During the reign of Kangxi (r. 1662-1722), the second Manchu emperor of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Western music began to take root in the Manchu court. There is abundant evidence that the missionaries performed Western music before Kangxi and the emperor looked upon the Jesuits Ferdinand Verbiest (1623-1688) and Tomas Pereira (1645-1708) as his music tutors. In 1713, Kangxi commissioned a treatise on music, Yuzhi Lülü Zhengyi (A True Doctrine of Music, by Imperial Authority), which was completed in 1714. Begun by Pereira but completed by the Italian Lazarist Paolo Felipe Teodorico Pedrini (c. 1670-1746), the third part of this musical treatise Xieyun duqu, is devoted exclusively to Western music theory. This treatise is the earliest official Chinese source concerning Western music theory.

Evidence that Western theoretical writings were included in Lülü Zhengyi raises an important question: why did Kangxi demand that Western music theory be incorporated within his imperial treatise? There are only a limited number of studies on Western music in the early Qing court, and this research fills in a serious lacuna. This study will argue that it is not simply due to Kangxi's open mind and fondness for European knowledge that leads to the incorporation of Western music theory in Lülü Zhengyi. Kangxi's goal was to use Western music as a tool to restore the lost Chinese ancient music.

The reign of Kangxi witnessed the elevation of Western music in the Qing court. After the reign of Kangxi, Western music continued to be performed at the court, however, its prestige diminished, and it served solely as entertainment for the emperors. Indeed, in Yongzheng's preface to Lülü yuanyuan (1723), Western music theory was regarded as that of the Western barbarian. Later, when Qianlong ordered the compilation of the sequel to Lülü Zhengyi in 1741, no Western music was included.

Local access dig.pdf. [Chiu-Music.pdf]