Guangling Melody, named for its popularity in Guangling area (today’s Yangzhou of Jiangsu province), is a grand masterpiece played by the guqin in China. It originated from the Qin (221-207 BC) and Han (206 BC-220 AD) dynasties and had been lost for a time, but later it was tidied up and its score was composed by Guan Pinghu, a famous Chinese guqin player according to the melody recorded in Magical Music Score (1425), which made this wonderful guqin melody back to the world.
The content of Guangling Melody came from the guqin melody Nie Zheng Assassinating King of Han, which mainly described a solemn story that Nie Zheng, son of a swordsmith in the Warring States Period, committed suicide after stabbing the king of Han in order to avenge his father. The main body of this music focuses on the change of Nie Zheng’s emotion from hate to indignation, which profoundly portrays his unyielding willpower to avenge regardless of violence.
The fame of Guangling Melody has a close relation with the personage in the Wei-Jin Period (220-589) - Ji Kang, who is one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. He was revered by his contemporary for he was well versed in poetry and prose and playing the musical instrument, especially in performing Guangling Melody. Afterward, he suffered from a false charge and was sentenced to death. For fear that Guangling Melody lack of successors, he requested to perform Guangling Melody on the spot just before execution, which made Guangling Melody ranked as a masterpiece through the ages.
The tune of Guangling Melody is boiling and bountiful, which directly expresses the struggling spirit of people under repression against the tyrant, with a high ideological value and artistic value. It is not only the essence of Chinese ancient music, but also an important representative of Chinese ethos.
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