Performers › Musicians
Li Guinian
Celebrated Pear Garden musician of Emperor Xuanzong's court who drifted south after the An Lushan Rebellion and met Du Fu there.
Mural of the cultural record “Tang Court Music and Dance”, which this person is tied to.
Also known as Li Guinian of the Pear Garden
Li Guinian was a leading court musician under Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, famous with his brothers Pengnian and Henian. A singer who also played the bili pipe and jie drum and composed, he won the emperor's favour with his Weichuan Melody and built a Chang'an mansion grander than a prince's. After the An Lushan Rebellion he drifted through the south, singing at gatherings until listeners wept. Du Fu's poem on meeting him south of the Yangtze records this fall. Hong Sheng's play The Palace of Eternal Youth makes him the singer of its Scene 38, The Ballad Singer, recounting the Tianbao years.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active from Emperor Xuanzong's reign to the Dali era