At dusk on a tiered white marble altar wreathed in incense smoke, rows of red-robed musicians play bronze bells, chime stones, long zithers and a great drum. Dancers in green hold plumes aloft, and officials stand solemnly at the summit.
The eight timbres in harmony, opened by bronze and closed by stone
Introduction
The ceremonial music of the imperial courts, from the Han suburban and temple hymns to the Ming–Qing Zhonghe shaoyue
Court yayue is the ceremonial music that dynasties from the Han onward played at sacrifices in the suburbs and ancestral temples, at court assemblies and at banquets, led by bells and chimes, using all eight timbres and accompanied by civil and martial dances. Under Emperor Gaozu of Han, Shusun Tong had former Qin musicians compose music for the ancestral temple, and Emperor Wu set up the Music Bureau and had the Nineteen Hymns for the suburban sacrifices written. In 628 Zu Xiaosun fixed the Tang court's Twelve He pieces; in 1105 Emperor Huizong of Song named his new music Dasheng and created the Dasheng music bureau; in the Hongwu reign the Ming named its court music Zhonghe shaoyue, which the Qing kept, setting up the Shenyue office to run it. After the fall of the Qing, yayue lost its state role; from the 1980s the Temple of Heaven has recovered the Zhonghe shaoyue (II-188), while the Mongolian khan's court music (II-167) and the ceremonial music and dance of the Menglian pacification office (II-189) carry on regional court ritual music.
Timeline
- 202 BCEOriginUnder Emperor Gaozu of Han, Shusun Tong composed music for the ancestral temple with musicians left from the Qin court, and Gaozu's consort Lady Tangshan wrote the inner-chamber sacrificial songs, renamed Anshi music under Emperor Hui; this founded Han court ritual music.
- 1105EvolutionIn the eighth month of 1105 Emperor Huizong of Song named the new court music Dasheng and created the Dasheng bureau to manage yayue; in 1107 the new music was issued throughout the empire.
- 1370EvolutionThe Hongwu Emperor revised yayue and named it Zhonghe shaoyue; in 1370 the rules for court assemblies and banquets placed the Zhonghe shaoyue east and west of the hall at grand audiences. After moving the capital to Beijing, the Yongle Emperor built the Temple of Heaven and the Shenyue Daoist music hall on the Nanjing model.
- 2021ImpactIn the 1980s the Temple of Heaven set up a hall of sacrificial music and dance and sought out folk musicians to recover the Zhonghe shaoyue; in 2021 the Zhonghe shaoyue of the Shenyue office at the Temple of Heaven entered the fifth national ICH list as II-188.
Heritage Listings
- 2014National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage4th batch · II-167 Mongolian khan's court music · no. 1261 · Ar Horqin Banner · Inner Mongolia
- 2021National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage5th batch · II-188 Zhonghe shaoyue of the Shenyue office at the Temple of Heaven · no. 1402 · Dongcheng District · Beijing · safeguarding body: Temple of Heaven Park Administration
- 2021National List of Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage5th batch · II-189 Ceremonial music and dance of the pacification office · no. 1403 · Menglian Dai · Lahu and Va Autonomous County · Pu'er · Yunnan