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| SQMP ToC / Compare the 1539 version and the modern version | 聽錄音 Listen to my recording with transcription 首頁 |
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22. Sigh for Antiquity
Shang mode:2 standard tuning: played as 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 |
慨古
1
Kai Gu |
Throughout history the Chinese have looked back fondly on ancient times. An early expression of this thought is by Zhang Heng4 of the Han Dynasty in his poem Dongjing Fu,5 which includes the line, "Sigh long thoughts while cherishing antiquity."6
Only four surviving pre-modern qin handbooks have Kai Gu in the title:7
- Shen Qi Mi Pu (1425), discussed here;
- Kai Gu in Fengxuan Xuanpin (1539), a completely different melody;
- Kaigu Yin in Taiyin Xupu (1559), like SQMP but with most of the middle missing; and
- 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.8
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").
Zha Fuxi's Guide, in spite of the preface below, and without giving a reference, says this piece is also attributed to Mao Minzhong.9
Modern 慨古引 Kai Gu Yin, also called 太古引 Tai Gu Yin
In addition to the above, there is a musically unrelated Kaigu Yin in the modern repertoire (the kai is sometimes written differently). 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.10
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 follow the recording on
my CD;
聽錄音 listen with
my transcription)
(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).
(Return)
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)
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.
(Return)
5.
Dongjing Fu (東京賦)
This poem by Zhang Heng (see previous footnote) is in
Wen Xuan, Folio 3 (Haixiao ed. pp. 97 - 136).
(Return)
6.
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.
(Return)
7.
Tracing Kai Gu (see Appendix below)
Zha's Guide 4/42/63 only indexes the old versions, except that at /63 he has lyrics for the modern Kaigu Yin; no lyrics are known to have been paired with the earlier versions and the Guide does not say where to find tablature for the this modern version.
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8.
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 Old Man of Apricot Farm says, From ancient times to modern it is not known how many people were called princes, how many were called tyrants; how many flourished, how many failed？ The so-called heroes of a generation, where are they now?"
The preface to the 1670 version (XI. p. 478) is an abbreviated version of the 1425 preface.
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9.
Mao Minzhong
It is unclear why Zha made that attribution.
(Return)
| 10. Kaigu Yin, modern version (慨古吟、嘅古吟) | Tablature from 愔愔室琴譜 Yin Yin Shi Qinpu (2000) |
This piece, which today has become a very popular beginners' melody, is unrelated to any of the Ming dynasty versions of this title (see Appendix below). Evidence suggests that it originated at the end of the Qing dynasty, then was passed down for some years as separate tablature before being included in any known published handbooks. Accounts of its tranmission thus differ somewhat.
For a good silk string recording of the modern Kai Gu Yin, listen to this one by Ding Chengyun:
The recording follows quite closely the tablature at right, copied from a handbook that has melodies as played by Cai Deyun 蔡德允
(Wiki). She apparently learned this melody from 沈草農 Shen Caonong of 蕭山 Xiaoshan (near Shaoxing). She and several of her students have made recordings, but none with singing. However, the commentary at right says nothing of this. Instead it simply copies the preface to the completely different version in Shen Qi Mi Pu. On the other hand, commentary with the Ding Chenyun recording says the source of this melody is 龔子輝譜，查阜西訂正 顧梅羹傳授 tablature of Gong Zihui (龔光表 Gong Guangbiao), as arranged by Zha Fuxi and transmitted by
Gu Meigeng. Ding also does not sing the associated lyrics. (At the beginning the tablature says "正調，避三絃散聲 standard tuning; it avoids playing the open third string".
As for what Zha Fuxi himself learned, if he himself had found copies, or had copied down tablature, this information does not seem to be publicly available. Although his Guide 4/42/63 does not index tablature or commentary for this modern version of the title, p. 63 of the lyrics section does have lyrics for this newer melody, giving it the title "嘅古吟 Kaigu Yin" (note the 口 mouth radical), identifying them as from 龔光表 Gong Guangbiao (1837 - 1907) and from 俞味蒓 Yu Weichun (1877 - 1913). Zha has no further commentary, thus there was no mention of where to find the source of the existing tablature, and in particular no mention of 田曦明 Tian Ximing, a student of Gong who around 1911 was one of
Zha's qin teachers.
戴曉蓮 Dai Xiaolian has made a metal-string qin recording in which Huang Bai sings the accompanying lyrics (Ethnic Auvidis B 6765). She is playing from a manuscript in the Van Gulik collection in Leiden. The tablature and lyrics there are again essentially the same as those from the Taiwan and Hong Kong editions. 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 Yang Biaozheng, compiler of Chongxiu Zhenchuan Qinpu (1585), not of the Sichuan school and clearly an error unless "Xifeng" is another nickname for 楊宗稷 Yang Zongji, best known as 楊時百 Yang Shibai (1863-1931), compiler of Qinxue Congshu. Yang Shibai most certainly had connections with Zha Fuxi as well as Gu Meigeng.
太古引 Tai Gu Yin (Most Ancient Prelude) |
From 研易習琴齋琴譜 Yan Yi Xi Qin Zhai Qinpu (1971) |
In addition to several other publications of this melody with the name Kaigu Yin, all pretty much the same, there is at least one more of the same version of this melody but with a different title. This is the one copied at right from the handbook Yanyi Xiqin Zhai Qinpu of 章志蓀 Chang Chih-Sun (1971). At the end Chang has the following commentary; it mostly concerns how unusual it is to have lyrics with a qin melody. The original commentary is as follows:
This piece has lyrics. It was the introductory piece my teacher Chen Shouchen Guangsheng used to teach beginners. In qin handbooks one can find a "Taigu Yin" (吟 intonation), but it is not quite the same as this. I suppose Guangsheng must have had his own copy.
In Ming handbooks there is a Kaigu Yin (吟); many of the lyrics are quite similar, so this piece is also called Kaigu Yin. In fact, in Ming dynasty qin handbooks, each section often has such lyrics. For example, Zhengwen Duiyin Jieyao Zhenzhuan (1573) and Lixing Yuanya (1618) both follow this practice (of having lyrics with melodies). But during the Ming dynasty, Yan Tianchi’s Songxuan Guan Qinpu (1614) purposefully swept away (what he considered) the abuse of attaching lyrics, establishing what later generations called the Yushan school. It was even included in the Siku Quanshu.
In early Qing handbooks, most pieces have no lyrics; only occasionally are one or two with lyrics included, such as ‘Fa Tan’ and ‘Gui Qu’ in the Chuncaotang Qinpu (1744), or some literary pieces at the end of Ziyuan Tang Qinpu (1802). Likewise, Wang Shuangchi’s Lixuezhai Qinpu (1730) also has pieces with lyrics.”
A performance from this tablature by my teacher Sun Yuqin is listed here, but at the time I studied with him he was not teaching that piece.
Regarding the 嘅古吟 Kai Gu Yin lyrics in the two tablatures at right, they are the same as those in Zha Fuxi's Guide, as follows:
，山嶽的那荒邱。
夕陽西下，江水的那東流
愁消去，是酒醉了的那方休。
Past and present stretch on without end;
the affairs of the world are like floating bubbles.
The heroes of old have all died, never to return.
Stars and sun set in the west, river waters flow east.
over mountains and hills turned to desolation.
reference)
Sorrow is dispelled only when inebriation relaxes us.
望不見，望不見吳越的那樓台。
世遠人何在，明月照去又照來，
故鄉風景空自的那花開。
One cannot fathom — the fire of Chu, the ashes of Qin.
One cannot see — cannot see the towers of Wu and Yue.
The ages are distant — where are the people now?
The bright moon shines away, and shines again as it returns.
At my old home, the scenery stands empty,
flowers bloom in vain.
嗟美人那，東風芳草的那怨愁多。
六朝舊事時空過，漢家蕭鼓，魏北的那山河。
天荒地老，終是的那消磨，消磨，消磨，更消磨。
Sun and moon shuttle past,
drifting clouds and flowing waters—how are they to be grasped?
Alas, lovely ones! In the east wind and fragrant grasses, how much grief abides.
The affairs of the Six Dynasties have long passed;
the drums of Han, the rivers and mountains of Wei in the north—
all gone.
As heaven wastes and earth grows old,
in the end all things wear away,
wear away, wear away,
wear away still more.
With deep sighs I recall the years gone by, when dragons contended and tigers fought — yet what has half a lifetime’s striving truly come to?
These lyrics, which are rarely sung, are the same in both traditional versions of the modern melody.
Conservatory version
(transcription)
11.
For the original Chinese text see 慨古.
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Rounding off this introduction to the modern melody, the most common modern tablature used today is probably that from the Conservatory Syllabus. It is somewhat different: I have not studied it carefully but it suggests someone deciding they knew better than the original creators how the piece should sound. Here the title is "慨古吟" (i.e., with the忄heart radical). Transcriptions are easily available online with number notation by 李祥霆 Li Xiangting but with no lyrics. Commentary says only that the piece (thus presumably the music), in the tradition of Gong Guangbiao and Yu Weichun, was transmitted by Zha Fuxi.
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Appendix: Chart Tracing 慨古 Kai Gu
Also includes the modern 慨古吟、嘅古吟 Kaigu Yin
Based on Zha Guide 4/42/63 (though see comment)
|
琴譜
(year; QQJC Vol/page) |
Further information
(QQJC = 琴曲集成 Qinqu Jicheng; QF = 琴府 Qin Fu) |
|
1. 神奇秘譜
(1425; I/136) |
3 sections, untitled
|
|
2. 風宣玄品
(1539; II/187) |
Same title but a completely
different melody
|
|
3. 太音續譜
(1559; III/440) |
like SQMP but with most of the middle missing
Seems to serve as a prelude Yu Qiao Wenda, but has a separate preface |
|
4. 琴苑新傳全編
(1670; XI/486) |
Copies the SQMP version.
Seems like 1425 with modifications as other pieces have in 1546 (e.g., no 7s) |
|
|
|
|
5. 龔光表之琴譜;
(<1911; unpublished) |
The bio of Zha Fuxi suggests that around 1911 he learned a modern 嘅古吟 Kaigu Yin (note the different "Kai") from one of his teachers (details) |
|
6. 研易習琴齋琴譜
(1971; II/1) |
"太古音 Taigu Yin"; music and lyrics almost same as the modern Kaigu Yin. The introduction by Chang Chih-Sun says his teacher 陳壽臣 Chen Shouchen taught this to beginners (details) |
|
7. 愔愔室琴譜
(2000; I/31) |
Repertoire of Cai Deyun. Her commentary quotes the preface to the musically unrelated 1425 version but the tablature is as in 1971, though the sections are unnumbered (details) |
Return to the top, to the Shen Qi Mi Pu ToC, or to the Guqin ToC.