In its ordinary meaning, Court Music is understood as music genres, including music for dance and opera, used in worshiping ceremonies, national court – organized festivities, and occasions of entertainment for kings and royal families. The term Nha Nhac was used by Vietnamese feudal dynasties from the Ho Dynasty with different meanings, for example sometimes indicating general court music, sometimes court ritual music in particular, sometimes indicating music department, even a concrete orchestra.Nha Nhac – the Vietnamese Court Music has appeared since the 13th century but it only reached the peak under the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945). In about 1947-1948, Madame Tu Cung (mother of Former King Bao Dai) gathered once again some court music artists to maintain some genres of this court music and dance. Since the 1990s, Nha Nhac has begun the renaissance period and has been introduced in many countries in the world.The different genres of the Vietnamese Court Music include worshiping ritual music, court ritual music, court dances, chamber music and opera (royal classical opera - tuong). The Vietnamese Court Music has highly professional, consists of many large scale orchestras, music and dance items performed by a large number of instrumentalists, singers and dancers. Moreover, this is the music genre that has high degree of improvisation and variation of the melodious scheme. With this meaning, on 7th November 2003, at the official meeting in Paris, UNESCO recognized Nha Nhac – the Vietnamese Court Music as oral masterpiece and intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
With the conservation and promotion functions of genres of Vietnamese court arts, Hue Royal Tradition Theatre (Hue Monuments Conservation Center) collected and staged many attractive ritual music programs such as Tam luan cuu chuyen (Three wheels and nine variations), Trong thai binh (Drum sounds for peace), Song tau trong ken (duet of drum and khen), Thap thu lien hoan (A medley of ten pieces), solo musical performance of one-stringed zither “Cung ai”…; court dance programs such as Lan mau xuat lan nhi (A unicorn gives birth to its child), Luc cung hoa dang (Lantern Dance), Trinh tuong tap khanh (Gathering all the best wishes to the king), Nu tuong xuat quan (Women Generals go into battle)… royal classical opera plays as Ngon lua hong son (Hong Son Flame), Quan phuong tap khanh, Nguoi khoi nghiep Dang Trong (The initiator in Dang Trong Region), Trai tim nguoi nghe si (An artist’s heart)…
The programs are performed daily to recreate culture and art space of Hue Royal Palace in Nguyen Dynasty with ancient palaces, citadels at:
Duyet Thi Duong
Address: Forbidden Citadel, Thuan Thanh Ward, Hue City
Telephone: (84-54) 3514 989/ 3522 070
Fax: (84-54) 3522 070
Minh Khiem Duong
Address: King Tu Duc Tomb, Thuong Ba Hamlet, Thuy Xuan Commune, Hue City
Telephone: (84-54) 3836 427
Performance time: 02 shifts/day, each shift lasts for 30 minutes
Morning: From 10h00’ to 10h30’
Afternoon: From 14h30’ to 15h00’
Ticket price:
Type I: VND 120,000/ticket (enjoy art and royal tea)
Type II: VND 70,000/ticket (enjoy art and be served drinks)
Tourist services at two theatres:
- Take photos with artists of the theaters.
- Visit the exhibition hall of antiques and pictures about the royal art (musical instruments, costumes, masks... ); souvenir stalls selling arts products, paintings, photos, books, tapes, discs about court music, dance, and royal classical opera…
- Enjoy royal tea, lotus tea; Hue types of cakes, jams, traditional tea.