时间：2022-10-28 09:36:11
千年之前，中国人就开始用古琴作曲。高雅的古琴深受学者、音乐家喜爱。一架好的古琴价值连城。这期，就让我们从“彩凤”和“来凰”两架琴中，发现弦音中的历史。
The 1,200-year-old guqin Da Sheng Yi Yin (大圣遗音) was made by the Lei family workshop in the Tang Dynasty (618―907 AD). The instrument was sold for 115 million yuan at a Beijing auction two months ago. Yet an auction expert still felt it was undervalued.
Why is a simple string instrument so highly valued? The answers may be found at the Zhejiang Provincial Museum, which has one of China’s best collections of the seven-stringed zither. In the museum, the most famous is an instrument named Cai Feng Ming Qi (彩凤鸣岐) which is translated to “cock phoenix singing on Mount Qi”.
Cai Feng is one of a pair of Tang Dynasty instruments made by the Lei family studio. The other is Lai Huang (来凰), its feminine phoenix partner.
Yang had recorded that Cai Feng was kept at the Imperial Palace, and was part of the dowry of a royal family member. The instrument was later lost when the Eight Nations Alliance invaded and looted Beijing in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion, before it was recovered by Yang.
“This is partly why this guqin is particularly valuable,” says Fan Peiling, a researcher with Zhejiang Museum. “Its legendary background tells a lot about China’s history.”
More importantly, the instrument is in fine condition, and Yang had described it thus: “It gives off the sound of bronze bells and stone chimes, rather than silk strings.”
In 2008, the Zhejiang Museum invited three respected guqin musician―Cheng Gongliang, Ding Chengyun and Yao Gongbai―to record an album with the twin instruments, Cai Feng and Lai Huang. The musicians were impressed with Cai Feng, describing its tone as “mellow and gentle”.
“The best way to protect an instrument is to keep playing it,” Fan says. That is why the Zhejiang museum often organizes concerts, like the one last year when it invited 14 musicians from home and abroad to play on Cai Feng and Lai Huang.
The museum is also proposing a new project in which musicians can take the instruments out on loan to perform.
“A famous guqin of great value will add to the charm of a concert, and good musicians will help to keep the instruments in good condition.”
auction n. 拍卖
the Imperial Palace 故宫
dowry n. 嫁妆
Eight Nations Alliance 八国联军
Boxer Rebellion 义和团运动