their beauty.
Before the Tang Dynasty, people’s clothing was based on Hanfu. By the Tang Dynasty, women’s clothing had unique and gorgeous characteristics. They popularized a kind of bare-collared clothing that exposed their plump breasts and also Hufu and men's clothing are popular. This kind of aesthetics and clothing trend fully demonstrates people's pursuit of health and unrestrained temperament during the prosperous period of Kaiyuan.
3. Art Emperor Li Longji
Li Longji not only has his own characteristics in governing the country, but he is also a versatile artistic talent in terms of personal cultivation. It is precisely because of his personal passion for art. Therefore, during his reign, he vigorously promoted and promoted the development of culture and art. His artistic talents are mainly reflected in music and dance, calligraphy, instrumental music, poetry, etc.
According to historical records, Li Longji had artistic talent in his childhood. When he was only six years old, he performed the difficult "Longevity Girl" at Wu Zetian's birthday party to celebrate his grandmother's birthday. When he grew up, his interest turned to composition, and he made great contributions to the music and dance of the Tang Dynasty. His compositions include "Nishang Yuyi Song", "Longchi Music", "Lingbo Song", and "Ziyun Hui" wait. In addition to his profound musical attainments, he also has a sensitive hearing and a strong sense of music. Has the temperament of a conductor. He often arranges large-scale music and dances. When the instruments are playing in unison, he can hear the wrong syllables produced by any instrument.
In addition to dancing and composing, Li Longji is also good at playing instrumental music, and his best one is the Jie drum. Among the eight categories of ancient musical instruments: "gold, stone, earth, leather, silk, wood, bamboo and gourd", the Jie drum is the best. Belongs to the leather category. This is a percussion instrument from the ancient Western Regions. The musical instrument is characterized by its loud, rapid, and enthusiastic sound, which is suitable for performing repertoire with a bright rhythm. Li Longji's skill in playing Jiegu was so superb that Song Jing, the prime minister at the time, once praised him for his "head like a green mountain peak and hands like white raindrops", which meant that his head was stable while his hands were agile and quick when playing the drum. In addition to Jie drum, he is also good at playing flute and pipa.
In terms of calligraphy, his handwriting is exquisite, vigorous and crisp, and his written characters are characterized by calmness, majesty, richness and beauty. In terms of poetry creation, "Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty" contains more than 60 of his poems, the most famous of which is the five-character poem "Sighing after Zou Lu sacrificed Confucius".
4. Li Longji’s contribution to the music of the Tang Dynasty
As an art emperor, Li Longji’s most outstanding contribution was the promotion of music and dance in the Tang Dynasty and his contribution to music.
1. Promotion of Tang Dynasty music and dance. The music and dance of the Tang Dynasty is the dance art of the Han people in the Tang Dynasty. This kind of dance is based on the hundreds of operas of the Han Dynasty. After the evolution of several dynasties, it has reached the peak of art in the Tang Dynasty. The music and dance of the Tang Dynasty absorbed the essence of foreign dance. During Li Longji's era, he made innovative changes to the "Zi Bu Ji" and "Li Bu Ji" in the "Ten Music Music" designated by Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty. In order to improve the palace music and dance institutions, he also added teaching workshops in the palace, from the original one to five, and made a clear division of labor between Taichang Temple and the teaching workshops. Taichang Temple is responsible for elegant music, used for rituals and sacrifices; The Jiaofang is responsible for secular music and music for entertainment. Since the church is located in the palace, most of the musicians are women. In addition, Li Longji also founded another music and dance institution, Liyuan. The musicians here are responsible for court music, dance, and drama performances. It is equivalent to a Royal Academy of Art, responsible for both cultivating talents and performing. Li Longji selected more than 300 male musicians to be in Liyuan, and he personally taught and rehearsed them.
Under Li Longji's strong promotion, music and dance in the Tang Dynasty experienced unprecedented prosperity. A large number of dancers appeared in Li Longji's era, including Gongsun Auntie who was good at sword dancing, and the "Jinghong Dance" who was good at dancing. Li Longji's Mei Fei Jiang Caiping, Yang Guifei who is good at dancing "Neon Dress and Feather Clothes Song" and "Hu Xuan Dance", Xie Aman who is good at dancing "Lingbo Song" and so on.
2. Li Longji’s contribution to the music of the Tang Dynasty. The development of music and dance in the Tang Dynasty is inseparable from music. Daqu is an important form of music and dance in the Tang Dynasty. It is a multi-stage music and dance suite that integrates dance, music and singing. Structurally, the Daqu is divided into three parts: Sanxu, Zhongxu and Breaking. The Sanxu is the instrumental performance, the middle part has a slower tempo, and the singing and dancing begin gradually, sometimes only singing without dancing. The Breaking is the rhythm that becomes faster and more changeable. The music and dance part brings the whole song to a climax. There were many major pieces in the music and dance of the Tang Dynasty, the most famous of which is "The Song of Colorful Clothes and Feather Clothes" composed by Li Longji.
"The Song of Colorful Feathers" is Li Longji's adaptation of the "Brahman Song" from the Western Regions. In this great piece, the prologue is free and melodious, and the instrumental music consists of chimes, flutes, flutes, It is played by a zither and has a poetic haziness. In the middle sequence, the fairy-like dancers begin to dance. Sometimes they are whirling, sometimes graceful, and have the artistic conception of "flying and spinning back to the light snow, and sending off the dragon with surprise".
The broken song is the climax of the whole song, and the music has the sonorous sound of urgent pipes and strings. When the dancers are still wandering in the wonderland with selflessness, the music stops suddenly. The entire music and dance has a strong contrasting effect of strength and weakness, rapidity and slowness, movement and stillness, and has unique formal beauty.
Whether it is music, dance or costume, "The Song of Feather Clothes" pursues an illusory fairyland-like illusion. It is the embodiment of Taoist thought of "feathering into immortality". During the dance performance, it has the characteristics of solo dancing and The pas de deux can be danced by hundreds of people. The person who interpreted it most perfectly at that time was Yang Guifei.
In addition to "The Song of Colorful Feathers", Li Longji also composed "Longchi Music", one of the "Zibuqi" music and dances, which mainly shows that Xingqing Palace has the "image of the emperor" , the whole music is auspicious and elegant.
"Lingbo Song" comes from a dream of Li Longji. He created a dream-like piece of music based on the dream. Xie Aman paired it with agile and light dance postures, creating a graceful posture. The image of the dragon girl.
Whether it is the beautiful "Neon Dress and Feather Clothes Song", the mysterious and peaceful "Longchi Music" and the graceful "Lingbo Song", Li Longji used his own music to bring the music and dance of the Tang Dynasty to life From realism to the realm of romanticism, he not only made outstanding contributions to the music and dance of the Tang Dynasty, but also added a rich and colorful touch to Chinese music.
As an emperor, Li Longji was criticized for his governance in his later years, but his artistic talent and artistic achievements were unmatched by any emperor.
This is why Li Longji is regarded as the ancestor of Liyuan.