Chapter 8 Chapter Eight Tang Dynasty Daqu and "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes"

There is a popular style of court music and dance in the Tang Dynasty, called "Daqu".It is a large-scale music and dance divertimento combining music, dance and poetry. "Daqu" consists of three parts.The first part is called "Sanxu", which has a free rhythm and is played by instrumental music; the next part is a tune with a slow rhythm, called "Middle Preface", which is mainly singing, accompanied by instrumental music, and sometimes dance performances; the third part is called "Broken Song". "or "dance all over", mainly dance, the rhythm changes, from scattered boards to faster and faster, and the whole song reaches a climax.It gradually slowed down, and finally stopped.Regardless of "Scattered Preface", "Middle Preface" and "Po", there are many "times" of the tunes played and sung, one tune per time.Therefore, its scale system is very large.

Daqu in the Tang Dynasty is rich in content, and there are 46 kinds of titles listed in "Jiaofang Ji".It can be divided into three categories: "Gaile Daqu" used for suburban temple sacrifices and major ceremonies, "Yanyue Daqu" used for banquets, and "Daodiao Faqu" originated from religion. The artistic level of Yanyue Daqu and Faqu is the highest, and its structure is also relatively large and complex. There is an extremely brilliant program in the Faqu of the Tang Dynasty called "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes".Bai Juyi praised: "Thousands of songs and dances are innumerable, but the neon dress dance is my favorite."

The creative right of "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes" belongs to Tang Minghuang.Tang Minghuang was the romantic emperor of the Tang Dynasty and an expert in music and dance.Legend has it that when Emperor Ming of Tang visited the Moon Palace, he saw a few fairies dancing in the court wearing "Su Lian Ni Yi".Tang Minghuang asked what the song was, and replied that it was "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes".Tang Minghuang was familiar with the rhythm, so he silently memorized the tune of the tune.When I came back, I could only remember half of the song.At this time, Yang Jingshu, the governor of Xiliang, presented the Indian "Brahman Song", the tone of which was consistent with "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes".Tang Minghuang used the tunes heard in the Moon Palace as a "scattered preface", and then absorbed the tunes presented by Yang Jingshu to complete the second half.There is also a saying that Tang Minghuang climbed to Sanxiang post, looked at Nuershan, and was fascinated leisurely, and fell in love with each other.After returning, I composed my fantasies into music. The content of "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes" is related to the Fairy in the Moon Palace and is full of Taoist sentiments, which is why people perfunctorily interpret the story of the Tang Ming Emperor listening to music in the Moon Palace.

The dance of "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes" is arranged according to the artistic conception of the music. Bai Juyi, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, once watched the performance of "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes" in the palace during the Yuanhe period.He loves and has learned this music and dance very much.When he was an official in Hangzhou and Suzhou, he personally taught and trained local geisha to play this dance music.Bai Juyi's poem "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes Dance Song and Weizhi" is the most reliable document for studying this music and dance.

Bai Juyi said in a poem: "The dancer Yan Ruyu in front of the case does not wear ordinary clothes. Hongshang Xia wears a crown and walks, and a lot of tin and jade. Pingting does not seem to let Luo Qi go, Gu Tingle hangs and stops." The upper body of the dancer wears The shoulders are like clouds, and the lower body is wearing a rainbow-like skirt.On the head is a "step shaking crown", on which strings of pearls and jade are inserted and sway with each step.A gold-rimmed necklace hung around his neck, and he wore pearls and emeralds all over his body.That Tingting's slender figure seems to be unable to bear the weight of the thin robe on her body.This is definitely not an ordinary attire, it looks like a fairy in the sky.

There are also other makeup methods for dancers.During the Kaiyuan and Tianbao years, court prostitutes wore nine-riding fairy buns, peacock emerald green clothes, and seven-treasure necklaces (ying luoyingluo) during performances.The lower body is wearing a moon white skirt. Bai Juyi's poem said: "Qingxiao, zither and flute are mixed together, and the sound of hitting and blowing is meandering. The six performances of the scattered preface have not touched the clothes, and the balcony Su Yunyong will not fly." It means that "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes" begins with "Scattered Preface" six played.The piece is Sanban, neither singing nor dancing, just instrumental music.The musical instruments used include chime, flute, zither, flute, etc., and various instruments are played sequentially.

After the "scattered sequence", enter the "middle sequence" with a slow tempo, leading to the graceful dancers.Bai Juyi's poem said: "Floating in the air, the snow is light, and the dragon is shocked by the beauty. The willow is weak behind the little hands, and the clouds are about to grow when they are slanting their trains." The latter whirls in the air, like flying snow whirling.The movement is flexible and smooth, like a swimming dragon.After a beautiful "Little Hanging Hand" dance, her body is as delicate and weak as a weak willow.Dragging the skirt and rushing, it seemed like a white cloud was about to rise.At this time, the dancer's eyebrows were slightly raised, with tenderness.The dancing sleeves hang down, fluttering like a celestial being. There are 18 times in total in the "Middle Sequence".

After the "Intermediate Sequence", enter the "Song Break".Bai Juyi's poem said: "Twelve times of complicated sounds and urgent rhythms, jumping pearls and shaking jade He Kengzheng." It means that there are 12 times of music, which are generally allegro.There are many strings and strings in a hurry, and the beat is very tight.The dancers are like dancing pearls and shaking jade, and the dance reaches a climax.At this time, the rhythm of the music gradually slowed down, and the dancers folded their wings like flying ostriches, and ended the whole dance with a long sound like a crane chirping.That is to say, as Bai Juyi said, "Xiangluan dances but retracts its wings, and the song of the crane ends up singing".

The dance of "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes" adopts the traditional graceful dance method of "Little Hanging Hands" and incorporates the wonderful spinning skills of Western Region dances.Cooperating with the wonderful music, it shows the ethereal fairyland and shapes the beautiful and graceful image of the fairy.It was composed by Tang Minghuang, performed by Liyuan disciples, and performed by the outstanding dancer Yang Guifei, so the dance of "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes" has become a bright pearl in the history of Chinese dance. Concubine Yang Gui is good at soft dancing. As a performative dance, the "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes" dance should of course be classified as a "soft dance".

The performance method of the "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes" dance is not fixed.Sometimes it is a female solo dance, and the dance "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes" performed by Concubine Yang in the Mulan Palace is a solo dance.Sometimes it is a pas de deux. Bai Juyi's poem said: "Shangyuan ordered the servant girl to attract calyx green, and the queen mother waved her hands to say goodbye to Feiqiong." It seems to be about two women.Sometimes it is a group dance, with a large number of people.During the Tianbao period, on the birthday of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the court ladies performed a group dance. The dancers wore Jiuqi fairy buns, peacock green clothes, and seven treasure necklaces.In July of the first year of Tang Wenzong Kaicheng (836 A.D.), Jiaofang selected 300 young dancers under the age of 15 to perform the dance of "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes".The Tang Dynasty's queer name "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes Song Fu" describes the scene of a group of teenagers dancing: "Being covered with feather clothes and wearing neon clothes. It begins to meander and advance side by side, and finally turns to make a trip." Follow the rules, and keep your steps square and round.” During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, hundreds of court ladies danced the "Neon Clothes", holding banners for festivals, decorated with pearls and emeralds, and danced like a group of cranes flying.

The dance of "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes" is constantly changing the way of performance, from music to dance.By the late Tang and Five Dynasties, only fragments of "Neon Clothes and Feather Clothes Song" had been handed down.The Southern Tang Emperor Zhaohui Empress Zhou once sorted out this genealogy.In the late Tang and Five Dynasties, Mrs. Huarui's "Gong Ci" said: "The fifteenth day of the new year is the most romantic, and the new cloud girl will come on top. Press "Neon Clothes" In the old courtyard, the Hualou Yunge will be rebuilt." At that time, this music and dance still had show.By the Song Dynasty, the spectrum of "Neon Clothes" was gradually unknown.Shen Kuo, a man of the Song Dynasty, said in his "Mengxi Bi Tan": "There is a Tang Dynasty horizontal script in Xiaoyao Building in Puzhong, which is similar to Sanskrit characters. According to legend, it is "Neon Clothes Book". In the program performed by the "Team", there is also a "Team of Fu Nishang", which is probably not the original appearance of the Tang Dynasty when it was first established.In the "Wild Words of Qidong" written by Zhou Mi at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, there is a description of the music and dance of "Neon Clothes" in the court of the Song Dynasty: "The song "Neon Clothes" has 36 paragraphs in total. Taste Zixia Weng Yun: When I was young, I followed the ancestors of the county king, During the banquet ban, the empress dowager ordered her wife to sing it. If thirty people are used, ten people each time, the sound is extremely wonderful... It really has the meaning of staying in the clouds and falling trees, and it must be a non-human song." After the Song Dynasty, this brilliant song The court music and dance gradually disappeared.