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| TGYY ToC / Tracing various versions Moonlit River in Spring Spring Theme |
聽錄音 Listen with lyrics below or on  /
also 1525
1530
1539 /
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32. Springtime River Melody
- Standard tuning:2 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 (later: shang mode) |
春江曲
1
Chun Jiang Qu Ju Jie: Swollen River in Spring3 |
The lyrics with Chun Jiang Qu intersperse short descriptions of nature and life on a river in spring with personal notes by people living there: a woman who compares the way a man ruined her heart with the way leaves ruin the beauty of a clear stream, a wife who crossed the river to live with her husband's family, a traveller. However, this Springtime River Melody is actually the earliest known version of a series of melodically related qin pieces,4 and these others mostly connect the river with a theme popular amongst literati: living a carefree life apart from society. The titles of these other musically related melodies include Chun Jiang Wan Tiao (Spring River Evening View)5 and Chun Jiang (Spring on the River)6 as well as Qiu Jiang Wan Diao (Autumn River Evening Fishing).7 In spite of the change in season, this latter version still retains close melodic connections with the others mentioned here.
In all, between 1511 and 1589 at least 11 handbooks had 12 related renderings of the present Spring River melody, as follows:8
- Chun Jiang Qu (Springtime River Melody; Tang dynasty lyrics; two versions: 1511 and 1585)
The present version and the one published in 15859 have almost identical lyrics but the melodies are somewhat different; in both the melody seems rather dubiously to be attributed to one of the three lyricists, Guo Zhen. - Chun Jiang Wan Tiao (Springtime River Evening View; instrumental; one version [1525])
This melody is still related to the above, in particular the 1539 Chun Jiang. The title occurs only in Xilutang Qintong, where the commentary connects it to Zhang Zhihe fishing without bait. - Chun Jiang (Springtime on the River; instrumental; six versions
[omit one unrelated] from 1539 to 1596)
Four have no commentary, the other two are attributed to the Yuan essayist and poet Yu Ji.11 - Qiu Jiang Wan Diao (Autumn River Evening Fishing; anonymous lyrics;
three versions: 1530, 1585 and 1589)
Although the season has changed to autumn (here "autumn river" is not the name of a river), the music seems more closely related to Chun Jiang than that of the preceding. Although this title survives in six handbooks, only the first three are related. The earliest, dated 1530, is associated with yet another person, also a recluse who enjoyed fishing, Yan Ziling.
Mention might be made here of three pieces with related titles but that are melodically unrelated:
As for the related versions of the melody that seemingly was so popular in the 16th century, what is remarkable is not just that from 1511 to 1589 at least 12 versions had appeared in at least 11 handbooks, or that during this time it had had at least two completely different sets of lyrics, told three quite different stories, and was particularly connected to four different men; equally remarkable is the fact that after a 1609 reprint of Qiu Jiang Wan Diao (also 1802?) it seems suddenly to have completely disappeared from the repertoire.12
The antiquity of the lyrics and the fact that the earliest of these spring river melodies is a song strongly suggest that piece originated as a song, but several factors suggest it may have been otherwise. The main argument in favor of it originally having been an instrumental melody could be the fact that there are different lyrics used for versions of the same melody. A musical analysis also reveals places where the melody might have been different had it been specifically written to accompany the 1511 lyrics.13
Further regarding the lyrics, those in 1511 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 discussed next paragraph). It is thus quite puzzling that 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). Mention has already been made above of a similar confusion between Departure at the River in Spring/Autumn.
Although the lyrics for the 1511 song Chun Jiang Qu, translated here, seem to have come from
Folio 77 of the
Yuefu Shiji (YFSJ), there are a number of minor differences in the text (indicated
below). In YFSJ they are categorized not as qin song lyrics but as Miscellaneous Songs.14 The only related commentary in YFSJ comes with Chun Jiang Xing, which precedes Chun Jiang Qu. This consists of 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.15
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.
Unrelated to all of this are versions of the very well-known melody
春江花月夜 Moonlit River in Spring.
This was created 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)
竹 葉 浮 水 色， 郎 亦 壞 人 心。
(泛止 harmonics end)
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. 張仲素
Zhang Zhongsu
(Wang Ya for first one?)
(01.13)
歸 時 不 覺 夜， 出 莆 月 隨 人。
(01.27)
不 知 潮 水 信， 終 日 到 沙 頭。
(01.40)
前 洲 在 何 處？ 霧 裏 鴈 （泛止） 嚶 嚶。
1.
References for Springtime River Melody (春江曲 Chun Jiang Qu) (I/294)
Moonlit River in Spring (春江花月夜 Chunjiang Huayue Ye), another spring river melody, also uses lyrics from Yuefu Shiji. However, these are not known to have been used for any traditional qin melody, and the modern "folk" melody of this name has no connection to any known surviving traditional qin melodies, including versions of Chun Jiang Qu. However, presumably because the melody is so popular, at least one arrangement has been made for qin, by 陳長林 Chen Changlin in the 1950s (recording). Because of this some brief comments are added here.
14146.69 春江花月夜 Chunjiang Huayue Ye quotes several of these but has no musical references, and none of its lyrics seems to have been set to a melody of this name. The most famous of these poems, that of the otherwise little-known Tang poet Zhang Ruoxu
(Wiki), further divides its nine quatrains into three sections of three quatrains each. This thus can not coincide with the 5 quatrains of the Zhang Ji poem at the center of Chunjiang Qu. Furthermore, sung versions of Chunjiang Huayue Ye all seem to use new lyrics that begin, "江上明月升，江畔花如錦，春潮隨波千萬里。夜色謦人心...."
The YFSJ introduction to Chun Jiang Hua Yue Ye says that 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 be one that was 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), since then many times revised.
The best known modern version apparently comes from a traditional pipa melody that was arranged for orchestra by Peng Xiuwen (彭修文; 1931 – 1996; see Wiki). More recently it was adapted for guzheng and orchestra, and several people have also adapted this version for guqin (also usually with orchestra).
In other words, as stated above, the qin versions of this heard today, such as that of Chen Changlin, are new arrangements of melodies from outside of the guqin tradition. Quite likely there were in the past also other melodies outside the qin tradition that were adapted as (and thus "became") qin melodies, but to my knowledge none of the various specific claims and speculations about this have ever been confirmed.
(Further comment).
2.
Shang mode? Tuning 5 6 1 2 3 5 6 played as 1 2 4 5 6 1 2
3.
Painting by Ju Jie: Swollen River in Springtime (居節:潮滿春江圖)
Translation incomplete.
4.
Spring on the River in Zha Fuxi's Guide
5.
Spring River Evening View
(春江晚眺 Chun Jiang Wan Tiao;
1525; III/118; listen 聽)
Music of 1525 Chun Jiang Wan Tiao
Translations tentative. For 涵空 han kong 5/1436 refers to a
Yuefu Shiji poem by
Wen Tingyun.
6.
Spring on the River (春江 Chun Jiang) in Fengxuan Xuanpin (II/183; 1539)
Music of the 1539 Chun Jiang
The connection between these three section titles and the overall melody title is still not clear. The title of Section 3, "Thinking only of country, forgetting home," comes from the Han Shu biography of Jia Yi.
Jia Yi (賈誼; 200 - 169 BCE; Shi Ji biography and Wiki) was a noted poet and stateman, advisor to Emperor Wen, whom he served with great loyalty. Also known as 賈生 Student Jia, he liked to compare himself with Qu Yuan, especially after he was slandered and exiled to Sichuan. Called back he once lectured the emperor half the night, keeping him on the edge of his mat, and as a result got a better posting. Later, however, the Emperor's son died under his care and out of shame he committed suicide. He is mentioned here under Sheng De Song and Kechuang Yehua.
7.
Autumn River Evening Fishing (秋江晚釣 Qiu Jiang Wan Diao)
8.
Tracing the Spring River/River in Springtime melodies
See above for a comment on some unrelated melodies.
9.
Chun Jiang Qu in Chongxiu Zhenchuan Qinpu (IV/375; 1585)
11.
虞集 Yu Ji (1272-1348)
12.
Sudden disappearance of the Spring River melodies
13.
Originally instrumental or a song?
The 1511 sung version and 1539 instrumental version both open with harmonics. The first four phrases of both have 5 notes each and are exactly the same. 1511 then continues the harmonics with two 7 note phrases while 1539 has a related melody but in 17 notes phrased 5+6+3+4. In 1511 the first part of this harmonic passage is accompanied by the lyrics of Guo Zhen; the second part of the passage, set to the opening couplet of the Zhang Ji lyrics, marks the beginning of the second section (marked by a large circle in the tablature). In 1539, by contrast, Section 1 consists of the entire harmonic passage. This suggests that the sectioning of 1511 is determined by the lyrics while that of 1539 is determined by the music. Meanwhile the 1530 Qiu Jiang Wandiao was published with entirely different lyrics. Here Section 1 consists of a harmonic passage still related to the above; Section 2, in stopped sounds, begins with a melodic line similar to the beginning of the stopped sounds in the above two.
In sum, a comparison of the first two sections of the 1511, 1530 and 1539 versions may suggest that the compiler of Taigu Yiyin (1511) took the melody as well as the lyrics from an earlier source. Since the 1511 handbook used ancient lyrics, it had to apply them to a more recent melody. The somewhat unnatural breaking of the harmonic passage two thirds of the way through instead of at its end suggests that the lyrics were paired to an existing melody rather than to one specifically created for it. As for the 1530 version, comparing the sectioning of the lyrics with that of the music suggests either that the music and lyrics may have been created together, or that one was created to go with the other. Furthermore, the instrumental melodies in 1530 were all copied from an earlier sources: were its qin songs likewise copied from earlier sources? In this context, its arrangement compared to that of 1511 seems to suggest that, although the lyrics of its version of the melody were more recent than those of 1511
(comment), its melody, or arrangement as a melody, could have been older.
14.
Yuefu Shiji, Folio 77: Miscellaneous Songs
15.
Frontier poems of Guo Yuanzhen
16.
Original preface
17.
Music and lyrics
2. （泛音）
3.
家住春江岸，征人幾歲遊。 (YFSJ: 家寄征....)
晨曉南河渡，參差疊浪橫。 (YFSJ: 乘曉南湖去，)
Return to the top or to the
Guqin ToC.
This version only in the aforementioned Xilutang Qintong, attributed to Fan Li (5th C. BCE).
A descendant of Yin De popularized by the Yushan School (at least twice mistakenly called Qiu Jiang Wan Diao).
This is actually a version of Yangguan Sandie (interestingly also called Departure at the River in Autumn; 26/217/416).
Zhang Ji
(one poem; [7+7] x 5)
Zhang Zhongsu (three poems; each is [5+5] x 2).
Chun Jiang Qu (1511) Music and Lyrics17 (see transcription 看五線譜 ; listen to
my recording 聽錄音)
A largely syllabic setting of the three poems (differences from Yuefu Shiji [YFSJ], Folio 77 are shown;
中文)
(郭震 Guo Zhen; 泛起 harmonics begin)
江 水 深 澄 澄， 上 有 雙 竹 林。
Jiang shui shen cheng cheng, shang you shuang zhu lin.
The river water is deep and clear,
above it on both sides is a bamboo grove.
Zhu ye fu shui se, lang yi huai ren xin.
Bamboo leaves float on (spoil) the color of the water,
but the young gentleman has spoiled my heart.
(張籍 Zhang Ji)
春 江 無 雲 朝 水 平， 蒲 心 出 水 鳧 雛 鳴。
Chun jiang wu yun zhao shui ping, pu xin chu shui fu chu ming.
The river in spring is cloudless, mornings the water is calm;
rush leaves arise out of the water, and ducklings call out.
長 干 夫 婿 愛 遠 行， 自 染 春 衣 縫 已 成。
Chang gan fu xu ai yuan xing, zi ran chun yi feng yi cheng........
My Changgan husband loves traveling afar;
(Changgan is a southern suburb of Nanjing)
(while) I dye spring clothing, the sewing already done.
Qie shen sheng zhang Jinling ce, qu nian sui fu zhu Jiang bei.
Now a wife, I grew up in Nanjing; (but then)
last year I followed my husband to live north of the Yangzi.
Chun lai wei dao fu mu jia, zhou xiao feng duo du bu de.
When spring came I was unable to go to my parents' home;
our boat small, the wind great: we couldn't cross (the river).
Yu ci gong gu xian wen ren, si xiang Jiang bian ji Shui Shen.
To leave my in-laws I first had to ask my husband,
then personally at the river edge sacrifice to the Water Spirit.
搖 漾 越 江 春， 相 江 看 白 蘋。
Yao yang yue jiang chun, xiang jiang kan bai pin.
Swirling waves overflow the river in spring;
on both sides you can see white duckweed.
Gui shi bu jue ye, chu pu yue sui ren.
While returning, before I had realized it night fell;
coming away from the river bank the moon followed me.
家 住 春 江 岸， 征 人 幾 歲 遊。
Jia zhu chun jiang an, zheng ren ji sui you.
At homes on the bank of the river in spring,
travelers of all ages go by.
Bu zhi Xiang shui xin, zhong ri dao sha tou.
If they don't know about the tidal waters reliably,
by the end of the day they run into a sand bank.
晨 曉 南 河 渡， （泛起） 參 差 疊 浪 橫。
Chen xiao nan he du, cen ci die lang heng.
There is morning mist at the south river crossing,
(harmonics begin) uneven and repeated waves flow sideways.
Qian zhou zai he chu? Wu li yan ying ying.
The island in front: where is it?
In the fog, wild geese (harmonics end) call out.
(02.30 end)
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a
separate page)
Chun Jiang Qu could also be translated as Spring River Melody (Chunjiang Qu), but none of the melodies with Chun Jiang as or in the title seem to use it as a proper name. As for 春江曲 Chun Jiang Qu, ZWDCD has no entries for that. Instead 14146.67 (and 5/642) Chun Jiang refer more generally 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 present qin melody. These lyrics are in YFSJ
Folio 77 (Chinese edition, pp. 1081-1093.)
Besides Moonlit River in Spring there have been many translations of this title, including Blossoms on a Moonlit River in Spring, Spring Blossoms on a Moonlit River, Spring River Flowers on a Moonlit Night, and so forth.
Yuefu Shiji, Folio 47 (Chinese edition, pp. 678-680), has poems by:
(Return)
Taigu Yiyin does not organize melodies by mode, but the other musically related versions, including 1585 version, group it with shang mode melodies. Shang (2; re) mode characteristics are given with the 1425
Shengpin Shang Yi. In the present melody most important phrases end on gong (1, do), secondarily on zhi (5, sol). However, the note shang has some special significance. For example, the first poem melody ends on shang, and the penultimate phrase of the piece also ends on shang)
(Return)
The original of this is in the Zhenjiang Museum. It is copied in many places on the internet. (Details: 紙本水墨 縱47.5厘米 橫26.2厘米 鎮江市博物館藏). Ju Jie (ca. 1530- ca. 1585) was a student of 文徵明 Wen Zhengming
(Wiki). A small boat can be seen in the foreground. The inscription says,
夕陽遙見青山色，吹破浮雲落小舟。
Swollen is the river in spring, calm and not flowing....
(Return)
Zha's guide groups Chun Jiang Qu with Chun Jiang (River in Springtime). However, as the the commentary above shows, there are also several other related melodies that the Guide lists separately but which should also be considered together with Chun Jiang Qu.
(Return)
Also written Chunjiang Wan Tiao. Zha Guide 19/183/-- lists it separately as occuring only in 1525, 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 1525 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 also in Zhejiang province on what is today called the 義烏江 Yiwu River, which runs through Yiwu City then Jinhua before joining the 衢江 Qujiang
(Quzhou) in 蘭溪 Lanxi, which in turn joins the 富春江 Fuchun ("Abundant Spring") River above 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".
The original 1525 afterword was as follows:
The Master of Obscure Reality let out his fishing line without bait, saying that his aim was not in catching fish. He was rowing on the Spring River when he did this, and it contained his interest in being carefree in a manner appropriate to himself, so it is said.
There are 6 section titles, as follows (timings follow
my recording 聽春江晚眺錄音):
00.00
1. 鼔枻安流 Gu Yi An Liu
Beating the oars with the current 00.34
2. 維舟晚渡 Wei Zhou Wan Du
Tie up the boat for the evening ferry 01.30
3. 涵空望遠 Han Kong Wang Yuan
Looking afar at the sky reflected in the water 02.07
4. 長天澄碧 Chang Tian Cheng Bi
All day there is a clear blue sky 02.30
5. 落日流紅 Luo Ri Liu Hong
As the sun sets it flows red 03.05
6. 垂波蕩漾 Chui Bo Dang Yang
Nearby waves ripple
03.33
泛起 harmonic closing
03.49
曲種 end
(Return)
This title is found in seven handbooks from 1539 to 1589. This instrumental version of the spring river melody, though clearly unrelated to the 1525 Spring River, is just as 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.
None
Divided into three titled sections (timings follow
my recording 聽春江錄音)
00.27 2. 遠征平虜 Yuan zheng ping lu (March far off to pacify insurgents)
01.32 3. 國爾忘家 Guo er wang jia (Thinking only of country, forgetting home)
01.40 (More natural beginning of Section 3?)
02.30 harmonic closing
02.54 end
(Return)
Also Qiujiang Wan Diao; Zha also indexed it separately (15/156/333), the discussion here includes a more
complete index, showing that a related melody survived in three handbooks. The first, published in 1530, has a mixture of instrumental and sung melodies (see
commentary). The instrumental melodies all seem to have been copied from 1425. With the vocal melodies this is not so clear. Melodies of this title published after 1589 are unrelated to here.
(Return)
Zha, Guide 14/150/267, lists 7 handbooks with melodies called 春江曲 Chun Jiang Qu or 春江 Chun Jiang; it did not index 1552 or 1556. The two melodies called Chun Jiang Qu (1511 and 1585) have lyrics (L). One of those that drops "qu" from the title is unrelated, but the Guide lists separately two other titles whose melodies are related to the present one. Altogther they can be grouped as follows:
(Return)
The lyrics are almost the same as in 1511 (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。".
(Return)
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.
(Return)
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.
(Return)
The earliest and the third surviving versions of this melody have lyrics: the present 1511 Chun Jiang Qu and the 1530 Qiu Jiang Wan Diao (completely different lyrics); the second (the 1525 Chun Jiang Wan Tiao) and the fourth (the 1539 Chun Jiang) are the earliest purely instrumental versions. However, a careful examination suggests that the fact that the earliest published version had lyrics does not necessarily mean that the melody originated as a qin song.
(Return)
Chinese edition, pp. 678-680.
(Return)
See the last sentence of the preface. I have not been able to confirm this yet.
(Return)
The source of this preface and the reason for its attribution of the melody to Yuan Zhen is not clear. The original text says,
(Return)
The original Taigu Yiyin lyrics without the translation are as follows. Differences from YFSJ, pp. 1081-2 are shown here.
江水深澄澄，上有雙竹林。 (YFSJ: 江水春沉沉)
竹葉浮水色，郎亦壞人心。 (YFSJ: 竹葉壞....)
春江無雲朝水平，蒲心出水鳧雛鳴。
（泛止）
長干夫婿愛遠行，自染春衣縫已成。 (YFSJ: 長干夫壻....)
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。 (YFSJ: 欲辭舅....; 私向江頭....)
搖漾越江春，相江看白蘋。
歸時不覺夜，出莆月隨人。
不知潮水信，終日到沙頭。 (YFSJ: 每日....)
前洲在何處？霧裏鴈嚶嚶。
(Return)