Yùdìng qǔpǔ 御定曲譜
The Imperially Established Qǔ-Score imperially compiled, edited by 王奕清 (奉敕撰)
About the work
The Yùdìng qǔpǔ 御定曲譜 (also recorded under the Sìkù main catalogue as Qīndìng qǔpǔ 欽定曲譜, in 14 juǎn) is the imperially commissioned authoritative qǔ-prosody manual of the Kāngxī era, compiled by Zhānshì Wáng Yìqīng 王奕清 and a Hànlín editorial board under imperial decree in Kāngxī 54 / 1715 — exactly contemporary with the Yùdìng cípǔ KR4j0086 and intended as its companion-volume. The two together form the imperial reference for cíqǔ prosody. Where the catalog meta gives 12 juǎn, the standard Sìkù tíyào and the printed text run to 14 juǎn (1 juǎn of theoretical discourse + Jiǔgōng pǔ dìnglùn; 4 juǎn of Northern qǔpǔ; 8 juǎn of Southern qǔpǔ; 1 juǎn of “lost-gōng trespassing-diào” appendix). The volume is the authoritative Qīng manual for both běiqǔ and nánqǔ.
Tiyao
(The _000.txt source file is missing from the project tree; we translate from the Zinbun digital Sìkù tíyào at http://kanji.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/db-machine/ShikoTeiyo/0446903.html.)
Qīndìng qǔpǔ, 14 juǎn. Kāngxī 54 imperially commissioned. Made together with the Cípǔ KR4j0086 and circulated in parallel. At the head are the discussions of various authors and the Jiǔgōng pǔ dìnglùn (1 juǎn); then Northern qǔpǔ (4 juǎn); then Southern qǔpǔ (8 juǎn); then the lost-gōng trespassing-diào pieces, set apart as a 1-juǎn appendix. For both Northern and Southern qǔ, each gōngdiào heads its section; each qǔ text has line-by-line notation of jù (line-break) and yùn (rhyme), and character-by-character notation of the four tones at the side; for rùshēng characters that should be performed as píng, shǎng, or qù, each is annotated. Where old pǔ contained miswritten characters, each is corrected in a closing note. Since the ancient music has gone and yuèfǔ arose, the singing-method of yuèfǔ did not reach the Táng, which sang only juéjù. The Táng singing-method did not reach the Sòng, which sang only cí. The Sòng singing-method gradually was lost in the Yuán, and the qǔ-tunes arose. From Shī-300 down to cí: largely the express-feeling-with-floating-decoration mode. Nánběi qǔ, however, depends on a gùshí (received historical material), depicts a state of affairs, runs on for many leaves, and is a slightly different tǐlì (form-and-rule). Yet the Guófēng Méngzhī chīchī piece (《詩經·氓》) already narrates the whole course of an event; Jiāo Zhòngqīng qī shī 焦仲卿妻詩, Qiūhú xíng 秋胡行, Mùlán shī 木蘭詩 — all set forth a narrative with clear sections: these are the prototype of chuánqí. Wáng Míngqīng’s Huīchén lù records the Féng Yàn gē by Zēng Bù, already taking tàoshù form, walking apart from the cílǜ line. Along into JīnYuán, this fashion grew. At first it was set to xiánsuǒ; then it added stage-costumes; at first only four zhé; then it ran to dozens of chū. The main concern in all of it is the narration of good-and-evil, the marking out of legal-and-cautionary lessons, such that women and children equally find moral arousal in it — a matter of considerable usefulness to civilization. Even as the tail-end of the tradition stagnated into mere prettiness, the original purpose was sound — as the Guófēng could descend to Yùtái xiānglián without being blamed therefor; one cannot abolish shī because of its base imitators. The old pǔ of qǔ have gone; Táo Zōngyí’s Chuògēng lù records their titles but not their cí. The běijiǔgōng pǔ and nánjiǔgōng pǔ now in circulation are arranged at editorial discretion, with many errors. So Zhānshì Wáng Yìqīng and his colleagues were specially commanded to seek out the old tunes and compile this volume — that the yǐshēngzhě (those setting words to song) might know the gōngshāng difference, and that the bǎnfùzhě might be in step with lǜlǚ. By this, the historical narratives of qǔ may stir the heart, the liúfāng (lasting fragrance) and yíchòu (left-stench) traces of the past become clear to the língyīnzhě, and the fúshàn huòyín (rewards for good, retribution for vice) principle becomes evident to the eye. The Great Sage [the emperor] makes use of cultural transformation, opening up the simple-minded, working through every channel — it is not just jīnjīn yú hóngyá cuìguǎn zhī jiān (mere fussing about ivory-clappers and emerald-pipes). — (Sìkù tíyào).
Abstract
The Yùdìng qǔpǔ is the authoritative Qīng qǔ-prosody manual. Its 14-juǎn structure — theoretical preface + Northern qǔpǔ + Southern qǔpǔ + appendix — is the model for all subsequent qǔ-prosody scholarship. The work was commissioned by the Kāngxī emperor explicitly as a moral-civilizing project: the imperial preface (reproduced in the Sìkù tíyào above) frames qǔ as narrative literature serving the public good, paired with the cípǔ (which serves the lyric-expression side of the same prosodic system). The 1715 completion of both manuals concluded the Kāngxī literary canon-project that had begun with the Quán Táng shī (1705), the Pèiwén yùnfǔ (1704–11), and the Yùxuǎn lìdài shīyú (1707). Modern qǔ-prosody scholarship (Wú Méi Qǔxué tōnglùn) builds directly on the Yùdìng qǔpǔ. The volume is more comprehensive than the parallel private compilations (the Xiàoyú pǔ and similar Míng works), and corrects them on numerous points.
Translations and research
- Wú Méi 吳梅, Qǔ-xué tōng-lùn 曲學通論 — built on the Yù-dìng qǔ-pǔ tradition.
- Sūn Kǎi-dì 孫楷第, Cāng-zhōu jí — context.
- Wilt L. Idema and Stephen H. West, Chinese Theater 1100–1450: A Source Book.
Other points of interest
The emperor’s framing of qǔ (and xìqǔ in particular) as a vehicle of fúshàn huòyín moral instruction — and the closing line “this is no mere fussing about ivory-clappers and emerald-pipes” — institutionalizes a long-standing yǎzhèng defense of vernacular dramatic literature, and provides the imperial canopy under which qǔ could be openly catalogued in the Sìkù.