Yuefu guti yaojie 樂府古題要解

Yuefu jieti 樂府解題, also called Yuefu guti yaojie 樂府古題要解 "Essential notes on ancient titles of Music Bureau [songs]", was a music critique written during the Tang period 唐 (618-907) by the historian Wu Jing 吳兢 (670-749), who is most famous for his statecraft compendium Zhenguan zhengyao 貞觀政要.

The book of 1 or 2 juan in length (depending on the edition) is a summary of statements on "Music Bureau songs" (yuefu 樂府) found in traditional literature up to the early Tang period. The book served as a kind of blueprint for the famous anthology Yuefu shiji 樂府詩集. It survives only in fragments.

Wu's book briefly describes joint-harmony songs (xianghe ge 相和歌), pure-tone airs (qingshang qu 清商曲), drum-and-pipe airs (guchui qu 鼓吹曲), pipe airs (hengchui qu 横吹曲), zither airs (qinqu 琴曲), miscellaneous airs (zaqu 雜曲), and dancing airs (wuqu 舞曲).

The book's explanations of the songs focus on clarifying their meanings and succinctly summarising their emotional content. It also pays close attention to textual research into their authorship, classifies the pieces to reveal their musical style, and traces the historical development of the musical repertoire. Wu's text extensively quotes original verses and thus preserves pieces of ancient poetry and songs.

The text is included in the series Xuejin taoyuan 學津討原 and the Gu yueshu yiwen jizhu 古樂書佚文輯注 (1990).