Historical materials about “the imperial high priesthood’s fourpart symphony” of the Tang Dynasty are few and rare. Up till now, opinions still differ in the latest results their organization and “musical parts”, which allows enough room for reexamination. In terms of historical phases, “the four musical parts” started in the early reign of Emperor of Xuan and in the special political situation when Emperor of Rui still stayed in power after retired as the archemperor. After that it was used at the Prince’s ceremonies. Although it was different in form but equally satisfactory as “the tenpart symphony” at the imperial grand rite, it was lower in rank in the imperial ceremonial system of music. The symphony consisted of Qiuci, Barbarian, Great Drum and Military Music parts. In the reign of Emperor of De, Nanzhao offered a “fourpart symphony”, which happened to be a copied version of “the imperial high priesthood’s fourpart symphony”.

“the imperial high priesthood’s fourpart symphony”; Emperor of Xuan of the Tang Dynasty; Nanzhao offering music; composition of music department