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Lishi xueyue lu 李氏學樂錄

Dec 3, 2013 © Ulrich Theobald

Lishi xueyue lu 李氏學樂錄 "Master Li's book on learning music" is a book on music written during the early Qing period 清 (1644-1911) by the philosopher Li Gong 李塨 (1657-1733). As a disciple of Mao Qiling 毛奇齡 (1623-1716), Li Gong had studied music and the application of the muscial scales and modes for various instruments.

His book of 38 juan length includes the chapters Gongdiao tu 宮調圖, Qidiao quantu 七調全圖, Shi'erlü xuanxiang wei gong ge ba xiangsheng hetu 十二律旋相為宮隔八相生合圖, Wuyin qisheng shi'erlü qise qizi wei qidiao huan xiang wie gong ge ba xiansheng quantu 五音七聲十二律器色七字為七調還相為宮隔八相生全圖 and Liulü zheng wuyin tu 六律正五音圖. For each of the many illustrations Li Gong provides detailed explanations. He instructs the reader that the five symbols 四, 上, 尺, 工 and 六 are used to signify tones, the first being the basic or lowest tone of a pentatonic scale, while the others indicate raising full-tone steps.

The influence of Mao Qiling is clearly visible in this book, so that it was included in the latter's collected writings Xihe heji 西河合集. It is also to be found in the imperial series Siku quanshu 四庫全書 and the series Longwei mishu 龍威秘書 and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編.

Sources:
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文鬰, ed. (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 1, 624.
Zhao Xiangqun 趙向群 (1988). "Lishi xueyue lu 李氏學樂錄", in Zhao Jihui 趙吉惠 and Guo Hou'an 郭厚安, ed. Zhongguo ruxue cidian 中國儒學辭典 (Shenyang: Liaoning renmin chubanshe), 395.