Yayue

• Chinese: 雅楽 (yǎyuè)

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 and 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.

Origins and History

According to early Han dynasty historian Sima Qian (c. 145 – c. 86 BC), yǎyuè was originally developed as part of a broader construction of a system of ritual or etiquette (礼 C: lǐ) which would control and order the court, the broader society, and the realm as a whole. Characterizing the preceding Shang Dynasty as having wallowed in sensual pleasures, Sima Qian and other ancient writers suggest that the Zhou explicitly aimed to avoid excessive decadence and to design music, rituals, and patterns of etiquette that would be functional, "maintaining social order and consolidating the divine right of kings." Different sizes or scales of yǎyuè ensembles were deemed appropriate depending on the context, with the largest ensembles being restricted to imperial court ceremonies alone, and nobles or officials being obligated to host or employ only smaller ensembles for their own occasions.

As early as the Spring and Autumn Period (c. 771-450 BCE), yǎyuè is believed to have already been in decline as a style of music enjoyed by members of the court. While it grew ever more static, systematized, and formal, members of the court turned to new styles of music for entertainment. It came to have even more exclusively a functional purpose, as an integral part of the solemnity and dignity of court ceremonies, enhancing the dignity of the emperor, maintaining social order, and so forth through the creation of a ritual atmosphere. According to some scholars, yǎyuè had already lost its "musicality" or "musical vitality" by this point in time.

References

• Chia-Ying Yeh, "The Revival and Restoration of Ryukyuan Court Music, Uzagaku: Classification and Performance Techniques, Language Usage, and Transmission," PhD thesis, University of Sheffield (2018), 11-