Chapter 12 Chapter Twelve Yuan Dynasty Court Music and Dance
The Yuan Dynasty was a regime established by the Mongolian nobles.The Mongolian people are good at singing and dancing.After taking control of the Central Plains, in addition to the folk songs and dances spread, the court of the Yuan Dynasty also accepted the court and folk music and dances of the Song and Jin dynasties.
The Mongolian rulers of the Yuan Dynasty believed in Lamaism, as well as Shamanism, Taoism, and Islam.The court dances of the Yuan Dynasty also had a strong religious color.The performances of those bands, because they want to play gods, Buddhas, ghosts, etc., so they often wear masks, such as Peacock King Ming mask, Vaisha God mask, Dragon King mask, and red-haired and blue-faced mask, etc. The performance is full of mysterious atmosphere.
Among the colorful dances of the Yuan Dynasty court, the "Sixteen Heavenly Demon Dance" is the most famous.
The Yuan Dynasty poet Zhang Zhu [Zhu Zhu] wrote a poem "The Lyrics of the Dance Team in the Palace":
Another Yuan Dynasty poet, Zhang Yuyou, said in a poem:
It can be seen that "Sixteen Heavenly Demon Dance" is the music and dance of the Yuan Dynasty palace.The right to create this dance belongs to Emperor Yuan Shun.Historians commented on this emperor as "neglecting in political affairs and neglecting banquets".It means that he is irresponsible for national politics, but has great interest in entertainment and feasting.During the reign of Emperor Yuan Shun, there were many excellent dancers among the court ladies.Among them, three are the most outstanding, and their names are Sansheng Nu, Miao Le Nu, and Manjusri Nu. When "Sixteen Heavenly Demon Dance" was founded, they were the core.
The meaning of this dance is "Praise Buddha".In fact, it is for the emperor to appreciate. The 16 court maikos are all dressed up as bodhisattvas.They had many braids on their heads and ivory crowns.She wears a "wreath" made of silk beads, a red silk gold long skirt, a gold jacket, cloud shoulders, and a heavenly robe with sleeves.Wearing ribbons and wearing cloud shoes.Each person holds a kind of prop in his hand, some hold epiphyllum, some hold copper bells, and some hold a magic weapon called "gabalapan".With the empty hand, the lotus palm is turned on the back, and the gestures are varied.They danced to the tune of Hexi Sanfo.The dancers open and close their arms left and right, and dance up and down, as if thousands of arms are moving, thus shaping various postures of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.The dance is full of the mysterious atmosphere of Lamaism, and the image of the dance is graceful and charming.
The band of "Sixteen Heavenly Demon Dance" is also very gorgeous, consisting of 11 court ladies.They wear hammerheads, headkerchiefs, narrow shirts and Tang hats.The instruments used include dragon flute, head pipe, snare drum, zither, (upper bamboo and lower Qin), pipa, sheng, huqin, castanets, clappers and so on.
It is said that those beautiful women who look like Bodhisattvas in the dance are all "heavenly demons".They appear in the form of Bodhisattvas and confuse the world.Of course, the sixteen heavenly demons were finally subdued by the Buddha.It is said that after watching "The Dance of the Sixteen Heavens", people will feel that their hearts are greatly shaken.In fact, it is the dancers, especially the dances of Sansheng Nu, Miao Le Nu, and Man Shu Nu that fascinate people.Therefore, after each performance, Emperor Yuan Shun would give rich rewards to the performers.In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youdun's "Yuan Gong Ci" said: "The team only praises the three saints, and the singing and dancing are unparalleled in the world. The enshrined in front of the emperor is deeply favored, and he is given the Western Photo Night Pearl."
This music and dance is exclusively used by the court, and ordinary people have no chance to watch it.It is led by the eunuch Chang An Diebuhua, and it is performed with dance and music when it meets the Buddha in the palace.Officials in the palace must be people who have received secret precepts before they can enter and watch.
"Sixteen Heavenly Demon Dance" originally originated from the Western Regions, and it had been circulated in the court of Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty.At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, advocated by Emperor Yuan Shun, it was processed and sorted out by court artists, integrating Mongolian and Han dances, and became a highly artistic music and dance.In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youdun's "Yuan Gong Ci" described: "Dance the demon with the lotus palm on your back, Hua Saiyue'e in the 28th year. It was originally a Buddhist song in Hexi, and it was a song in front of the palace garden." It was a dancer. They danced with props, turned lotus palms with the back of their empty hands, and performed various gestures. They danced to the music of Hexi Sanfo, and created various postures of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
Figure 37 Murals in Cave 465 of Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang
The murals in Cave 465, built in the Yuan Dynasty at the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, belong to the Tantric Buddhism.On the three walls, there are pictures of the Holy Heir Vajra Conquering Demons and dancing Bodhisattvas.From their unique and novel dancing postures, we can roughly imagine the dancing skills and posture of "Sixteen Heavenly Demon Dance".
There is also a dance called "Bai Lingque" in the court of the Yuan Dynasty, which is a masterpiece of Mongolian dance.The white feather sparrow is the white sea blue bird, scientifically known as "white-tailed sea eagle", which is a sacred bird worshiped by the ancient Mongolians.Songs and dances with the theme of white feather sparrows have long been circulated among Mongolian folks.It was not until the era of Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty, that the court artist Shuo Delu created the music and dance of "Bai Ling Sparrow" based on the content of "Bai Ling Sparrow", and was designated by Kublai Khan as "Kaiji Taiping Le".Zhang Xian, a poet of the Yuan Dynasty, said something like this in "The Preface to the Song of the White Lingque": Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty, was hunting in a pine forest and heard a woman crying very sadly.The next day, a flock of white-feathered sparrows flew over the "Ordu" (palace tent), and the sound of the birds was very similar to that woman's cry.Kublai Khan was very emotional, so he ordered his courtiers to write "The Speech of the White Lingque".According to this statement, the music and dance of "Bai Lingque" should express the feelings of the founding monarch of the Yuan Dynasty who missed the Mongolian countryside.
From the poems of some poets in the Yuan Dynasty, we can get a general understanding of the performance of the "Bai Lingque" dance.Zhang Yu wrote in "The Song of the White Lingque":
The musician Zhang Yu saw was Huo Ni Chi, an actor from Xihe. This musician is good at playing the zither, and can express the artistic conception of the singing of the white-feathered sparrow with the melodious and complicated, sad and rapid zither sound.There are two classes of Jurchen girls dancing and drinking.They wore tunics and belts.The slender hands are waving the sleeves, which are matched with the sound of the sparrow played by the music, and the rotation is low, which has a vigorous meaning of the dance "Zhezhi" in the Tang Dynasty.
Another poet, Yuan Jue, also wrote a poem after watching the dance of "Bai Ling Sparrow":
