(b 1907; d 1987). Chinese qin zither master. Brought up in Changshu city, Jiangsu province, he first learnt to play the pipa lute, xiao flute and other instruments of the local sizhu (silk-and-bamboo) ensemble music. Around 1930 he began to devote himself to qin music, learning from various masters. In 1936 he took part in the founding of the Jin Yu qinshe (Qin Society of Contemporary Yu Region), becoming one of its leaders from 1939. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he was appointed a teacher and researcher in the Central Conservatory of Beijing in 1956, directing a number of students who subsequently became noted performers and scholars. Apart from transmitting the traditional repertory, he took part in the dapu movement to interpret early scores of pieces whose performing tradition had been lost, as well as composing some new pieces such as Shengli cao (‘Victory march’), which incorporated elements from folk music. Wu was also a maker and restorer of qin and experimented with the manufacture of silk and metal strings.
Wu's playing remained largely traditional; he was acclaimed for his ‘elegant and pleasing’ style. He performed widely and made recordings of many favourite qin pieces, such as Xiaoxiang shuiyun (‘Mist and Cloud over Xiao and Xiang Rivers’), Wuye wu qiufeng (‘Wutong Leaves Dancing in Autumn Wind’) and Pu'an zhou (‘Incantation of Pu'an’).
See also Qin and China, §IV, 4(ii)(a).
Li Xiangting: ‘Wu Jinglue xiansheng de guqin yanzou yishu’ [The qin performance artistry of master Wu Jinglue], Zhongyang yinyuexxueyan xuebao (1984), no.3, pp.20–24
Wu Wen'guang: Wu Jinglue's Qin Music in its Context (diss., Wesleyan U., 1990)
Yi Hongshu: ‘Qintan jubo, yidai mingshi: guqinjia Wu Jinglue’ [An authority in the qin world, and master of his generation: the qin musician Wu Jinglue], Zhongguo jinxiandai yinyuejia zhuan [Biographies of modern Chinese musicians], ed. Xiang Yansheng (Shenyang, 1994), 708–17
Zhongguo yinyue daquan, guqin juan/An Anthology of Chinese Traditional and Folk Music: a Collection of Music Played on the Guqin, vol. 2, China Record Co. CCD 94/342–9 (1995); repr. as Zhongguo yinyue daquan: qindao chanyun, Cradle Records CRCD 703–10 (1996)
The Qin Repertoire of Wu Jinglue, ROI Productions, RA981014-2C (1998)
JOSEPH S.C. LAM