Tang Daqu and Yanyue

Tang daqu joined instrumental music, song and dance into a multi-section suite, the peak of yanyue whose music survives only in fragments.

Related

DaquYanyue (Banquet Music)PipaXuangong (Rotating the Gong)

Time and place

Between the seventh and ninth centuries, in Chang'an and Luoyang. Daqu was performed at court banquets and noble houses, presented by institutions such as the Jiaofang and Liyuan. It peaked under Xuanzong; after the An Lushan rebellion musicians scattered, and many pieces were lost or reached Japan.

What happened

A daqu usually had three parts. Sanxu was a free instrumental prelude; zhongxu settled into metre and song; po quickened, dancers entered, and the end could accelerate further. Song, dance, instruments and several tunes formed one suite, often absorbing Central Asian pipa, jiegu drum, and Sogdian whirl and leap dances.

Musical features

Yanyue used seven-note scales and multiple modes, with pipa prominent and drums marking sections. Excerpts, or zhaibian, were later detached and became tune sources for Song ci, narrative song and opera. No complete Tang daqu score survives; research draws on Japanese Togaku, Dunhuang pipa scores, Song notes and poems by Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen.

What to listen for

Begin with Yangguan Sandie, a later qin song on Wang Wei's poem, not a daqu, but one that lets poem and melody lengthen each other. Then hear Shaanxi Liangzhou Ci and Jiangsu Yumeiren, later folk songs carrying Tang titles or Jiaofang tune names. Listen for the title and pentatonic links, not Tang sound.

Common misunderstandings

A common claim is that the score of Nishang Yuyi survives, or that yanyue was simply foreign music. Tang survivals are fragments and later reconstructions; yanyue was a long fusion of Central Plains and Central Asian practice, not a transplant.

Sources

• 《中国音乐词典》编辑部编，中国音乐词典（人民音乐出版社）— 条目与年代核对，未引用
• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., entry "China" — framework and dates checked, not quoted

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.