The Origin of the Short Lute

Author(s): Laurence Picken

Source: The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 8 (Mar., 1955), pp. 32-42
Published by: Galpin Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/842155
Accessed: 17-03-2015 10:03 UTC

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Galpin Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Galpin Society Journal.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 150.214.205.171 on Tue, 17 Mar 2015 10:03:50 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

LAURENCE PICKEN

The

Origin

of

the

Short

Lute

Musiciansfrom CentralAsia',Mr Prynne

INhis notethatonif 'Angelic
the
of the friezefrom Airtamto the

first
suggests
ascription
be
theories
about
the
of
the
lutecentury accepted,'present
origin
guitar-fiddlefamilyof instrumentsmay have to be revisedconsiderably'.1Whateverthese theoriesmay be, it would seemthatrevision
was overdue;for the existenceof shortlutesin the firstcenturyADis
knownalreadyfromotherKusanasculptures-thoseof Gandhara,
and
is probablyattestedby Chinesetextsof abouta centuryanda halflater.
2, two types of short lute occur on
Accordingto Marcel-Dubois
of the firstcenturyADfromGandhara:
sculptures
(I) the 'waisted'lute
herfigure(P1.XIV, i) showsthreestrings,a lute-type
(luthechancre):
bridge,andplectrum;and(2)the ovoidlutewithpeg-boxbentslightly
backwards,three (or four) strings,no plectrum.The first type disappearsfrom Indianrecordsafterthe first centuryand does not reappearuntil the Musliminvasions;the secondtype occursfrom the
secondto the fourth centuryin SouthernIndia-at Amaravati,for
example.Thislatterinstrument(Marcel-Dubois,
P1.XIV, 3) is shown
with a curvedlute-typebridgeand five pegs, laterallyinsertedin a
backwardlydirectedpeg-box. (Thelong-neckedlute doesnot appear
in Indiauntilthe tenthcentury,andlike the majorityof modernIndian
instruments
probablyarrivedwith the Musliminvaders.Instruments
elements
from both the pre-Muslimstick-zitherand the
combining
Muslimlong-neckedlute are not uncommon.See Marcel-Dubois,

p.9o.)

The landof Gandhara(thatis, most of Afghanistan),

togetherwith
the PaiijabasfarasTaxila,formedpartof the kingdomof the Kusanas
established
I aboutAD50; andthereis no reasonto quesby Kadphises
tion the datingof the Airtamfrieze,even though the presenceof a
shortlutesurprises.
TheKusanas
werea leadingclanof a peopleknown
to the ChineseasYiiehchih,to the Westas Scyths3. In the centuryand
a halfbeforeAD50,theYiiehchihhadtravelledfromNorthwestChina,
occupiedBactria,andfromBactriaconqueredGandhara.
Duringthis
migration,they had undoubtedlyabsorbedTurkicand Iranianelements;but whetherthey themselvesshouldbe regardedas primarily
of Indo-Iranian
or of Turco-Mongolstockcannotbe decided,andthe
well
be meaningless.
It was the stabilitythey broughtto
questionmay
a landpreviouslysub-dividedinto a myriadHellenistic-Indian
states
whichmadepossiblethe efflorescence
of'Gandharan'
art.To thinkof
32

This content downloaded from 150.214.205.171 on Tue, 17 Mar 2015 10:03:50 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

thiscultureas 'Greek'is incorrect;it was nevermorethanHellenistic.

artwasnot producedat the timewhen HellenMoreover,Gandharan
istic influencewas at its youngestand presumablymost vigorous.It
wasa productof hybridvigourfollowingconquestby a CentralAsian
people;and it was in this mixedandprosperousculturethatthe first
of the shortlute appeared.
representations
The nameof the Chineseshortlute,p'i-p'aorp'i-pa,sometimes(but
with littlejustification)regardedasa phoneticequivalentof the Persian
barbat
or barbut4,
firstappearsin the earlyencyclopediaShihMing.This
and certainotherearlyreferenceshave alreadybeen summarizedby
writersin Western
For the purposesof this note, the
languages5,6.
two earliesttextshave
beenre-examined;
neitherof theseis muchlater
thanAD200. Thoughbrief,they areinformative;andthereareseveral
pointsof whichthe full significancehasnot perhapsbeenappreciated
hitherto.Courant6,thoughfamiliarwiththe earliersources,startsfrom
the collectedviews put forwardin the Liu SungHistory,datingfrom
the fifth century,so that it is not easyto distinguishearlyfrom later
viewsin his account.It is hereproposedto considerthe earliesttextsin
isolationand on their own merits.The relevantpassagesare short
enoughto quotein theirentirety;theyhavenot previouslybeentranslatedin extenso,andthe translation
attemptsto reproduceas faithfully
as possiblethe quasi-telegraphese
of the original.
ShihMing(Explanations
of Names)(LiuHsi;caAD2oo00-notbefore
126 nor laterthan2707). 'P'i-p'a:originallyaroseamong [Northern
or Western]barbarians;
that which is playedon horseback.Pushing
thehandforwardsis calledp'i;pullingthehandbackwards
is calledp'a.
when
is
it
used
as name'.
therefore
Depicts[whathappens]
played;
Su
I
Current
Customs
and
Feng T'ung (Meanings
of
Expressions)
(Ying
Chao;ca.AD200). 'P'i-p'a:thatwhichmusiciansof recenttimesmade;
not known who. Forwardsand backwardswith the hand [p'i-p'a];
thereforeusedasname.Three"feet"five "inches"long [thatis, about
threefeetlong;not fifteeninchesasstatedby Moule5 (op.cit.,p. 15)1;
afterthe patternof Heaven,Earth,Manandthe FiveElements.Four
stringsfigureFourSeasons.'
Exiguousthoughthesecommentsbe, they arerevealing.It is surely
is thusemphasized.
It mustbe resignificantthatthe hand-movement
memberedthat, so far as is known, all Chinesestringedinstruments
beforethe introductionof the p'i-p'awere halftube-or board-zithers,
and that no Chineseinstrumentof this class-ch'in,seh or chengdemandssucha movement.The performersitsfacingthe left long side
of the instrument,
andthe actionof the handsmoreresemblesthatat a
than
a
forwards-and-backwards
movement.The emphasis
keyboard
33

This content downloaded from 150.214.205.171 on Tue, 17 Mar 2015 10:03:50 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

of thehand-movement-asif thiswerethe essentialnoveltyin Chinese

eyes of the firstandsecondcenturies-makesprobablethatthe p'i-p'a
was a lute, and not a zither,at its earliestappearance.
Regardingthe
name:the selectionof anapproximate
phoneticequivalentwhichhad a
relevantsemanticvaluewas one of the meansby which the entryof
foreign words into the Chinesevocabularywas facilitated.For the
moment,it is advisableto suspend
judgmentaboutthe foreignoriginal
of the namep'i-p'a.
The earliestreferencesincludeseveralfurtherpointsof importance.
Theseare:thatthep'i-p'ais of foreignorigin;thatin thesecondcentury
it is a recentinstrument;thatit hasfourstringsandis aboutthreefeet
thatof the survivingT'angdynastybass
long. (Thislengthapproaches
lute, the gaku biwa,still in use in the ImperialCourt Orchestraof
Japan.)The conclusionto be drawnfrom the earlytextsis, then,that
the p'i-p'ais an instrumentof non-Chineseprovenance,recentin the
secondcentury,playedwith a characteristic
forwards-and-backwards
movementof thehand,with fourstringsandaboutthreefeetin length.
Thesecharacters
are not incompatiblewith the view that the p'i-p'a
at its firstappearance
in Chinawas a lute. The evidenceof theearliest
texts has been presentedin isolationfrom later accountsprecisely
becauseit suggestsa lute-typeinstrument(thoughnot necessarilya
shortlute) of foreignandrecentorigin.
Thepointis of someimportance,becausethe LiuSungHistoryof the
fifth centurycontainstwo differentstoriesof the originof the p'i-p'a
whichhaveled to doubtsaboutthe earliestp'i-p'abeing a lute at all.
The first story runs:'When the Emperorof Han sent the Wusun
Princessto marryK'un-mi [Khanof the Wusun, a CentralAsian
people],beingmindfulof her thoughtsandlongingson thejourney,
he thereforeordereda craftsmanto cut down [ormodify] chengand
chu[two typesof Chinesezither,the latterwith a shortneckor handle
(Courantop.cit.p. 176)]andmakea musicfor horseback.'
The LiuSungHistorygivesasthe sourceof thisstorya poeticalessay
(fu) on the p'i-p'aby Fu Hsiian(AD217-278). Fragmentsof thisfu
survive,and from these it is clear that substantialportionsof the
accountsof the origin,constructionand cosmologicalsignificanceof
thep'i-p'ain the Liu SungHistory,in the Old T'angHistory(of which
the musicsectionmay well go backto the earlierversionof Wei Shu
et al. completedabout760), and in the T'ungTien (GeneralEncyclopedia)(theauthor,Tu Yu, diedin 812), areall takenfromthisfu.
So farasis known,the ensembleof fragmentsfromthisessayhasnot
previouslybeenexaminedin relationto theearlyhistoryof the p'i-p'a.
The fragmentsprovideevidenceof the structureof the p'i-p'ain the
34

This content downloaded from 150.214.205.171 on Tue, 17 Mar 2015 10:03:50 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

thirdcentury,andthey show thatthe storyof the derivationof the instrumentfromchengandchuis a truncated

versionof a fulleroriginalof
ratherdifferentsignificance.Forconvenience,they will be considered
out of theirserialorder.An initialletterin bracketsenablesthe real
orderto be restored.
To takefirstconstructional
points,we read:(B) 'Considernow that
instrument:inside hollow, outside solid, an image of Heaven and
Earth;the bowl round,the handlestraight,in conformitywith the
Female and Male Principles;twelve frets [chu]matchedwith the
[twelve]PitchPipes;fourstringsfiguringthe FourSeasons.'(Thelast
analogysuggeststhat the authorof the FengSu T'ungI was perhaps
familiarwith thisfu-or conversely.)Thedescription
fitsa lute,though
it is stillnot possibleto saywhethershort-or long-necked.A point of
importanceconcernsthe frets.The termchuis usuallyappliedto movablebridges,eachsupportinga singlestring,suchasexisttodayon the
zitherknownas cheng,andexistedin the paston the ancientritualseh.
At a laterdatethe Chineseundoubtedlyhad separatetermsfor fixed
betweenthose on the neck and those on the
frets,and differentiated
the ideographchuis usedboth
body of thep'i-p'a;butin Sino-Japanese
for the movablebridgeson the koto(azither)andfor the fixedfretson
the basslute, the gaku biwa,which like Fu Hsiian'sp'i-p'ahasfour
strings.In the light of this usage,it is probablylegitimateto translate
chu*in the thirdcenturyas 'fret';but it is still not possibleto decide
between a long-neckedand a short-neckedinstrument.For if there
werefretson the bodyaswell ason theneck,theinstrument
mightbe a
shortlute in spiteof the numberof frets.Leavingthis point for the
moment,however,the comment:'twelvechumatchedwith the Pitch
Pipes [a twelve-note octave]' strongly suggestsan approximately
chromaticscaling.Concordancewith the PitchPipes
equal-tempered
wouldhelpto makethe instrumentcosmologicallyrespectable
though
recentandof foreignorigin.
Regardingprovenance,Fu Hsiianwrites:(A) 'The ShihPen [either
a referenceto oneor otherof two losthistoricalworksof thatname:or,
to the Chroniclesof the FeudalFamiliesandRecordsof the Emperors,
two sectionsof the ShihChi, by Szu-maCh'ien]doesnot recordthe
maker.I haveheardan old storythatwhen the Emperorof Hansent
* Courant
(op. cit. p. 96) has translatedchuas 'moveablebridge'in an
importantpassagefromthe Sui History(Book14, folio 25) whereit certainly
does not meana moveablebridgebut rathera tuningpeg. A more correct
of the beginningof thispassage-forwhichI am indebtedto Protranslation
fessorE. G. Pulleyblank-wouldbe: '[Cheng]I thereuponby meansof the
string-posts
pegs)of thep'i-p'awhichhe twisted.. .'
(hsien-chu=-tuning
35

This content downloaded from 150.214.205.171 on Tue, 17 Mar 2015 10:03:50 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

the Wusun Princessto marry K'un-mi, being mindful of her thoughts

and longings on the journey, he therefore ordered a craftsmanmusician to design [an instrument] of the class of ch'in [the sevenstringedzither], cheng,chuand k'unghou [the vertical angularharp] and
make a music for horseback.'
The class of instrumentsto which three differentzithers and a harp
belong can be no less than the entire class of plucked stringed instruments; and the story in this fuller version disposes once and for all of
the notion that the p'i-p'a was a compound of chengand chu. In any
case, the legend has nothing to do with the structureof the instrument
of the mid-third century as describedby Fu Hsiian, which is a hollowbellied, four-stringedlute, with a neck differentiatedfrom the hollow
body.
Later, Fu Hsiian reverts to the question of origin: (C) 'In referring
to it one uses a foreign expression,p'i-p'a, because it was transmitted
to a foreign country.' The explanationis illogical; but it would not do
to say that the p'i-p'a was a foreign instrument, after havirig put forward a'storyof its origin on Chinese soil.What is valuable in this statement is the clear indication that Fu Hsiian recognized that the name
p'i-p'a was originally a foreign word.
The second story, also reported in the Liu Sung History, though
somewhat condensed there, is as follows: (D) 'Tu Chih [a contemporary of Fu Hsiian,ft. AD254-6] supposes that at the end of the Ch'in
dynasty[255-209 Be], peasantssufferingunderforcedlabouron the
GreatWall strunga t'ao [a small two-headed, nailed, cylindricaldrum,
with a handle at right angles to the axis of the two heads] and played
it.' The origin of this story is perhapssufficientlyexplained by the real
resemblanceof the t'ao,with its handle, to a circularlute with a straight
narrow neck. Fu Hsiian concludes this section of his essay with the
comment: (E) 'A brace [of theories] each having support; in deciding
between them from the sense, the Wusun [story] is preferable.'
We can safely say that both stories have the face-saving function of
suggesting how a popular, but completely foreign, instrument was
really quite respectablebecauseafter all it had been invented in China,
exported and re-imported. The associationwith the Wusun, however,
is striking.At the time (late second century BC) of the Princess'sjourney
(mentioned in the FormerHan History of the first century AD), the
Wusun, perhapsthe original ethnic substrateof the Asiani (see Haloun,
op. cit., p. 252), were a mixed people, having absorbed the Great
Yiiehchih in the course of their migration, already referred to. This
associationcarriesus not only towards Central Asia, but towards the
very people of whom the Kusanaswere a dominant clan, and in whose
36
This content downloaded from 150.214.205.171 on Tue, 17 Mar 2015 10:03:50 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

of shortlutesfirst
territory,a centuryand a halflater,representations
appear.
'Musicfor horseback'itselfsuggestsa people of equestrianhabits;
andit may be thatthe playingof the lute on horsebackwas a practice
of the Wusun.Fromlatertimes,Persianminiaturesoftenshow equestrianmusicians.
ThoughtheearliestChinesetextsdo not give anyindicationwhether
a shortor a long-neckedluteis implied,it canbe arguedthatthe instrument was a shortlute, becaugethe earliestChineserepresentations
of
lutesareof the shorttype.The earliesthithertorecordedoccuron basreliefsof the firsthalfof the sixthcentury;andactualT'anglutesfrom
a centuryor so later(lateeighthor earlyninthcentury)surviveto this
day in the Shosoinat NarainJapan9.Thereis, however,'a stillearlier
of a Chineselute on a still older instrumentin the
representation
Shosoin.It occurson the very earlydecoratedChineseseven-stringed
zither.VanGulik'o(op.cit.pp. 181--9)hasdiscussed
in detailthe stylistic
and other groundsfor ascribingthis instrumentto the fifth century;
he hasarguedthatits cyclicaldateshouldbe readeitheras435 or 495,
andthatit was alreadyan antiquewhenplacedin the ImperialCollection in 817.Thiszither,superblydecoratedin lacquerinlaidwith gold
and silver,bearson its uppersurface,in the spacebetweenthe last
nodalstudandthe bridge,a scenealfrescorepresenting
threepersons:
one in the act of drinkingfrom a horn-cup;one with a zitheron his
as canbe
knees;and one playinga p'i-p'a.The drawingis hair-sharp,
seenfromthe fine collotypein the Catalogue
Treasures
in
oftheImperial
the Shosoin(Vol. III, P1. 4)11.The p'i-p'a shown has a large body,
circularin plan, about eighteeninchesin diameter,with a straight
taperingneck.The lengthof the neck to the unionwith the peg-box
is equalto the diameterof the body.Therearefourstrings,a lute-type
bridge,and four pegs laterallyinsertedin an apparentlystraightpegbox. Thelute showsa broadbandacrossthe bellyat rightanglesto the
neck-bridgeaxis,comparablewith the leatherbandon thegakubiwa,
and a largehand-plectrum
can be seenin the performer's
righthand.
Thereareclearlyfretson the body (fourarevisible,of whichthreeare
markedby doublelines)as well as on the neck (againfourarevisible,
and thereis a gap betweenthoseon the neck andthoseon the body;
thismay be dueto imperfectionin the drawing,but if realmeansthat
the scalingcannothave been chromatic).The instrumentis identified
by vanGulikwiththe Ch'inp'i-p'a,asdefinedin the OldT'angHistory,
that is, the p'i-p'aassociatedwith the name of the Ch'indynasty-if
of a Chineseluteof the
only fancifullyso. Herethenis a representation
fifthcenturywhichwouldseemto fit perfectlyFuHsiian'sdescription
37
This content downloaded from 150.214.205.171 on Tue, 17 Mar 2015 10:03:50 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

of the third century. It is clear that Fu Hsiian'sinstrumentwas neither

a 'waisted'lute nor an ovoid lute.
The earliestChinese reference to a 'bent-neckedp'i-p'a' is perhaps
that in the Sui History, compiled pursuantto a decree of 629. The passage suggeststhat the instrumentcame from Hsi-liang (modern Kansu
Province) at the beginning of the fifth century. That the 'bent-necked
p'i-p'a'was the ovoid lute is made certainby a referencein the Old T'ang
Historywhich must go back to the version completed about 760 (already
referredto) since the passageis also quoted in the T'ung Tien of Tu Yu
(d. 812). (The Old T'angHistoryas a whole can scarcelyhve been compiled before 920.) Having referredto the Ch'inp'i-p'a, the text continues: 'The others [p'i-p'as]are in shape full above, pointed below,
neck bent, and rather large. Originally arose among [Northern or
Western] barbarians.According to common tradition made in Han
times.' (The inversion of the pear-shapeaccords with the position in
which the ovoid lute is held in representationsfrom T'ang times.9)
Van Gulik equates the scene on the upper surface of the Shosoin
zither with the famous literary gathering at the Lan Pavilion in 353,
and regards the enclosure of three principal figures in a square as a
reminiscenceof the conventions of Buddhist painting. It is possible,
however, that yet another literary reminiscencemay have been active
in shaping the design: that of the Seven Sages of Chu-lin, discussedin
another work by van Gulik12.The Seven Sages (who were meeting
between 245 and 255) included in their number two conspicuously
gifted musicians-Hsi K'ang who played the seven-stringedzither and
Yiian Hsien who played the p'i-p'a--and a great wine-bibber--Liu
Ling. The possible identificationof the three personageswith three of
the Seven Sages (in spite of the fact that there are nine human figures in
all on the upper surfaceof the zither) would be trivial but for the fact
that the name ofYiian Hsien was given to a type of short lute of which
two specimens are preserved in the Shosoin (see Catalogue:Vol. I,
Pls. 49-52). These instrumentsare clearly Ch'inp'i-p'a closely resembling the instrument figured on the Shosoin zither. The Old T'ang
Historyrecountshow such an instrument,made of copper (or a copper
alloy) (!), was found in an ancienttomb duringthe reign of the Empress
Wu of T'ang (684-705), and that a certain antiquary, Yiian Hsingch'ung, stated it was the instrument invented (or made) by Yiian
Hsien. The one illustratedin the Shosoin Catalogueis I metre long;
the body is 39 cms. in diameter and 3.6 cms. thick; there are four
strings and fourteen frets, of which four are placed on the body. The
scaling of this instrumentcannot be chromatic;but it must be remembered that this is probably an instrument of the ninth century. The
38

This content downloaded from 150.214.205.171 on Tue, 17 Mar 2015 10:03:50 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

catalogue-notes state that the instrument is called Genkan (=Yiian

Hsien) because of its resemblance to the instrument (Ch'in p'i-p'a)
which Yiian Hsien is traditionally representedas playing. (The Old
T'ang Historyspecifically refers to his doing so in 'the picture of the
Seven Sages of Chu-lin'.) The notes do not refer to the scene on the
zither, though this would seem to be an example of that very tradition.
It is striking that on a zither, the p'i-p'a player should be throned in
honour.
The metal p'i-p'a of the tomb-find may have been a materially
ennobled specimen for use as grave-furniture. (Iron and porcelain
zithers are well attested, for example.) There is, however, another
possibility which should perhaps be mentioned. It is that there may
have been a type of Ch'in p'i-p'a which, like the modern Turkish
ciimblis,incorporated a resonance chamber of copper or brass. The
T'ung Tien (andthe New T'angHistory)recordsthat on the instructions
of Yiian Hsing-ch'ung the instrumentwas re-constructedin wood. Its
tone is describedas 'clearand refined'. It would seem, therefore,that if
at any time a metal-bellied short lute had been in use in China, the
usage was forgotten by the end of the seventh century.
With the later history of the instrumentin Chinese sourcesthis note
is not concerned; but it is worth mentioning how much information
about types of lutes and their provenanceis contained in Chinese texts
and has never, as yet, been properly explored by Western scholars.
According to a statement in the Old T'ang History,all ancientp'i-p'as
were played with a wooden plectrum, and it was not until the reign of
T'ai Tsung ofT'ang (627-50) that the fingers alone were used. In view
of the documentaryand archaeologicalevidence in China (andJapan),
it would seem likely that the circular short lute appeared in China
before the ovoid lute; and furthermore (ignoring the date implied by
the name Han p'i-p'a) that the earliest appearanceof the ovoid short
lute with a bent neck within the immediate area of Chinese contact
occurredat the beginning of the fifth century, in Hsi-Liang. This suggests a maximal interval of about four centuriesbetween the appearance of short ovoid lutes in the territory of the Kusanasand in China.
That it may be wise to ignore the implications of the names Ch'in
p'i-p'a and Hanp'i-p'a is suggestedby the fact that the Hsi-Liangmusicians (with whom the short ovoid lhte is first associated)were known
as the Ch'in Han Chih (the Ch'in-Han Performance),perhapsbecause
they were Chinese by birth, though professionally engaged outside
metropolitan China.* An alternative popular name for the Ch'in
* I owe this
suggestionto ProfessorE. G. Pulleyblank.
39

This content downloaded from 150.214.205.171 on Tue, 17 Mar 2015 10:03:50 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

p'i-p'a given in the Old T'angHistoryis Ch'inHan Tzu (the Ch'in Han
thing), as if there were an associationwith the Ch'inHan Chih. In the
absenceof furtherarchaeologicalevidence, the appearanceof the short
ovoid lute in China cannot be placed earlierthan the beginning of the
fifth century.
Turning to the West, it is known that the SasanianPersiansplayed
the barbator barbut-'a lute with a hollow neck' 13;but the Sasanianera
is usually counitedfrom the accession of Papak in AD 2o8, and there
would seem to be no Sasanianrepresentationsof short lutes earlierthan
the fourth century14, so that the Kusana sculpturesand the earliest
Chinese referenceshave a clearpriority.
With the evidence as yet available,it is reasonableto place the site of
origin of the shortlute in CentralAsia, perhapsamong IranisedTurcoMongols, within the area of the ancient first-centurykingdom of the
Kusanas.This conclusion must not be taken to exclude the possibility
that short lutes first appearedsomewhat earlierand somewhat further
to the West-in Parthia, for example; but at present the evidence of
the Kusana reliefs is the only evidence of their existence in the first
century. Long-necked, fretted (e) lutes were known to the Hittites of
Asia Minor in the second millennium BC, and in Egypt in the same
period, where their fretting is beyond disputeand has recently been reexamined by Hickmann15; they were also known to Greeks and
Romans16 (Sachs op. cit., p. 137). Although certain Elamic clay
figures of the eighth century Bc are carryingpear-shapedobjectswhich
appearto be short ovoid lutes16, no structuraldetailsare visible (Sachs
op. cit., p. 251). The lutes of the Kusanaswould seem to be the first
representationsof undoubted short ovoid lutes; and Fu Hsiian'sessay,
one of the first texts in any language devoted to a short lute, though
not to an ovoid lute.
The degree of refinement associated with the instrument and its
music in third century China is clearly revealed in the last fragments
of Fu Hsiian's essay. In the original, the lines here set out as verse are
parallelsentencesof equal numbersof syllables,each with a caesuraand
the same terminalrhyme; the abruptbeginningindicatesthat something
has been lost. The translationmust not be regardedas more than tentative; some of the allusions can be plausibly interpreted, others are
obscure. These difficultiesnotwithstanding, there can be no doubt of
the sophisticationof the society in which this essay was produced; of
the technical skill of its lutenists; or of the extent of philosophical
rationalization of the affective properties of music in thirdcentury China.
(F) '... one lengthens and extends the neck so as to spreadout the
40

This content downloaded from 150.214.205.171 on Tue, 17 Mar 2015 10:03:50 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

frets;one makesthe 'FourSeasons'revolve and so manifeststhe Moving

Power [of the Universe].
(G) 'The pale hand's indistinctness-is it not like the whirlwind!
The floating sounds reach to the lofty rafters.
The weak wrist suddenly gallops in a race!
It depicts the surpassingbrilliance of startling lightning.
Make fly the delicate fingers,jostling the frets!
Sorrow is diffusedwith dismal grief.
At times soft and delicate in hesitation!
The sounds strike variously, now swelling, now diminishing.
When beginning the Flying Dragon's secret tune!
How surpassinglyrare and strangein the Ch'ingShangmode.
The sorrowing sounds combine within; the heavy spirit penetrates
to the Outer World. Expanding and extending, welling up to the surface, eddying it soars,twisting and turning.'
(H) 'At length all act in mixed concord. The six song-melodies are
played one by one.
Delicate strings excitedly dance.
The swift hand flies in confusion.'
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to record my debt to Dr J. E. van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, to

Piofessor H. W. Bailey, and to Dr A. D. Waley, for advice on a number of points and for reading the MS. To ProfessorE. G. Pulleyblank
I am indebted for criticism and help in the translationof certain passages from the Chinese, and for several references that would have
escaped me but for his interest.
NOTES
1 M. W. Prynne,'AngelicMusiciansfrom CentralAsia', GalpinSociety
Journal,VII,pp. 54, 55, London,1954.
2 C.
demusique
deI'Indeancienne,
Marcel-Dubois,
LesInstruments
Paris,1941.
3 G.
derdeutschen
Haloun, 'Zur Ue-Tsi-Frage',Zeitschrift
morgenldndischen
xci, pp. 243-318,Leipzig,1937.Seepp. 316and252.
Gesellschaft,
4H. G. Farmer,'Reciprocal
in Music'twixt the Farand Middle
Influences
of theRoyalAsiaticSociety,pp. 327-42,London,1934.Seep. 328.
East',Journal
Instru5A. C. Moule, 'A Listof the Musicaland otherSound-Producing
Branchof theRoyalAsiatic
mentsof the Chinese',Journalof theNorth-China
Society,xxxix, pp. i-i6o, Shanghai,19o8.

41

This content downloaded from 150.214.205.171 on Tue, 17 Mar 2015 10:03:50 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

"M. Courant,'Essai
historiquesurla musiqueclassiquedeschinois',Encycloi, pp.77-241,Paris,1912.
pidiedela musique
(LavignacandLaLaurencie),
7
N. C. Bodman,'A LinguisticStudyof the ShihMing',HarvardYenching
Institute
Studies,xi, pp. 1-146,Cambridge,Mass.,1954.Seep. 4.
8 The
andtheirsourcesindicated
in
fragmentsof Fu Hsiian'sfuareassembled
the Ch'iianShang-KuSan-TaiCh'inHan San-KuoLiu-Ch'aoWenby Yen
K'o-chiin.I hadexaminedthe sourcesin the caseof fragmentsA, B, C, D and
E, beforesubmitting,but couldnot do so in thecaseof fragmentsF, G andH.
RecentlyI have beenableto consultthePei T'angShuCh'ao(F)andthe Ch'u
HsiiehChi (G and H). The latter,completedbefore729, containsunderthe
heading'P'i-p'a'not only fragmentsG andH, butsubstantial
portionsof A, B,
C and D as well. It alsoincludesfragmentsfrom two otherp'i-p'afu of the
Chin period (265-419),one of Sung Yen, the other by Ch'engKung-sui.
Thesearenot of the sameconstructional
interestas Fu Hsfian'sfu,but clearly
the materialin the Ch'uHsiiehChideservescarefulexamination.
Museum
9 H. E. Fernald,'ChineseMusicalInstruments',
Journal,
Philadelphia.
in HsiaoCh'ien,A Harpwitha Thousand
1936.Reprinted
London,1944.
Strings,
Lute,Tokyo, 1940o.
10R. H. vanGulik,TheLoreoftheChinese
Household
in the
Museum,Catalogue
11Imperial
of the ImperialTreasures
Shosoin,Tokyo, 1929.
12R. H. vanGulik,Hsi
K'angandhisPoetical
EssayontheLute,Tokyo, 1941.
13H. G. Farmer,'The Instrumentsof Music on the Taq-i BustanBasreliefs',Journalof theRoyalAsiaticSociety,pp. 397-412,London,1938.See p.
40514H. G. Farmer,Studiesin OrientalMusicalInstruments,
i, London,1931.
Seep. 96.
15H. Hickmann, 'Les Luthsaux frettesdu nouvel empire,Miscellanea
de l'Agypte,lii, pp. 161-83,
Musicologicaxi', Annalesdu Servicedesantiquitis
Cairo,

1952.

New York, 1940.

is C. Sachs, The Historyof MusicalInstruments,

NOTE ADDED IN PROOF

Sincethisarticlewas submittedfor publicationI have foundtwo importantpaperson thissubjectby Japaneseauthors;one in Englishby S. Kishibe,
'On the Originof theP'i-p'a',Transactions
of theAsiaticSocietyofJapan,2nd
Series,xix (Tokyo, 1940)pp. 259-304;the otherin Japanese
with an English
biwa ni tsuite'('On the P'i-p'a
summaryby R. Taki,'Toyo ni hattatsuseru
or ChineseLutes'), Toyo OngakuKenkyu,ix (Tokyo, 1951) pp. 71-112
(Englishsummarypp. 6-8). Both considercertainof the earlytexts,but
neitherexaminesall the fragmentsof Fu Hsiianor the otherfragmentary
p'i
-p'a fu in the Pei T'angShuCh'aoor the Ch'uHsiiehChi. Kishibediscusses
the possibilitythat the name 'p'i-p'a'camefrombarbut;
his argumentsand
examplesof phoneticchange arenot conclusive.Concerningorigins,both
authorsagree in the main with the conclusionsreachedby me; but Taki
attemptsa distinctionbetween 'Persian'and 'Indian'sourcesfor straightneckedand bent-neckedtypeswhich seemsto me to go ratherbeyond the
evidence. L.P.
42

This content downloaded from 150.214.205.171 on Tue, 17 Mar 2015 10:03:50 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions