Only four surviving pre-modern qin handbooks have Kai Gu in the title:⁴

1. Shen Qi Mi Pu (1425), discussed here;
2. the Kai Gu in Fengxuan Xuanpin (1539), a completely different melody;
3. the Kaigu Yin in Taiyin Xupu (1559), like SQMP but with most of the middle missing; and
4. the Kai Gu in Qinyuan Xinchuan Quanbian (1670), which copies the SQMP version.

In 1559 Kaigu Yin serves as a prelude Yu Qiao Wenda; it has a separate preface, as does the 1670 version.⁵

In addition to the above, there is a musically unrelated Kaigu Yin in the modern repertoire (the kai is sometimes written differently).⁶. Zha Fuxi's Guide includes the lyrics for this modern version, but makes no mention of the tablature. It is said to have been transmitted from the Sichuan school.

Zhu Quan's preface opens with allusions to two passages from the Book of Songs. The "honorable man who beats his pan by a mountain stream" is from #56 (in Waley's translation the man is being praised from across the stream by girls who fancy him); the "ordinary door" is from #138 (?, where Waley translates it as "town gate").

Throughout history the Chinese have looked back fondly on ancient times. An early expression of this thought is by Zhang Heng⁷ of the Han Dynasty in his poem Dongjing Fu,⁸ which includes the line, "Sigh long thoughts while cherishing antiquity."⁹

Zha Fuxi's Guide, in spite of the preface below, and without giving a reference, says this piece is also attributed to Mao Minzhong.¹⁰

 
Original Preface¹¹

The Emaciated Immortal says

it is not known when this piece was written. If it was not by an honorable man who beat his pan by a mountain stream, it must have been by an elevated scholar who enjoyed the Dao (within his) ordinary door (i.e., in society). Its interest lies in tranquilly not seeking fame. To the person who plays it, it seems like going alone away from society and standing by oneself in a countryside where one doesn't realize where one is. The player can utilize the return to old styles in the fingering, (thus) using a present day thing to achieve a quality of the past. While appreciating the music it can cause heightened emotions and feelings of sadness, and there is always more in the music (to be discovered).

 
Music
Three sections, untitled (timings are from my recording)

(00.00) 1.
(00.35) 2.
(01.04) 3.
(02.04) -- harmonics
(02.14) -- Melody ends

Return to the Shen Qi Mi Pu ToC or to the Guqin ToC.

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Kai Gu references
慨古 11405.xxx ; 11405.0 quotes from Dongjing Fu (see footnote below; see also Sixuan Fu: 思玄賦﹕慨含唏而增愁).
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2. Tuning and mode
Standard tuning is usually considered as 5 6 1 2 3 5 6. For further information on shang mode see Shenpin Shang Yi and Modality in Early Ming Qin Tablature. (Return)

4. Tracing Kai Gu
See Zha's Guide 4/42/63.
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5. Other Kai Gu prefaces
The preface to Kaigu Yin in Xingzuang Taiyin Xupu (1559), which has an abbreviated version of the melody and serves as a prelude to Yu Qiao Wenda, is as follows:

The preface to the 1670 version (XI. p. 478) is an abbreviated version of the 1425 preface.
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6. Kaigu Yin, modern version (慨古吟 ; or kai may be written 嘅, i.e., with mouth radical [口+既; 4317.0])
Zha's Guide 4/42/63 does not index this modern version, but on p. 63 of the lyrics section it has lyrics for a 嘅古吟 Kaigu Yin. It identifies these lyrics as from 龔光表 Gong Guangbiao (1837 - 1907?), 1970 (should be 1907); and from 俞味純蓴 Yu Weichun (1877 - 1913), 1913. The lyrics are the same as those published with the 慨古吟 in Yinyinshi Qinpu (p. 31), which has the repertoire of 蔡德允 Cai Deyun; she apparently learned the melody from 沈草農 Shen Caonong of 蕭山 Xiaoshan (near Shaoxing). She and two of her students have made recordings, but none with singing. 戴曉蓮 Dai Xiaolian has made a metal-string qin recording in which Huang Bai sings these lyrics (Ethnic Auvidis B 6765). She is playing from a manuscript in the Van Gulik collection in Leiden. The tablature and lyrics there are essentially the same as those in the Yinyinshi Qinpu version. Dai Xiaolian's commentary says that the tablature came through Zha Fuxi from Yang Xifeng of the Sichuan school. 楊西峰 Yang Xifeng is 楊表正 is Yang Biaozheng, but this may be a misprint for 夏一峰 Xia Yifeng, though this tablature is not included in his Guqinqu Huibian.
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7. 張衡 Zhang Heng (78 - 139)
Biographical notes are included under Si Si Ge, which sets his poem 四愁詩 Si Chou Shi (Four-Fold Sorrows Poem) as a qin melody.
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8. Dongjing Fu (東京賦)
This poem by Zhang Heng (see previous footnote) is in Wen Xuan, Folio 3 (Haixiao ed. pp. 97 - 136 )
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9. 慨長思而懷古 Sigh long thoughts while cherishing antiquity
See Haixiao edition, p. 126. "Cherishing Antiquity" (懷古 Huai Gu) is the name of a musically unrelated qin tune.
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10. "一云毛仲翁";
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11. For the original Chinese text see 慨古. (Return)

Return to the Shen Qi Mi Pu ToC or to the Guqin ToC.