江苏省中国古琴史记（九）：明朝

明代步入了一个稳定且持续发展的时期，呈现出承旧趋新的态势。明代有许多嗜琴成癖的皇帝，例如明宪宗（成化）琴艺高超，名噪一时，现存的明琴中，有印有“广运之宝”的各式成化御制琴。明思宗（崇祯）也对鼓琴情有独钟，能弹奏30余首古曲，兴致高昂时，常常“鼓琴多至丙夜不辄休”。明代擅长弹琴的太监也众多，如明中叶的戴义、黄献、胡喜諌等。明代藩王造琴、刻谱之多，堪称空前，宁王、衡王、益王、潞王等皆好琴，使得官宦及民间弹琴之风盛行一时。

明代琴乐的发达，还体现在私人集资刊印琴谱的风气盛行。众多文人士大夫积极提倡琴学，他们将古代传承下来的琴曲以及民间尚在流传的曲目编纂成谱集，并对其表现内容进行研究和阐释。从15世纪初到19世纪末的500年间，先后刊印的琴曲谱集达数百种之多，流传至今的尚有150余种。这不仅使许多古曲得以保存，也促进了不同琴派、师承之间的琴艺交流。

明洪熙年间的《神奇秘谱》（1425年），是现存年代最早的重要琴曲谱集。编者朱权（1378—1448年）是明太祖朱元璋第十七子。该谱集于洪熙元年（1425年）刻印刊行，共分3卷，上卷称《太古神品》，收录16曲，多为北宋以前的名曲；中、下卷称《霞外神品》，收录48曲，是在宋元间流传较广的琴曲。《神奇秘谱》是历史上声望最高的传谱，对于研究隋唐宋元间的古琴艺术和中国古代音乐的流变，具有重要意义。《太音大全集》则是现存年代较早的琴论专集，内容涵盖制琴、琴式、手势、杂论、指法、调意等。其中保存了不少早已散佚的唐宋琴论琴书，如唐赵耶利、陈居士、陈拙；宋田芝翁、杨祖云等人的指法材料。明嘉靖年间琴家汪芝所辑的《西麓堂琴统》，也是一部很重要的琴谱，共有25卷，对于研究汉魏六朝以来的琴曲艺术成就，具有重要价值。明代另一部重要的古琴文献是明万历间琴家蒋克谦所编的《琴书大全》，全书共22卷，前20卷收录历代有关琴学的记载，包括声律、琴制、指法、曲调、弹琴圣贤以及有关琴的诗文681篇；后2卷为琴谱，收录琴曲62首。其收录之丰富，堪称琴学领域中的百科全书。

明代有谢琳、黄土达、杨表正、杨抡等人提倡琴歌创作，主张借用古代诗词歌赋来谱曲。然而，此派因过分强调“正文对音”，在考虑琴歌的词曲关系上拘于一字一音，一定程度上束缚了古琴音乐的发展。针对琴坛中流行的滥填文词的风气，明代以严澂（号天池）为代表的虞山派琴家力匡时弊，倡导“清微淡远”的琴风，追求博大和平的音乐意境，并刊印了《松弦馆琴谱》，在当时琴界产生了深远影响。严天池之后，作为虞山琴派宿将的徐上瀛，在继承历代琴乐演奏美学思想的精华之后，综合了自己无数次的演奏心得和审美体验，提出了和、静、清、远、古、淡、恬、逸、雅、丽、亮、彩、洁、润、圆、坚、宏、细、溜、健、轻、重、迟、速的《溪山琴况》，对后世琴乐审美思想产生了深远影响。

The Ming Dynasty entered a period of stable and continuous development, characterized by its inheritance of the past and innovation. Many Ming emperors were obsessed with the guqin. For example, Emperor Xianzong (Chenghua) was renowned for his guqin skills, and there are surviving Ming guqins with the "Imperial Seal" mark, known as the Chenghua Imperial Guqins. Emperor Chongzhen was also fond of playing the guqin and could perform over 30 ancient pieces. When in high spirits, he would play the guqin until the middle of the night without stopping. There were also many eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty who were skilled in playing the guqin, such as Dai Yi, Huang Xian, and Hu Xijian in the mid-Ming period. The princes of the Ming Dynasty were prolific in making guqins and engraving musical scores, an unprecedented phenomenon. Notable princes included the Prince of Ning, the Prince of Heng, the Prince of Yi, and the Prince of Lu, all of whom loved the guqin, leading to a widespread trend of guqin playing among officials and commoners.

As a sign of the flourishing guqin music in the Ming Dynasty, the trend of privately funded publications of guqin scores became popular. Many literati and officials advocated for the study of guqin, compiling ancient inherited pieces and folk pieces still in circulation into collections, and conducting research and interpretation of their content. Over the 500 years from the early 15th century to the late 19th century, hundreds of guqin score collections were published, and more than 150 of them have been preserved to this day. This not only helped to preserve many ancient pieces but also promoted the exchange of guqin skills among different schools and teachers.

The "Mysterious and Magical Scores" (1425) from the Hongxi period of the Ming Dynasty is the earliest existing important collection of guqin scores. The compiler, Zhu Quan (1378–1448), was the 17th son of Emperor Taizu of Ming, Zhu Yuanzhang. The collection was printed and published in the first year of the Hongxi era (1425) and consists of three volumes. The upper volume, titled "Divine Pieces of Antiquity," contains 16 pieces, most of which are famous pieces from before the Northern Song Dynasty. The middle and lower volumes, titled "Divine Pieces Beyond the Clouds," contain 48 pieces that were widely circulated during the Song and Yuan periods. The "Mysterious and Magical Scores" is the most prestigious transmitted score in history and is of great significance for the study of the evolution of guqin art from the Sui, Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties and the development of ancient Chinese music. The "Complete Collection of Great Sounds" is one of the earliest existing collections of guqin theories, covering topics such as guqin making, guqin styles, gestures, miscellaneous discussions, finger techniques, and musical intentions. It preserves many guqin theories and books from the Tang and Song dynasties that have long been lost, such as the finger technique materials of Tang Dynasty figures Zhao Yeli, Chen Jushi, and Chen Zhuo, and Song Dynasty figures Tian Zhiweng and Yang Zuyun. The "Xilutang Qin Collection," compiled by the Ming Dynasty guqin player Wang Zhi during the Jiajing period, is also an important collection of guqin scores. This collection has 25 volumes and is of great value for the study of the artistic achievements of guqin music since the Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties. Another important guqin document from the Ming Dynasty is the "Complete Collection of Guqin Books," compiled by the Ming Dynasty guqin player Jiang Keqian during the Wanli period. The book has a total of 22 volumes, with the first 20 volumes containing records of guqin studies from previous generations, including musical laws, guqin making, finger techniques, melodies, sages of guqin playing, and 681 poems and essays related to the guqin. The last two volumes contain guqin scores with 62 pieces. Its rich collection can be regarded as an encyclopedia in the field of guqin studies.

During the Ming Dynasty, figures such as Xie Lin, Huang Tudada, Yang Biaozheng, and Yang Lun advocated for the creation of guqin songs, proposing to compose music based on ancient poetry and prose. However, this school of thought, due to its overemphasis on "matching characters with sounds," was overly rigid in the relationship between lyrics and music, adhering strictly to a one-to-one correspondence between characters and notes, which to some extent restricted the development of guqin music. In response to the prevailing trend of indiscriminate filling of lyrics in the guqin community, the Yushan School of guqin players, represented by Yan Cheng (styled Tianchi), worked to correct this flaw, advocating a "clear, subtle, light, and distant" style of guqin playing and pursuing a broad and peaceful musical realm. They published the "Pine String Pavilion Guqin Scores," which had a profound impact on the guqin community at the time. After Yan Tianchi, Xu Shangying, a veteran of the Yushan School, inherited the essence of guqin performance aesthetics from previous generations and combined it with his own extensive performance experience and aesthetic insights. He proposed the "Xishan Guqin Conditions," which include harmony, tranquility, clarity, distance, antiquity, lightness, calmness, elegance, brightness, brilliance, purity, smoothness, roundness, firmness, grandeur, delicacy, fluency, strength, lightness, heaviness, slowness, and speed. This work has had a far-reaching influence on the aesthetic ideas of guqin music in later generations.