Category: Culture/Art gt; gt; Instrumental Music/Vocal Music
Analysis:
"Ambush from Flying Daggers" is a famous large-scale pipa song with majestic momentum Passionate and distinctive artistic image. It is the pinnacle of pipa martial arts. It has a complete structure and uses musical narrative techniques to perfectly express the famous Chu-Han War in ancient and modern times. Pipa's playing techniques are fully utilized in this piece, and the exciting melody It makes the listeners excited and excited. To this day, "Ambush from Flying Daggers" is one of the most popular pipa pieces in various types of concerts. In 1997, our country held a large-scale literary evening "Ode to the Return" at the Great Hall of the People to welcome the return of Hong Kong. The famous pipa player Liu Dehai played excerpts of this pipa song at the party, demonstrating the immortal charm of this classical piece.
Pipa music is divided into two categories, namely literary music and martial arts music. This is mainly divided according to the difference in spiritual temperament, similar to the difference between masculine beauty and soft beauty. "Ten Faces" is a representative work of martial arts.
This piece of music is based on the decisive battle between Chu and Han in Gaixia (now southeast of Lingbi County, Anhui Province) in 202 BC. The Han army set up an ambush formation from all sides and completely defeated the Chu army. The army forced Xiang Yu to commit suicide in Wujiang River, which is a concentrated summary and composition of the historical fact.
The decisive battle at Gaixia is a famous battle in the history of our country. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang's Han army and Xiang Yu's Chu army launched a struggle to conquer the Central Plains and dominate the world. By 202 BC, the Chu and Han sides had been engaged in a war that lasted several years. By the time of the decisive battle at Gaixia, Liu Bang surrounded Xiang Yu's 100,000 men with an absolute superiority of 300,000 troops. Late at night, Zhang Liang played the flute and the soldiers sang Chu songs, which made the Chu army feel desperate and forced Xiang Yu to break out with 800 cavalry overnight. The Han army pursued with 5,000 cavalry, and finally a duel began by the Wu River. Xiang Yu drew his sword and committed suicide because he was outnumbered. , the Han army achieved a brilliant victory. The pipa song "Ambush from Flying Daggers" brilliantly uses musical means to express the fierce battle conditions of this ancient war. It is a vivid and touching sound and picture of the ancient battlefield.
As early as the end of the 16th century, Wang Youding of the Ming Dynasty recorded in his book "Sizhaotang Ji" that Tang Ying, a famous pipa player at that time, played the song "Chu and Han" vividly. The article reads: "In "A Song of Chu and Han", when the two armies were dueling, the sound shook the heaven and the earth, and the tiled houses were like flying down. When I looked at it slowly, I heard the sound of gold, drums, swords and crossbows, and the sound of men and horses fighting for a long time. , those who are resentful and difficult to understand are the songs of Chu; those who are sad and strong are the voices of King Xiang's tragic songs and generous voices, Farewell My Concubine; there are the sounds of chasing horses when they fall into Daze; when they reach Wujiang River, there are the sounds of King Xiang committing suicide; the remaining riders are trampling and fighting for King Xiang. The sound makes the listener excited at the beginning, sad at the same time, and helpless to cry at the end. It is so touching." This passage shows that the content, structure and musical image of "Ambush from Flying Daggers" are similar to the song "Chu Han". The descriptions are generally consistent, proving that it has been around for a very long time.
The earliest record of "Ambush from Ten Sides" is in the volume of "Pipa Music" compiled by Yu Hua Qiuping (from Wuxi, Jiangsu) published in 1818. It is titled "Ten Sides" and marked as Wang Junxi of Zhili According to the score, the whole song is divided into thirteen sections, with subtitles before each section:
(1) Open the door and fire cannons (2) Play (3) Point generals (4) Line up (5) Ambush (6) Small battle (7) Scream (8) Big battle (9) Defeat (10) Wujiang (11) Struggle for merit (12) Triumphant song (13) Return to camp
Compiled by Li Fangyuan, 1895 (Qing Dynasty) In the 21st year of Guangxu's reign (21st year of Guangxu Period), the "New Score of Thirteen Daqu Pipa Scores of the Northern and Southern Schools" was published and it was renamed "Huaiyin Pingchu". Divided into eighteen sections. The popular scores of "House of Flying Daggers" handed down by various schools are divided into different sections, ranging from nine sections to as many as twenty-four sections. But no matter how many sections there are, the musical content is roughly the same.
The pipa song "Ambush from Flying Daggers" adopts the traditional Chinese large-scale suite structure. The popular full song has thirteen short paragraphs, each with a very general title.
These titles are: 1. Forming the camp; 2. Playing the music; 3. Pointing the generals; 4. Forming the formation; 5. Marching in formation; 6. Ambush; 7. The small battle at Jiming Mountain; 8. The battle at Jiuli Mountain; 9. King Xiang Defeated; 10. Wujiang committed suicide; 11. All armies performed in triumph; 12. Generals competed for merit; 13. Victorious and returned to camp.
The whole song can be divided into three parts.
The first part describes the Han army's pre-war exercises, ordering generals, formations, and preparations before the war. It focuses on showing the mighty and majestic Han army lineup. The music is high-spirited and powerful, accompanied by the sound of drums and horns. The drums gradually speed up, creating a tense atmosphere before the war. The first part*** includes the first five short sections
"Lie Ying" is actually the introduction to the whole song. The rhythm is relatively free and varied. At the beginning, the "turn whisk" technique was used to take the lead, exaggerating the strong atmosphere of war. The sonorous and powerful rhythm is like the exciting sound of war drums, and the long and high-pitched sound is like the sound of horns that shake the valley, vividly depicting the unique sound of drums and horns on the battlefield. Since then, various expression techniques have been used to express spectacular scenes such as the roar of people, the beating of drums, the firing of military artillery, and the galloping of cavalry, which appropriately summarizes the intense and intense typical environment of ancient battlefields.
"Blow and Beat" is the only passage with strong melody and rich lyrical flavor in the whole song. The long tones played by the pipa with its round fingers imitate the tones of marching music played by ancient wind instruments. This period of music is very similar to the magnificent scene of the ancient march with the sound of pipes and pipes, depicting the image of the well-disciplined Han army marching from far to near, marching with great strides. This piece of music has a commanding spirit in shaping the artistic image of the music.
The three paragraphs of "point general", "arrangement" and "walking in line" have some changes and choices in actual performance. Their common characteristics are the neat and compact rhythm and the elastic jump of tones, which express the high morale of Liu Bang's Han army before the battle, the rapid change of formation during the drill and the vigorous pace of the soldiers. The methodical structural arrangement of the music makes the emotional development step by step, which fully pave the way for the transition to the fierce battle scene.
The second part describes the battle between Chu and Han, where swords flashed and swords flashed. It is the main part of the music. The music is changeable and the rhythm is rapid. The playing, sweeping, wheeling, twisting, rolling, shaking and other techniques are continuously used to describe the fierce killing and fighting, which is earth-shattering and touching.
The second part includes three short paragraphs six, seven and eight.
The music of "Ambush" and the artistic conception it depicts are very unique. It uses relaxing rhythmic sound patterns to model the developing melody, creating a tense and terrifying atmosphere. It gives people a gloomy feeling of ambushes everywhere under the cover of night, approaching the Chu army mysteriously.
In "The Little Battle at Jiming Mountain", the pipa uses the unique "brake string" technique to vividly show the scene of a small-scale battle between the two sides. "The sound made by the brake string is not a pure musical sound, but an effect containing metallic sound, like swords, guns, swords and halberds striking each other. The gradually increasing speed and the up and down progression of the melody make the mood more tense.
"The Battle of Jiuli Mountain" is the climax of the whole music. In this section, the musician uses a variety of pipa techniques to depict the shouts of thousands of troops and the earth-shattering fierce battles with swords and swords, and the pipa is very good at simulating the sound of the fierce battle. Excellent, it makes people feel as if they are on the scene, and has a strong appeal. The whole music depicts the conflict between the Chu and Han armies. At this point, the victory or defeat has been decided and the conflict has been resolved.
The third part includes. In the last five short paragraphs, the first two paragraphs describe Xiang Yu's suicide by the Wujiang River after his failure. The low musical atmosphere is in sharp contrast with the previous lyrics. Among them, the melody of "Wujiang Suicide" is sad and tragic, shaping the style of Xiang Yu's generous tragic song. Artistic image. The last three paragraphs describe various scenes of the Han army appearing as a victor. However, current performances are generally abridged. Some omit the entire third part, and some delete the last three paragraphs for the purpose of "all armies triumphant". Keep the mood of the music focused and avoid verbosity.
Recently, some experts believe that "Ten Faces" is not necessarily about the Chu-Han War in 202 BC. Music Publishing House (1987 edition) believes that the production of this song should be during the historical period of the Ming Dynasty's Frontier War. One reason is that the main melody has the visible characteristics of Erbei Xinjiang's classical music (the mode with a flat seventh and the connection between the tune); the second reason is that there is the sound of artillery in the first paragraph, and artillery is used in military affairs It should not be earlier than the late Song Dynasty. Not only did the Chu-Han conflict lack artillery, but even the Sui Dynasty that Li Fangyuan pretended to have had no artillery.