On Two Song Dynasty's Guchui Songs

Guchui songs are a special part of Two Song Dynasty's musical poetry, the specificity of which determines their special value and significance. In this paper the author makes a systemic study on them from three aspects - documentarily, musically and literally. The paper consists of three chapters.In Chapter One the author combs the history of Two Song Dynasty's Guchui songs and divides it into four periods– the creation period including Taizu era, Taizong era and Zhenzong era, the formation period including Renzong era and Yingzong era, the development period including Shenzong era, Zhezong era and Huizong era and the rebuilding period that is South Song Dynasty. Thus, the author manages to date all these Guchui songs carefully and deeply and finally makes sure when each Guchui song was written and what it was written for.In Chapter Two the author researches forms, style characteristics and melodies of Two Song Dynasty's Guchui songs. Their forms include a single song and a series of songs which can be named Systemic Songs. On the contrary of previous Guchui songs, Two Song Dynasty's Guchui songs own new style characteristics– they consist of several songs in the same key which are organized to chant the same thing. In the system of Sui and Tang Dynasty's Yanyue music, Song Dynasty's Guchui songs are the first Systemic Songs, the birth of which exerts a deep influence upon many forms of musical literature such as Chanling, Chanda, Changzhuan and even Yuan Dynasty's Systemic Songs. There are eight melodies and eleven names Two Song Dynasty's Guchui songs use. Among them, three melodies including Daoyin, Liuzhou and Shiershi are handed down from Tang Dynasty's tunes, while the others are composed in Renzong era, Yingzong era and Shenzong era.In Chapter Three the author relates value and significance of the study of Two Song Dynasty's Guchui songs. As a kind of ceremony music, Two Song Dynasty's Guchui songs often see themselves in royal ceremonies, so in a sense they own history value as well as literature value. As a special type of songs which are used by royal court, written by advanced officers-writers and sung and appreciated by common people, Two Song Dynasty's Guchui songs exerts a strong influence on both officers-writers'musical poetry called Ci and many folk music forms such as Chanling, Chanda ,Changzhuan and even Yuan Dynasty's Systemic Songs.