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A Western Organ in Medieval China I. The Chinese Texts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

A. C. Moule
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It is well known that the Chinese have had a little organ called shêng or yü for many ages, made with bamboo pipes which are fitted with free reeds, and played by suction. The words shêng and huang, the reed, occur in the Odes which date from before 500 b.c., and are traditionally explained as referring to an instrument like that which is still in use. But attention has not, I think, been called to the fact that a reed organ from the West was brought to China in the thirteenth century, and created so much interest at the time that it was reconstructed to play the Chinese scale. Ten or twelve of these instruments seem to have been made and to have been used in the Imperial orchestra during the Yüan dynasty (1280–1368), but I cannot find that they were used after that period. Three descriptions of the Hsing lung shêng, as the organ was named, have been found in books of the fourteenth century, and translations of these are here given, with explanatory notes very kindly contributed by the Reverend Canon F. W. Galpin.

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Articles
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , April 1926 , pp. 193 - 211
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1926

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References

page 193 note 1 Cf. Shih ching, c. 2, Chün tzŭ yang yang, line 2 : “ In his left hand he holds huang ” ; c. 4 (Hsiao ya), Lu ming, lines 4, 5 : “set in motion [the strings of] the psaltery, blow the shêng; blow the shêng, set in motion the huang ” ; etc. The words yü, shêng, and huang all occur in the Shuo wên, c. 5a. For description a of the shêng see Smith, Hermann, The World's Earliest Music, 1904, pp. 180–227, and JNCBRAS., 1908, pp. 89–96.Google Scholar

page 194 note 1 Lung, “ dragon.” So the name is printed in the Wang chung wên kung ch‘üan chi (see below) and the Tz‘ŭ. yüan; but the Yüan shih and Cho kêng lu, and the extracts quoted in Hsü wên hsien t‘ung k‘ao, c. 110, fol. 45 vo; T‘u shu chi chêng, xxix, c. 126, hui k‘ao, fol. 22, 23 ; i wên, i, fol. 8, 9 ; and other books of reference all have the other lung.

page 196 note 1 I have not been able to find Chêng Hsiu elsewhere. The Yü chên yüan was founded by Kubilai in 1271 with one official called Yüeh p‘an ; the name was changed to I fêng ssŭ in 1283, and there were three p‘an kuan from 1283 till 1288 ; in 1307 it was made Yü chên yüeh yüan (as in the text) until 1311 when the name I fêng ssŭ was restored and all officials called p‘an were abolished. In spite of the slight anachronism in the name of the office, it seems to be probable, as will be seen more clearly below, that Chêng Hsiu flourished in the reign of Kubilai (1260–1294). Cf. Yüan shih, c. 85, fol. 10 vo.

page 198 note 1 For the transcript of this passage I was indebted to the great kindness of Professor Paul Pelliot, who made it from the copy of the works of Wang I in the Bibliothèque Nationale (Coll. Pelliot, B. 1343). Wang I († 1373, cf. Ming shih, c. 289, fol. 3, 4) was one of those appointed to supervise the compilation of the Yüan shih, so that two of the three accounts of this organ come to us more or less with his authority.

page 200 note 1 For these ancient Odes, of. Legge, Chinese Classics, vol. iv, pp. 577, 578, 607, 608.

page 202 note 1 That is, the brilliance of a sovereign who is able to maintain the harmonious succession of the seasons. Cf. Tz‘ŭ yüan s.v. .

page 202 note 2 Hsieh was the valley north of Kun-lun from which Ling Lun is said to have obtained bamboo to make the first musical pipes. K‘uei was Minister of Music to the prehistoric Emperor Shun. Cf. Chavannes, Mém. Hist., i, pp. 86, 160 ; iii, p. 643. Legge, Chinese Classics, iii, pp. 47, 48, 87–89.

page 202 note 3 Here follow eight words of the sense of which I have been able to form no clear idea. The first four are said to mean respectively “ to make the sound louder ”, “ to make the note softer ”, “ to touch with one finger ”, “ to pluck with two fingers ”. One and two taken together are defined as chung chih, but I do not know what that means; and the same definition is given for three and four taken together. Cf. K‘ang hsi, s.vv.

page 202 note 4 This passage is obscure and, I fear, gives little help in determining the scale of the instrument. The Chinese seem sometimes to think of some other quality in a note in circumstances where we should think of its pitch. The chromatic scale is called lü lü, the two words being said to mean the odd and even notes respectively. It is hard to guess at the meaning of “ jui pin (an odd note) harmonizes with the lü (even notes).” The twelve notes of fixed pitch are huang chung, ta lü, t‘ai tsou, chia chung, ku hsien, chung lü, jui pin, lin chung, i tsê, nan lü, wu i, ying chung. The wu yin, or five notes, are kung, shang, chiao, chih, yü, corresponding to ut, re, mi, sol, la. Another scale, called kung ch‘ê, consists of the notes ho, ssü, i, shang, ch‘ê, kung, fan, liu, etc., but it does not concern us here. Ch‘ing, “ clear,” is used for high or treble ; for hsi, “ small ” or “ fine ”, I have found no musical use.

page 204 note 1 Luan and fêng are birds of good omen, commonly translated “ phœnix ”, but perhaps really some rare kind of pheasant. See Hachisuka, M. U., “ The Identification of the Chinese Phœnix,” JRAS., 10, 1924Google Scholar, and San ling chieh, by Chang Hung-chao, Peking, 1919, fol. 17–23.

page 204 note 2 Chang Asia was the fifth of the “ Nine hsia ” ; shao huo was music composed by T‘ang of the Yin dynasty. See Tz‘ŭ yüan, s.v. .

page 204 note 3 For these instruments and those that follow (k’ung-hou and pi-li), see JNCBRAS., 1908, pp. 35, 38, 42, 106, 108, 10, 11, 110, 84, 152, and also 1901, G. E. Moule, “ Notes on the half-yearly sacrifice to Confucius,” plates 4, 5, where the “ teeth on dragon frames ” are clearly seen.

page 206 note 1 This note must, I suppose, have been added in the Ming dynasty. For the song “ yu ku ” see Legge, Chinese Classics, iv, p. 587. Several of the phrases here are taken from it. The whole passage is difficult and some of my pretended translation may be even ludicrously wrong, but the sentences which throw light on the construction of the organ are, I hope, correct and clear. For help in some points I am very much obliged to Mr. Huang Chien-chung and Mr. Shao Yün-lung.

page 207 note 1 [The I t‘ung chih, 1461, c. 90, fol. 20 ro, says of T‘ien fang kuo (Arabia) that “ it is also named Hsi yü ” ; but it would be more generally true to say that “ the Lands of the West ” (Hsi yü) included the greater part of Western Asia.—A. C. M.]

page 208 note 1 [For free reeds of bamboo see JNCBRAS., 1908, pp. 88, 89, 95, 151; and for single-beating reeds of bamboo, ibid., pp. 96, 97.—A. C. M.]

page 208 note 2 Theophilus, Arts of the Middle Ages, translated by R. Hendrie, 1847, pp. 340—55. The original is in MS. Harl. 3915, fol. 88 ro–94 ro; the description of the construction here referred to being on fol. 89 ro-91 ro. The subjoined illustration, kindly lent by Messrs Macmillan, will explain the action. The wind from the bellows, entering beneath at A, passe s into the feet of the pipes (C.C.C.) ranged upon the soundboard when the long slider B is drawn out and its holes (shown white) correspond with the wind channels.

page 209 note 1 [It is practically certain that the reconstructed organ had free reeds, but it is not actually stated in the texts.—A. C. M.]

page 210 note 1 [See “ Notes on a Roman Hydraulus”, by Galpin, F. W., in The Reliquary, 1904, pp. 152–164.—A. C. M.]Google Scholar