Phan Thuận Thảo
Huế Academy of Music

Nhã nhạc (the elegant music or the ceremonial music, a form of Vietnamese court music) was used in the Court of some Orient countries. Nhã nhạc came into existence in the ancient Chinese culture and then was imported into Japan in 8^th century, North Korea in 12^th century, and Vietnam in 15^th century. Nhã nhạc, in each culture and different histories, changed its content to make it suitable with each situation, but still remained the basic characteristics. Accordingly, this form of music is unanimous and diverse.

In spite of the embryonoic signs for a long time, Nhã nhạc was officially imported in Vietnam in the Hồ dynasty (1402-1407). It is a polysemantic concept in Vietnamese culture. This paper mentions Nhã nhạc in the Nguyễn dynasty (1802-1945) that is still preserved in Huế ancient capital. Nhã nhạc in the Nguyễn dynasty presents two meaning, (1) Nhã nhạc is the name of a Court ceremonial orchestra and (2) Nhã nhạc is the Court ceremonial music. Nhã nhạc concept in this paper is the latter meaning, i.e. the Court ceremonial music, which bases on the concept that the Nguyễn dynasty built the ceremonial music system for their dynasty in the early decades of 19^th century.

1. Introduction

Up to now, researchers have not reached agreement on the issue of the orchestras in Nguyễn-dynasty Nhã nhạc. According to Court music of Nguyễn-dynasty by Hà Sâm; Survey Huế Court ceremonial music by author Nguyễn Đình Sáng; and the author group of Nhã nhạc file,the orchestras used in the court ceremonial music (Nhã nhạc) comprise seven kinds of orchestra, viz Nhã nhạc, Nhạc huyền, Đại nhạc (great music), Ti trúc tế nhạc, Ty chung - Ty khánh, Ty cổ, Quân nhạc (the author group of Nhã nhạc file did not include Quân nhạc orchestra in this connotation, and author Nguyễn Đình Sáng replaces Ty cổ with Tiểu nhạc (small music)). Some other researchers include those orchestras in the connotation of the court music

Authors Văn Thị Minh Hương and Đặng Hoành Loan offered different ideas. About the kinds of Nhã nhạc orchestra in the Nguyễn dynasty, Văn Thị Minh Hương said in Gagaku and Nhã nhạc, “in early period, the Nguyễn court divided three kinds of official orchestra, i.e. Nhã nhạc, Huyền (including the musical instruments of Ty chung, Ty khánh, and other musical instruments), and Đại nhạc (great music)”^[1]. Author Đặng Hoành Loan named three kinds of orchestra including Tiểu nhạc (small music), Đại nhạc (great music) and Huyền nhạc^[2].

There are two different ideas about the orchestra used in Nhã nhạc of the Nguyễn dynasty. The structure of Nhã nhạc orchestra was not clear and unanimous in the historical data of the Nguyễn dynasty, which was raised in our paper in 2007 and will be clarified in the latter part of this paper. Due to the lack of information in the historical data as well as from researchers, we must raise the issue that which orchestras Nhã nhạc Huế use and how their structure was? This work is necessary because the redefinement of orchestra system is one of the basic issues in Nhã nhạc research and preservation today.

2. Nhã nhạc orchestras in early the Nguyễn dynasty

We must find extra information in the historical data of the Nguyễn dynasty. Those are such history books written by the Imperial Court as Đại Nam thực lục (edited by the National historiographers’ office in the Nguyễn dynasty from Thiệu Trị King’s period to Duy Tân King’s period), Minh Mạng chính yếu edited by the National historiographers’ office in the Nguyễn dynasty from 1837 to 1897, Khâm định Đại Nam hội điển sự lệ (Repertory of the Administrative Regulations in the Kingdom of Đại Nam) edited in 1843-1851 by the cabinet of the Nguyễn dynasty. Those books mention about the first half period of 19th century when Nhã nhạc was at its prosperity.

Among those above history books, Khâm định Đại Nam hội điển sự lệ (Hội điển) is a very important document for reference. This great set of books written by Nguyễn-dynasty cabinet comprises the court’s regulations on the internal affairs. Part “Ministry of Rites” that includes Vol. No. 99 “Nhạc chương (the songs used in the rites of courts and family temples), musical instruments” writes about the rites and music used in the early period of the Nguyễn dynasty. Due to some musical professional limits in the translation of the Vietnamese Institute of History published in 1993, we referred to some Han-script originals and asked Han-language experts to retranslate, then compared with those translations in order to study most correctly about the writings of ancient people. To base on the mutual agreement among the translations, we use the translation of the Vietnamese Institute of History published in 1993 since this was the official translation and was published broadly. Regard to the incorrect things, we use the original or the second translation that we suppose more correct than the above official ones. We do hope that readers can share the difficulty and complexity of the issue presented in this paper.

2.1. About Nhã nhạc, Ti trúc tế nhạc, Ti trúc Nhã nhạc 
                 and Ti trúc orchestras

According to the book Hội điển, there are eight musical instruments in a Nhã nhạc orchestra, including a bản drum (the double-sided membranophonic musical instrument), a tỳ b�pear-shaped lute, a nguyệt moon-shaped two-chord lute, a nhị two-chord fiddle, two địch (a musical instrument), a tam âm (three small and high-pitched flat gongs in a frame), a phách tiền^[3] (the coin clapper).

The book Hội điển also presents the name of Ti trúc tế nhạc orchestra, but does not show its structure, “In 9th year of Minh Mạng dynasty (1828 – noted by Phan Thuận Thảo) regulated and approved about the musical instruments at Nam Giao worship platform on the second floor; each set per one kind of Ti trúc tế nhạc was arranged in the East and the West; to replace Tiểu Hầu troupe with instrumentalists of Hòa Thanh thự, eight people with hat of the high-school graduates, giao lĩnh shirt (a kind of shirt) per a set^[4].

The regulations in the next part of the above documentation that writes about the ceremonial music in temples in 1831 present the name of orchestras, viz. Ti trúc Nhã nhạc and Ti trúc: “In 12th year (1831 - noted by Phan Thuận Thảo), it was regulated and approved that a Ti trúc Nhã nhạc set was performed at lễ hưởng of temple (a kind of rite)... Annually, on the occasions of five lễ hưởng, a nhạc huyền set is arranged on the left and on the right in front of the yard of temple, next is Ti trúc musical set”^[5].

To base on the analysis of the above historical paragraphs, we suppose that Nhã nhạc orchestra and Ti trúc tế nhạc orchestra were, in fact, the same despite their different names shown in Hội điển.  They co-comprise eight musical instruments, their orchestra structure co-comprise ti trúc musical instruments such as the name Ti trúc tế nhạc. Similarly, we presume that Ti trúc Nhã nhạc orchestra and Ti trúc orchestra (literally, Ti trúc nhạc bộ) presented in Hội điển are also the other names of the same orchestra structure like Nhã nhạc orchestra, because there could not be many orchestras with the same structure at the same time.

If the above judgement is correct, there is not concensus on the orchestra’s name. Nhã nhạc orchestra was sometimes called Ti trúc Nhã nhạc, sometimes Ti trúc tế nhạc or sometimes just Ti trúc. Was there any mistake?

To look back at the history in the Nguyễn dynasty, there was not any prominent music mandarin or music teacher in the music research. When Nhã nhạc was planned to revise, King Minh Mạng once ordered to “look for a person who has a good knowledge of music”. However, the historical data did not acknowledge any selected personality. Those who regulated the musical forms were the mandarins under the Ministry of Rites. They were the Confucian scholars and not expert in music. The historical writing as quoted above was realized by the historical mandarins who were also not expert at music. For that reason, there might have been mistakes of the musical field in ancient historical writings

2.2. About Ty chung - Ty khánh and Ty cổ

As above mentioned, many predecessing researchers (and even ourselves formerly) understood that Ty chung - Ty khánh is a musical organization that comprises the bronze bell and khánh đá (the musical stone) (bác chung, đặc khánh, biên chung, biên khánh); and Ty cổ is a musical organization that comprises the kinds of drum. However, we must review this issue after the documentational re-researches, especially the Han-script originals.

We found the phrase “ty chung ty khánh” 司? 鐘�司? 磬 in the part Musical instruments in Vol. 99 of the sets of book Hộ để. It is “the position who controls the bells and drums”^[6] according to the translation of the Vietnamese Institute of History. It means that ty chung, ty khánh was not a musical organization but the title of a person who was in charge of performing the bell and khánh (the musical stone) (the translation mistaked the word “trốg” for the word “khánh”

To doubt the translation’s correctness, we re-looked up the meaning of these words and referred to Han-language experts in order to understand more clearly what the predecessors wrote. We understand as below,

The word  司? is transcribed as ti, or ty, or tưin Vietnamese. According to Chinese-Vietnamese dictionary of Thiề Chử, the word  司? presents the following meaning:

1. Chủ. Each mandarin’s post that manages a work is called ti, such as 
     hữ ti  有司? , sởti  所? 司?.

2. Sởquan, such as bốchánh ti  布? 正^[1][1]. The word “chánh” must be written as 政? that means the state affairs; not 正, namely righteous.   司?, án sát ti  按 察? 司?^[1][1]. Thiều Chửu (1997): Chinese-Vietnamese dictionary,Hồ Chí Minh city Publishing House, Hồ Chí Minh city, p. 81..

Chinese-Vietnamese dictionary by Đo Duy Anh explains the word ty (tư) with two meanings, i.e. management, mandarin’s office^[1][1]. Đo Duy Anh (1957): Chinese-Vietnamese dictionary,3rd publication by Trư?ng Thi, Saigon, p. 329..

To base on the two meanings above, we cannot suppose ty chung and ty khánh as orchestras. From the point of view of Chinese-language experts, it should understand the word ty (tư) in “ty chung”, “ty khánh” as the first meaning, i.e. the title of a head person who is in charge of a some Court’s affair, such as quan tưđ?, tưmã, tưkhông, tưbinh, tưsự tưtrự, etc. This way of understanding is similar to the translation of Vietnamese Institute of History.

In our opinion, ty chung and ty khánh is not orchestra and we cannot list it in the orchestra organizations in addition to Đ?i nhạ (great music) orchestra, Nhã nhạ orchestra, or Nhạ huyề orchestra, especially in the first period of the Nguyễ dynasty as presented by the book Hộ để.

Similarly, to research the Han-script document of Hội điển, we found the word “ty cổ” in the phrase “ty chung ty cổ”. Was this the mistake from the phrase “ty chung ty khánh”? Besides, there was Kỳ Cổ ty (旗? 鼓Ä 司?), “At the place where the bell and drum are put, each kind of Cổxúy Đ?i nhạc is shown by a set; to use the people from ty KỳCổ and each set is presented by seven people”^[1][1]. Nguyễ-dynasty cabinet, Hộ để, the translation of the Vietnamese Institute of History as quoted, Vol. 7, pg. 118.. According to this quotation, ty KỳCổ is not an orchestra but the name of an administrative organization. A contradiction is that there are 42 instrumentalists in Cổxúy Đ?i nhạ, and only seven people from ty KỳCổ We were still in doubt and still waiting for more counsels. In general, the available documentations did not allow us to suppose ty cổ (or ty Kỳcổ) as an orchestra and to list it in the orchestra organization statistics of the Nguyễ dynasty.

2.3. About Quân nhạc (the military music)

Some former research projects mention the military music, but do not show this orchestra’s structure. During the historical data learning, we found out the original documentations about this orchestra as follows, “In Gia Long dynasty, each group of the military camps are provided with five wardrums, two wind instruments, a bronze whistle, and a good pair of bronze cymbals. Each barracks selects 50 soldiers, and the person who knows to instruct the military music rehearsal, thus making the orders to forward, to stop, to walk, and to fight!”^[1][1]. Nguyễ-dynasty cabinet, the translation of the Vietnamese Institute of History as quoted, Vol. 9, pg. 595.. This orchestra’s structure is similar to that of Đ?i nhạc (the Great music) orchestra in late period of the Nguyễn dynasty. Possibly, authors Đ? Bằng Đoàn and Đ? Trọng Huề based on that reason to suppose that Quân nhạc is Đ?i nhạc.

According to the quoted historical data, the function of Quân nhạc orchestra is not to serve the rituals but the battles, therefore, we do not list it into the statistics of Nhã nhạc orchestras.

2.4. About the structure of Nhã nhạc orchestra

Nhã nhạc orchestra’s structure presented in the historical data is not unanimous. The book Hội điển presents Nhã nhạc orchestra with ti trúc structure (eight musical instruments) (as quoted from page No. 3 of this paper), Thực lục and Minh Mạng chính yếu mention a Nhã nhạc orchestra with the completely different structure. We would like to quote a historical paragraph from Minh Mạng chính yếu, which shows the Court’s regulations including Nhã nhạc orchestra, “As for the ceremonial music in Court, it should renew to make the civilization brighter and the repute better. Nhã nhạc must be performed in the Court’s festivities, including a big bell, a big musical stone; a set of 12 small bells and 12 small musical stone; one chúc (a kind of the wind instruments), one ngữ (a kind of the wind instruments); the drum put on a pillar, two double-sided clapping drums; four đn cầm (five or seven-string musical instrument), four đn sắt (whose stature is similar to đn cầm); the horizontal flute (actually, this is the vertical flute in Han original, noted by Phan Thuận Thảo), two horizontal flutes, two castanets, two cái huân made from the glazed terra-cotta, two bamboo slabs” ^[1][1]. The National Historiographer’s office of the Nguyễn dynasty (1897), Minh Mạng chính yếu, a translation of Võ Khắc Văn, Lê Phục Thiện, published by the Cultural office under the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Saigon, Vol. III, 1974, pages. 188 - 189..

Book Đ?i Nam Thự lụ (The Annals of the Đ?i Nam, known also as The true record of the Great South) writes that King Minh Mạg “re-regulated about the homage to the King” in March 1832. The musical instrument parts were regulated very clearly, “the great audience held by a King is organized at Thái hòa temple: a Nhã nhạ set [ , ]^[1][1]. To doubt the correctness of this comma, we put it in the square brackets for more consideration. We suppose the colon (:), like in the quotation of Minh Mạg chính yế, is more suitable., a big bell, a big musical stone, a set of 12 small bells, a set of 12 small musical tones, two drums with stands, a chúc, a ngữ, two bồg drums (the membranophonic musical instrument of slapping branch), four đn cầm, four đn sắ, two 16-pipe vertical flutes made from bamboo, two 23-pipe vertical flutes, two ốg sênh (a kind of the wind instruments), two huyên pipes (a kind of the musical instrument), two trì pipes (a kind of the musical instrument), two bamboo slabs”^[1][1]. The National Historiographer’s office of the Nguyễn dynasty(1864), Đ?i Nam thự lụ, a translation of the Vietnamese Institute of History, the Publishing House for Science, Hanoi, Vol. XI, 1964, p. 38..

The two quotations above co-present an event in 1832 when Minh Mạg Court revised music in the homage presentation to King. There was a quite small difference between them. The orchestra quoted from Thự lụ had two trì more in comparison with the one quoted from Minh Mạg chính yế. In general, the orchestra shown by the two documentations was arranged according to the eight kinds of musical sounds of China. This orchestra was nearly similar to Nhạ huyề orchestra in the book Hộ để.

It is clear that there is the difference between two orchestras which are co-called “Nhã nhạ set”, one has ti trúc structure (as shown in Hộ để), and other has the structure according to the eight kinds of musical sounds of China (as shown in Thự lụ and Minh Mạg chính yế). This issue has been presented in the paper “Doubts about Nhã nhạ orchestra structure of the Nguyễ dynasty”^[1][1]. Phan Thuận Thảo (2007): Doubts about Nhã nhạc orchestra structure of the Nguyễn dynasty, Bulletin, Vietnamese Insitute for Musicology, Vol. 20, pages 118 - 121., now we would like to continue this issue for the interpretation.

The mistaking ability of the historical writers is presented as mentioned above. We must consider which orchestra is correct. We suppose that Nhã nhạ orchestra with ti trúc structure is more suitable. The reason is that many historical paragraphs mention that Nhã nhạ orchestra moved in processions, which is more suitable to ti trúc orchestra. Whereas, the orchestra that has structure according to the eight kinds of musical sounds of China cannot move and just performs on the spot. Accordingly, we can suppose that the Chinese eight-musical sound structure, which  must be called Nhạ huyề orchestra, was mistakenly called as Nhã nhạ orchestra. Nhã nhạ orchestra is the one with ti trúc structure (eight musical instruments as presented in Hộ để).

Author Vă Minh Hư?ng did not show the eight-musical sound orchestra structure in the book Gagaku and Nhã nhạ. However, she analyzed and compared very careful ti trúc-structure orchestra, she presented twelve different Nhã nhạ orchestras. In our opinion, those twelve orchestras are actually the variants of only one orchestra, i.e. the one with structure of the bamboo musical instruments (silk-string timbre) and the low-volume percussions which is suitable with the timbre and volume of ti trúc musical instruments. Basically, that orchestra inherited and changed basing on the Buddhism orchestra of the Lý dynasty (1010-1225), Tiể nhạ (the Small music) orchestra of the Trầ dynasty (122-1400), the Court orchestra of the Tây Sơ dynasty (1778-1802), and is similar to Tiể nhạ orchestra today. In other words, this orchestra has a history of thousands of years, has varied a little during the historical periods, and exists until now in the Vietnamese traditional music.

In brief, considering two opinion groups of researchers, we lean to the side of the second group that Nhã nhạ in early period of the Nguyễ dynasty (the first half of 19^th century) comprises three kinds of orchestra, viz. Nhã nhạ, Nhạ huyề, and Đ?i nhạ. Nhã nhạ orchestra has ti trúc structure, Nhạ huyề orchestra has the Chinese eight-musical sound structure, and Đ?i nhạorchestra has the structure of drum and the wind instrument. Others such as Ti trúc tếnhạ, Ty chung - Ty khánh, Ty cổ Quân nhạ should not be listed in the orchestra statistics since that was the mistake of historical mandarins in the Nguyễ dynasty, or because of different way of understanding of researchers later. While waiting for the supplementation of new documentations, we do hope that researchers can co-consider these arguments and reach the agreement on the orchestra issue in Nhã nhạc Huế

3. Orchestras of Nhã nhạ in late period of the Nguyễ dynasty

There is not any historical documentation (written by the Imperial court) about the orchestras used in Nhã nhạc in late period ofthe Nguyễn dynasty. The photo documentations and the interview documentations will be used as a replacement in order to implement the shortcomings of written documentations in this varying historical period ofthe Nguyễn dynasty. Orchestras in late period ofthe Nguyễn dynasty will be compared with that in the first period of  theNguyễn dynasty to find their changes when time went by.

We can divide into three photo groups relating to Nhã nhạc orchestras:

- Group 1: comprises photos that present the kind of orchestra close to Nhã nhạc orchestra (refer to photo No. 1). The orchestras in photos of this group are not completely similar to each other. They are the variants of each other with the adding or reducing or change of some same-branch musical instruments. After all, those make up ti trúc structure like Nhã nhạc orchestra that is shown in Hội điển in the early period of the Nguyễn dynasty.

- Group 2: comprises photos that are similar to Đ?i nhạ orchestra. Photo No. 2 shows the orchestra in Ngựđ?o group of Giao performing, including the big drum, drum, the wind instrument, and bạ (xậ xõa) (a kind of cymbals). These musical instruments allow us to infer they are Đ?i nhạ orchestra. Accordingly, we can add gong to make it symmetric with the big drum and the wooden bell made from the buffalo’s horn in Đ?i nhạ orchestra today (despite the fact that those musical instruments are not shown in the photo).

Đ?i nhạ orchestra of the 20th century has changed quite much in comparison with that in the first half of the 21st century.

- Group 3: comprises photos that show the musical instruments of Nhạc huyền orchestra. These photos show such musical instruments of the Chinese eight-musical sound orchestra as biên chung, biên khánh, đ?c khánh, kiến cổ, ngữ and đn cầm, which belong to Nhạc huyền orchestra as presented in Hội điển.

 Nhã nhạc orchestra in Huếroyal palace, 1920s

 Some musical instruments of the Nhạ huyề orchestra at Nam Giao Esplanade, Huế 1924

About the interview documentations, there is only the folk artist Lữ Hữu Thi born in 1910 who is the historical witness in the late period in the Nguyễn dynasty. He can provide the concrete informations. Mr. Lữ Hữu Thi said that in late period in the Nguyễn dynasty, Hòa Thanh troupe (he used to be a member) performed the following musical instruments: two đ?ch, đn tam (the three-string lute of the plucking chordophone), đn tỳ bà (the pear-shaped lute), đn nhị (the Vietnamese two-chord fiddle), đn nguyệt (the Vietnamese moon-shaped lute), tam âm, phách tiền, phách một, bản drum. This orchestra has ti trúc structure similar to the above photo documentation and Nhã nhạc orchestra in early period of the Nguyễn dynasty.

Mr. Lữ Hữu Thi said that Đ?i nhạc orchestra performed by Kỳ Cổ troupe comprised the drum, the wind instrument, bạt (a kind of cymbals), and the wooden bell. This information is similar to the orchestra in the photo documentation, but different from Đ?i nhạc orchestra in early period of  the Nguyễn dynasty

The historical documentations show the similarities and changes of orchestra systems in early and late periods of the Nguyễn dynasty. Nhã nhạc orchestra hardly changed structure while Đ?i nhạc orchestra changed its musical instrument component as shown in the below illustration.

The structure comparison of Đ?i nhạc orchestra between 
the early period and late period of the Nguyễn dynasty

Basically, Đ?i nhạc orchestra still remains cổxuy structure (drum and the wind instrument) but reduces the number of musical instruments, and has changed from the aerophonic musical instruments to the percussions. The orchestra with 42 musical instruments reduced its number to about 10 musical instruments, i.e. leaving the resounding sound of the horns and cymbals. Therefore, the symbol for power and influence of King and the Court also decreased.

In brief, Nhã nhạc in first period of the Nguyễn dynasty comprised three kinds of orchestra. In the late period of the Nguyễn dynasty, only Nhã nhạc orchestra remained its structure, Đ?i nhạc orchestra changed, and Nhạc huyền ochestra lost in oblivion. The change in orchestra’s structure decreased more or less the governmental power and the sovereignty losing in late period of the Nguyễn dynasty.

4. Conclusion

It depends much on the historical data to research the music in the past. To base on the original documentations, the analysis and comparison with the text, photos and interview documentations, this paper proves a theoretical point that Nhã nhạc Huế in early period of the Nguyễn dynasty comprised three orchestras, including Nhã nhạc with ti trúc structure, Nhạc huyền with Chinese eight-musical sound structure, and Đ?i nhạc with cổ xuy structure. In the late period of the Nguyễn dynasty, only Nhã nhạc orchestra remained its structure, Đ?i nhạc orchestra changed, and Nhạc huyền ochestra lost in oblivion. This paper is inclined to the second group, which means the military music is not listed in the range of Nhã nhạc, and Tế nhạc (or Ti trúc tế nhạc), Ty chung - Ty khánh, Ty cổ should not be understood as the orchestra, and those should be excluded from the statistics of Nhã nhạc orchestras.

From our point of view, the music history informations written by the historical mandarins who were not expert at music showed some regrettable mistakes. The Han-script original historical data was also a difficulty for us to approach the documentations. In addition, the translations’ shortcoming is also an obstacle that causes readers misunderstand. All lead to the misunderstanding of some musical researchers including ourselves in the historical data information treatment. This research, via the origins, tries to surmount the above limits. We also realize that our Han-language ability is still limited and we should have more profound analyses for this aspect in next researches. On the other hand, it must continue the documentational supplement to enlighten the awareness of the orchestra systems (a basic issue of any musical form) in order to serve more practically Nhã nhạc preservation and promotion, a musical heritage that has been recognized by UNESCO as the Intangible and orally-transmitted heritage of humanity.

_

[1]. Văn Thị Minh Hương (2002): Gagaku and Nhã nhạc. The Youth Publishing House, Hồ Chí Minh city, p. 86.

[2]. Đặng Hoành Loan (2004): Vietnamese Court Music, Bulletin, Vietnamese Institute for Musicology, Vol. 12, p. 41.

[3]. Nguyễn-dynasty cabinet (1868), Hội điển, Vol. 99, pg. 34a. Transcription Nhã nhạc nhất bộ: bản cổ nhất, tỳ bà nhất, nguyệt cầm nhất, nhị huyền nhất, địch nhị, tam âm nhất, phách tiền nhất.

[4]. Nguyễn-dynasty cabinet (1868), Musical instruments, Hội điển, the translation of Lê Na and Diệu Linh, internal circulation only, pg. 2. Transcription, Minh Mạng cửu niên nghị chuẩn, Nam Giao đàn nhạc khí đệ nhị thành, đông tây thiết Ti trúc tế nhạc các nhất bộ, dụng Tiểu hầu đội, kim cải vi hòa thanh thự chi nhạc công, mỗi bộ bát nhân, cụ Tú tài Giao lĩnh y mạo.

[5]. Nguyễn-dynasty cabinet (1868), Musical instruments, Hội điển, the translation of Lê Na and Diệu Linh, internal circulation only, pg. 2. Transcription,“Thập nhị niên nghị chuẩn, cung chiếu hướng lệ. Liệt miếu hưởng lễ các dụng Ti trúc Nhã nhạc nhất bộ... Đệ niên cung ngộ ngũ hưởng lễ, liệt miếu đình tiền tả hữu các phụng trần thiết nhạc huyền toàn phó, kế dĩ Ti trúc nhạc bộ”..

[6]. Nguyễ-dynasty cabinet (1868), Hội điển, a translation of the Vietnamese Institute of History, Thuận Hóa Publishing House, Huế, 1993, Vol.  7;  pages. 116 - 117.