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Lament at Changmen Palace
Standard tuning (called huangzhong2): 5 6 1 2 3 5 6
 		 長門怨 1
Changmen Yuan
 
The earliest printed version of the title Changmen Yuan is to be found in Mei An Qin Pu (1931).4 However, the melody is also included in two hand-copied collections said to be early Zhucheng school handbooks, Longyinguan Qinpu (1799?) and Qinpu Zhenglü (1839?); these supposedly earlier versions, almost identical to each other, are essentially the same as the modern version, though there are a few differences.5

The theme of this melody is a story related in Folio 42 of the Yuefu Shiji. Three sources are given there: Han Wu Di Gushi,6 Han Shu7 and Yuefu Jieti.8

Yuefu Shiji includes poems on this title by 20 different poets.9

The preface in Mei An Qin Pu says the composition was written by Sima Xiangru during the reign of Han emperor Wudi. In it he described the misery of Empress Chen, who had been confined to Changmen Palace.

Further details can be found in Lieberman, A Chinese Zither Tutor, pp. 106 - 111.

 
Original afterword:
Only in the 1959 edition; translated in Lieberman, A Chinese Zither Tutor

 
 Music
Six sections plus a harmonic coda

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Changmen Yuan
42022.246 樂府，楚調，曲名。 Yuefu melody in Chu mode. It then gives some details as in Folio 42.
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2. Huangzhong mode (黃鐘調 standard tuning)
In early tablature huangzhong melodies usually use a non-standard tuning, but see the 1511 Huangzhong Diao.
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4. Tracing Changmen Yuan
Zha Guide 44/--/-- only mentions Meian Qinpu but this melody is also included in two other sources generally said to be early Zhucheng handbooks. The three are thus:

  1. Longyinguan Qinpu (1799?); only photocopied versions from the Van Gulik library seem to be available
  2. Qinpu Zhenglü (1839?); QQJC XXIII/46; almost identical to previous
  3. Meian Qinpu (1931); QQJC XXIX/208; the main difference from the earlier two versions is that here both Section 3 and the coda begins a bit earlier. This version also adds a few notes and ornaments. It has no afterword, as that was not included in this handbook until its 1959 edition.

See also the comment below on Zhucheng school handbooks.
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5. Versions in Zhucheng school qin handbooks
It is unusual for melodies actively played to be changed so little over such a long period of time, and I do not know what evidence has been provided in dating the Mei'an handbook predecessors. Another possibility is that at the time the modern handbook was published there were differing versions in the active repertoire, and so the editor decided to copy or revise from the older text.
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6. Han Wu Di Gushi 漢武帝故事
Not yet translated; does not mention Sima Xiangru.
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7. Han Shu 漢書
Not yet translated; does not mention Sima Xiangru.
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8. Yuefu Jieti 樂府解題
Not yet translated. Says that the empress gave Sima Xiangru 100 斤 catties of gold to write an essay describing her grief, resulting in his poetical essay called 長門賦 Changmen Fu.
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9. Changmen Yuan poems in Yuefu Shiji
See Folio 42; details not yet added here.
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Return to the annotated handbook list or to the Guqin ToC.