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32. Springtime River Melody
- Standard tuning:2 5 6 1 2 3 5 6 played as 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 |
春江曲
1
Chun Jiang Qu |
The titles Chun Jiang and Chun Jiang Qu appear in at least nine handbooks from 1511 to 1596.4 Eight are melodically related and can be grouped as follows:
In addition Xilutang Qintong (1549) has an instrumental melody clearly related to the present one, more closely to the 1539 Chun Jiang, but called Chunjiang Wan Tiao (Spring River Evening View);8 the commentary there connects it with Zhang Zhihe fishing without bait, and in addition this melody is also closely related to one already published in 1530 (then later in 1585 and 1589) with the title Qiu Jiang Wan Diao (Autumn River Evening Fishing) and associated with yet another person, also a recluse who enjoyed fishing, Yan Ziling. What is remarkable here is not just that by 1589 this quite popular melody had had at least three completely different sets of lyrics and since 1511 had appeared in at least 11 different handbooks, but also that after a 1611 reprint it seems suddenly to have completely disappeared from the repertoire.9
1549 also has the only occurrence of an unrelated instrumental melody called Chun Jiang, attributed to Fan Li (5th C. BCE).
Although the present 1511 version is the earliest surviving publication, the second coming 28 years later, this does not necessarily mean the melody originated as a qin song. Thus the 1511 sung version and 1539 instrumental version both open with a similar harmonic melody; section 1 of the 1539 version corresponds with this melody, but in 1511 it carries on (see lyrics) through the first two phrases of the second poem, providing a seemingly unnatural break in that poem. This may suggest that the creator of the 1511 Chun Jiang Qu adapted an existing melody to these lyrics.
As regards the lyrics, those by Zhang Ji and Zhang Zhongsu both mention spring (as does the original version of the Guo Yuanzhen lyrics mentioned in the Yuefu Shiji preface mentioned next paragraph). It is thus quite puzzling why their setting here has a melodic relationship to versions of the melody Autumn River Evening Fishing, particularly some of the later versions (see outline below).
Although Yuefu Shiji has the lyrics used for the song Chun Jiang Qu in Taigu Yiyin, they are not in the qin melody section. Instead they are in Folio 77, among the Miscellaneous Songs.10 The only explanation in the entry comes with Chun Jiang Xing, which precedes Chun Jiang Qu. It is a brief quote attributed to the Tang poet (and government minister) Guo Zhen, here called Guo Yuanzhen, as follows:
The Taigu Yiyin tablature setting the five Chun Jiang Qu lyrics to music uses two large circles to separate the melody into three parts. The third part has the three Zhang Zhongsu poems, without indicating where to separate them.
The preface in Taigu Yiyin seems to suggest that Guo Zhen wrote a large number of poems concerning life on the frontier (where he had himself served as a military officer). There is thus perhaps some logic in associating him with this melody.11
As for the two or more melodically related Chun Jiang melodies attributed to the Yuan dynasty essayist and poet Yu Ji, the connection is not quite so clear.
This was composed by the virtuous Tang statesman Guo Yuanzhen. Tang people who served on the frontier would go away for three years without returning, their bones drying out in the sandy gravel; Yuanzhen mourned for them, so he wrote this song in order to reveal the depths of their thoughts of home, and he also had 300 poems about such missions. (Translation tentative)
Music and Lyrics13
A largely syllabic setting of the three poems
(harmonics begin) The river water is deep and clear, (should be: The river water in spring is deep)
above it on both sides is a bamboo grove.
The bamboo leaves float on (spoil) the color of the water,
but the young gentleman has spoiled my heart.
The river in spring has no clouds, and in the morning the water is calm;
rush leaves arise out of the water, and ducklings call out. (harmonics end)
From Changgan (in Nanjing) my husband loves traveling afar;
(meanwhile) I dye the spring clothing, the sewing already finished.
As a wife, my whole life had been spent in Nanjing;
(then) last year I followed my husband to live on the north side of the Yangzi River.
When spring came I was unable to go to my parents' home;
our boat was small and the wind was great (so) we could not cross (the river)
Wanting to leave my husband's parents I first asked him,
(so I [we?]) personally went to the river's edge and scrificed to the Water Spirit.
Swirling waves overflow the river in spring.
on both sides you can see the white duckweek.
While returning, before I had realized it night fell;
coming away from the river bank the moon followed me.
Homes on the bank of the river in spring:
travelers of all ages go by.
They don't know about the tidal waters reliably,
and by the end of the day they run into a sand bank.
There is morning mist at the south river crossing,
uneven and repeated waves flow sideways.
(harmonics begin) The island in front: where is it?
in the fog, wild geese (harmonics end) call out.
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a
separate page)
1.
Chun Jiang references (I/294)
14146.67 and 5/642 Chun Jiang (no qu) refer to a river in spring; the only proper name mentioned is in a reference saying that it is short for 富春江 Fuchun River, which runs into Hangzhou from the southwest (see
below). There are no musical references, and no mention of the Yuefu Shiji poems used as lyrics for the qin melody. These are in YFSJ
Folio 77 (Chinese edition, pp. 1081-1093.) There also seems to be no connection with the popular modern melody known as Moonlit River in Spring.
Moonlit River in Spring (春江花月夜 Chun Jiang Hua Yue Ye)
There are many translations of this title, a more literal one being Spring River Flowers on a Moonlit Night. Yuefu Shiji,
Folio 47 (Chinese edition, pp. 678-680), has five poems under this name, by 隋煬帝 Sui Emperor Yangdi (r.605-18), 諸葛穎 Zhuge Ying (d. 616), 張子容 Zhang Zirong (7th-8th c.), 張若虛 Zhang Ruoxu (c.660-c.720) and 溫庭筠 Wen Tingyun (ca. 801 - ca. 866). 14146.69 春江花月夜 quotes several of these but has no musical references.
The YFSJ introduction says during the Tang dynasty 陳後主 Chen Houzhou and 何胥 He Xu made these and other lyrics into melodies, and there have probably been various melodies with this title since then. However, only the lyrics still exist, and the popular modern melody of this title is said to have been adapted around 1930 from an old pipa lute melody called Flute and Drums at Dusk (夕陽簫鼓 Xiyang Xiao Gu; also called 潯陽琵琶 Xunyang Pipa), and since then many times revised. Recently several people have adapted it for guqin (usually with orchestra), but of course this has no melodic connections with any traditional guqin melodies.
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2.
Mode
Taigu Yiyin does not organize melodies by mode, but the other musically related versions, including 1585 version, group it with shang mode melodies.
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3.
Image
As yet none selected.
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4.
Tracing Chun Jiang and Chun Jiang Qu
Zha, Guide 14/150/267, lists 7 handbooks with 春江曲 Chun Jiang Qu or Chun Jiang; it did not index 1551 or 1556, and does not include
Chunjiang Wan Tiao of 1549. The two called Chun Jiang Qu (1511 and 1585) have lyrics (L); the others drop "qu" from the title.
In addition, versions of Qiu Jiang Wan Diao in the following handbooks are melodically related to some of the Chun Jiang:
5.
Chun Jiang in Chongxiu Zhenchuan Qinpu (IV/375; 1585)
The lyrics are the same (including having 江水深澄澄 instead of 江水春沉沉), the melody very similar; the commentary is almost the same, omitting "亦猶三百篇行役之詩也。".
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6.
Spring on the River (春江 Chun Jiang) in Fengxuan Xuanpin (II/183; 1539)
This instrumental version of the springtime melody is clearly related to Chun Jiang Qu throughout but, in spite of the almost 20 year difference in publication dates, it cannot be stated definitively which came earlier. Later versions of Chun Jiang connect it with the Yuan dynasty essayist Yu Ji (see below). However, the three section titles of 1539, which has no preface, seem to give it more of a connection with Guo Yuanzhen, who spent time fighting on the frontier. The three titles are:
The connection between these three section titles and the overall melody title is still not clear.
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7.
虞集 Yu Ji (1272-1348)
Yuan dynasty essayist and poet Yu Ji (33531.130 虞集), was also commonly referred to, as here, by his death name, 虞文靖 Yu Wenjing.
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8.
Spring River Evening View
(春江晚眺 Chunjiang Wan Tiao;
1549; III/118)
Zha Guide 19/183/-- lists this separately as occuring only in 1549, but it is clearly related to Chun Jiang Qu and, perhaps more closely, Qiu Jiang Wan Diao (Autumn River Evening Fishing; note 秋 and 釣 instead of 春 and 眺). The latter is generally connected to Yan Ziling, said to have had a Fishing Terrace on the Fuchun ("wealthy spring") River, about 100 km upstream from Hangzhou, but the 1549 commentary for Chunjiang Wan Tiao connects it with Zhang Zhihe (referred to by his nickname, Xuanzhenzi - Master of Obscure Reality) fishing without bait. Zhang was from 金華 Jinhua, a town on a tributary of the 富春江 Fuchun ("Abundant Spring") River and thus upriver from the Fishing Terrace of Yan Ziling. It is not clear whether there is any connection between these titles and attributions and the Fuchun River, in particular as chunjiang most commonly means "river in spring", just as qiujiang commonly means "river in autumn".
This is the original 1549 commentary:
There are 6 section titles, as follows:
|
Beating the oars with the current
Tie up the boat for the evening ferry Looking afar at the sky reflected in the water (Wen Tingyun) All day there is a clear blue sky As the sun sets it flows red Nearby waves ripple |
9.
Sudden disappearance of the Spring River melodies
The various 16th century versions under this title, as well as its Autumn River versions, are all quite distinctive in their straightforward style, perhaps akin to popular music of the time or perhaps simply created to present a carefree atmosphere. This, as well as their number and related associations, suggests great popularity, but it may also suggest that the various versions may be best considered as a melodic style rather than as individual melodies. It is possible that this style can also be found in other melodies not yet examined, and perhaps solidified under a later title; further research is warranted on this.
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10.
Yuefu Shiji, Folio 77: Miscellaneous Songs
Chinese edition, pp. 678-680.
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11.
Frontier poems of Guo Yuanzhen
See the last sentence of the preface. I have not been able to confirm this yet.
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12.
Original preface
The source of this preface and the reason for its attribution of the melody to Yuan Zhen is not clear. The original text says,
13.
Music and lyrics
The original Taigu Yiyin lyrics are as follows (some differences from YFSJ),
2.
春江無雲朝水平，蒲心出水鳧雛鳴。
長干夫婿愛遠行，自染春衣縫已成。
妾身生長金陵側，去年隨夫住江北。
春來未到父母家，舟小風多渡不得。
欲辭公姑先問人，私向江邊祭水神。
3.
搖漾越江春，相江看白蘋。
歸時不覺夜，出莆月隨人。
家住春江岸，征人幾歲遊。
不知潮水信，終日到沙頭。
晨曉南河渡，參差疊浪橫。
前洲在何處？霧裏鴈嚶嚶。
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