“五更”曲考论

A Study of Wugeng Songs

现存最早的"五更"曲为南朝陈伏知道的《从军五更转五首》,之后繁衍、流传不息,不仅世俗民众编词歌唱,佛道二教亦利用此曲来宣扬教义。据调查得知,在我国凡有汉族群体居住的地方,都曾传唱过,被现当代音乐工作者采风搜集到的就有千支之多。就其音乐色彩来说,大体可以分为三类:抒情、温婉、明快的;悲苦、苍凉、低沉的;平缓、简明、质朴的。其音乐结构则主要有四种:用简单的乐句反复重叠;乐段较长,乐句曲调较为复杂;一问一答,中间还穿插着说白;只取"五更"曲的乐谱,而不再用五更时序的铺排结构。如此多姿多彩的"五更"曲,自20世纪80年代之后,渐渐消歇。如何使它们起死回生,给当代和未来的人们留下一份弥足珍贵的"乡愁",是目前面对的问题。

The earliest Wugeng Songs were created by Fu Zhidao from the Southern Chen dynasty and then spread widely.Not only the secular people wrote lyrics to the songs and sung them,but also the Buddhism and the Taoism used them to preach the religious doctrines.According to the survey,Wugeng songs had been sung in places where the Han nationality ever lived.There are over one thousand songs collected by the contemporary music workers.Wugeng Songs can be divided into three categories according to the music type:the lyric,gentle and vivid;the sad,bleak and deep;and the mild,simple and plain.There are four music structures:repeating by the simple phrase,being composed by the complicated tunes,asking and answering interchangeably and music sheet of Wugeng Songs are selected instead of Wugeng structure's order.Although Wugeng Songs are varied,they have gradually disappeared since 1980 s.In order to keep a precious memory for the contemporary and future people,the problem of how to prevent Wugeng Songs from extinction should be solved.