The origin of Tao Yuanming’s “stringless harp”

The spiritual realm of art and philosophical contemplation

——Tao Yuanming’s “stringless harp” and its musical world< /p>

Fan Ziye

The story of Tao Yuanming's "stringless harp" is well known to everyone. Most of the literati of the past dynasties talked about it and regarded it as an elegant and refined act. The descriptions of "stringless qin" by literati in the past dynasties certainly have their positive significance and are also of great reference value for modern academic research. However, the study of literati is different from the study of scholars. "Tao Yuanming was not only a poet, but also a philosopher. He had profound philosophical thinking, which made him stand out from other ordinary poets. Perhaps because his poetry became so famous later, his glory as a philosopher was buried." In fact, he was buried at the same time. There is also Tao Yuanming’s philharmonic spirit and the profound philosophy contained in the “stringless qin” that embodies this spirit. Lu Simian said: "The style of poetry always changes with music. Therefore, if you want to know the poetry of an era, you must predict the music of that era." Therefore, if we understand the musical cultural accumulation of Tao Yuanming's era and his own Musical and artistic accomplishment will be very beneficial to the study of Tao Yuanming's literary creation. In this sense, the "stringless harp" may become a romantic and elegant instrument that leads us into his dazzling literary palace.

The story about Tao Yuanming's "stringless harp" was first seen in "The Biography of Hermitage" in Volume 93 of "Book of Song":

Unable to understand the sound , and the animal Qin has no strings. Every time I have wine, I often caress it to express its meaning.

Liang Xiaotong's "Biography of Tao Yuanming" directly proposed the concept of "stringless qin" and said that "Yuanming did not understand the rhythm"; Tang Li Yanshou's "Southern History" Volume 75 "Hermitage" The records in "Biography" are also roughly the same, except that there is no word "Wuxian". Volume 94 of "Book of Jin", "Hermit Biographies", clearly has a tendency to "expand" this story:

Xing cannot understand the sound, but the beast is a qin without string emblems, and every time When the friends were drinking together, they made peace with each other and said: "But if you know the fun in the piano, why bother to play the strings!"

Here, the so-called "self-explanation" of Tao Yuanming just reveals the history writer Subjective fiction. Because since it is said that "there is no need to bother with the sound of the string", why bother with the "words of the mouth"? Therefore, "but knowledge" and so on are taken for granted by historians. In fact, Tao Yuanming would never make such a statement. But this can be forgiven. The more serious mistake is to say that Tao Yuanming "does not understand sound", "does not understand music" and "does not understand sound". Just think about it: Since it is meaningless to "seek a deeper understanding" for people who don't read or can't read, then, for a person who doesn't understand music or a person who can't play the piano, what's the point of "stringless piano"? What’s the meaning? In fact, Tao Yuanming's "stringless qin" is the product of an accidental lack of strings, and the playing of the "stringless qin" is not the normal state of Tao Yuanming's playing. Because anyone with a little knowledge of music knows that strings (usually made of silk) are consumables, and there are no strings that last forever. "Book of the Later Han Dynasty" Volume 14 "Biography of Dong Si's Wife":

Chen Liu, the wife of Dong Si, was the daughter of Cai Yong from the same county. Ming Yan, courtesy name Wen Ji, was erudite, talented in argumentation, and good at music.

"Notes" quoted Liang Liu Zhao's "Young Child's Biography" and said:

Yong night drum and qin, the string is absolutely perfect, Yan said: "The second string." Yong said: "I got it by chance. "Ear." So he broke one string and asked, "The fourth string is correct."

Whether it is an accidental string break or a deliberate string break, it shows that string breakage is something that may happen at any time during playing the piano. Another example is Yu Xin's poem "Listening to the Qin and Hearing the Broken Strings with Duke Huainan": "Although one string has a unique rhyme, it is still enough to move Wenjun." Ni Fan's note in the Qing Dynasty:

"Book of Jin" says: "Ruan Ji His courtesy name was Si Zong, and he was good at playing the harp. Ji Kang, whose alias was Uncle Ye, often cultivated himself by taking food, playing the harp and chanting poems, and he was content in his heart. "The Book of Han" says: "The grandson of King Zhuo had a daughter named Wenjun. I have a good sound, and Xiangru picks it up with his heart. Wenjun died at night, and rushed to Xiangru. "One string is called a broken string, and the sound of the broken string is enough to provoke Wenjun."

Therefore, Tao Yuanming's "stringless qin" may be caused by the aging or even breaking of the strings. Therefore, through the "stringless harp", we can exactly see the "stringed harp". In other words, there is something hidden behind the "stringless harp". This "have" is a big "have", and its rich existence provides the mainstay of cultural support and inexhaustible artistic resources for the "nothing" of "Wuxianqin".