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089. Spring Dawn Intonation
- yu mode, standard tuning:2 5 6 1 2 3 5 6 |
春曉吟 1
Chun Xiao Yin |
| Lu Guang, Spring Dawn Over the Elixir Terrace3 |
Chun Xiao Yin has been a very popular melody, surviving in in at least 20 handbooks from 1525 to 1899.4 However, its early transmission was quite unusual.
Although this melody survives first from Xilutang Qintong (1525), there it has no separate introduction and thus seems intended to serve as a prelude to the next piece, Pheasants Fly in the Morning (Zhi Zhao Fei). However, in 1552 and 1557 a very similar melody was published under the title Intonation on the Influence of All (Wu Gan Yin);5 in both cases it seems to have served as a prelude to Wu Ye Ti.6 Then in 1559 an almost identical melody to the 1525 Chun Xiao Yin appeared under another new title, Intonation on a Melancholy Time (Youshi Yin);7 there it seems to be a prelude to a melody called Knock-Horns Song (Kou Jiao Ge).8
The title Chun Xiao Yin reappeared in its next publication, 1590, where it is almost the same as in 1525 and again independent melody. But what seems to have ensured its subsequent popularity was its next appearance, in the important early Yushan School handbook Songxian Guan Qinpu (1614).9
There is a preface with both editions of Wu Gan Yin (identical, as is the music), as well as one with Youshi Yin. However, for the title Chun Xiao Yin there is no commentary until the ninth surviving occurrence of the melody, in Qinpu Xiwei (1692).10
Xilutang Qintong places Chunxiao Yin before Zhi Zhao Fei, as though it is a prelude. Both pieces are in the yu mode, and both are set in early morning. In addition the poem Zhi Zhao Fei by Li Bai is set in spring.11 On the other hand, the mood of Chunxiao Yin seems to be much calmer than that of Zhi Zhao Fei, which tells of a middle aged man seeing a male and female pheasant fly together, and bewailing the fact that he himself is still without a mate. Since the first surviving example is in Xilutang Qintong, one must consider the possibility that Wang Zhi created it as a calm introduction before the passion of Zhi Zhao Fei. Zha Fuxi's index claims that the melody is pre-Ming, but does not cite any sources.
There is a ci rhythm named Chunxiao Qu (Spring Dawn Melody). A poem in this rhythm by Zhu Dunru (1080 - c.1175) begins, "The moon sets behind the west pavilion; the chicken sounds anxious." I have not found any specific connection between the ci rhythm or title and the qin melody.12
A modern recording by Guan Pinghu says it is based on some handcopied tablature; it expands upon and changes parts of Guan's version transcribed in Guqin Quji, Vol. 1, which says it is based on the tablature in Ziyuantang Qinpu (1802).13 Two recordings by Sun Guisheng, with ensemble, incorrectly state he uses the 1525 handbook. Versions by Gong Yi (three, including one with xun ocarina and one with xiao flute) say they come from Ziyuantang Qinpu in consultation with other versions.
None of the existing prefaces gives any history of the piece or title, discussing only its mood and it qualities. The ambiguity resulting from the early associations of this melody with differing themes, meanwhile, should remind us that, as with poetry, one can appreciate music without demanding that its "meaning" be simple and straightforward.
Original preface
None. (The one for #90 Zhi Zhao Fei applies? Compare later prefaces.)
Music (Three sections, none titled;
see transcription; timings follow my audio recording 聽錄音).
See also 看視頻 this more recent video, paired with
Thoughts of Spring.14
- 00.00
- 00.52 (harmonics)
- 01.23
01.56 harmonic closing
02.12 end
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a
separate page)
1.
Chun Xiao Yin 春曉吟
5/655 春曉 Chunxiao: 春日黎明 daybreak on a spring day; three poetic references.
14146.643 春曉曲 Chunxiao Qu (no chunxiao by itself) says it is:
"詞牌名；（詞譜）朱敦儒詞有「西樓月落雞聲急」，又名「西樓月」；見花草粹編。。。
"the name of a cipai; Ci Pu has a poem by Zhu Dunru that goes, 'From the west tower the moon is going down and the cock crow is urgent'; ...."
However, none of this seems to relate directly to the present melody, nor does the present melody have any relation to the other chun xiao melodies such as Dongtian Chun Xiao or the popular modern melody Yu Lou Chun Xiao. See, however, the alternate titles mentioned below.
(Return)
2.
Yu mode (羽調 yu diao)
See Shenpin Yu Yi.
(Return)
3.
陸廣 《丹臺春曉圖》 Lu Guang (ca. 1300–after 1371), Spring Dawn Over the Elixir Terrace
The upper segment was copied from www.metmuseum.org, where the commentary begins, "To escape the turbulence of the closing years of the Yuan dynasty, Lu Guang traveled far from his native city of Suzhou. He painted Spring Dawn after his return to the Lake Tai area, following the establishment of the Ming dynasty in 1368. The reference to the Elixir Terrace in the title of the painting indicates the artist's interest in both Daoist alchemy and the pursuit of immortality...."
Further regarding images related to chun xiao, an internet search for "春曉" gives a lot of images of young ladies, and a search for "春曉圖" gives traditional paintings, the most common being Spring Dawn in a Han Palace (漢宮春曉 Han Gong Chun Xiao), the name of a qin melody as well as of a particularly famous painting by 仇英 Qiu Ying; see under
Wang Zhao Jun. Other related art titles include 丹臺春曉, 溪山春曉, 清江春曉, 江南春曉, 桃源春曉, etc. Similar to the image above is the 明文伯仁《丹臺春曉圖》Brewing an Elixer of Immortality during Spring Dawn, by 文伯仁 Wen Boren (1502–1575; q.v.).
(Return)
4.
Tracing Chunxiao Yin
(see Appendix)
below.
Zha Guide 20/189/-- has 20 entries from
1525 to
l899; all have three sections are are identifiably related. The second of this title was not published until 1590. However, the same melody (or almost so) melody appeared under two other titles in 1552, 1557 and 1559, so these are also included in the Appendix).
(Return)
5.
Intonation on the Influence of All (物感吟 Wu Gan Yin)
Zha Guide 24/200/--: 3 sections; only in
1552 (QQJC IV/145) and
1557 (III/378). The preface is:
Sections 1 and 3 of Wu Gan Yin are almost identical to Sections 1 and 3 of Chunxiao Yin. Section 2 of Chunxiao Yin is in harmonics. Section 2 of Wu Gan Yin has stopped sounds, but the right hand fingering is in many places similar to the corresponding parts of Chunxiao Yin, giving what at first seems to be a rather stange melody. In both handbooks Wu Gan Yin is a prelude to Wu Ye Ti.
(Return)
6.
As indicated by the fact that the preface connected to both publications of Wu Gan Yin refers specifically to Wu Ye Ti.
(Return)
7.
Intonation on a Melancholy Time (Youshi Yin 憂時吟)
Zha Guide 24/203/-- : 3 sections; only in
1559 (QQJC III/426). The preface to Youshi Yin is (with thanks to Chow Shuengit for translation help):
The timing might allow (this) to transpire, but I have not been given a mandate to do it; I have the wish to do it, but the timing is not right; it is about all this that a junzi (gentleman) becomes melancholy."
(Return)
8.
Knock-Horns Song (扣角歌 Kou Jiao Ge)
In Taiyin Xupu (1559) Intonation on a Melancholy Time precedes Knock-Horns Song (12087.4 扣角歌 Kou Jiao Ge), which concerns 齊甯戚 Ningqi of Wei, "a poor wagoner...who was overheard singing a ballad and beating time on the horns of his oxen" by 桓公 Duke Huan, as a result of which he was made Privy Councillor (Giles). What Ningqi sang was, "南山爛，白石粲；生不達堯與舜禪".
(Return)
9.
Yushan School melody
The characteristics and development of the famous Yushan School have not been fully examined. For example, compare the indication of pitches in the Chun Xiao Yin tablature here of 1614 with that of the earlier 1525 version. Overall they seem quite similar, but in addition to some notes in 1614 being changed, some are also modified in ways that seem to be specifying microtonal alterations of the pitches. See for example m.5 of my transcription, where the first note is played on the sixth string in the tenth position (十=10.0; C in my transcription) then followed by an ornament not indicating finger position (which means repeat the same position) and further unaltered notes. By contrast, this passage in 1614 has the first note played at "九八 9.8", i.e., a slightly sharpened C, and this is followed by a slide up to "九 9.0" = D then a slide back down to "九六 9.6", a slightly flat C#. Some later notes are similarly altered. The tablatures published for some years after this seem to follow this pattern of altered tones.
It is not clear whether such altered tones were at that time a characteristic of the Yushan School in general. In this regard see these comments under Song of Tea, which may suggest similar pitch alterations. Was it that the old system of indicating finger position had trouble indicating such altered pitches but the new decimal system was not yet fully developed? Was this sort of note alteration a new tendency? Was the player previously simply supposed to know when to do that? Was if and when one changed these notes always a part of a person's individual style?
In this regard, note that the version in 1802 (XX/188); played by Guan Pinghu and transcribed in Guqin Quji, Vol. 1, p.200, does not have the altered tones, nor do the tablatures following 1802. Does this mean that the Yushan School had changed again, or was reverting to older ways? Or perhaps this microtonal alteration of notes was always a part of qin play, it is just that around that time there was sometimes a greater attempt, at least in some pieces, to describe a phenomenon that had always been a characteristic of guqin play: ornamentation that people would just think of as another way to play the same note, with no necessity to try to specify such details?
See also these further comments.
(Return)
10.
Commentary accompanying Chun Xiao Yin
Zha Guide [433]189 includes three afterwords, from
1692, 1833 and 1899 (identical to 1833); it found no prefaces.
The 1692 afterword (by Xu Luanyou), in Qinpu Xiwei (1692; QQJC XIII/118), is as follows (魯君 presumbly is the compiler 魯鼐 Lu Nai):
The afterword from 1833 and 1899 is as follows,
Neither one yet translated.
(Return)
11.
See Yuefu Shiji, p.836 and also the Shen Qi Mi Pu preface to Zhi Zhao Fei.
(Return)
12.
Chunxiao Qu as a song pattern (see above)
The complete poem in this rhythm by Zhu Dunru (1080 - c.1175) is,
(Return)
13.
Chun Xiao Yin as played by Guan Pinghu on ROI RB-951005
The transcription in Guqin Quji, Vol. 1, p. 200-1, says it is following the Guan Pinghu version from Ziyuantang Qinpu (1802). However, after the opening section, what is actually written down in Guqin Quji seems to expand on what is in the original 1802 tablature as copied in QQJC XVII/453; and what Guan plays in the recording seems to expand on it even more. Notes to the recording say 據《抄本琴譜》 based on "Guqin copy book" 管平湖打譜演奏 Guan Pinghu reconstructed and performed it.
(Return)
14.
Video recording of Spring Dawn Intonation (春曉吟 Chun Xiao Yin).
The above video, from the online Spring Festival meeting of the New York Qin Society, 26 January 2023
(now archived on YouTube), was played as a prelude to the melody Thoughts of Spring (春思 Chun Si), the original video of which is linked here). At that meeting the two were played together, as follows (Thoughts of Spring begins at 02.05.):
The qin, by Tong Kin-Woon, was strung with silk strings by
Lawrence Kaster. The clothing worn on this occasion is discussed
here.
(Return)
Appendix: Chart Tracing Chun Xiao Yin
Summarized above; based mainly on Zha Fuxi's
Guide, 20/189/--.
|
琴譜
(year; QQJC Vol/page) |
Further information
(QQJC = 琴曲集成 Qinqu Jicheng; QF = 琴府 Qin Fu) |
|
01. 西麓堂琴統
(1525; III/176) |
3 sections; present version
Precedes Zhi Zhao Fei, for which it seems to fit perfectly as a prelude (details |
|
02. 太音補遺
(1557; III/384) |
3; Called Intonation on the Influence of All
(物感吟 Wu Gan Yin; details)
|
|
03. 太音傳習
(1552; IV/147) |
3; not indexed; called Intonation on a Melancholy Time
(憂時吟 Youshi Yin; details)
|
|
04. 太音續譜
(1559; III/434) |
3. Same as previous and again called Intonation on a Melancholy Time
(憂時吟 Youshi Yin)
|
|
05. 琴書大全
(1590; V/520) |
3; almost same as 1525
Clearly used an independent melody |
|
06.
松絃館琴譜
(1614; VIII/151) |
3; quite similar but somewhat more elaborate (ornamented)
See comments on altered notes |
|
07. 徽言秘旨
(1647; X/196) |
3
|
|
08. 徽言秘旨訂
(1692; fac/) |
3?
|
|
09. 大還閣琴譜
(1673; X/428) |
3; like 1614, including altered notes
|
|
10. 德音堂琴譜
(1691; XII/577 |
3
|
|
11. 琴譜析微
(1692; XIII/121) |
3; afterword
|
|
12. 誠一堂琴譜
(1705; XIII/407) |
3
|
|
13. 臥雲樓琴譜
(1722; XV/100) |
3
|
|
14. 蘭田館琴譜
(1755; XVI/269) |
3; 徐青山譜 Tablatuure of Xu Qingshan
(Xu Hong)
|
|
15. 自遠堂琴譜
(1802; XVII/453) |
3; compare recording by Guan Pinghu
|
|
16. 琴譜諧聲
(1820; XX/188) |
3; afterword speaks of 1673
|
|
17. 指法匯參確解
(1821; XX/286) |
3
|
|
18. 峰抱樓琴譜
(1825; XX/335) |
3
|
|
19. 二香琴譜
(1833; XXIII/145) |
3
|
|
20. 悟雪山房琴譜
(1836; XXII/376) |
3
|
|
21. 琴瑟合譜
(1870; XXVI/164) |
3; paired with se tablature
also 琴府 |
|
22. 天聞閣琴譜
(1876; XXV/468) |
3; from 1802
|
|
23. 鳴盛閣琴譜
(1899; ???) |
?; not in Qinqu Jicheng
|
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