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UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The Sound of Silence: Daqu ("big-suite") and Medieval Chinese Performance Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/03z407vn Author Sun, Xiaojing Publication Date 2012 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California The Sound of Silence: Daqu 大曲 (“big-suite”) and Medieval Chinese Performance By Xiaojing Sun A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Chinese language in the Graduate Division Of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Robert Ashmore, Co-Chair Professor Stephen H. West, Co-Chair Professor Bonnie Wade Fall 2012 Abstract The Sound of Silence: Daqu 大曲 (“big-suite”) and Medieval Chinese Performance By Xiaojing Sun Doctor of Philosophy in East Asian Languages and Cultures University of California, Berkeley Professor Robert Ashmore, Co-Chair Professor Stephen H. West, Co-Chair My dissertation investigates Chinese medieval daqu(“big suite”), a performance consisting of a succession of musical sections that combines song lyrics with instrumental accompaniment, and includes solo or ensemble dance movements. As one of the major components of court music, the lyrics of daqu provide a valuable window into the often submerged link between text and performance. My dissertation focuses on how the performance texts be taken as a linguistic matrix in which the fossilized remains of performance are preserved and revealed to memory. The first chapter examines the relationship between dance, dance lyrics and performance context. The second chapter provides a general introduction on daqu, from that of the Wei and Jin to the Tang and Song. The third chapter takes daqu compositions by Shi Hao (1106–1194) of the Southern Song as central texts, discussing several issues such as “musical words (yueyu),” medieval court performance, intertextualization and performance context, “roaming transcendents (youxian)” tradition and court performance. In the appendix is an annotated translation on Shi Hao’s seven daqu pieces. 1 Table of Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………………….1 Chapter One: Dance, dance lyrics, and performance context…………………………….9 I. Dance and music……………………………………………………………...9 II. Dance music …………………………………………………………………13 III. Dance lyrics …………………………………………………………………17 IV. The symbolic dance …………………………………………………………19 V. From the “Grand Martial” (dawu 大武) to “Dance of Seven Virtues” (qidewu 七德舞) ………………………………………………………………..22 VI. Dance lyrics and performance context ……………………………………...31 Chapter Two: An Introduction to Daqu (“big suite/piece”) …………………………….38 I. Daqu of the Wei and Jin …………………………………………………….38 II. Daqu in the Tang ……………………………………………………………59 III. Daqu of the Song ……………………………………………………………88 Chapter Three: Shi Hao’s 史浩 daqu suites ……………………………………………102 I. “Musical words” (yueyu) …………………………………………………..102 II. Shi Hao and his daqu composition ………………………………………...114 III. “Lotus Plucking Dance” and court performance……………………….......116 IV. “Sword Dance:” intertextualization and performance context …………….129 V. The “Roaming Transcendents” (youxian) tradition and court performance………………………………………………………………….…139 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...157 Bibliography …………………………………………………………………………...158 Appendix: Shi Hao’s Maofeng Zhenyin daqu translation ……………………………..167 i Introduction One way of looking at the performance texts, the literary traces of lost performance traditions, is to see them as attempts to preserve in language the fleeting world of performance. In this sense, literary texts are a linguistic matrix in which the fossilized remains of performance are preserved and revealed to memory. But this raises a range of questions. Are performance texts a distinctive genre? What are the dangers in reconstructing performance context based on written remnants such as these? In trying to address these questions, we must naturally shift our focus from the text per se to the communicative context or situation in which the lyrics originally appeared, and this shift, I believe, will create a productive, multi-dimensional space for the reading of these texts. I would like to start my discussion with the debate on a famous piece, Shangyun yue 上雲樂 (“Tune on Ascending Clouds”) composed by Zhou She 周舍 (469–524) of the Liang (502–57): 1 西方老胡，The Old Hu from the west, 厥名文康。His name is Wenkang. 遨遊六合，He wandered through the Six Enclosures1, 傲誕三皇。Arrogant and unbridled to the Three August Ones. 5 西觀濛汜，To the west he observed Mengsi, 東戲扶桑。And to the east he played at Fusang. 2 南泛大蒙之海，To the south he floated on the sea of grand haziness, 北至無通之鄉。And to the north he reached the Land of Nopassage.3 昔與若士為友，Once he was friend of Ruoshi, 4 10 共弄彭祖扶床。And they together laughed at Pengzu “supported by the bed”.5 往年暫到昆侖，In the past he went temporarily to the Mt. Kunlun, 複值瑤池舉觴。A second time for wine drinking at the Jade Pond.6 1 Meaning six directions of East, West, North, South, above and below, it refer to the whole universe. 2 Mengsi is the legendary place to where the sun sets, while Fushang is from where the sun rises in the far east. 3 The Land of Nopassage, a legendary vast marsh land out of the Nine States (jiuzhou). 4 Literally means “like-the-person,” a character from Huainan zi, who wanders in the celestial realm. Therefore, later it becomes a name for the Immortal. 5 An immortal who is particularly known for his longevity. “Supported by a bed” because he was learning to walk. That is, they were there when the immortal known for his longevity was just beginning to learn to walk. 6 The legendary Western heavenly paradise of Xi Wangmu, the Queen Mother of the West on the Kunlun Mountain. With the appearance of the King of Zhou and the Queen Mother in the next two lines, the allusion on the wine drinking at the Jade Pond here is most likely from the account in Mu tianzi zhuan 穆天 子傳 (“Tale of King Mu”), a biography on the King Mu of Zhou with plenty of fantasy stories. It said that King Mu dreamed of being an immortal god. So he visited the Jade Pond and the Queen Mother threw a drinking banquet for him, where there were wine, gifts, and decorous exchange of poems. Many other anecdotes are also related to the feast of the Queen Mother, such as she serves her guests with peaches of 1 周帝迎以上席，The King of Zhou received him at the seat of honor, 王母贈以玉漿。The Queen Mother bestowed him jade ambrosia. 15 故乃 For this reason 壽如南山，His alloted lifespan was as enduring as the South Mountain, 志若金剛。And his ambition adamantine as a diamond. 青眼眢眢，His blue eyes lost their luster, 白髮長長。His white hair grew long. 蛾眉臨髭，Moth shaped eyebrows reached to his moustache, 20 高鼻垂口。His high nose drooped over his mouth. 非直能俳，Not only was he humourous, 又善飲酒。He was also good at drinking. 簫管鳴前，Xiao-pipes sounded out in the front, 門徒從後。Disciples follow behind. 25 濟濟翼翼，Numerous and reverential, 各有分部。Each had a different section. 鳳皇是老胡家雞，Phoenixes were the Old Hu’s chickens, 師子是老胡家狗。Lions, the Old Hu’s domestic dogs. 陛下 Your Majesty 撥亂反正，Dispelled chaos and restored peace, 30 再朗三光。Making the Three Lusters7 bright again. 澤與雨施，Your beneficent grace was granted with the rain, 化與風翔。Your transforming power soared along with the wind. 覘雲候呂，Inspecting the clouds and evaluating bamboo pitch-pipes, 志游大樑。He set his mind to wander at the Great Liang.8 35 重駟修路，Doubled the team of four horses along the distant road, 始屆帝鄉。Only then did he come to place of the Emperor. 伏拜金闕，Prostrate himself to bow at the golden palace, 仰瞻玉堂。And looked up with reverence at the jade hall. immorality, which ripen once every three thousand years. 7 The Three Lusters refer to the sun, the moon and stars. 8 The omission of the subject here brings the ambiguity of the context, as we will discuss soon. This part starting from “Your Mejesty” could be simply a description of the performance, as Ren Bantang argues. Yet it also could be a direct speech, issued by someone costumed as old Hu, or a third party (background chorus or music section) describing a mimed performance. In the latter case, this would be translated in the 1st person: “I set my mind to wander at the Great Liang” and so on. 2 從者小子，Those following him were little fellows, 40 羅列成行。All arranged in ranks. 悉知廉節，They all know honor and integrity, 皆識義方。All understand the way of righteousness. 歌管愔愔，Their singing and pipe-playing was tranquil and peaceful) 鏗鼓鏘鏘。Their rythmic drums clangorous. 45 響震鈞天，Their clear sound shakes Balanced Heaven, 聲若鵷凰。Their voices like those of the yuan and huang. 前卻中規矩，Stepping forward and back, they conform to the propriety, 進退得宮商。Advancing and retreating, they get the modes of gong and shang. 舉技無不佳，Every performing skills was perfect, 50 胡舞最所長。But in the barbarian dance they are most accomplished . 老胡寄篋中，In the Old Hu’s storage box, 復有奇樂章。Are even more fantastic music scores. 齎持數萬里，He carried them as tribute for myriads of li, 原以奉聖皇。Desiring to present them to the saged king. 55 乃欲次第說，He would like to explain them all one by one, 老耄多所忘。But old and senile he has forgotten most. 但願明陛下，He only desire that the Enlightened One, 壽千萬歲， Have an allotted life span of thousand and myriads of year, 59 歡樂未渠央。and happy forever!9 This song enjoyed a long period of popularity in medieval China, and formed part of court ritual performances until the eighth century. In addition to Zhou She, Emperor Wu of the Liang (464–549) composed seven lyrics to the same title, all of which display a strong influence from Taoist youxian (“roaming transcendents”) motifs and traditions. In the Tang (618–907), the famous poet Li Bai 李白 (701–762) also wrote a similar lyric.10 Ren Bantang 任半塘 (1897–1991), the renowned scholar of early performance literature, argued strongly against earlier interpretations of this poem, focusing mainly on two issues, namely, the identities of the characters, and the function of the poem.
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