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18. Water Immortals' Melody
Shang Mode:2 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 |
水仙曲 1
Shui Xian Qu Playing qin for a listener who understands (full image)3 |
Creation of the present melody was most likely inspired by the Daoist idea of
learning musical expression from nature.4 However, as there was no accompanying commentary with it here in Wuyin Qinpu (1579; its first and only publication), probing the full significance of the title requires one first to consider the possibility that it refers simply to shuixian (literally, "water immortals") in a way not connected to other qin melodies with shuixian in the title.5 For this see, for example, stories or associations such as those mentioned below as well as some of the dictionary entries in this footnote.
Then, and presumably more significantly, one must consider at least three different stories found in melodies that do have "shuixian" as the main title or an alternate title. These stories are:
Next it is necessary to consider four main melody titles (and the melodies themselves as relayed through the relevant surviving qin tablatures) that are connected to these stories. After this there will be a discussion that shows the complexity of trying to align them with the three stories just mentioned, whether it is by examining the melodies themselves or by tracing all their main and/or alternate titles.5 As will be seen, the confusion in connecting these three stories to the following four musically unrelated melodies dates back at least to the 17th century.6
Of these only a version of the third of these melodies seems to have survived into the modern repertoire; the first and fourth are today found only in reconstructions. One related footnote traces the source tablatures in greater detail, while this one mentions transcriptions and recordings.11
Coming back to the present melody, it survives only through its inclusion in a qin handbook (Wuyin Qinpu) published in 1579 by a Ming prince who lived in what is today southeastern Shanxi province.12 None of the melodies in his handbook has any commentary, perhaps suggesting the handbook was originally intended for his own personal use. However, as wil be seen, it does seem most likely that here the title Shui Xian Qu alludes to the story about Bo Ya and Cheng Lian.
According to
this story Bo Ya, already quite a skilled player, learns that the way to understand, and thus express, the true significance of qin melodies is to feel their connection to nature. The earliest surviving version of the story may be the one found with the entry called Shui Xian Cao in Qin Cao, a text attributed to Cai Yong (133 - 192). As also related in the biography of Boya in
Qin Shi, the story tells of Cheng Lian taking his student Bo Ya to an island in the Eastern Sea (sometimes identified as Penglai) and leaving him there, saying that a master will soon come to teach him the true significance of qin music. Bo Ya, after waiting some days and hearing only the sounds of nature, finally realizes that it is these sounds that the true qin music will evoke. Perhaps attributing these sounds or this understanding to immortals living in the surrounding waters, Bo Ya then creates a melody called Shui Xian.
A later version of this story has Cheng Lian taking Boya into the mountains to learn about the relationship between qin music and the sounds of nature. Then Shui Xian is one of the melodies Boya plays for Ziqi when they meet on a boat near what is now Hanyang in the modern city of Wuhan.13
The only commentary accompanying a surviving melody with the title Shui Xian Qu is that in Jiaoan Qinpu,14 a handbook published in 1868. The commentary there connects this other melody to the Boya and Cheng Lian story related above.15 As for the surviving melodies that use the title Shui Xian Cao or simply Shui Xian, those that have prefaces invariably relate a version of the Cheng Lian story. Thus, although each of these later melodies is also known by completely unrelated titles, it is logical to conclude that in the qin tradition, no matter what the actual source melody is, the use of "shuixian" in the title is always intended to evoke the story of Cheng Lian teaching qin to Bo Ya.
As for other uses of the word "shuixian", today it most commonly refers to a flower, the narcissus. It is fragrant and the color of gold, and so in Chinese tradition is particularly popular at New Year, symbolizing fortune and good luck. If kept in water it can last a long time, hence its name.16 It is thus possible for people who play qin melodies with shuixian in the title to feel they are simply evoking this flower. However, whereas as a qin melody title Shui Xian Cao is very ancient, the narcissus was evidently introduced into China at a rather late date, perhaps by Arab traders around 1000 CE.17
Before this the words "shui xian" more commonly referred to immortals who lived in the water. It is thus the nickname of any of a number of famous people in antiquity. In particular, though, it refers to the "immortal" sage Qu Yuan, whose suicide by drowning in a river is commemorated at the Dragon Boat Festival.18 Qu Yuan is evoked by a number of existing qin titles, and so it would not be surprising for qin melodies to use shui xian in the title to evoke him. This is also probably one reason for some of the confusion concerning this title, as will now be discussed further.
The next associated melody, usually called Sao Shou Wen Tian (Scratch the Head and Ask Heaven), was first published in 1689, over 100 years later. It uses a raised (tightened) fifth string tuning. The earliest surviving melodies using this tuning call it ruibin mode, but later it seems more generally to have been called shang yin (not to be confused with the standard tuning shang mode used, for example, in the 1579 Shui Xian Qu). Although this melody is first called Sao Shou Wen Tian, and this title is usually associated with Qu Yuan, it was also called Qiu Sai Yin and even Shui Xian Cao. It does not appear in modern recordings or transcriptions, the latest surviving tablature I have found for any ruibin version having been published in 1876, or perhaps 1894.19
Regarding the raised fifth string tuning, as I have noted elsewhere titles commonly associated with this tuning usually have some connection of the Chu region (loosely the modern Hubei and Hunan provinces). It is thus tempting to suggest that it is only melodies using a raised fifth tuning that should be associated with a Qu Yuan story, as Qu Yuan was perhaps the most famous ancient representative of Chu culture. This may have once been the case, but there are also stories that connect Bo Ya to the Chu region (see, e.g., the Hanyang reference). In addition, the Shui Xian titles and the title Sao Shou Wen Tian, as well as the two tunings used for these melodies, have been so totally mixed together since the 18th century that it is not possible for me to make such an assertion at present.
The situation is further complicated by the continuing use of the third associated title Qiusai Yin, originally used as an alternate title for the earliest of these melodies (but fourth listed above), Huangyun Qiusai, which which concerns Wang Zhaojun captured by Central Asian nomads.
This third melody, first called Qiu Sai Yin and first surviving from a handbook published another 33 years later (the earliest version being dated 1722), returns to standard tuning, the mode here being called zhi yin (see zhi diao).
However, this earliest version has Sao Shou Wen Tian as an alterate title, and it soon also appears with the title Shui Xian Cao (or even Shui Xian Qu). After this the titles connected to this melody seem generally mixed, and so do the stories. Mention of Wang Zhaojun becomes less common, the melody instead being associated either with the story of Boya and Cheng Lian, or with a story related to Qu Yuan. This melody is still in the active repertoire today.20
As has been mentioned, the confusion over these titles was noted in some of the early commentaries. However, I have not yet seen a suggestion that the three titles (not counting Huangyun Qiu Sai, the last related melody to which dates perhaps from 1557 or perhaps 1585) and three title-types connected to three stories, should be correctly aligned as mentioned above, with the Bo Ya story settled on one melody (using Shui Xian in the title), the Qu Yuan story on another (best title Sao Shou Wen Tian), and the Wang Zhaojun story on the third (call it Qiu Sai Yin). Perhaps one reason for this is that the only one of these melodies associated with only one title is the present one, Shui Xian Cao, was published in only one early handbook.
Further regarding this confusion, it should also be seen as evidence that, as with poetry, perhaps one should not demand that the meaning of a melody be simple and straightforward.
1.
Shui Xian related titles
Shui Xian Cao (17458.123 水仙操)
Shui Xian (or shuixian; 17458.118 水仙)
Shui Xianzi (17458.119 水仙子)
Perhaps also worthy of mention is the following poem, as it might connect shuixian to guqin:
A guest on the water at night rides a red carp;
In this tentative translation note that the third line mentions 七柱 seven posts or 七炷 seven incense sticks. A qin has two soundposts (天柱 and 地柱) but seven 寶軫 precious pegs. Whether or not "七柱 seven posts" means there is a confusion of number or terminology, 七 can go with the preceding 絲, thus alluding to qin; on the other hand, "七炷 seven incense sticks" could connect 七 with the following word 香 "fragrance": 4.277 七香 refers to seven types of incense.
2.
Shang mode (商調 Shang Diao)
3.
Playing qin for a listener who understands (撫琴聽者知音) (full image)
Just for fun, compare Playing qin for an ox.
4.
Learning from nature (more Daoist themes)
The Confucian attitude also connects music and nature, but is perhaps best known for connecting it the same way it connects nature to rites: if rites are performed correctly then society (including nature) will be in order; likewise if music is performed correctly (and the music is proper) society (including nature) will be in order. For an account of what improper music can do see the
pure jue melody.
5.
Tracing the titles:
There may be more not mentioned in Zha's Guide.
6.
Confusion of titles
7.
Early Shui Xian Cao melodies and their Chinese introductions
This is almost the same as online versions giving as their source 樂府古題要解 Yuefu Gu Tiyao Jie:
Compare this with the one published by 朱長文 Zhu Changwen (1041-1098) in his 琴史 Qin Shi biography of Boya
The introduction to 水仙操 Shui Xian Cao in the edition of 蔡邕琴操 Cai Yong 's Qin Cao published in 琴學叢書 Qinxue Congshu (1910; see Lament #11) is incomplete.
However, there is added commentary saying Shilei Fu (事類賦 244.141 宋，吳淑撰 by Wu Shu of the Song dynasty)，樂部注，引《樂府解題》，『水仙操』前段與此文略同, has a version from Yuefu Jieti. It then adds the continuation from that source, finally concluding that the similarity is 足證此文之闕 enough to prove it is the missing part. The continuation is:
8.
Shake the Head and Ask Heaven (搔首問天 Sao Shou Wen Tian)
9.
Qu Yuan Asks Heaven (屈子天問 Quzi Tian Wen)
10.
Autumn Frontier Intonation (秋塞吟 Qiu Sai Yin or Qiu Sai Yin; see listing.)
搔首問天 Sao Shou Wen Tian of the Mei'an school (recording)
A glance at the almost 50 entries grouped under five titles in the tracing melodies footnote above shows my preliminary attempt to categorize the approximately 40 earlier versions of the Meian Qinpu melody, based largely on the opening harmonic passage (specifically which notes are double stopped harmonics). A closer examination of these melodies should help further refine our understanding of how it was transmitted.
Perhaps because the most common title is concerns shuixian this melody is most commonly connected to the Boya/Chenglian. It is thus not clear why the Mei'an handbook attributes this melody to
Qu Yuan, adding that it was inspired by the same idea as (Qu Yuan's) Li Sao.
Lieberman, A Chinese Zither Tutor (his translation of Meian Qinpu), p.143ff, has a transcription (no tablature). A silk string recording by
Wu Zhaoji calls it Qiu Sai Yin, with Sao Shou Wen Tian as an alternate title.
11.
Modern recordings and transcriptions
In addition,
Guqin Quji, Vol. I, has transcriptions for four versions of #3:
The commentary on pp. 7-8 first mentions the Cheng Lian story, then mentions the other stories described above, concluding that the situation is indeed complicated.
12.
Compiler of Wuyin Qinpu
13.
Boya plays for Ziqi on a boat near Hanyang
14.
Celebrated each year on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month.
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16.
The actual melody is related to the one originally called Qiu Sai Yin.
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17.
Wolfram Eberhard, Dictionary of Chinese Symbols, p.204. It should also be mentioned here that none of the commentary associated with melodies with shui xian in the title makes any mention of the flower.
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19.
Last two published ruibin versions
20.
See footnote above regarding transcriptions and recording.
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21.
Chinese preface
Return to the annotated handbook list
or to the Guqin ToC.
The most appropriate melody titles connected to this are those that mention shui xian (water spirits), as these titles directly connect to the story of Cheng Lian taking his student Bo Ya to an island, leading him to create a shui xian melody. However, as will be explored further below, all of the melodies discussed on this page (other than the 1425
Huangyun Qiusai) have at times had shuixian in the title.
Although this story is perhaps most logically attached to the melody named Sao Shou Wen Tian (Scratch the Head and Ask Heaven), two of the melodies discussed here have had this as their title or alternate title.
This story was originally connected to the melody
Huangyun Qiusai, also called Qiu Sai Yin, but in 1722 a new
Qiusai Yin melody was introduced using the same story. Once again, though, at least three of the four main melodies that will now be outlined came to use this title. (Although there may be some logic in having Zhaojun scratch her head and ask heaven, there seems to be no logical connection between this story and shui xian)
Standard tuning, shang mode; this melody only here in Wuyin Qinpu (1579; QQJC IV/220)
Raised 5th string tuning
(ruibin); the earliest is in
Chengjiantang Qinpu (1689; XIV/333)
Standard tuning, zhi yin; still played; earliest is in Wuzhizhai Qinpu (1722; XIV/495).
Lowered first, raised fifth string tuning
(huangzhong); this melody survives first from Shen Qi Mi Pu (1425)
Original preface 21
None here, but see versions of the Bo Ya - Cheng Lian story in:
Yu Boya of Chu article in picture book
Other introductions to this title, as outlined below
Music
Seven Sections, untitled22
(see transcription; timings follow my recording 聽錄音)
00.50 2.
01.37 3.
02.25 4.
02.48 5.
03.22 6.
03.48 7.
04.21 harmonic coda
04.36 end
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a
separate page)
17458.118 is 水仙 shuixian; no 水賢 or 水僊. Shui Xian can also be transliterated Shui Xian. The shuixian terms used as melody titles have links to the footnote tracing the titles, below. There is more on the translation of 仙 xian under
Transcendant Venerable One. For related titles see also the early prefaces below. This 1579 version is the only shuixian melody I actively play.
- Quotes 5961.1266 天隱子 Tianyinzi (Tang dynasty) on 天仙，地仙，水仙，神仙.
- 河伯馮夷 Hebo Pingyi (Hebo became an ancient deity of the Yellow River after tying a boulder to his back and jumping into the river to stop the flooding; he rode a dragon called Pingyi [sometimes called "Fengyi"]);
- 春秋伍子胥 Wu Zi Xu;
- 屈原 Qu Yuan (he became an immortal after jumping in the water);
- 晉郭璞 Guo Pu; and
- 唐陶峴 Tao Xian (Bio/2051: Tang dynasty scholar recluse).
Earliest reference: "本草 Ben Cao" (神農本草經? If so, Han dynasty? 本草原始 Ben Cao Yuan Shi? If so, early 17th c.). No early poetic references: introduced into China during Tang dynasty? See also below.
This is the name of a 謠 ballad by 溫庭筠 Wen Tingyun in Yuefu Shiji Folio 100. Its lyrics are as follows:
輕塵不起雨新霽，萬里孤光含碧虛。
露魄冠輕見雲發，寒絲七柱香泉咽。(魄 "form" also written 冕 "cap";
柱 "pillar" also written 炷 "incense stick")
夜深天碧亂山姿，光碎平波滿船月。 (平 "flat" also written 玉 "jade")
a fabulous red luan bird and a pair of cranes report on Penglai and Yingzhou.
Light dust does not rise as the fresh rain ends and the sky clears;
for 10,000 li a solitary radiance fills the empty blue sky.
Fog patches lighten at top revealing clouds issuing forth;
(the sound of) cold silk (strings) on seven posts (mimic) a fragrant spring blocked.
Deep into the night the sky obscures the mountain shapes;
bright fragments and flattened ripples by a boat filled with moonlight.
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For further information on shang mode see
Shenpin Shang Yi and
Modality in Early Ming Qin Tablature.
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Painting by 上官周 Shangguan Zhou (1665-ca.1750) from an album of 12 leaves; copied from Scent of Ink, the Roy and Marilyn Papp Collection of Chinese Painting. Phoenix, Phoenix Art Museum, 1994; pp. 69 and 70. Here nature is the discerning listener, a corollary to nature as teacher. The inscription "撫琴聽者知音 Playing for a listener who understands" refers to one of the 十六樂事
16 Enjoyable Matters outlined by Su Shi (thanks to 孫小青 Sun Xiaoqing for identifying this).
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In the qin tradition this Daoist ideal originates in the story of Boya learning from nature. A personal experience connected to this concept is presented with Silk Zither Dreams.
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Shui Xian (plus Shui Xian Qu, Shui Xian Cao
Qiu Sai Yin
(earliest; modern version)
Sao Shou Wen Tian
Zha Fuxi's Guide is organized according to title or story, which does not always correspond with melodic affiliation; this seems particularly true of the various melodies connected to the term "Shui Xian". Thus, in order to group the four distinct melodies with overlapping titles, listed above, one must collate information from at least six separate entries in the Guide. Note also that some of these are related to the earliest melody,
Huang Yun Qiu Sai (huangzhong tuning). However, as can be seen from
this chart, although two later publications of that melody changed the melody name to Qiu Sai Yin, the modern melody of that name did not emerge until over 150 years later.
; XVII/498); zhi diao, shang yin, but = ruibin; 7 sections; like 1689; no commentary
Zha's Guide lists Sao Shou Wen Tian as an alternate title.
Earliest of what today may be called Qiu Sai Yin, Shui Xian Cao or Sao Shou Wen Tian (see
Mei'an version)
"徵音，凡九段，金陵派 zhi mode (standard tuning), 9 sections; Jinling School"; begins w/3 ascending doublestops (in harmonics)
Zha's Guide lists Sao Shou Wen Tian as an alternate title.
The only preface (see Guide, p.[455] 211 and 1868 below) connects the melody with Boya/Chenglian; see also Shui Xian Cao below.
Zha Guide gives Qiu Sai Yin and Shui Xian Qu as alternate titles; commentaries mostly connect to Qu Yuan.
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One commentary of Shui Xian Cao (see 1884) even suggests that some versions could also be called Xiangfei Yuan!
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See also the references above. The Chinese introduction quoted first below was copied from 17458.123 水仙操 Shui Xian Cao, so it should be the earliest published reference then known of the Bo Ya and Cheng Lian story. It is said to be from Explanations of the Music Bureau (樂府解題 Yuefu Jieti), the source of which seems to be somewhat uncertain: the original was lost, but it had comments that were later incorporated into Yuefu Shiji. Unfortunately, this does not explain why there is no separate entry for Shui Xian in YFSJ.
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12802.7 搔首 has nothing on Qu Yuan, its earliest reference being to Shi Jing poem 42, 靜女 Jing Nü (Waley: Of Fair Girls; narrator scratches his head when he cannot find girl). As for 問天 wentian, 3840.7 connects it only to Qu Yuan's Tian Wen. I have found no modern transcriptions or recordings of the raised 5th tuning melody. Instead Sao Shou Wen Tian is today best known as the title of the
Mei'an version of Qiu Sai Yin.
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7845.5 屈子 Quzi = 屈原 Qu Yuan; nothing further. 5961.827 天文 Tian Wen refers to the poem of that name in the
Chu Ci.
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Although the earliest surviving tablature with this title dates from
1551, the earliest new melody with this title is the Qiu Sai Yin in Wuzhizhai Qinpu (1722). Although historically the most common title for this melody is Shui Xian Qu (see in tracing list), it is best known today through either the
interpretations from 1722 by Wu Jinglue ("Qiu Sai Yin; qp
recording)
or Wu Zhaoji (Sao Shou Wen Tian;
recording);
or through the Mei'an Qinpu School version also called Sao Shou Wen Tian
(recording).
As just suggested, in earlier handbooks (beginning with
1722) this melody was usually called either Qiu Sai yin, Shui Xian Qu, or Shui Xian Cao. However, in the absence of handbooks said to be Zhucheng (or proto-Meian), it is not clear when this melody became part of the Meian tradition, or why Meian Qinpu uses Saoshou Wentian as the main title (this is often given as an alternate title but as far as I can tell only the 1722 and 1878 handbooks previously used it as the main title.
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Significant recordings include the following:
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See further.
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This later version of the story can be found in many places online, but I have not found its source. According to this account, Cheng Lian took Boya to 泰山 Mount Tai in order to learn from nature. Meeting on the boat connects this story with the otherwise unrelated melody Jiang Yue Bai.
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Both are called Sao Shou Wen Tian. Tianwenge Qinpu (1876) says its version is from Ziyuantang Qinpu (1802). The preface to the version in Qinxue Chujin
(1894; shang yin) mentions Qu Yuan.
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None here, but see the early commentary included above.
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