In the era when word style was incorporated into music, word tune was the music used to sing lyrics and was the musical form in which word style existed. It is necessary to have a clear and dialectical understanding of the musical style represented by the tone of words. On the one hand, it is not as some researchers say, "Everyone can turn the sound of words into music and melody based on their own timbre, range and singing talent, the language they master, and their understanding of the meaning of words." , “Not only does every word of the same tune sound different when written and sung differently; the same word and work are sung differently by different people; and the same word and work are sung differently by the same person at different times and on different occasions.” (Luo Di’s "Symbol Structure" , Zhonghua Book Company 2009 edition). Because if this is true, the existence of tone will lose its fundamental meaning, and naturally it will be impossible to have a historical concept of "tone". The mistake in this statement is that "singing" in Tang and Song poetry is mistaken for "free singing". The latter has certainly existed for a long time and is important in the history of Chinese music and literature, but it is by no means the mainstream singing method in Tang and Song poetry. On the other hand, it cannot have the same fixed pitch, rhythm, melody, speed, intensity, and strength as the score of today's songs. Because that was something that only happened after Western music was introduced to China. Ancient Chinese music did not pursue or achieve such a level of sophistication, but moved towards a freer and more freehand path. The difference between the two is just like the focused perspective in Western painting and the scattered perspective in Chinese painting. The only music scores corresponding to Song Dynasty Ci and Music that have been handed down to this day are the seventeen side scores recorded in Jiang Kui's "Songs of Taoist Baishi". However, the records are so simple that many researchers often lament that Song Dynasty Ci and Music are difficult to restore. This is also From one aspect, it illustrates the musical rigor of lyrics in Song Dynasty.
During the Tang and Song dynasties, the tone of words spread extremely widely, and changes were bound to occur during the spread. It is hard to imagine that in terms of region, from Xixia in the west to Goryeo in the east, Liu Ci, which is widely sung, remains unchanged; in terms of time, from the late Tang and Five Dynasties to the Northern Song Dynasty, "Huanxisha" can completely inherit the original singing method. From this point of view, although the name of the tune (the name of the tune) is fixed, the musical form represented by the tune can only be a basically stable and relatively flexible outline of rhythm and melody, which is in a dialectical unity of change and immutability. Song people once called this kind of music form "qiang", "qiangzi" and "qiangdiao":
Jinggong Yun: Ancient singers all have words first and then sound, so it is said: "Poetry expresses ambition, and song expresses ambition." Yongyan, sound depends on Yong, rhythm and harmony. "Nowadays, the tune is written first and then the lyrics are written, but it is "Yongyi sound." (Volume 7 of "Hou Xiaolu")
When the ancients wrote poems, they only expressed what was in their hearts. When he speaks it, people will sing his poems. The clarity and turbidity of his voice will depend on the language of his poems, but the rhythm will be used to harmonize his voice. Nowadays, people first arrange the tone, and then use the language to match the tone. Isn’t it wrong! (Volume 78 of "Zhu Zi Yu Lei")
It can be clearly seen that "qiangzi" and "qiangdiao" refer to the pre-existing music. Another example is what Hu Zai of the Song Dynasty said: "The old words are elegant and unparalleled in modern times. For example, I don't know who wrote the word "Flapping Butterflies". Not only is the beauty of the algae delightful, but its tone is also beautiful." ("Tiaoxi Yuyincong") (Volume 39 of the Later Collection of "Hua") Among them, the "tone" of "Yi Zi Wan Mei" can only be compared with the words of "The algae are beautiful and gratifying", that is, it refers to music.
Zheng Xuan of the Han Dynasty believed: "The name "Yi" has three meanings: one is easy and simple, the other is easy, and the third is difficult." (Quoted from "Zhengyi Preface" ) "Tone", that is, the tone of poetry in Tang and Song Dynasties, also has the characteristics of these three aspects. The so-called "easy and simple" means that compared with the interpretation after singing, it is originally just a relatively simple outline of the music melody. The so-called "change" means that it will take on different appearances in terms of lining, rhythm, timbre, etc. as different singers perform. The so-called "not easy" means that although it changes, it cannot break away from the established basic melody, so it also has a fixed key name. This is very similar to the situation of calligraphy, another traditional art category in China. Different calligraphers can change the same word according to their own artistic personality when writing it. If they stick to the rules and follow the steps of their predecessors, they will be ridiculed as "Lin Tie". But no matter how it changes, what is written can only be this character and not create a new character. It can be said that "it remains true to its original origin regardless of changes." To borrow the words of Zen Buddhism, thousands of rivers reflect the moon, and the moon of thousands of rivers is only one month. The musical form represented by the tone of words is the same as calligraphy, and both are manifestations of the spirit of traditional Chinese art.
Specifically, the stability of the "tone" ensures the existence of the word style, and the flexibility of the "tone" creates many possibilities for adding or deleting words when writing words according to the tune. This is exactly the reason why many lyricists, musicians and singers This leaves room for free play, and also makes the multi-body phenomenon of one tune widespread.
Precisely because the melody represents a basically fixed and relatively flexible melody outline, changing and adjusting this melody may produce a new melody. "People in the Song Dynasty are good at rhythm. Whenever they encounter an old tune, they often add or delete it as they please to create a new tune." (Volume 13 of "Ci Pu") There is a derivative relationship between the two tones of "old tune" and "new tune" or Say it's a kinship relationship. The techniques of "stealing sound", "subtracting characters" and "spreading" in the lyrics are to add and subtract syllables and then use the old tune to generate a new song. Another example is "Xinghua Tianying" and "Ruihe Xianying" in Jiang Kui's collection of poems. Xia Chengtao said about "Xinghua Tianying": "The rhythm of this poem is only more "to be gone" and "sunset" than "Xinghua Tian". The two short sentences are similar to Baishi's self-titled song "Desolate Prisoner", which is similar to "Ruihe Xian". It is still in a new tune and named "Shadow", which almost started from Ouyang Xiu's "Liu Zi". "The Shadow of He Shengchao" and "The Shadow of Yu Mei" are almost not completely consistent, so some shadows of them are preserved? It is adapted based on the existing tone of the word, so there is an obvious connection between the tone and name. In Song lyrics, there are also cases where old songs are renovated and then given new names. There is no literal connection between the two names. For example, Zhou Mi's "Cai Lv Yin" was adapted from "Sai Yuan Chun", and its word sequence reads:
In Jiazixia, Xia Weng (citer's note: referring to Yang Zuan) Hui Yin Society's friends fled The summer heat is in the green surroundings of the West Lake. Qin Zun studied the pen, wore a short Ge towel, and put the boat deep in the lotus among the dense willows. The dancing shadows and singing dust are far away from the eyes and ears. Drinking heavily, picking lotus leaves, exploring topics and composing poems. I got "Sai Yuan Chun". Weng translated the numbers and played it on a short flute.
"Changing the numbers in the score" means changing the sounds corresponding to several words. The resulting "Cai Lv Yin" is a new song, so it has a new name.
As long as it is widely sung, the tone of lyrics will inevitably adjust itself to adapt to the requirements of different singing, and it will be in a dynamic, developing and changing process. Only when lyrics are completely separated from music and completely transformed from "music on the field" to "text on the desk" can its institutional form be finally fixed. "Coffin conclusion", these four words may be used to evaluate the tone of words. People in the Tang Dynasty were good at composing poems, but in the poetry style of the Tang Dynasty, format descriptions such as "平平廄廄平平廄" were rarely seen; people in the Song Dynasty were good at writing lyrics, and there were also few works on lyrics and rhymes in the Song Dynasty. The reason for this is worth pondering.
What needs to be analyzed in depth is the issue of Pingqi. The lyrics with the same tone have a certain universal flat and oblique format, which is the word spectrum summarized by later generations. There are two opposing explanations for this phenomenon. One kind of view is that the lyrics are "determined according to the music, divided into pieces according to the musical sections, rhymed according to the rhythm of the words, the sentences are determined according to the beats of the music, and the words are carefully selected according to the pronunciation" (Wu Xionghe, "General Theory of Tang and Song Ci", Commercial Press, 2003 edition), That is to say, the music melody determines the level of the words, and changing the level will naturally affect the singing. The other believes that words are "transformed into melody according to the sounds of words" ("Composition of Word Style"), that is, the four tones of flat and oblique tones are transformed into musical melody, which is close to the "according to words and tune" in Kunqu opera and other operas. Both of these statements have some truth, because both situations actually exist in Song lyrics singing, but they are still not comprehensive enough.
Songs include both music and lyrics. In addition to the so-called "sounds of nature" that the primitive ancestors and working people sang casually, the music melody and text content always have a sequence of production. For example, in the creation of modern songs, you either write lyrics first and then the music, or you compose the music first and then the lyrics. Judging from the historical data of music in the Tang and Song Dynasties, there were three ways to coordinate Ci and music at that time: selecting Ci and music, composing music for Ci, and filling in Ci according to the music. As far as the selection of words and music is concerned, the selected words are not required to have a certain fixed flat format, but are quite arbitrary. The inclusion of Qijue in the Tang Dynasty fully illustrates this point. As far as composing music for words is concerned, "the adaptation of tune to tone can only be a general adaptation of musicality", "rather than an adaptation of rigid imitation" (Yu Huiyong, "Research on the Relationship between Tune and Words", Central Conservatory of Music Press 2008 edition), there is no possibility that the tone completely determines the melody line. If you over-exaggerate the "according to words", you will "more or less ignore the restrictive effects of other aspects" (Liu Zhengwei, "Chinese Ethnic Music Morphology", Southwest Normal University Press, 2007 edition).
In the strict sense, writing words according to music, which is what later generations call "writing words according to tune", did not originate in the Tang Dynasty, but had been used as early as the Liang Dynasty. There is such a record in "Ancient and Modern Music Records":
In the winter of the eleventh year of Liang Tianjian, Emperor Wu changed the Western music and composed fourteen pieces of "Jiangnan Shangyun Yue" and seven pieces of "Jiangnan Lane": one is " "Jiangnan Lane", the second is "Dragon Flute Song", the third is "Lotus Picking Song", the fourth is "Phoenix Flute Song", the fifth is "Cai Ling Song", the sixth is "Young Girl Song", the seventh is "Chaoyun Song" 》. Shen Yue also composed four pieces of music: the first is "Zhao Se Qu", the second is "Qin Zheng Qu", the third is "Yangchun Qu", and the fourth is "Chaoyun Qu", also known as "Jiangnan Nong" Yun. (Quote from Volume 5 of "Collection of Yuefu Poems")
The seven songs of "Jiangnan Nong" composed by Xiao Yan, Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty, are essentially seven lyrics written around the music "Jiangnan Nong", and the same is true for Shen Yue's composition , Guo Maoqian's "Collection of Yuefu Poems" calls them "Seven Poems of "Jiangnan Lane"" and "Four Poems of "Jiangnan Lane"" respectively. Lotus Song" was also titled "Three Songs from "Jiangnan Lane"". Let's take a look at Xiao Yan's "Jiangnan Lane", Xiao Gang's "Jiangnan Song" and Shen Yue's "Yangchun Song":
The forest is full of variegated flowers, and the trees are green and light. Join hands to dance in the heart of spring. Dance in the heart of spring, and be plump in the new year. The middle man looks at him, but he hesitates alone.
Spring returns on the branches and on the water, and the Yang Yang sweeps the ground and the peach blossoms fly. The breeze blows people's clothes. The sun shines on the clothes, and the scene is approaching sunset. Throw gold and keep guests.
Willows hang down on the ground and Yanchachi ponds, keeping silent and forbearing to think about Luo Rongyi. The string is broken and the song is full of resentment. The heart knows itself, but no one can see it. Move the skirt and move the pearl palace. (Volume 5 of "Collection of Yuefu Poems")
These fourteen lyrics "are similar in structure to Ci, but are variations of Yuefu style" (Volume 1 of Jiang Shunyi's Collection of Ci Studies). They belong to the "Qing Shang Qu Ci" and are based on Qing Shang music. Later, Qing Shang music was included in the "Ten Music" during the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, and was regarded as an integral part of Yan music (see "History of Song Dynasty·Le Zhi" for details). The sentence patterns of these lyrics are exactly the same, and they are typical lyrics written according to music. This is not much different from the "sentences based on music and beats" in the late Tang Dynasty, but there is no unified flat and oblique format. Later, "Ji Liaodong" written by Emperor Yang and Wang Zhou of the Sui Dynasty belongs to the "modern quci". "Modern quci" is more closely related to the ci. "Recalling Jiangnan" by Bai Juyi and others, "Reminiscences in the Palace" by Wei Yingwu and others " is the representative of literati poetry in the mid-Tang Dynasty and is included in the "Modern Song Ci". "Ji Liaodong" can be regarded as the origin of "quci", and its situation is similar to "Jiangnan Lane" in the Liang Dynasty. Until the Tang Dynasty's Dunhuang tunes and lyrics, it was difficult to say that the works of the same tune had the same flat and oblique format.
From ancient ballads to the Book of Songs to the Han Dynasty Yuefu, poetry mainly exists in the form of songs. After the separation of poetry and music, Tu poetry came into being. In order to pursue their own musical beauty, Tu Shi began to pay special attention to the coordination of the four tones, so the "Yongming style" was born, which then evolved into the rhythmic poetry of the Tang Dynasty. In a fundamental sense, poetic rhythm is the product of the separation of poetry and music. With the input of Yan music and the singing of poetry, the recombination of poetry and music gave birth to tunes and lyrics, and the freezing of tunes and lyrics finally gave rise to the rhythm of lyrics, which is the product of the recombination of poetry and music. Although it is helpful to harmonize the tone, level and even the four tones, it is a one-sided exaggeration to think that there is a decisive relationship between the two. Mao Guangsheng believed in "Four Tones of Hook and Shen" published in 1941: "Purine singing can only resist falling. If it is broken or continued, there is no sentence to read, so the sentence can be broken. Silk and bamboo only have Gong Chi, which is high or low, and there is no level. , so the level can be moved." ("Collection of Maoheting's Poetry and Music", Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 1992) has already clearly pointed out that there is only a rough correspondence between the tone of the lyrics and the lyrics, and the adaptation of the lyrics to the tone of the lyrics exists. Freedom and flexibility.
As for the style and rhythm of words summarized in the word scores of the Ming and Qing dynasties, its origin was indeed due to the coordination of words and music, but it was mostly due to the imitation of the works of classic writers. For example, the preface to "Jie Yu Hua" written by Zhou Mi says: "The Yu tune "Jie Yu Hua" has a graceful and graceful sound, and the music is composed but the words are lost. It has been sunny for several days, the scenery is beautiful, the thoughts are sultry, and the flowers are drunkenly twisted, and the sentences are composed by relying on the sound. "Obviously, Zhou Mi's "relying on sound to form a sentence" only appeared on the premise of "having a score but not using words", so he explained it in detail in the word order. It can be inferred from this record that poets in the Song Dynasty actually wrote lyrics based on other people's words as samples in many cases. This form of imitation is somewhat similar to the lingge in the drinking orders of the Tang Dynasty, and the most common flat and oblique format is its natural product.
For example, Zhou Bangyan once standardized the tone of his lyrics, and his lyrics were known for their neatness. Naturally, most of the poems written by people in the Song Dynasty imitated Zhou's lyrics. According to Zhang Yan's "Etymology", Yang Zuan wrote the book "Zhou Fa Zhou Meicheng Ci", which obviously used halal Ci as a model.
After the poetry and music of the Yuan Dynasty were lost, later generations could only write lyrics based on the works of the Tang and Song Dynasties. The fixed oblique format summarized in word scores is indeed universal, but it is not necessarily the case because of music requirements. On the contrary, the fundamental reason for this kind of imitation often lies in the relative lack of musical talent of the later author. During the Song and Song Dynasties, there were many literati who wrote lyrics, but those who were proficient in music were only a minority. For most literati, the shortcut to writing lyrics is to imitate those beautiful and widely sung works of famous artists. This approach has two origins: First, writing lyrics, like composing Yuefu poems, originally used fixed tune names as titles. Secondly, "mimicry" occupies a particularly important position in the literature of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties, and was still relatively common in the Tang and Song Dynasties. Then, this imitation of lyrics can also be seen as a transition from "using its title" to "imitating its style". Because during the Song Dynasty, there were no later Ci poetry books handed down, and it was impossible for literati to generally understand the music and compose lyrics according to music. However, now it is indeed possible to summarize the flat and oblique formats from Song Ci poems. The most likely reason is imitation. A careful examination of the origin of "filling words according to tune" can support this conclusion.
"Book of Jin·Le Zhi" says: "In the Han Dynasty, there was a piece of music called "Short Xiaozi Song", which was listed in the propaganda section and mostly described battle formations. When the Wei Dynasty was ordered to change its twelve songs, Miao Xi of Cao Wei changed the Han Dynasty's short flute song to Wei Dynasty. "Twelve pieces of drum music" and re-composed lyrics for them. After that, Wei Zhao of the State of Wu also changed the twelve pieces of music into "Wu Drum and Drum Music" and wrote the lyrics. The purpose was to show that he inherited the orthodoxy of the Han Dynasty. Many of the Yuefu poems written by Wei Zhao have exactly the same number of words and sentences as those written by Miao Xi. For example, the Han song "Sibei Weng" was renamed "Battle at Xingyang" by Miao Xi, and "Ji of Han" by Wei Zhao. They are both named after the first sentence. The full text is as follows:
Battle at Xingyang, Bian Shuipei. The soldiers were angry and galloped through their armor. Chen Weicheng retreated to Xu Xing. Twenty thousand cavalry, the trench is flat. The soldiers and horses were injured, and the six armies were shocked. If the momentum is not gathered, the crowd will fall. The day is gone and the time is dark. Gu Zhongmou, heart screen camp. The alliance is doubtful and the plan fails. Thanks to me, Emperor Wu, all nations will be at peace.
Dong Zhuo was in chaos during the Han Dynasty. Huan Huan was strong and strong, and he was in accordance with the times. Volunteer soldiers flourished and cloud flags were built. Li Liushi, Luo Ba formation. Feiming dysprosium, pick up the white blade. The light cavalry is sent out, and the warriors are vigorous. The ugly prisoners were shaken and the crowd dispersed. Robbed the Han lord and moved to the West Hall. The hero is angry and evil. The illustrious emperor is famous for his fame. (Volume 18 of "Collection of Yuefu Poems")
The format of words and sentences in the two works is exactly the same, "Of the twenty sentences, eighteen sentences have three characters, and two sentences have four characters" (Volume 1 of "Collection of Yuefu Poems") eight). In addition, there are several other capitals in the same situation. Even "Tongjingmen", which is more than a hundred words long, has the same format as Miao Xi's "Pingnanjing" (for details, see Xiao Difei's "History of Yuefu Literature in the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties"). This case illustrates two points. First, the step-by-step and consistent wording method originated from pseudo-writing, which is similar to the pseudo-style in poetry of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties. This practice was rare in the Six Dynasties period. After sufficient attempts in the Tang Dynasty, it finally became popular in the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties. Secondly, the lyrics should be written according to the same music, and the same flat format is by no means a necessary condition. Because there was no such concept in the Three Kingdoms period, let alone such a practice.
"Ancient and Modern Music Records" says: "The author of "The Season of the Han Dynasty" said that Sun Jian mourned the decline of the Han Dynasty, deplored Dong Zhuo's rebellion, mobilized troops to attack, and made great achievements throughout the country. When the Han Dynasty "Sibei Weng" ." ("Yuefu Poetry Collection" Volume 18 Quotation) "Dang" is the term for Yuefu Poetry, and its meaning is the same as "Dai". Based on this, we have a new understanding of He Zhu's practice of changing the tone of words in the Song Dynasty. He Zhu often changed the name of the lyrics according to the meaning of the words, such as changing "Partridge Sky" to "Half-Dead Tong". In the past, commentators often thought that it was just He Zhu's deliberate and surprising approach, but in fact it had its own origin. We can also infer that people in the Song Dynasty actually used a lot of the same imitative writing methods as Wei Zhao when writing lyrics. To this. Xiao Difei has an excellent discussion:
According to the correct previous form and following the old chapter, there is no need to seek the tone itself, but the strings and pipes that are easy to play can be used to coordinate with the singing voice. Therefore, the more people who write lyrics, the fewer people who know the music. The more refined the technique of writing lyrics, the weaker the ability to create tunes. This can be seen from looking at the two Song dynasties. However, there is no shortage of writers in the world, but there are only a few who know music. It is very difficult to do onomatopoeia, and it is easy to write lyrics, so it is inevitable that this method will become popular in the future.
("History of Yuefu Literature in the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties", People's Literature Publishing House, 2011 edition)
From the above, it can be seen that the relationship between the morphology of the lexicon, the name of the lexicon, the tone of the lexicon, and the composition of the lexicon are far more complex than at present. What we know is much richer and more complex. This may be a breakthrough for in-depth study of Ci studies. This article only attempts to raise relevant issues and looks forward to further research in the academic community.
(Author’s unit: School of Liberal Arts, South China Normal University)