the size and make of the Huang-chung pipe have been applied in the settlement by law of this corner-stone of the Chinese musical system. The pitch now recognized in China as the standard for Huang-chung is given by van Aalst (p. 13) as a close approximation to the present d' of the European scale.
To the primitive system of the Lu were eventually added another at the octave above and another at the octave below, but the compass of this scale being greater than that of the voice, Prince Tsai-yu (1596) reduced it from thirty-six to twenty-four Lu by admitting only the lower six of the upper Lu and the upper six of the lower Lu.[1] This restriction gives a scale having a compass of one semitone less than two octaves, from the sixth semitone below the primitive Huang-chung to the fifth semitone above its higher octave, the pitches of the whole system of twenty-four Lu being approximately those given in the accompanying scheme:
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From the table on page 63 it appears that the Samien songs of our collection cover a compass of pitch identical with this to within a semitone, their highest note being g' and their lowest g instead of g#. The songs of the horn-player also are included within the same range.[3]
That this coincidence is the result of a conformity in this music to the prescriptions of Chinese theory is rendered prob-
- ↑ Amiot, p. 110.
- ↑ = 301.5 vibrations.
- ↑ Judging from Amiot's account of the Che (p. 58), he seems to regard the full two octaves as the true compass of Chinese music. The Che, which has twenty-five strings covering, like our songs, a range of twenty-four semitones, in his opinion is "the most perfect of Chinese instruments, since it includes in itself the whole extent of their musical system."
