Chinese idiom · 成语
曲尽其妙
Meaning
Melody exhausts its marvels; perfect artistry.
Character by character
Origin and story
Literary criticismA documented early occurrence is in Lu Ji's preface to his Rhapsody on Literature. Reflecting on writing, he notes the difficulty of making ideas match things and words match ideas. His work attempts to discuss earlier writers' accomplishments and the factors that help or hinder composition. The phrase describes accounting fully for those intricacies.
This places it in Jin literary reflection, not exclusively in Tang musical criticism. Later it can praise writing, performance, explanation, or depiction that brings out subtle qualities with exceptional completeness. Qu here means working through the details or intricacies, rather than a tune; its pronunciation in this expression is qū.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
她用几段对话，把邻里之间的微妙关系写得曲尽其妙。
With a few exchanges of dialogue, she captures every nuance of the neighbors' relationships.
Praises a finely detailed, expressive treatment of subtle qualities.