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''Yǎyuè'' is traditional ritual music of the Chinese imperial court. Said to have been developed under the [[Duke of Zhou]] c. 1058 BCE in the early years of the legendary ancient [[Zhou Dynasty]], ''yǎyuè'' developed by the [[Sui dynasty|Sui]] and [[Tang dynasty|Tang dynasties]] into a standard traditional form, used in formal court ceremonies, and was adopted into Korean tradition as ''[[aak]]'' and into Japan as ''[[gagaku]]''.
''Yǎyuè'' is traditional ritual music of the Chinese imperial court. Said to have been developed under the [[Duke of Zhou]] c. 1058 BCE in the early years of the legendary ancient [[Zhou Dynasty]], ''yǎyuè'' developed by the [[Sui dynasty|Sui]] and [[Tang dynasty|Tang dynasties]] into a standard traditional form, used in formal court ceremonies, and was adopted into Korean tradition as ''[[aak]]'' and into Japan as ''[[gagaku]]''.
Distinct from music played for entertainment at court banquets (燕楽, ''yàn yuè''), ''yǎyuè'' was performed as part of the ceremonies of an Emperor's ritual sacrifices to Heaven, or to the Imperial ancestors, as well as in imperial weddings, funerals, and certain other highly ritualized events, and had to be performed in precisely correct tones, as a part of maintaining the proper cosmic order. Confucian court advisors worked hard to maintain the court's instruments in the correct tuning, and at various times in history debated as to the correct tones.<ref>Christian Meyer, "Negotiating Rites in Imperial China: The Case of the Northern Song Court Ritual Debates from 1034 to 1093," in Ute Husken and Frank Neubert (eds.), ''Negotiating Rites'', Oxford University Press (2011), 101.</ref>
==Origins and History==
==Origins and History==