唐人乐府学述要

An Overview of Yuefu Theory of the Tang Dynasty

唐人称乐府者,实分当代乐章歌词与各种形式的拟乐府两大类。而其称乐府学者,实以后一类为主要内容。唐人乐府学具有理论与创作同条共生的特点。初唐为沿承齐梁体制的近体赋题乐府,其倾向为尚辞;自盛唐李白建立古乐府学,奠定唐乐府学以复古为基本特点的宗旨。此后中唐元结、顾况至元稹、白居易提倡新题乐府,其倾向为尚义;韩孟一派杂拟乐府歌谣,带有自我作古的倾向。唐乐府可分为尚辞、尚义与尚乐三类,而中唐以后的主要方向在于尚义派的发展。唐人拟乐府创作,不仅是抗衡流行的近体,也有抗衡今乐的意图,复古诗学是其最重要的理论支撑。

The so-called yuefu as referred to by the Tang dynasty actually falls into two major types:contemporary musical movements and lyrics,and various forms of imitated yuefupoetry.The yuefuscholars as termed by the Tang dynasty are actually dedicated to the latter type of work.The yuefutheory of the Tang dynasty is characterized by a symbiotic development of theory and creation.Earlier Tang retained the recent style of yuefuon a given topic inherited from Qi and Liang dynasties and showed a preference for rhetoric.And with the establishment of ancient yuefutheory by Li Bai,prime Tang identified the restoration of archaic ways as a fundamental characteristic of the Tang yuefutheory.Later on,toward the mid-Tang dynasty,poets such as Yuan Jie,Gu Kuang,Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi advocated new topics of yuefu,laying an emphasis on meaning.Other poets represented by Han Yu and Meng Jiao mingled poetry with imitated yuefuballads,and showed a tendency toward traditional ways. There are generally three kinds of Tang yuefu:preference for rhetoric,preference for meaning and preference for music.The imitated yuefucreation of the Tang dynasty was meant to contend against both popularity and contemporary music.In this regard, traditional poetry provides the most important theoretical support.