Tang-era piece: Shi Tian Yue《十天樂》

Tang-era piece:  Shi Tian Yue

《十天樂》

compiled by David Badagnani (rev. 7 March 2024)

In an effort to make this information more accessible, this document contains resources related to the Tang-era piece entitled Shi Tian Yue《十天樂》(Ten Devas Music), which exists in the form of instrumental parts for a single-movement piece consisting of 8 measures of 4/2. Its composition is attributed to a Japanese flute master named Tsuneyo no Otouo (乙魚) who is believed to have flourished in the mid-8th century, though Picken speculates that it may actually be "a fragment of a forgotten Tang piece, revived and modified by that Flute Master of uncertain floruit." (Picken and Nickson 1997, p. 85).

As preserved in Sino-Japanese sources, this piece is called Jittenraku『十天樂（じってんらく）』), and it appears in the following score collections:

1) and 2) Sango Yōroku and Jinchi Yōroku, both of which were compiled in the late 12th century

3) Ruisō Chiyō『類箏治要』(1296 or c. 1261)

4) Rosei Yōroku『蘆聲要録』(perhaps 1661)

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Videos and recordings of Shi Tian Yue

● Full-ensemble realization of Shi Tian Yue, done by Tokinori Yanagita using synthesized sounds (Japan, 2021)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I47xuF5UoBQ

● Full-ensemble realization of Shi Tian Yue, done by Tokinori Yanagita using synthesized sounds, revised version (Japan, 2022)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTc4nUmYOUM

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Bibliography

● Laurence Picken, ed., with Rembrandt F. Wolpert, Allan J. Marett, Jonathan Condit, and Elizabeth J. Markham, and with Yōko Mitani and Noël J. Nickson.  Music from the Tang Court, vol. 3.  Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press, 1985, p. 33.

http://services.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/music/ethnomusicology/music-tang-court-volume-3

https://www.amazon.com/Music-Tang-Court-Laurence-Picken/dp/0521278384

● Picken, Laurence E. R. and Noël J. Nickson, eds., with Rembrandt F. Wolpert, Allan J. Marett, Elizabeth J. Markham, Stephen Jones, and Yōko Mitani.  Music from the Tang Court, vol. 6.  Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press, 1997.
https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/music/ethnomusicology/music-tang-court-volume-6
https://www.amazon.com/Music-Tang-Court-Laurence-Picken/dp/0521621003

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