In a stone courtyard before a red-pillared hall, musicians swing long mallets at rows of bronze bells and chime stones on frames held up by bronze figures. A line of dancers in red and black robes sways with long plumes, while a drummer plays on the steps.
Bells and chimes in rows, two notes from every bell
Introduction
Tuned sets of bronze bells and stone chimes, with dance, at the sacrifices and banquets of the Shang and Zhou
The music of metal and stone is the ritual music that Shang and Zhou nobles played at sacrifices and banquets. Its core was bronze bells and stone chimes, hung in sets tuned in order of pitch and played with drums, qin and se zithers, sheng and panpipes, together with civil and martial dances. A set of five graded nao bells from the tomb of Fu Hao at Yinxu is early material evidence, and by the early Western Zhou full bell sets existed, as at Yejiashan in Suizhou. The Rites of Zhou say the Grand Director of Music taught the sons of nobles the Six Dynastic Dances, among them Yunmen, Dashao and Dawu, and the way bells and chimes were hung was graded by rank. The early Warring States bells of Marquis Yi of Zeng, each sounding two notes and inscribed with pitch names and their equivalents in other states, mark the height of the tradition; after the Qin unification the bell-and-chime ritual passed to the court yayue of later dynasties.
Timeline
- 1200 BCEOriginThe tomb of Fu Hao at Yinxu held a set of five bronze nao bells in graded sizes, early material evidence of tuned sets of ritual instruments; most Shang nao sets have three bells, and a set of five is exceptional.
- 990 BCEEvolutionThe bell set from tomb M111 at Yejiashan, Suizhou, cast in the early Western Zhou under King Zhao, is among the earliest known bell sets; two of its bells carry marks on the side striking point, showing that the second note of each bell was already in use.
- 433 BCEEvolutionAround 433 BCE the bells of Marquis Yi of Zeng were made: hung in three tiers and eight groups, each bell sounding two notes across a five-octave range, with inscriptions naming the pitches and their equivalents in other states; they are the fullest surviving pre-Qin bell-and-chime ensemble.
- 1978ImpactIn 1978 the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng at Leigudun, Suixian, Hubei, was excavated and the full set of 65 bells recovered; kept today in the Hubei Provincial Museum, the bells and their replicas let pre-Qin bell music sound again.