(b 1155; d Hangzhon, 1221). Chinese composer and theorist. A native of Jiangxi province, Jiang Kui occupies a unique position in Chinese musical history. In addition to being a scholar, a calligrapher and an art critic, he was also a poet, a composer and a performer of the xiao end-blown flute. His ci poems, many of which were canonized as masterpieces, promoted a new literary style and aesthetics in the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279). His treatise on calligraphy is now a standard reference. His notated music, which is among the earliest preserved and authenticated music by a Chinese musician, includes the tunes of 17 ci songs, 14 of which are his own musical compositions, the tune of a ci song with qin (seven-string zither) accompaniment, and ten tunes of a set of ritual and didactic songs.
His theoretical treatises on music and instruments, the Dayueyi (Discussion on proper music) and the Qinse kaogutu (Illustrated investigation on the qin and se zithers), are now lost, but brief summaries of both documents are preserved in the Songshi, the standard history of the Song dynasties. As a theoretician he appears to have been orthodox, but the structure of his musical compositions and the lyricism of their sung texts, which have been comprehensively analysed and discussed by many scholars, show Jiang as an expressive and creative composer.
L. Picken: ‘Chiang K’uei’s Nine Songs for Yüeh’, MQ, xliii (1957), 201–19
Yang Yinliu and Yin Falu: Song Jiang Baishi chuangzuo gequ yanjiu [Study of songs composed by Jiang Baishi of the Song dynasty] (Beijing, 1957)
L. Picken: ‘Secular Chinese Songs of the Twelfth Century’, Studia Musicologica, viii (1966), 125–71
R.C. Pian: Song Dynasty Musical Sources and their Interpretation (Cambridge, MA, 1967)
L. Picken: ‘Music and Musical Sources of the Song Dynasty’, Journal of the American Oriental Society, lxxxix (1969), 600–21
Lin Shuen-Fu: The Transformation of the Chinese Lyrical Tradition (Princeton, 1978)
Liang Ming-yüeh: ‘The Tz’u Music of Chiang K’uei: its Style and Compositional Strategy’, Renditions, xi–xii (1979), 211–46
Zheng Zurang: ‘Jiang Baishi gequ yanjiu’ [Study on the songs of Jiang Baishi], Zhongyang yinyuexueyuan xuebao (1985), no.4, pp.23–31
J.Z. Aimenshen: Qingkong di hunhou: Jiang Baishi di wenyi sixiang zongheng [Clear and vigorous: a detailed study of Jiang Baishi’s theories on literature and art] (Shanghai, 1997)
JOSEPH S.C. LAM