Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Zhu Youjian is very satisfied with the effect of this Qianqiu Festival.

Especially after the newspaper publicity, everyone knew the emperor's love for the queen and talked about what happened during the Qianqiu Festival.

The previous Tang Fan case and Chu Fan case quickly fell out of favor. What people discuss more is the lyrics and plays created by the emperor.

Ci is a hot topic among literati. Many literati saw the emperor's literary level from this poem and thought it was no less than the famous ancient poems.

The opera was sung, and in the streets and alleys of the capital, people sang "Who expected to win the number one spot on the imperial list".

The lyrics of this piece are really simple and the melody is very lively. Many people can hum it after listening to it once or twice.

They laughed and sang the opera, and naturally felt very close to the emperor who wrote the lyrics.

Although the literati feel that this play is too straightforward and not suitable for the emperor to write, but now that the imperial examination is about to be held and the number one scholar is about to emerge, no one will say that the lyrics of this play are not good and how should it be changed——

Because the cheerful atmosphere of the play really fits the atmosphere of the capital.

Those scholars who are qualified to take part in the palace examination are waiting to win the first prize and participate in the Qionghua Banquet in the palace.

It can be said that Zhu Youjian successfully narrowed the distance between himself and the scholars and common people through poetry and drama.

This made him very happy and urged Li Yu to adapt "The Female Number One Scholar" based on this aria.

But Li Yu had been thinking hard for several days before and couldn't figure out how to write it. Because until now, he doesn't even understand the tune of this play, let alone create an entire play based on it.

In order to avoid the emperor blaming him in the future, Li Yu told the truth and told the emperor that he could not write it:

"This play is very different from the current play. I reluctantly wrote a few paragraphs, but I really couldn't write the whole story."

"These arias are far inferior to those written by His Majesty."

Dedicating the lyrics he wrote to the emperor, Li Yu felt a little embarrassed in her heart.

Because of the lyrics of "Who expected to be the number one on the imperial list", anyone can hear its straightforwardness. But it was too difficult for Li Yu to be able to sing a straightforward opera with such joy and the feeling of "the spring breeze brings joy to the horse's hoofs".

He really didn't have the confidence to write such a aria.

Zhu Youjian felt that the libretto he wrote was pretty good. Although it couldn't compare with the aria "Who expected to win the top spot on the imperial list", it was pretty good——

There are so many dramas in later generations, but not many arias can match it.

Classic arias are hard to come by, and they are not so easy to create.

So he did not feel disappointed, but comforted Li Yu and said:
"The lyrics you wrote are already pretty good, so there's no need to place too high demands on yourself."

"This drama can be more straightforward and not too pursuing elegance."

As he spoke, he told Li Yu his requirements for the drama:
"My purpose in promoting drama is to entertain the public and let people know what happiness is."

"The other thing is to promote Mandarin and promote the "Ming Dynasty Zhengyin" which is being formulated by the Ministry of Rites."

"The more colloquial the language used, the better. Let the people know how to pronounce the correct pronunciation."

This was one of Zhu Youjian's goals, and it was what he found to do when formulating Pinyin.

After the pinyin is formulated, a phonetic pronunciation must be selected as the correct pronunciation.

How to promote this kind of voice, Zhu Youjian first thought of drama——

After all, in the absence of radio and television, art forms of pronunciation such as drama and music are most suitable for promoting speech.

Therefore, he has decided to transform Kun Opera while determining the correct pronunciation, and transform the Zhongzhou rhyme used in Kun Opera into the new Ming Dynasty correct pronunciation.

Naturally, new dramas must be sung in the correct pronunciation of the Ming Dynasty, so all drama practitioners must use the correct pronunciation.

The play "The Female Champion" is Zhu Youjian's experiment. I hope Li Yu can write a drama that will be widely sung using the authentic sound of the Ming Dynasty.

Li Yu felt even more frightened when she heard that the emperor's expectations were so high. Before this year, he had lived as the son of a slave. Even if he is talented, he cannot be put to use.

Now he suddenly became a close minister of the emperor and had high hopes from the emperor. He was really worried, worried that he wouldn't be able to hold on.

So he repeatedly declined and asked the emperor to find a few more people to write the play together:
"I don't even know how to compile this kind of drama now."

"It's okay to write a few arias, but I really can't write a complete drama."

"Mr. Feng and Mr. Ling are good at drama. I would like to invite you to create with them."

Zhu Youjian nodded slightly and agreed to Li Yu's request to create together with Feng Menglong and Ling Shuchu.

But he also understood at this time that it was very difficult to create new dramas out of thin air without any foundation:
"From Kunqu Opera to Huangmei Opera, there was a gap of hundreds of years. Drama has changed a lot, and it is different in many aspects. 』

"It would be too difficult for Li Yu to step forward hundreds of years and create a new play similar to Huangmei Opera. 』

"The difficulty needs to be lowered and the requirements should be simpler. 』

Thinking like this, Zhu Youjian quickly thought of what Feng Menglong and Ling Shuchu were good at and what kind of drama they could write:

"Storybook!" 』

"Both of them are good at story writing. 』

"If the story is moved to the stage and turned into a play, wouldn't it be similar to a play? 』

"You can combine drama with drama to make it easier for people in the Ming Dynasty to accept it. 』

Zhu Youjian has been preparing for the promotion of dramas. The Piyong Lecture Hall he had previously asked Lu Xiang to design was used to allow students to arrange plays——

After all, in his impression, most of the dramas are performed by students with a bachelor's degree, and most of the people watching the dramas are literate people.

So he planned to put the promotion of drama in Taixue and other schools.

But now I have discovered that the combination of scripts and dramas seems to be more acceptable and popular. Instead of putting it in the school and turning it into a so-called civilized play.

The more I thought about it, the more I felt that this would be easier to promote. Zhu Youjian said:
"Let Feng Menglong and Ling Shuchu write the dialogue and narration of each character to promote the plot of the drama."

"You write lyrics at key points in each plot to attract the audience's attention."

"Can you create this kind of drama?"

Li Yu listened to the emperor's thoughts, thought for a while and said:
"It seems a bit like a drama, almost like a drama."

"I just pay more attention to dialogue and only sing at critical moments."

Zhu Youjian laughed when he heard this, pawed and said:

"exactly!"

"You can even skip lyrics and use dialogue to act out the story."

"Dramas can use gestures, movements, dialogues, monologues, lyrics, etc. to create images. The actors' makeup should not be so heavy. The audience in the theater should be able to appreciate the expressions and feel the actors' emotions."

"The characters created in this way will be more distinct, unlike the traditional dramas where they are dressed up in raw, pure and ugly costumes, which are somewhat stereotyped."

"In terms of costumes, props, scenery, etc., dramas can be more realistic and more down-to-earth."

Speaking of these requirements, Zhu Youjian thought more and more that there seemed to be a play that fit the drama he was talking about.

He frowned and thought hard, and finally remembered the name of the play:
""Chaoyanggou"! 』

"Isn't it the drama I mentioned? 』

"It's just that this play, which appeared almost at the same time as "The Female Consort", was called a modern play in later generations. 』

"There seem to be some other dramas similar to it. 』

After hearing about some plays, Zhu Youjian thought about it carefully and found that the settings, dialogues, lyrics, etc. of modern plays such as "Chaoyanggou" are very different from traditional plays. It seems to have absorbed the art form of drama, paying more attention to dialogue and character creation, and the costumes and scenery are more realistic and closer to life.

This kind of play became so popular in later generations that it even developed into a model play for political propaganda. Only because of the political struggle involved, this path of drama modernization was interrupted, causing drama reform to stall or even go backwards.

Now that Zhu Youjian thought of this, he suddenly felt that his idea was correct, that drama was the right direction, and it might even replace the local opera that had replaced Kunqu in history:

"Although the local opera is good, it uses dialect, which is inconsistent with my direction of promoting orthodox pronunciation. 』

"If we develop dramas that are more life-like than local dramas, it will have a bright future. 』

"This direction of drama development is correct. 』

Zhu Youjian was very happy to have found the direction of drama development.

He even thought of developing a real drama from the art form of drama.

After the advent of film in the future, movies will be born naturally based on dramas and dramas. This art form can be said to be very vital.

Li Yu watched the emperor pacing back and forth excitedly, and was also thinking about the drama the emperor mentioned. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how talented the emperor was, and I admired him so much.

Being familiar with drama, he could already see that the drama would be more attractive than Kunqu Opera after it was released——

The life-like dialogue in it is naturally more popular with people. The dramatic arias mixed in can also attract the audience's attention.

The emperor thought of this new type of play in a short time, and even lowered the difficulty of his creation of "The Female Champion", so that he could not be in awe.

Especially when he thought that dramas would be born in his own hands, the first of which was "The Female Champion" in which the emperor participated, he seemed to see an opportunity to leave his name in history.

So he said very happily:

"Your Majesty, don't worry. I will do my best to complete this new play."

Zhu Youjian encouraged him a few words and asked:
"When I asked you to form the Royal Orchestra, you said you wanted to modify the instruments."

"How is the renovation going now? Are there any results?"

Speaking of this, Li Yu became excited. After the emperor issued the reward to the concubine, he had been thinking about how to transform the harpsichord passed from Taixi into a so-called piano.

Just because there was no money and no harpsichord modification before. So although he had a plan, he couldn't put it into practice.

After being appointed by the emperor to form the royal orchestra, he finally came into contact with the palace harpsichord. Let the imitation craftsmen build a piano according to their own ideas.

Now when the emperor asked, he immediately asked for the piano he made to be brought over and introduced it seriously:
"Your Majesty, please see that the keys of this piano have been rearranged."

"The yellow bell rhythm determined by Prince Duanqing is used as the central key of the keyboard."

"To the right the pitch becomes higher and to the left the pitch becomes lower."

"From left to right, there are six sound groups and seventy-two keys."

"You can use a piano to produce seventy-two notes."

"And what's even better is that the five black keys on it correspond to Gong Shang Jiao Zheng Yu."

"It can be said that this piano completely conforms to the pentatonic twelve temperament."

(Key map of Ming Dynasty seventy-two-key small piano)
Li Yu was very satisfied with the piano that he had transformed into a piano that conformed to the pentatonic twelve temperaments, and he talked endlessly. He believed that this piano would surely impress the emperor and grant him a rank.

Zhu Youjian was indeed very surprised when he looked at the piano modified by Li Yu. Because he only knew that the piano naturally conforms to the twelve equal temperament, but he did not expect that when the black keys are used independently, they will conform to the five tones of Gong Shangjiao Zhengyu.

This surprised him greatly and asked Li Yu to explain it in detail. If this kind of piano with Ming characteristics can fully conform to the pentatonic twelve rhythms, and it can be used as the core instrument for the reconstruction of ritual music, there will be no obstacles.

Li Yu talked about his division of sound groups, and divided them into ten sound groups based on A, B, Bing, Ding, Wuji, Geng, Xinren, Gui and Ten Heavenly Stems; the twelve earthly branches of Zichou, Yinmao, Chen, Siwu and Youxuhai were used as Huang Zhong, Da Lu, Taicu, etc. The name of the melody.

Then the high temperament of the Ming Dynasty Huang Zhong was set as the consonant tone of the group, which is the central key on the piano. Because it was late at night, it was set as the black key. Three groups of notes are extended from left to right to form a seventy-two-key piano.

This kind of piano, which is developed on the basis of the sixty-key harpsichord, is in line with the number of Disha. In Li Yu's view, he can already make a deal.

But in his imagination, the seventy-two-key piano can continue to add keys, and all the 120 temperaments of the ten groups of tones can be played on the piano——

This is the most complete piano in his mind.

Zhu Youjian was secretly stunned when he heard his idea. I really didn’t expect that Li Yu could give me such a big surprise on the piano.

Because Li Yu not only made pianos, but also created Ganzhi notation, and determined the sound groups and note names, which pushed the music of the Ming Dynasty a big step forward.

He can already imagine that after the promotion of this kind of piano, Ming's music will be more standardized. All kinds of musical instruments will flourish.

This made him admire again and again, and he happily said to Li Yu:
"You make a great piano!"

"I can fulfill my promise now and grant you the rank of Grand Concubine and the title of Music Master."

"You are appointed to be the leader of the Royal Orchestra and also the chief commander."

He happily awarded Li Yu the honor, and Zhu Youjian ordered someone to summon the Jixunsi to fulfill this promise.

At the same time, Li Yu was appointed as the leader of the Royal Orchestra and continued to improve the piano.

Looking at this seventy-two-key piano, and then listening to Li Yu's idea of ​​a one-hundred-and-twenty-key piano, Zhu Youjian thought about the number of piano keys in later generations and said:

"The key position of the piano should be eighty or ninety keys."

"Sounds that are too high or too low can no longer be heard and are difficult to produce."

"I think you can extend another sound group to the left and right to create a ninety-six-key piano."

The number of piano keys was generally eighty-eight in later generations, with a maximum of ninety-seven keys, which did not continue to expand.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian believed that it would be enough to build a ninety-six-key piano, but there was no need to build a 120-key piano.

What he hopes more is to continue to improve this harpsichord-based piano and perfect it into a real piano.

Thinking about the piano images he saw in later generations, Zhu Youjian talked about the pedals, actions, etc., and said to Li Yu:

"The piano should not have a double row of keyboards, one row should be enough, and it should be able to continue to sound when the keys are pressed, producing a more beautiful tone."

"If someone makes a better piano, I will continue to award him or her with a higher rank."

"Li Qing, please carefully write down the structure and ideas of this piano, let other people who are exploring the piano make it according to the method, and then continue to improve it."

"Of course, the patented technology is yours. If someone wants to sell it, you can charge royalties."

Regarding things like piano, Zhu Youjian doesn't think there is anything that needs to be kept secret, and he hopes that people who are interested will improve it and promote its iteration——

He hopes that the piano will be integrated with other Chinese musical instruments and become a national musical instrument, like the dulcimer and suona.

Then, he asked Li Yu to sit down and try to play a piece of music on the piano.

Although Li Yu's playing skills are not proficient, he has been able to play a piece of music he composed completely on the piano these days.

Hearing the long-lost piano music, Zhu Youjian missed it very much. After Li Yu finished playing, he said:

"This is a good piece of music. Who composed it?"

Li Yudao:
"This is a farewell song. I composed it out of emotion when I was sending brother Zhou Maolan back to his hometown a few days ago."

Zhu Youjian was even more happy when he heard this. Thinking about Li Yu's age of nineteen this year, he seemed to see the birth of a future pianist.

In order to make him more familiar with the piano, he said:
"I also have a farewell song, please try playing and singing it."

He sang the familiar "Farewell" softly.

Listening to this farewell song, Li Yu suddenly felt that what he had done before was a bit ridiculous.

The emperor's farewell song is obviously much better than his, and it is very suitable for piano playing.

So he listened to the emperor's singing and immediately began to write down the music and lyrics.

Zhu Youjian looked at his Gongchipu and found it difficult to understand. Thinking about the staff pattern in my memory, and looking at the piano keys, I suddenly said:

“Since it’s a piano piece, we have to use the piano notation method.”

“You can model a new musical notation after the keys of a piano.”

As he spoke, he roughly drew a few lines, using solid lines, dotted lines and the intervals inside to represent the piano keys. I think it’s more intuitive to use this notation method——

This is because although he knows the name of the staff, he also found some pictures of the staff in his memory. But I have absolutely no idea what the symbols on the staff represent.

Therefore, this notation method was formulated based on the keys of the piano and the style of the staff. Use five solid lines to represent the black keys of the piano and seven intervals to represent the white keys of the piano to record the piano keys to be played.

Li Yu looked at this notation and felt that it was indeed suitable for piano. Immediately follow the emperor's instructions and switch to this notation method.

Because this kind of score has five solid lines, it is still called five-line score and is widely used to record piano music of the Ming Dynasty. And with the development of piano music, it was gradually improved and used in other fields.

Although it was just born, it was enough to record the piano keys. Li Yu quickly used it to record the emperor's farewell song and played it.

Zhu Youjian listened to his playing and felt very satisfied. He felt that this farewell song could make people realize the charm of the piano.

But he frowned a little at Li Yu's singing. Because Li Yu is not yet proficient in playing the piano, it is difficult for her to sing freely while playing.

So he thought of the children's chorus "Farewell" that he had heard, and instructed Li Yu to select someone from the young eunuchs to sing this song in a multi-part chorus.

Under the Royal Orchestra, a choir was set up, and music troupes, drama troupes, drama troupes, song and dance troupes, etc. were formed together. (End of chapter)