Translation of Dunhuang Music Scores: Interpretation and Verification

Author: Chen Yingshi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: The Dunhuang Music Scores, also known as the Dunhuang Pipa Scores or Dunhuang Musical Scores, are named after their discovery in Dunhuang County, Gansu Province, in the early 20th century. The discovery of the Dunhuang Music Scores was linked to the discovery of the cave library in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang. The notation style, pitch positions of the notational symbols, tuning, and meter and rhythm issues of the Dunhuang Music Scores pertain to each musical score, making them of global significance for their interpretation. In the early 20th century, musical scores dating before 933 AD were found in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang. In 1938, Japanese scholar Hayashi Kisen published a research paper on their interpretation, which drew the attention of scholars both domestically and internationally, leading to the emergence of various interpretation schemes over the past 60-plus years. This book pioneers the use of the "heterophony with identical pitch" method to deduce three sets of pipa tunings and resolves the melodic overlap between two homonymous songs titled "Qingbailue" in the Dunhuang Music Scores.