Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 292 Singing and Dancing, A Masterful Pen

"You all come from distinguished families, with extraordinary backgrounds and exceptional talents, so you should not be tested in the usual way. I am now summoning musicians to perform in the palace. For each piece played, you will each compose lyrics and sing them. The selection will be based on the quality and number of pieces performed!"

As the actors from the Imperial Music Bureau ascended the throne one after another, the Emperor rose from his throne to survey the entire audience, and then announced the upcoming exam questions to the candidates with a smile.

Upon hearing this, the expressions of all the candidates changed. Those who were not particularly skilled in rhetoric and literary expression, in particular, were now completely disheartened.

Upon hearing the examination method announced by the emperor, Zhang Dai couldn't help but frown. To put it simply, the method involved allowing the court musicians to perform any piece of music, while the candidates would compose lyrics on the spot. This was undoubtedly much more difficult than the usual impromptu examinations.

Generally, poems written in response to imperial commands were composed by the emperor, who set a theme and rhyme scheme. The court officials would then compose and recite their own poems, making it a relatively simple game of word arrangement. Only exceptionally outstanding poems would be specially arranged to music and performed.

However, when using music to create lyrics, the sounds, meanings, and melodies must all be perfectly matched. Especially for some ancient tunes that have been passed down for a long time, there are already many imitations, so it is undoubtedly more difficult to create a more original poem in a very short time.

Fortunately, Zhang Dai had already learned from his grandfather that the true purpose of this imperial examination was to select qualified rites and music talents for the upcoming visit to the Five Mausoleums after returning to the capital.

The imperial court has its own renowned masters of etiquette and morality, so there is no need to make selections before the ceremony begins. Even if selections were made, these young people would not be the target.

The assessment would naturally focus on vocal and musical theory, which was Zhang Dai's forte. After all, Tang poetry was essentially a collection of lyrics, but the melodies were gradually lost during its transmission, leaving only the written vocal and musical records.

Even though Zhang Dai had made preparations in advance, the emperor's method of having people perform on the spot and compose lyrics on the spot still surprised him, and he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

However, the emperor did not give them much time to prepare. As the performers took their places in the hall, he immediately raised his hand to signal the start of the song and dance performance.

Accompanied by melodious and pleasant music, several dancers gracefully entered the hall. All of these dancers were dressed in long, flowing gowns, with their snow-white sleeves being particularly elegant and eye-catching.

Before they could even begin to dance, a candidate familiar with the arts and entertainment couldn't help but exclaim, "They're going to perform the 'White Silk Dance'!"

Baizhu dance is a very famous and popular soft dance. It can be traced back to the Eastern Wu period of the Three Kingdoms. The so-called Baizhu refers to the plain-colored fabric of Wu that has not been dyed.

The original meaning of this dance was that women in the Wu region waved white silk fabric they had woven to celebrate the fruits of their labor. Because of its enchanting and beautiful dance moves, it spread among the common people and later entered the palace and became a performance item at palace banquets. After the Sui Dynasty destroyed the Southern Chen Dynasty, these Wu region songs and dances also spread northward. In the Tang Dynasty, it is still a very popular dance in the palace and among the powerful and wealthy.

Zhang Dai had seen the White Silk Dance many times since arriving in this world, so he was quite familiar with it. It seems the emperor wasn't deliberately trying to make things difficult for the candidates; the first question was a fairly standard one.

As Zhang Dai admired the dancers' graceful movements, he searched his memory. Seeing that some candidates were already drafting their poems, he stopped thinking and slowly wrote: "With a Wu knife, she sews colorful dance costumes; her bright makeup and beautiful attire outshine the spring's radiance..."

Because the White Silk Dance was so popular and often performed at banquets, there has been no shortage of people who have written poems for it throughout history. Even the candidates in the hall who were writing furiously probably had similar experiences in their daily lives, which is why they were able to write so readily.

Zhang Dai's poem is Li Bai's "Bai He Ci". It's not exactly brilliant, but rather a perfunctory work written for the pleasure quarters.

So after finishing one poem, he was still somewhat unsatisfied, and continued writing: "The white silk is bright and fresh, it will be made into a spring robe for a young man..."

There were quite a few candidates present who, like Zhang Dai, offered multiple answers to the same question. They didn't know what the emperor had asked the performers to perform next, so they could only try to do as much as they could within the scope of what they were confident in.

By the end of the dance, more than thirty candidates in the hall had written at least one poem, which was a pretty good proportion.

As for the other nearly twenty who couldn't compose poems, it's almost certain they were academic underachievers who failed their general studies. Given their family backgrounds, it's impossible that they hadn't appreciated the White Silk Dance; if they couldn't even write about it, it means they basically had no poetic ability whatsoever.

While failing academic subjects doesn't mean they're useless, it's clear they'll have a hard time standing out in today's exam, which focuses on writing skills.

After the dancers left, the performance paused for a moment, but soon the sounds of drums, cymbals and other musical instruments filled the hall with a solemn and majestic sound.

Upon hearing the music, Zhang Dai couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Although the emperor cared for them, it was only to a limited extent. Just moments before, the music had been gentle and tender, but now it had suddenly turned into the military music of a royal procession.

Although he had heard some ceremonial music used in grand processions, he had never heard it before, and for a moment he looked bewildered. As he looked around, he noticed that some of the other candidates also looked bewildered, clearly unfamiliar with the music, while others had already begun to write quickly, obviously very familiar with it.

Zhang Shuo sat on the upper side of the hall and saw that his grandson only frowned and did not write. He knew that this had touched on the boy's blind spot. He couldn't help but regret that he had neglected to cultivate the boy before. He had not experienced many grand occasions and was so unfamiliar with the music of the imperial procession.

"This is the 'Shang Zhi Hui' zaoge."

He deliberately avoided looking at Zhang Dai, and instead looked at another candidate who also looked bewildered, offering his advice.

Regardless of whether the examinee was inspired, Zhang Dai's eyes suddenly lit up upon hearing the title of the piece. Although he hadn't heard the melody before, he was familiar with the title.

"Shang Zhi Hui" is a piece of music composed by Emperor Wu of Han during the Western Han Dynasty when he returned to the capital after inspecting the border. It was mainly used on occasions when the emperor returned to the capital. Since Zhang Dai came into this world, the emperor has been staying in Luoyang. At most, he went to Ruzhou to soak in hot springs and returned to Luoyang last year. He did not play this music, so he naturally had never heard it.

However, many ancient poets have used this allusion in their poems, including Li Bai's "Thirty-six detached palaces, towers and pavilions reaching to the sky."

However, Zhang Dai did not use Li Bai's poem because its theme was satire, and it contained lines such as "Favor is scarce and favor is lacking, peach and plum blossoms are saddened by the spring breeze. How can the pleasure of debauchery be boundless?" If he were to write it in today's context, it would simply be asking for trouble.

Therefore, after some deliberation, Zhang Dai picked up his pen again and wrote: "When the emperor returned, the great banners rejoiced. Red clouds hung, phoenix tails were lashed..." Li He's poem, written in the mid-Tang Dynasty, was more suitable in terms of its poetic imagery.

Because Zhang Dai hadn't heard the piece before, he wasted a lot of time. After being reminded by his grandfather, he pondered for a long time. So before he could finish writing the poem, the next piece of music, "Bring in the Wine," was already being played. It was also a Yuefu naoge (a type of folk song).

Zhang Dai had heard this piece before, without needing Zhang Shuo's reminder. Just recently, when he held a banquet at his home to celebrate his investiture of a noble title, this piece was played several times as a toasting song. Gao Shi even sang several of his own poems titled "Bring in the Wine," though they lacked any particularly good lines.

"Crystal-colored wine, amber-colored wine, drops of pearl-red wine from the small vat..."

After finishing "Shang Zhi Hui", Zhang Dai immediately wrote "Jiang Jin Jiu", another poem by Li He. As for Li Bai's more famous poem, Zhang Dai simply abandoned it because its personal style was too strong.

But he did not give up on taking advantage of Li Bai, because what followed was a ballad, "The Purple Horse": "The purple horse walks and neighs, its hooves turning green like jade."

The music chosen by the sage to perform also revealed, to some extent, his true inner feelings. Take, for example, the relatively obscure piece "Shang Zhi Hui" (上之回), which clearly showed that he was genuinely homesick.

As for what followed, the musicians played a series of military-themed pieces from the Yuefu (Music Bureau) such as "Leaving the Frontier," "Leaving from the North Gate of Ji," and "Zhezhi Dance." This undoubtedly reflects that the emperor was still excited by the king who had previously come to court and had not yet calmed down. He was increasingly eager for military achievements on the frontier!

"He beheaded a famous king and presented him with the cassia palace, and was ennobled on the first day. He was not born into a good family in the six prefectures, but fought a hundred battles to win the border city."

As the last miscellaneous piece, "A Young Man's Journey," came to an end, it was already past midnight.

Despite Zhang Dai's many clever tricks, by the time he finished writing the last character and put down his pen, his forehead was covered in sweat, and his palms were drenched in sweat. And he was considered to be in relatively good condition; many of the other candidates were sweating profusely from nervousness, and some had already given up.

In the previous one or two hours, a total of ten different pieces of music were performed in the hall, with a wide range of styles and styles, including both horizontal flute music and ceremonial songs, as well as elegant music and soft dances.

Even with Zhang Dai's extensive knowledge, in the end there was still one piece of guqin music, "Xiangfei," for which he couldn't think of any masterpieces to write about, so he could only rely on his own accumulated knowledge to write the previous piece.

The other candidates fared even worse; not a single one completed all ten poems, and most managed only three to five. Some didn't even manage to write a single one, and simply sat in the hall watching the song and dance performance all night.

"It is late at night, so let us lead this group of disciples to Jixian Academy to rest."

The emperor noticed that the candidates looked pale and exhausted from his torment, so he stopped making things difficult for them. He beckoned the eunuchs and gave them instructions, while also smilingly saying to Zhang Yue and the other officials who had been sitting with him all this time: "I trouble you all to review the candidates' papers overnight and make a decision on who to send to the court tomorrow morning, so that I may make the final decision on who to send to the emperor!"

(End of this chapter)