Introduction to China's Top Ten Ancient Songs 1. "High Mountains and Flowing Waters" "Liezi Tangwen" records: Bo Ya was good at playing the qin, and Zhong Ziqi was good at listening to the qin. Once, Boya played a piece of music with high mountains and majestic power. Zhong Ziqi said appreciatively: "The towering mountains are aspiring to the mountains." Boya played another piece of music with stormy waves and surging waves. Zhong Ziqi said again : "The ambition is in the flowing water." Zhong Ziqi was able to deeply understand the connotation of the music "Mountains and Flowing Waters" played by Boya. From then on, the two of them became close friends, which has been passed down through the ages. According to literature, "High Mountains and Flowing Waters" was originally one piece. Since the Tang Dynasty, "High Mountains" and "Flowing Waters" have been divided into two independent pieces. Among them, "Flowing Water" has received more development in modern times. Its music score was first published in the Ming Dynasty's "Magical Secret Pu" (written by Zhu Quan in 1425). "Flowing Water" played by Mr. Guan Pinghu was included in the golden record of the American space probe. It was launched into space on August 22, 1977, searching for new "friends" in the vast universe. 2. "Guangling San" "Guangling San", also known as "Guangling Zhixi", is a large-scale instrumental piece in ancient my country and one of the Xianghe Chu tunes in the Han and Wei dynasties. Ji Kang was killed for opposing the Sima dictatorship. Before his execution, he calmly played this song for sustenance. According to the records in "Magical Secret Music", this song was originally a folk music popular in the Guangling area (now Shouxian County, Anhui Province) in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. It was played with qin, zither, sheng, zhu and other musical instruments, and now only the ancient qin music remains. "Guangling San" recorded in "Magical Secret Pu" contains 45 paragraphs including finger, minor preface, major preface, main tone, random tone, and post-preface. The music is specially tuned, and the second string and the first string have the same sound, so that the bass melody can be played on these two strings at the same time, achieving a strong sound effect. The reason why this song ranks among the top ten ancient songs is partly due to Ji Kang. Ji Kang, a famous qin player in the late Wei Dynasty, was brutally murdered for opposing the Sima family's dictatorship. Before leaving, Ji Kang calmly played this piece of music as a sustenance. After playing it, he sighed, "Guangling San" has become a lost song today. After that, "Guangling San" became famous, and people understood this piece of music with an additional meaning. It contained a feeling of contempt for the powerful and resentment. 3. "The Wild Geese Falling on the Flat Sand" "The Wild Geese Falling on the Flat Sand" is a piano piece that expresses feelings about the scenery. It is also known as "The Wild Geese Fall on the Flat Sand" and "The Flat Sand". The author is said to be Chen Zi'ang of the Tang Dynasty, Mao Xun of the Song Dynasty, and Zhu Quan of the Ming Dynasty. , opinions vary. The music score was first recorded in the "Guyin Zhengzong" compiled by the vassal king Zhu Changzi and published in 1634 AD (the seventh year of Chongzhen in the late Ming Dynasty). This song originally had four sections, but in the process of spreading, it developed into six sections, seven sections, eight sections, etc. The whole song uses ink painting-like brushstrokes to outline the majestic autumn river scenery in nature in a distant and vigorous way, expressing the clear sand flow, the clouds traveling thousands of miles, and the sounds of flying geese in the sky. The music is hearty and broad-minded, giving people a sense of solemnity and vitality. It expresses and expresses people's thoughts through the flying geese, and embodies the ancient people's praise and love for the beautiful scenery of the motherland. 4. "Three Alleys of Plum Blossoms" Guqin music "Three Alleys of Plum Blossoms" is also known as "Plum Blossoms Introducing", "Plum Blossoms Song" and "Jade Concubine Introducing". It is a masterpiece of Chinese classical music that expresses plum blossoms. It has been popular among the people as early as the Tang Dynasty. To spread. The whole song expresses the white and fragrant plum blossoms and the noble character of frost and snow. It is a Qin music full of the taste of ancient Chinese scholar-bureaucrats. "Withered Wood Zen Piano Score" says: "The sound of the tune is quiet, the syllables are comfortable, and a kind of aloofness appears under the fingers; it seems that there is a cold fragrance entering the heart, and one must calmly connect to get the purpose." This flute music has been available since the Jin and Sui Dynasties. It was written by Huan Yi, the general of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Later, it was adapted into music by Yan Shigu, a qin master of the Tang Dynasty, and it has been passed down to this day. The noble character of plum blossoms and frost is an important theme in ancient and modern artistic creations. It is often used as a metaphor for people with noble integrity. Yang Ruan of the Ming Dynasty recorded in "Bo Ya Xin Fa": "Plum is the clearest flower, and Qin is the clearest sound. It is appropriate to use the clearest sound to write the clearest thing, and it should have the sound of Lingshuang. The meaning of the three tricks, Then use three overtones, the same strings and different Huiyun'er. "It is rare to use the complete repetition of three overtones in Qin music, so there are three layers of Yangguan everywhere, and three plum blossoms every night." ("Lü Hu". ). 5. "Ambush from Flying Daggers" "Ambush from Flying Daggers" is a famous large-scale pipa song, which can be called a classic among songs. The magnificent content of the music and the majestic and unique style are rare in classical music. This piece was first seen in Hua Qiuping's "Pipa Score" published in 1818. It was renamed "Huaiyin Pingchu" in the "New Score of Thirteen Daqu Pipa Scores of the Northern and Southern School" compiled by Li Fangyuan in 1895.

The music is based on the decisive battle between the Chu and Han armies in Gaixia (southeast of today's Lingbi County, Anhui Province) in 202 BC. The Han army set up an ambush formation from all sides, thus completely defeating the Chu army and forcing Xiang Yu to commit suicide in the Wujiang River. It is composed by concentrating and summarizing historical facts. The decisive battle at Gaixia is a famous battle in the history of our country. The pipa song "Ambush from Flying Daggers" brilliantly uses musical means to express the fierce battle conditions of this ancient war, showing the world a vivid and touching picture of the ancient battlefield. 6. "Sunset Drums" This is a lyrical and freehand piece of music with a beautiful and smooth melody. Various pipa techniques are used in the performance. In terms of musical form, the whole song is developed using techniques such as expansion, contraction, local increase and decrease, and changes in high and low ranges. This song is widely circulated and is one of the representative works of ancient pipa music. The earliest copy of the score dates from 1875. Around 1925, Shanghai Datong Music Society adapted this piece into a silk and bamboo music piece, "Spring River Flower Moonlight Night". It is like a long scroll, combining colorful scenes, through movement and stillness, distance and nearness, emotion and scenery. The combination makes the whole music rich in layers, the climax is prominent, and the poetic and picturesque expression expressed in the music is fascinating. 7. "Questions and Answers for Fishermen and Woodcutters" "Questions and Answers for Fishermen and Woodcutters" is a famous guqin song that has been circulated for hundreds of years. It reflects the yearning of a reclusive person for the life of a fisherman and woodcutter, hoping to get rid of the fetters of the worldly world. The music is vivid and precise. The music expresses disdain for those who pursue fame and fortune through the fishermen and woodcutters enjoying themselves among the green mountains and green waters. The music adopts the form of a dialogue between fishermen and woodcutter, and the theme is concentrated and refined. The ascending melody is used to express questions, and the descending melody is used to express answers. The melody is elegant and unrestrained, depicting the fisherman and woodcutter's leisurely and contented manner in the green mountains and green waters. The sound of chopping wood or rocking oars occasionally appears in the music, which vividly reminds people of the life of fishermen and woodcutter. 8. "Eighteen Beats of Hujia" The guqin music "Eighteen Beats of Hujia" is a guqin piece based on the narrative poem of the same name that has been circulated since the Han Dynasty. It is an outstanding classical piece in the history of Chinese music. The author of the original poem is said to be Cai Wenji, but there is no record in the "Book of the Later Han: Biography of Cai Yan", so it is difficult to make a conclusion. His music was passed down to people of the Tang Dynasty. The whole song has eighteen sections, using the three modes of Gong, Zheng and Yu. The contrast and development of the music are clear and divided into two levels. The first ten beats mainly describe the author's longing for his hometown when he was in Hu Di; On the first level, it expresses the author's hidden pain and sorrow at bidding farewell to his childishness. The music tells the tragic experience of Cai Yan's life in a very touching melody, reflects the profound disasters brought by the war to the people, and expresses the protagonist's deep thoughts about the motherland and homeland, as well as the painful feelings of separation from flesh and blood. It was praised by Guo Moruo as "the most admirable long lyric poem since Qu Yuan's "Li Sao"." 9. "Autumn Moon in the Han Palace" In traditional Chinese music, there are many phenomena of different songs with the same name, and different songs with the same name. The historical origins and evolution of various versions of music often require arduous research. For example, "Autumn Moon in the Han Palace" has different versions including pipa music, erhu music, guzheng music, and Jiangnan silk and bamboo music. This piece of music has evolved from one instrument score into different scores, and has been recreated using different artistic methods to create different musical images. This is a common situation in the spread of folk instrumental music. The music expresses the sadness and sorrow of ancient palace ladies and a helpless, lonely and cold artistic conception of life. 10. "White Snow in Yangchun" "White Snow in Yangchun" was originally the title of two profound songs from the Chu State during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, namely "Yangchun" and "White Snow". They were written by the famous singer and dancer Mochou Nu of Chu State (surnamed Lu, given name Mochou). Yingzhou Shicheng (now Zhongxiang, Hubei Province) was sung with the help of Qu Yuan and Song Yu, and it has a history of more than 2,000 years. "Yangchun" and "White Snow" in the existing piano scores are two instrumental pieces of music. It is said that they were composed by Shi Kuang of Jin State or Liu Juanzi of Qi State during the Spring and Autumn Period. There is no precise historical data to explain the age of the music. In the second year of Xianqing's reign (657) in the Tang Dynasty, Lu Cai composed lyrics based on old music played on the qin. "Miraculous Secret Book" said in its explanation: ""Yangchun" takes the meaning of all things knowing spring and the gentle breeze; "White Snow" takes the sound of awe-inspiring cleanness and the dazzling snow and bamboo." Later, it generally refers to advanced and unconventional literature and art. .