Qiujiang Wandiao

03. Autumn River Evening Fishing
- (Shang mode: 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 ) ²

秋江晚釣 ¹
Qiujiang Wandiao

Autumn River Evening Fishing: a well-known theme ³

A short note at the front of the version of Qiu Jiang Wan Diao here in Faming Qinpu (1539) says this melody is by Yan Ziling (ca. 40 BCE to ca 40 CE),⁴ one of the most famous examples of a scholar who declined public life in favor of honorable reclusion.⁵ Around the year 14 CE, Yan studied at the state academy in Changan. He was then about 40, having spent a number of years in retirement, together with other honorable men, in the Shaoxing area, due to the turmoil that took place while the usurper Wang Mang was in power (6-23). At the academy Yan met Liu Xiu (5 BCE-57 CE), who later ruled as the Han dynasty Guangwu emperor (25-57 CE). Although Liu Xiu was then about 20 years younger than Yan, they became very close friends, and several stories attest to their strong personal relationship. When Liu Xiu became emperor he was able to persuade Yan Ziling to visit him in the capital, but he could not persuade him to take office. Instead Yan went into retirement again, this time in a secluded spot up the Fu Chun River (or Fu Chun Mountain, overlooking the Qian Tang River) about 100 km. southwest of Hangzhou, spending his time enjoying nature. A Yan Ziling Fishing Terrace still commemorates the supposed location, though even after a modern dam raised the level of the river, the terrace seems far too high above it to mark a fishing spot.

This melody title survives in five handbooks (plus two reprints) from 1530 to 1802.⁶ However, the 1802 version, said to be the same as 1589, is not available for inspection; and the fourth (1647, reprinted 1692) has a completely different melody. Thus only the first first three are considered in the present discussion: those from 1539, 1585, and 1589 (reprinted 1609). The 1539 version has only the short note at the front, mentioned above, saying the melody was created by Yan Ziling, but the 1585 and 1589 versions both have prefaces telling the Yan Ziling story.

Regarding the lyrics in these three handbooks, they are all related but not identical. I have not been able to trace their source, but they are said to have a Yuan dynasty flavor.⁷ In this regard it might be noted that during the Yuan period the topic of scholars who refused to work for the government would have been particularly relevant, and that there was at least one Yuan dynasty opera connected to Yan Ziling.⁸

In addition, the melody of Qiu Jiang Wan Diao has a clear musical relationship with the instrumental melody Spring[!] River Evening View (Chun Jiang Wan Tiao) of 1549. This spring river melody is in turn related to other spring river melodies published around that time. Earliest is the Chun Jiang Qu of 1511, with completely unrelated lyrics and associated with Guo Zhen. More closely related are the instrumental Chun Jiang melodies, such as those published in 1539 , 1551 and 1557; some of these are associated with the Song dynasty essayist and poet Yu Ji.⁹

On the other hand two melodies with somewhat similar names, Qiujiang Yebo (Autumn River Night Anchorage) and Qiujiang Songbie (Autumn River Sendoff), are melodically unrelated.¹⁰

My reconstruction and commentary are not yet completed.

Original Preface¹¹
None, but below the title are the words, "Shang mode, 8 sections, by Yan Ziling of the Han dynasty".

Music and Lyrics¹²
Eight Sections, untitled (comment)

1.
The bustle of worldly affairs: how can it compare with my beautiful clouds and waves,
riding in a boat, or setting up a tent?
Or letting out a fishing line, reddish jade in hand,
and facing the slanting sunbeams?
Sigh at the floating clouds of riches and honor, the ties of fame and restrictions of gain,
soon what have they become? Days and months fly by like a shuttle.

2.
Pleasure, pleasure, who realizes it?
Down comes the mist and solitary ducks gather to fly.
Autumn waters and the vast heavens are one color,
Times like this allow one to forget obstructions (in the stream of life).
Discard kerchief exposing the hair, ramble off without restraint,
No restraints and no binds, attaining one's ends.
Someplace with a bright moon and clear wind,
Not aware of whether society is experiencing peace or danger.

3.
Slanting sunbeams at an old ferry pier;
Blue waters and green mountains, at sunrise clouds gather.
Evenings are cool, a gentle breeze, only seeing all around the wind soughing.
Everything is contemplated and all attained, anxiously make predictions mid-stream.
Scorn ancestry, cast aside royalty, have plants as friends, birds as comrades;
no glory, no disgrace, no grief, just rambling and wandering, attaining freedom.

4.
As grass and trees wither and fall, you see geese southward flying.
Water and sky are one color, hard to distinguish; everything (is like) green porcelain.
Amiable, carefree and at peace, in a pale bamboo hat and green raincoat.
Slanting wind, fine rain, no need to return home.
....
(translation incomplete)

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Autumn River Evening Fishing (秋江晚釣 Qiujiang Wandiao (I/325)
25505.69 秋江 Qiujiang "A river on an autumn day"; mentions no specific river with this name and does not mention Qiujiang Wandiao.
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2. Mode
Faming Qinpu does not mention the mode, but later handbooks include it in the shang mode.
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3. Images for Autumn River Evening Fishing
An internet search will show several paintings with this title; the present one is copy of a fan painting signed 張定 Zhang Ding (張叔木 Zhang Shumu), Qing dynasty.
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4. 嚴光 Yan Guang (嚴子陵 Yan Ziling (ca. 40 BCE to ca 40 CE)
4689.47 and Bio/812 嚴光 Yan Guang have basically the same information as in Giles, A Chinese Biographical Dictionary:

Yan Guang 嚴光 (Ziling 子陵). A friend in youth of the Emperor Guang Wu of the Han dynasty. When the latter came to the throne in A.D. 25, he sent to summon Yan Guang to court; but Yan Guang preferred a life in the country, devoted to fishing and agriculture. On one occasion when the old friends met, the Emperor insisted on their sleeping together; and during the night Yan Guang put his foot on His Majesty's stomach. Next morning the Grand Astrologer reported that a strange star had been seen occupying the Imperial place; at which the Emperor laughed and said, "It's only my old friend Yan Ziling, with whom I was sleeping last night."

The Fishing Terrace to which Yan is said subsequently to have retired is discussed above.

The preface in 1585 speaks of Yan Ziling, as follows:

嚴子陵少與光武同學相友，心契相永。後孺子遇莽亂國，同光武征討除莽。興漢世治，遂棄功名隱於富春山，與樵漁為樂。後帝詔不任，志戀江山。清風意味，鷗鳥忘機，不聞勢慾，而作時曲焉。

The 1589 and 1647 versions have prefaces which tell essentially the same story, though 1647 is somewhat elaborated.

There are no poems attributed to Yan in Yuefu Shiji, nor have I been able to find others elsewhere.
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5. For more on reclusion see Alan Berkowitz, Patterns of Disengagement, Stanford U. Press, 2000, pp. 102-104.
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6. Tracing Qiu Jiang Wan Diao
Zha Fuxi's Guide 15/156/333 has the following under 秋江晚釣 Qiu Jiang Wan Diao:

1530 (I/325; music similar to the Chun Jiang of 1551, etc., but lyrics diff.; 8)
1585 (IV/359 [not in 1573]; preface; lyrics and music similar to 1530; 8, titled)
1589 (VII/91; lyrics and music similar to 1530; 8, titled; reprinted in 1609)
1647 (X/92; different music, no lyrics)
1692 (identical to 1647)
1802 (shang yin; "same as [1589?] Taigu Yiyin" (but no lyrics?); 8 sections, titled)
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7. Commentary on the Qiu Jiang Wan Diao lyrics
Regarding the source of the lyrics (中文), Prof. Lam Lap of the National University of Singapore wrote (personal communication, 2010):

"Judging from the style of writing and diction, the lyrics look like a product at least from the Yuan dynasty. They resemble a Yuan drama libretto." (See also below.)

Regarding differences in the three versions, all three use the formula for pairing lyrics and tablature commonly used at that time: one character for each right hand stroke. Many of the differences between the lyrics of 1530 and those of 1589 are due to the fact that the latter uses two characters for the left hand technique 對起 duiqi, in which the left ring finger remains pressed to the string while the left thumb plucks it. Zheyin Shizi Qinpu uses this pairing technique for duiqi, but Faming Qinpu has only one character with each duiqi.
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8. Yan Ziling Fishes at Qilitan (嚴子陵垂釣七里灘 Yan Ziling Chuidiao Qilitan)
A Yuan opera by 宮天挺 Gong Tianting
This play (4689.3xxx 嚴子) "has been preserved only in a 14th century edition. The text is easily available in a number of modern critical editions.... Its songs also circulated independently in the 16th century." (Wilt Idema, personal communication, 2010.)

Qilitan (4.199): "地名，一名七里瀨，浙江桐盧縣嚴陵山之西 the name of a place, also called Qililai, on the west side of Yanling mountain in Tonglu country of Zhejiang." The entry quotes a reference in the biography of Yan Guang in the Latter Han Dynasty History, saying this was a seven li stretch of the 富春渚 Fuchun riverbank (islet?) in which he had his fishing terrace.
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8. Chun Jiang melodies
Zha Guide 19/183/-- lists 春江晚眺 Chun Jiang Wan Tiao as occuring only in 1549. The other 春江 Chun Jiang melodies are indexed under 春江曲 Chun Jiang Qu, see 14/150/267. This latter includes seven handbooks from 1511 to 1596, but the Guide does not include two books that have it, 1551 and 1556, so altogether there were nine.
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9. Other Autumn River melodies
For more on these see:

秋江送別 Qiujiang Songbie (Autumn River Sendoff; 26/217/416)
秋江夜泊 Qiujiang Yebo (Autumn River Night Anchorage; 30/236/--)
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10. Original preface
None. Says only "商調，八段，漢嚴子陵作"
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11. 秋江晚釣 Qiujiang Wandiao original lyrics (QQJC I/325-70; Zha Guide 33)
The source of these lyrics is not anywhere stated (though see the comment above). As can be seen by the comment at the end, the compiler seems to have been at a loss as to how to end the lyrics. Repeats are indicated, but it is not at all clear what is to be repeated. The version in Yang Lun Taigu Yiyin (VII/91-3) has had lyrics added to the coda as well as subtitles to each section; these are all given below. Thus entire original lyrics and later subtitles are as follows:

1.（搖綸江漢） （泛起）
茫茫塵世，怎如我渺廟煙波。
駕一葉扁舟，作箇行窩。
展絲綸，琅玕在手，對斜陽得趣多。
嘆浮雲富貴，名韁利鎖。
不久將如何，日月如梭。（泛止）

2.（逍遙物外）
樂哉，樂哉，誰得知？
落霞與孤鶩齊飛，秋水共長天一色。
時對此，是忘磯，脫巾露髮，散誕無拘。
無拘亦無繫，得其所止，明月與清風之地。
不知人世有安危。

3.（陶情山水）
斜陽古渡頭；綠水青山，日暮雲收。
晚天涼，輕拂拂，只見滿目風颼颼。
萬物靜觀皆自得，悠然占斷中流。
傲百世，蔑王侯；蘋蘩作伴，鷗鷺為儔。
無榮，無辱，無憂；逍遙得自由。

4.（解脫塵網）
草木黃落兮，見鴻雁而南飛。
水天一色微茫，萬頃碧琉璃。
藹然心曠神怡，綠簑衣。
斜風細雨不須歸。
人間的是無波處，冷眼看他，一日風波。
十二時多少的驚疑。
惟我在水雲鄉，一生忘嗜慾，遠輕肥。 (Fingering same as 6.8 and 7.4: same rhythm?)
玄真子即我友，天隨子乃我師。 ("乃" is from 1589; 1530 had "非")
棄羊裘胡令物色來江湖。

5.（凈中清趣） （泛起）
魚躍鳶飛，徘徊共天光雲影。
碧澄澄萬里，水波不興。
靜悄悄，灘瀨無聲，綠絪縕，縠紋輕。
嘆逝者如斯，光涵萬象。
猶得聖之清，好下絲綸。（泛止）

6.（笑傲秋濱）
相對蘆花白，蓼花又紅；芙蓉綻，澄點秋容。
兩岸丹楓與黃葉，一天玉露金風。
長江浩渺無窮；唱一曲太平歌，
不知南北與西東。
起居無時適所足，笑人毋誰我相從。
真個此江山不換與三公；侶魚蝦，友鷗鷺。
嗟夫，
萬物不干其志，恬然得一食，勝千鍾。

7.（浮雲名利）
潦水盡，寒潭清，煙光凝，暮山紫。
一彎新月掛銀鉤，晚來蕩漾江湖；洞徹馮夷府。
涼飆四起，奪炎熱，凡襟一點俱無。
足粗衣，甘淡飯，任也懸紫綬，帶金魚。

8.（膾鱗煮酒）
鬧業裏喧囂早不聞，
名場內聲利心何有？
臥紅輪直道西斜，得魚時便沽酒。
醉來把長竿持在手；
一聲慳慳 ∠ ∠ ∠ (i.e. "等等 and so forth". Wouldn't 一聲留 fit better than 一聲慳?)

泛起 (begin harmonics)
∠ ∠

(These "∠" seem to suggest that at the end the compiler is at a loss as to how to add lyrics. In this regard compare 1589, which adds lyrics for the last line, then calls the closing harmonics a coda, adding lyrics, as follows:)

一身輕輕，斜陽堤下陶真情。

（尾，泛起：
秋江如練，作個煙波釣叟。
落輝照絲綸，真個不羨王侯。）
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