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HISTORY OF CHINESE MUSIC. 118 |
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Their musical history teems with facts, and anecdotes, dating back far beyond every other nation except the Egyptian. Their literatme contains a vast number of treatises and comments on the musical art, many of which are, however, couched in very mystical and ambiguous language. In the Imperial library at Pekin, there are four hundred and eighty-two books on this subject exclusively.*
The invention of music, is ascribed by the Chinese to supernatural beings.
The emperor Chi-hoang-che, who reigned in the time of the spirits, is said to have invented the rules of pronunciation, the written characters of the Chinese language, and finally music.f A mythological character named Tong-how composed the earliest songs.
Kai-tien-chi, the ninth emperor of this spiritual dynasty, is credited with many of the earliest songs. He also invented eight kinds of instruments (which will be described later) the names of which are certainly poetical enough,—
1. Love the people. 2. The black bird 3. Don't cut the trees. 4. Cultivate the eight different grains. 5. Chant the celestial doctrines. 6. Celebrate the merits of the sovereign. 7. Imitate the virtues of the earth. 8. Recall the memory of all existing things.
These names were probably given to the instru* ments from the special songs which each accompanied
* Ambros Gescb, d. Mua. p. 20, t. L t Amlot Abrege Ckron p. 201. |
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