Chapter 29 Xu Hezi/The No. 1 Female Singer in the Tang Dynasty

During the Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty (742-756), one day, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty descended to the Qinzheng Building to hold a celebration banquet, and performed a hundred operas of singing and dancing in front of the building. The solemn and solemn Qinzheng Building was crowded with people at this time, and the order was very chaotic, and even the music of singing and dancing operas could not be heard clearly.The right minister Yang Guozhong ordered the guards to maintain order, but to no avail.Tang Xuanzong was very upset and wanted to leave after the banquet. Gao Lishi hurriedly said to Xuanzong: "Your Majesty, call Yongxin's wife to come out and sing a song. Let's suppress the stage." Find a singer to sing, and you can suppress this Chaotic situation?Tang Xuanzong was dubious, but he still asked Yongxin to be called.

After a while, a girl who looked like a fairy came to Tang Xuanzong gracefully, sweeping her eyebrows lightly, and Tang Xuanzong asked her to sing a song in front of the building. Yongxin walked to Qinzheng Building in style.Clearing his throat, he began to sing.The solemn and elegant palace songs and the lively Jiangnan folk songs were melodious, crisp and loud, and the noisy crowd suddenly fell silent, and everyone was intoxicated by the beautiful singing. After a song, there was thunderous cheers, and people were still intoxicated in the lingering sound for a long time. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty was also very happy. Since then, the name of "Yongxin Shange" has spread throughout the court and the public.

Who is this eternal bride?It turned out that she was a female singer in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Her real name was Xu Hezi, and she was from Yongxin County, Jizhou (now Yongxin County, Ji'an, Jiangxi Province).She was born in a family of musicians. The immersion of Yongxin landscape scenery and the artistic influence of the family made her develop a good singing voice since she was a child. Later, she was selected into the court and compiled in the "Yichun Yuan" in the teaching workshop. ". The Yichun Academy belonged to the music institution of the palace teaching workshop at that time, and it was composed of actresses, called "insiders". Because they often performed in front of the emperor, they were also called "front people".Yichun Courtyard is also the place where the best artists in Jiaofang live. It is located in the East Palace on the east side of the imperial city, juxtaposed with Chengen Hall and Yiqiu Courtyard.Facing water on three sides and mountains on one side, the scenery here is beautiful, and it is a good place to rehearse singing and dancing.Actresses sing here every day, and their crisp, high-pitched and melodious voices fly out of the red wall and rippling over the sky of Chang'an, the capital city.Xu Hezi was born beautiful, clever, open-minded and studious. With her "golden voice", she quickly became an excellent singer in the court, and her native place "Yongxin" became her stage name in Yichun Academy.Her singing is natural and fresh, and she is good at blending lively Jiangnan folk songs into elegant and solemn court music, changing old tunes into new sounds, and creating a new singing art.

Xu Hezi's singing art is very good. When she sings, no matter how loud the band's accompaniment is, she can't suppress her singing.Because of this, she was favored by Tang Minghuang, who often called her to sing and let Li Mo, the number one flute player in the world at that time, accompany her.Xu Hezi's singing often caused the pipe to burst. Tang Xuanzong often praised: "This female song is worth a thousand gold." In the fourteenth year of Tianbao (755), the "Anshi Rebellion" broke out, the two capitals (Luoyang and Chang'an) fell, the six palaces were separated, and Xu Hezi also escaped from Chang'an with the refugees.Xu Hezi fled to Guangling and married a scholar.On a moonless night, General Wei Qing, a famous musician who also took refuge in Guangling, was walking along the river when he suddenly heard the melodious singing of "Water Tune" from a small boat in the river.When Wei Qing heard it, it was so similar to Yongxin's singing back then, so he hurriedly boarded the boat and saw that it was indeed Xu Hezi, who was popular all over the world back then.The two met in adversity and wept uncontrollably.

Later, Xu Hezi's husband died, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law depended on each other, and it was difficult to survive. Soon, Xu Hezi also died of illness suddenly.