Zhu Zaiyu
| Zhu Zaiyu, Prince of Zheng | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reign | 1593 - 1611 | ||||
| |||||
| House | Ming Dynasty | ||||
| House | House | ||||
| Religion | Confucianism | ||||
| Occupation | Scholar | ||||
Zhu Zaiyu (Chinese: 朱載堉; Wade–Giles: Chu Tsai-Yu; ?: Chu Tsai-yü) (1536 - 19 May 1611), a prince of the Ming dynasty of China. He was a musician and one of the first people to describe equal temperament in music in 1584.
He was born in Qinyang, Henan Province to an aristocratic family, the sixth-generation descendant of the Hongxi Emperor, the fourth emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He inherited the title the Prince of Zheng in 1593, but quickly resigned it to his cousin. On the emperor's order, he was granted a new princely title in 1606, the year he delivered a set of ten musicological treatises to the court, establishing his scholarly merit. His posthumous name was Zheng Duanqing Shizi.
He wrote on music theory and temperament (five treatises survive), music history (two treatises survive), dance and dance music (five treatises survive), and several other works. Three music theory works in particular are associated with the ideas of equal temperament, the Lüxue Xinshuo (publ. 1584), Lülü Jingyi (1595/96, publ. not before 1606), and Suanxue Xinshuo (publ. 1603). His work has been described as "the crowning achievement of two millenia of acoustical experiment and research (Robinson 1962:224)" though it may be considered more justified to describe him as "one of the most important historians of his nation's music."[1]
He also wrote treatises (three survive) on mathematics and calendrics, although he was unsuccessful in his attempt to correct the inaccuracies of the Ming calendar.
See also
References
- ^ Fritz A. Kuttner. "Prince Chu Tsai-Yü's Life and Work: A Re-Evaluation of His Contribution to Equal Temperament Theory", p.163, Ethnomusicology, Vol. 19, No. 2 (May, 1975), pp. 163–206.