Hao Hao Ge 浩浩歌

The title of this melody might also be translated, "Song of the Universe" or "Grand Song" (suggesting a universal question). The preface attributes it to the Song dynasty scholar official Ma Cun (d. 1096).⁴ The lyrics can actually be found in earlier poetic collections but the source of the melody is uncertain. It is found only here (the 1573 version is somewhat different from the one in 1585) and in 1618, which has similar music and almost the same lyrics.⁵ As in 1573 and 1585 the 1618 preface makes no mention of Yang Biaozheng having created the melody, suggesting that the melody might have already existed in an old document and so it was thus thought also to have originated with Ma Cun himself.⁶

As for the 1573 and 1585 versions, they look strikingly similar (especially when compared to differences in the two versions of Yu Xian Yin): the tablatures are lined up identically in terms of characters and clusters per line. However, quite a few of the actual clusters are different, usually changing the notes by one or two pitches. And, as with some other pieces in the two handbooks, the 1573 version is more likely to use ornaments such as fast and slow vibrato (吟 yin and 猱 nao/rou), while the 1585 version much more commonly ornaments with a simple "up down" (上下 shangxia) or "down up" (下上 xiashang).

About fifty years later Wen Tianxiang wrote his own Haohao Ge lyrics. There, instead of "what does the universe have to do with me?", the universal song/question is, "what can one do about the fact that life is short?".

Prefaces
The original preface (1573 differences in brackets) begins,

（西峯曰：）是曲，按古文，馬子才作也。謂大丈夫生世當以天地萬物爲一體，於用則伊，周事業，不用則巢，許行藏，故終篇以富貴榮華如浮雲之過太虛，而無容心焉。因以附入琴聲，使貪名徇利者聞之，亦可以少警矣。
(Yang Xifeng said), This piece, according to old writings, was created by Ma Zicai.... (translation incomplete)

Music and lyrics (see tentative transcription)
The setting is largely syllabic. The lines largely rhyme, and each consists of two phrases of equal length (except for the first line of each section). Musically the first half of each line usually ends on 2 (re) or 5 (sol) while the second half almost always ends on 1 (do).

The three available settings of the lyrics have a few inconsistencies with the original text. The complete Chinese lyrics in correct order (see Zha Guide 385 as well as separate copies of Ma Cun's poem) are as follows:

第一段起作商霖 (Qǐ Zuò Shāng Lín)
浩浩歌：天地萬物如吾何。 Hào hào gē: Tiāndì wànwù rú wú hé.
用之解帶食太倉，不用拂枕歸山河。 Yòng zhī jiě dài shí tài cāng, bù yòng fú zhěn guī shān hé. (elsewhere 河 is 阿)
君不見渭川漁父一竿竹，莘野耕叟數畝禾。 Jūn bù jiàn wèi chuān yú fù yī gān zhú, shēn yě gēng sǒu shù mǔ hé.
喜時起作商家霖，怒來便把周王戈。 Xǐ shí qǐ zuò shāng jiā lín, nù lái biàn bǎ zhōu wáng gē.
又不見子陵橫足加帝腹，帝不敢動豈敢訶。 Yòu bù jiàn zi líng héng zú jiā dì fù, dì bù gǎn dòng qǐ gǎn hē. (for 動 the Guide has 怒)
皇天爲忙逼，星宿相擊摩。 Huáng tiān wèi máng bī, xīng sù xiāng jī mó.
可憐相府痴，邀請先經過。 Kě lián xiāng fǔ chī, yāo qǐng xiān jīng guò.

第二段觀聖賢心 (Guān Shèng Xián Xīn)
浩浩歌：天地萬物如吾何。 Hào hào gē: Tiāndì wànwù rú wú hé.
屈原枉死汨羅水，夷齊空餓西山坡。 Qū Yuán wǎngsǐ Mìluó shuǐ, yí qí kōng è xī shān pō. (for 餓 1618 has 臥)
丈夫犖犖不可覉，有身何用自滅磨。 Zhàng fū luò luò bù kě jī, yǒu shēn hé yòng zì miè mó.
吾觀聖賢心，獨樂豈有他。 Wú guān shèng xián xīn, dú lè qǐ yǒu tā.
蒼生如命窮，吾道成蹉跎。 Cāng shēng rú mìng qióng, wú dào chéng cuō tuó.
直須爲弔天下人，何必嫌恨傷丘軻。 Zhí xū wèi diào tiān xià rén, hé bì xián hèn shāng qiū kē.

第三段仰天長嘯 (Yǎng Tiān Cháng Xiào)
浩浩歌：天地萬物如吾何。 Hào hào gē: Tiāndì wànwù rú wú hé.
玉堂金馬在何處，雲山石室高嵯峨。 Yù táng jīn mǎ zài hé chù, yún shān shí shì gāo cuó é.
低頭欲耕地雖少，仰面長嘯天何多。 Dī tóu yù gēng dì suī shǎo, yǎng miàn cháng xiào tiān hé duō.
請君醉我一斗酒，紅光滿面春風和， Qǐng jūn zuì wǒ yī dǒu jiǔ, hóng guāng mǎn miàn chūn fēng hé,
紅光滿面春風和。 Hóng guāng mǎn miàn chūn fēng hé,

Not yet translated.

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Song of the Universe (浩浩歌 Haohao Ge) (QQJC IV/316)
17932.19: 浩浩 vast, flood; .54 浩歌 1/sing loudly, a phrase in 楚辭，九歌，大司命; 2/song name from 樂府，雜曲，李賀 (a poem by Li He, as follows (Great Song: translated by Robert Payne et al., in The White Pony: An Anthology of Chinese Poetry from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, Newly Translated, The John Day Company, New York, 313, 1947):

南風吹山作平地，帝遣天吳移海水。
王母桃花千遍紅，彭祖巫咸幾回死？
青毛驄馬參差錢，嬌春楊柳含緗煙。
箏人勸我金屈卮，神血未凝身問誰？
不須浪飲丁都護，世上英雄本無主。
買絲綉作平原君，有酒唯澆趙州土。
漏催水咽玉蟾蜍，衛娘發薄不勝梳。
羞見秋眉換新綠，二十男兒那刺促？

Note that in QQJC the song's second page (IV/317 top) has been switched with p.322, top.

The title Haohao Ge could also be translated as "Grand Song" or "Sing out". The opening line of each section could be translated, "The universal song: the universe has myriad matters, but what does this have to do with me?

Wen Tianxiang also wrote a Haohao Ge in three sections, each section beginning,

Sing out (or Universal Song): life is a waystation, but what can we do?

The whole poem by Wen Tianxiang is as follows:

文天祥：陳貫道摘坡詩如寄以自號達者之流也為賦浩浩

浩浩歌，人生如寄可奈何。
春秋去來傳鴻雁，朝暮出沒奔羲娥。
青絲冉冉上霜雪，百年欻若彈指過。
封侯未必勝瓜圃，青門老子聊婆娑。
江湖流浪何不可，亦曾力士為脫靴。
清風明月不用買，何處不是安樂窩。
鶴脛豈長鳧豈短，夔足非少蚿非多。

浩浩歌，人生如寄可奈何。
不能高飛與遠舉，天荒地老懸網羅。
到頭北邙一抔土，萬事碌碌空奔波。
金張許史久寂寞，古來賢聖聞丘軻。
乃知世間為長物，惟有真我難滅磨。

浩浩歌，人生如寄可奈何。
春夢婆，春夢婆，拍手笑呵呵。
是亦一東坡，非亦一東坡。

As here this was also in three sections, each section introduced by the words Haohao ge then the question the song asks.

The 1573 edition does not seem to have the pagination problem of 1585.
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2. Gong mode (5 6 1 2 3 5 6)
Gong is the name of the first string, and this was the tonal center for Yu Xian Yin, also said to be in gong mode. However, in Haohao Ge the relative tuning seems to be 5 6 1 2 3 5 6, and the main tonal center is the open third string (the note 宮 gong). For more on this see Shenpin Gong Yi and Modality in early Ming qin tablature.
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3. The 1573 Haohao Ge preface begins, "Xifeng says" (expanded image)
The 1585 preface omits this attribution but is otherwise almost the same.
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4. 馬存 Ma Cun (11th c., Bio/59)
宋饒州樂平人，字子才。哲宗元祐三年進士。師事徐積，為文雄直。歷官鎮南節度推官，再調越州觀察推官。早卒。有文集。
A scholar-official from Leping in Raozhou (modern 德興 Dexing, north of 上饒 Shangrao in Jiangxi). Earned his Jinshi degree in Zhezong Yuanyou 3rd year (1088) but seems to have died in 1096. Bibliographies suggest his collected writings amounted to over 20 volumes, but almost all of this is lost.
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5. Tracing Haohao Ge
Guide 25/212/385 lists it only here and in 1618 (VIII/203), where the lyrics are almost same, the music is similar and its preface is also related.
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6. Haohao Ge in 1618
The preface here begins, "此張子合正之曲。按古文馬子才作也....This is a song arranged by Master Zhang; according to old texts Ma Zicai created it....". In other words, whereas the 1573 and 1585 versions only mention Ma Cun, the 1618 preface adds that "Master Zhang" edited its version. So either Yang Biaozheng was also an editor, or in 1618 they interpreted the lack of specifics in the earlier handbooks to suggest that this was the case.
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Return to the Chongxiu Zhenchuan intro, to the annotated handbook list or to the Guqin ToC.