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Gujin yuelu 古今樂錄

Sep 20, 2023 © Ulrich Theobald

Gujin yuelu 古今樂錄 "On old and modern music" was a book on musical theory written during the late Southern Dynasties period 南朝 (420-589) by the Buddhist monk Zhijiang 智匠 (fl. 567; perhaps identical with Zhiqiu 智丘, also written 智邱). It is lost since the Song period 宋 (960-1279), but fragments were collected during the Qing period 清 (1644-1911) by Ma Guohan 馬國翰 (1794-1857) and are found in his series Yuhan Shanfang ji yishu 玉函山房輯佚書. The original length was, according to different book catalogues, 12 or 13 juan.

The book was based on the belief that time and "spirit" in the air (houqi 候氣) had an influence on musical temperament. It also contained stories of songs composed by the mythological Emperor Yao 堯, Xu You 許由, King Wen 周文王 of the Zhou dynasty 周 (11th cent.-221 BCE) and the philosopher Zhuang Zhou 莊周 (trad. 369-286 BCE), songs created by Wang Daochong 王道沖 and Lu Ji 陸機 (261-303) during the Jin 晉 (265-420) and Liu-Song 劉宋 (420-479) periods and discussed the reasons for their names. There was also a section on foreign musical instruments.

The preserved fragments are also included in Wang Mo's 王謨 (c. 1731-1817) series Han-Wei yishu chao 漢魏遺書鈔 and Ji Liankang's 吉聯抗 (1916-1989) Gu yueshu yiwen jizhu 古樂書佚文輯注.

Sources:
Jiang Zhu 姜姝 (1996). "Gujin yuelu 古今樂錄", in Zhou Gucheng 周谷城, ed. Zhongguo xueshu mingzhu tiyao 中國學術名著提要, Vol. Yishu 藝術卷 (Shanghai: Fudan daxue chubanshe), 30.
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文郁, eds. (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 1, 628.
Lin Xiaona 林曉娜; Wu Xiaodan 吳肖丹 (2007). "Gujin yuelun zhengli yanjiu 《古今樂錄》整理研究", Guji yanjiu 古籍研究, 2007 (1).
Wang Huibin 王輝斌 (2015). "Zhijiang yu Gujin yuelu ji qi yuefu guan 智匠與 《古今樂錄》 及其樂府觀", Rentong Xueyuan xuebao 銅仁學院學報, 2015 (6): 27-33.
Yu Yizhi 喻意志 (2008). "Gujin yuelu kao 《古今樂錄》考", Zhongguo yinyuexue 中國音樂學, 2008 (3).