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20. Rhapsody on Peonies 1
Apparent tuning 1 2 4 5 6 1 2,2 but grouped with gong mode melodies.3 		牡丹賦 1
Mudan Fu  
  Visitors at the modern Peony Island in Nanjing (map) 4    
According to the introduction below, this rhapsody (fu) commemorates a visit Yang Biaozheng made with friends in spring 1575 to the grounds of the Chief Censorate in Nanjing to see peonies. Inspired by this visit, he then created a qin melody and paired it with lyrics that were either copied from or inspired by a poem he saw inscribed on a wall within the garden. That melody is re-created here based on the original tablature describing in detail how to play the melody that was included in the 1585 collection of tablature for qin melodies as played by Yang Biaozheng.5 As usual, the melody and lyrics are paired according to the traditional pairing method used for virtually all qin songs right up until the modern era.

As can be seen below, the structure of the lyrics is very regular: 14 lines of 7 + 7 each. This is very unlike any standard fu structure. This can be seen in the two peony rhapsodies included in two appendices below. These are:

  1. The famous early Mudan Fu that is an extended rhapsodic essay by the Tang dynasty poet Shu Yuanyu in praise of peonies .6

  2. Spring in Jin Gu, a fu rhapsody set to qin tablature in the handbook Taiyin Xisheng (1625, just forty years after publication of the present work). Details of this are included in Appendix Two below.

    Why Yang Biaozheng decided to call his qin song a "rhapsody" is not clear, though it does praise peonies in a way that could have been inspired by examples such as Shu's well-known version. Although there is no direct overlap between the structures here and the settings are very different, all three do present similar appreciation for the actual flowers. In Yang's case, perhaps in setting the rhapsodic comments to music he felt it necessary to give it a regular structure.

    For the present version Yang arranged the 14 lines of 7+7 characters as a series of couplets. The rhyme scheme is then AABA for the first couplet, CCDC for the second and so forth. This in part helps explain why the music here is very regular. To understand this it would be good to refer to the comments on melodies such as those discussed here and here.

There is some further comment on the musical structure here and also comment on the modal structure here).

 
Original preface
Yang Biaozheng's introduction explains the visit to the peony garden of the Chief Censorate in Nanjing as follows,

乙亥春三月，友挾同遊都察院觀牡丹花，見花幹蒼蒼，蓓蕊開放，百十餘朵， 真實可嘉可愛。仍登院亭，仰視壁懸是賦。御史白嶽何其賢題，云係：
   「國初種，移自沈萬三家，古幹繁碩，獨異他本，向嘗稱為牡丹道。
       每年當花，適值秩滿，盤桓花下，觴詠盡興，漫賦。」
雖謂昔人遺種，至今賞翫而皆同，賦記琴聲，而為一時奇遇矣。

In the third month, spring of the yihai year (1575), I went with friends on an outing to the Chief Censorate to view the peonies. We saw that their mature stems were dark and vigorous, their buds and blossoms opening, more than a 110 of them in all — truly glorious in their appeal. We then climbed to the courtyard terrace, and looking up saw its fu hanging on the wall. It had been inscribed by the censor He Qixian of Baiyue, and it had a coda that said:

"These were planted at the beginning of the dynasty. Having been transplanted from the house of Shen Wansan, their ancient stems were luxuriant and full, uniquely different from other plants. Formerly they were often praised as a veritable Way of the Peonies. Each year when they come into flower, it happens to coincide with the completion of one’s term of office; lingering beneath the blossoms, with wine cups and poetic chanting carried to the full, I casually wrote this fu.”

Although these are said to be plants handed down from former times, those who admire and enjoy them today do so in just the same way; and now that the fu has been recorded together with a qin melody, this has become a rare and singular moment.”

 

Music and lyrics (linked next to image below) Original 1585 tablature: pdf (2 pp.; from facsimile edition)  
The tablature in Qinqu Jicheng IV/344-5 is in some places unclear, particularly at the end; so for the version copied here at right I used the facsimile edition published by Zhongguo Shudian in 2006, which is much more clear.7

As for the actual music, a notable characteristic of the tablature is that nowhere is there any indication of vibrato until just before the very last note, where there is instruction to do a "slow yin", something of a contradiction since yin is defined as a fast vibrato.

As for the structure, according to the understanding I worked out doing my reconstruction, the lyrics for the 14 lines (7 couplete) can be divided into four parts:

  1.   1-  4: Sets the scene, appearance and location;
  2.   5-10: Sustained catalogue of relevant qualities;
  3. 11-12: Contemplation and historical allusions;
  4. 13-14: Moralization and closing.

Further within that structure is my understanding of the mode. This is discussed in more detail here but in short it has to do with the first half of some couplets tending to end on the relative note sol (5), with the second half ending on do, while other ones end the first half on re and the second half on sol. This understanding led me in my reconstruction to exchange the words and tablature of the sixth line with that of the seventh.

Rhapsody on Peonies: 五線譜 transcription; timings follow my recording They bloomed overnight8      
This reconstruction was completed (i.e., I was able to make a recording) on May 16, 2026, just before the blossoming of the peonies in my back yard that evening. But in the morning of May 17th, when I saw the actual blossoms as at right, I felt it most appropriate to redo the recording at a faster pace. The original recording (listen) is about 30 seconds slower.

牡丹賦 Mudan Fu (Rhapsody on Peonies)
from 楊表正，重修真傳琴譜 Yang Biaozheng's Chongxiu Zhenchuan Qinpu, 1585

Notes on the preface

Poem glossary:

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. 牡丹賦 Mudan Fu (Rhapsody on Peonies; 1 section)
In Toc; Guide 26/214/396 lists a Mudan Fu only in 1585 (QQJC IV/344).

Regarding the use here of the term 賦 fu in the title, usually translated as rhapsody, it almost always refers to poems that have the same structure as lyrics of an old song. The original melody became lost over time, but they were almost always songs with lines of unequal length. Here, however, the lyrics are in a regular structure: (7+7)x14.

Another qin melody that concerns peonies is Spring in Jin Gu (金谷春 Jingu Chun; IX/144-7). Some details of that melody and its lyrics are included in Appendix Two below.
(Return)

2. Apparent tuning: 1 2 4 5 6 1 2
Because guqin tablature does not give absolute pitch, the first step in reconstructing a melody from tablature is determining the relative tuning of the seven strings. Traditional Chinese music generally did not use absolute pitch (though perhaps attempts were made for ritual purposes) and it was mostly pentatonic, the most common exceptions being the other two notes that from a diatonic scale. Exceptions within the early qin tradition seem to follow certain rules. In effect, what this means is that when I determine the relative pitches of a melody I transcribe them into Western staff notation in a way that avoids accidentals as much as possible.

With Mudan Ting this led to tuning the seven strings to the relative pitches do re fa sol la do re (1 2 4 5 6 1 2) and writing these notes as C D F G A C D.
(Return)

3. Mode: gong then zhi?
Having determined that the relative qin tuning should be considered as 1 2 4 5 6 1 2, the next task is to determine which are the most important notes: this determines the mode. Here it seems clear that for the first 10 of the 14 lines the primary tonal center is 1 (gong; notated C) and the secondary tonal center is 5 (zhi; notated G). However, for the final 4 lines the primary tonal center is 5 and the secondary center is 2, though the melody actually ends on 1 over 5.

This (at least the beginning) would be quite in accord with this melody being in gong mode except that the other gong mode pieces I have studied from the Ming dynasty have this note gong played on the equivalent of the open third string, not the open first string.

To be more detailed, the melody is a setting of a poem with the structure ([7+7] x 14), i.e., fourteen lines of two 7-character phrases each. This is organized as follows:

  1. Lines 1 to 10 can be subdivided as five 4-phrase couplets. Each couplet except the one forming line nine ends its first half on the relative pitch sol, as indicated above notated G; then these lines all end on the relative pitch C; in constrast, the first half of line 9 ends on D while the second half ends on re (notated D), i.e, still down a fifth.
  2. Coming to Lines 11-14, all four end on G; the first half of 11 and 12 end on D, the first half of 13 ends on G, the first half of 14 ends on A, and 14 (tne last line of the melody) actually ends on C over G (an "inverted fifth").

The rhyme scheme genrally follows this: AABA, CCDC...., but there are again some exceptions. Most noteworthy, reversing the sixth and seventh lines brings fewer variations from this structure. In addition, from my understanding this groups the meanings of the lyrics better. And so in my transcription I have reversed lines six and seven, and following this logic has made it much easier for me to memorize the melody.

For more on detail on relevant modes see Shenpin Zhi Yi as well as Shenpin Gong Yi and Modality in early Ming qin tablature.
(Return)

4. Visitors at the modern 南京牡丹島 Peony Island in Nanjing
Image copied from www.xhby.net. The park is at the east end of Xuanwu Lake. See further comment above.
(Return)

5. Recreating Yang Biaozheng's qin song
To do a proper re-creation of Yang's song there must first be a reconstruction (dapu) from the 1585 tablature that described the original music and its lyrics (see below). The tablature details the right and left hand finger techniques and pairs this to the lyrics following the standard pattern. The tablature prescribes the actual pitches very clearly; as for the note values/rhythms, these are determined by such factors as the nature of the finger strokes and their ornamentation, and patterns discerned within the melody, here especially influenced by the structure and meaning of the lyrics.
(Return)

6. 牡丹賦　舒元輿 Rhapsody on the Peony by Shu Yuanyu (c. 791 - 835; Wiki)
Shu Yuanyu is also mentioned on this site here in connection with his Chronical of Making a Qin. The original text of his rhapsocy plus a tentative translation are included in Appendix 1 below.

Also see here for a bibliography of other Chinese works on peonies.
(Return)

7. Tablature in Qinqu Jicheng
The problem was particularly acute on the very last note, where the original was illegible. But even here in the facsimile edition, although it seems quite clear, it contains the very strange added instruction to play the stopped note with "慢吟": slow yin; yin is generally considered a fast vibrato, symbolized by the speed of a cicada's wings. Perhaps this is related to the fact that yin is rarely used in this handbook and as yet I have not seen an occurrence of the slow jerky vibrato, 猱 nao.
(Return)

8. The peonies in our backyard Second day: many more blossoms        
Regarding the two recordings,
      slower and
      faster
perhaps the faster version is good for when they first bloom, the slower for as they go out and rest until the following year, leaving us to reflect on life's cycle.

Regarding the other image, "丹延有種 suffusions?", those images were of peonies at the lovely Rockefeller State Park Preserve (Taconic Regions), which has an annual Peony Celbration/
(Return)

 
Appendix 1
牡丹賦　舒元輿 Rhapsody on the Peony by Shu Yuanyu (c. 791 - 835; Wiki)

Shu Yuanyu's rhapsody begins with an essay before going into verse; the verse is mostly 4-character phrases, but there is also a substantial section of 5-character phrases and in some places mixed phrase lengths; it then has a prose closing. Overall, this is more typical of a fu than is Yang's example (though it should be mentioned that Shu's is not exactly "standard" itself).

This rhapsody is said to be the the earliest important work about peonies. At the time he wrote it he was quite likely living in the capital city, but at that time the Tang dynasty had two capitals, today's Xi'an and today's Luoyang. The latter is particularly famous for its peonies, perhaps dating from the time that the empress Wu Zetian apparently popularized them from her imperial residence in Luoyang.

Several somewhat different versions of Shu's Rhapsody on Peonies can be found online. The one here was copied from guwendao.net. I have not found any other English translation.

古人言花者，牡丹未嘗與焉。蓋遁乎深山，自幽而著。以為貴重所知，花則何遇焉？天後之鄉，西河也，有眾香精捨，下有牡丹，其花特異，天後嘆上苑之有闕，因命移植焉。由此京國牡丹，日月寖盛。今則自禁闥洎官署，外延士庶之家，瀰漫如四瀆之流，不知其止息之地。每暮春之月，遨遊之士如狂焉。亦上國繁華之一事也。近代文士為歌詩以詠其形容，未有能賦之者。余獨賦之，以極其美。或曰：子常以丈夫功業自許，今則肆情於一花，無乃猶有兒女之心乎？余應之曰：吾子獨不見張荊州之為人乎？斯人信丈夫也。然吾觀其文集之首，有《荔枝賦》焉。荔枝信美矣，然亦不出一果爾，與牡丹何異哉？但問其所賦之旨何如，吾賦牡丹何傷焉，或者不能對，余遂賦以示之。

圓玄瑞精，有星而景，有雲而卿。其光下垂，遇物流形。草木得之，發為紅英。英之甚紅，鐘乎牡丹。拔類邁倫，國香欺蘭。我研物情，次第而觀。

暮春氣極，綠苞如珠。清露宵偃。韶光曉驅。動蕩支節，如解凝結，百脈融暢，氣不可遏。兀然盛怒，如將憤洩。淑色披開，照曜酷烈。美膚膩體，萬狀皆絕。赤者如日，白者如月。淡者如赭，殷者如血。向者如迎，背者如訣。坼者如語，含者如咽。俯者如愁，仰者如悅。裊者如舞，側者如跌。亞者如醉，曲者如折。密者如織，疏者如缺。鮮者如濯，慘者如別。 初朧朧而下上，次鱗鱗而重疊。錦衾相覆，繡帳連接。晴籠晝熏，宿露宵浥。 或灼灼騰秀，或亭亭露奇。 或颭然如招，或儼然如思， 或希風如吟，或泫露如悲。 或垂然如縋，或爛然如披。 或迎日擁砌，或照影臨池。 或山雞已馴，或威鳳將飛。 其態萬萬，胡可立辯？不窺天府，孰得而見？

乍遇孫武，來此教戰。教戰謂何？搖搖纖柯。玉欄風滿，流霞成波，歷階重台，萬朵千棵。西子南威，洛神湘娥。或倚或扶，朱顏色酡。角銜紅釭，爭顰翠娥。灼灼夭夭，逶逶迤迤。漢宮三千，艷列星河，我見其少，孰雲其多。弄彩呈妍，壓景駢肩。席發銀燭，爐升絳煙。洞府真人，會於群仙。晶熒往來，金釭列錢。凝睇相看，曾不晤言。未及行雨，先驚旱蓮。公室侯家，列之如麻。咳唾萬金，買此繁華。遑恤終日，一言相誇。列幄庭中，步障開霞。曲廡重梁，松篁交加。如貯深閨，似隔窗紗，彷彿息媯，依稀館娃。我來觀之，如乘仙槎。脈脈不語，遲遲日斜。九衢遊人，駿馬香車。有酒如澠，萬坐笙歌。一醉是競，孰知其他。我案花品，此花第一。脫落群類，獨佔春日。其大盈尺，其香滿室。葉如翠羽，擁抱櫛比。蕊如金屑，妝飾淑質。玫瑰羞死，芍藥自失。夭桃斂跡，穠李慚出。躑躅宵潰，木蘭潛逸。朱槿灰心，紫薇屈膝，皆讓其先，敢懷憤嫉？

煥乎！美乎！后土之產物也。使其花如此而偉乎，何前代寂寞而不聞？今則昌然而大來。曷草木之命，亦有時而塞，亦有時而開？吾欲問汝，曷為而生哉？汝且不言，徒留玩以徘徊。

Translation: Rhapsody on Peonies by Shu Yuanyu

When men of old spoke of flowers, the peony was never included among them. Presumably it had hidden itself away in deep mountains, emerging from obscurity only later. If what is precious and weighty was not aware of it, how could the flower itself ever have found its proper encounter? The native region of the Empress Wu was Xihe. At the Zhongxiang Monastery there grew peonies below it, their blossoms especially extraordinary. The Empress regretted that the imperial garden lacked them, and so ordered them transplanted there. From that time onward, peonies in the capital flourished more and more with each passing month and year. Now, from the palace precincts to official compounds, and outward to the homes of scholars, commoners, and all the rest, they spread everywhere like the flowing of the Four Waterways, with no one knowing where that spreading might end. Every year, in the last month of spring, those who go out to wander and admire them become almost frenzied. This too is one of the great splendors of the capital. In recent times men of letters have written songs and poems to praise their appearance, but none has yet been able to compose a fu on them. I alone have composed one, so as to bring their beauty fully to its utmost.

Someone may say: “You have always prided yourself on the achievements proper to a true man; but now you pour out your feelings over a single flower. Is this not still to have the heart of children and women?” I reply: “Have you alone not seen what sort of man Zhang Jingzhou was? He truly was a man of manly stature. Yet when I look at the beginning of his collected writings, there is a ‘Fu on the Lychee.’ The lychee is indeed a beautiful thing; yet after all it is no more than a single fruit. In what way is that different from the peony? The only question is what intent there is in what one writes of. What harm is there if I write a fu on the peony?” To this such people have no answer, and so I have gone ahead and written it to show them.

The rounded and mysterious essence of auspicious powers—where there is a star, it has radiance; where there are clouds, it has sheen. Its light hangs downward and, upon meeting things, takes on form. When grasses and trees obtain it, it breaks forth as crimson blossoms. And among blossoms, the one whose redness is most fully concentrated is the peony. It rises beyond its kind and surpasses its peers; its national fragrance puts even the orchid to shame. I have studied the dispositions of things, and shall observe them in due order.

When late spring’s breath reaches its height, their green buds are like pearls. Clear dew settles over them by night; fair spring light drives onward at dawn. Their stems and joints sway and stir, as though releasing what had long been congealed. A hundred channels grow fluid and free; their vital energy cannot be held back. Suddenly they seem to blaze forth in full indignation, as though about to vent some long-held force. Their lovely colors open out, shining with fierce brilliance. Beautiful skin, unctuous bodies—their myriad forms are all beyond compare. Those that are red are like the sun; those that are white are like the moon. The pale ones are like rosy light; the deep ones are like blood. Those facing toward one seem to welcome; those turned away seem to take leave. Those split open seem as though speaking; those still closed seem as though swallowing back words. Those drooping seem sorrowful; those raised aloft seem delighted. Those wavering are like dancers; those leaning aside are like falling figures. Those pressed low are like drunkenness; those bent are like something broken. Dense masses are like brocade weaving; sparse ones are like gaps and absences. Fresh ones are as though newly washed; faded ones are as though marked by parting. At first they are dimly half-formed, rising and sinking; next they scale layer upon layer. Like brocade coverlets they lie one upon another; like embroidered curtains they join together. In sunlight they seem enclosed in perfumed warmth through the day; with night dew they are wrapped and enfolded till dawn. Some blaze upward, displaying their beauty; some stand poised and straight, revealing marvels. Some flutter as though beckoning; some stand solemnly as though in thought. Some await the breeze as though chanting; some, touched by dew, seem as though grieving. Some droop as though hanging by a cord; some spill open in radiant disarray. Some face the sun beside the steps; some cast reflections as they lean over the pond. Some are like mountain pheasants already tamed; some like majestic phoenixes just about to fly. Their attitudes are ten thousand upon ten thousand—how could one ever distinguish them one by one? Unless one has glimpsed the treasury of Heaven, how could one ever behold such things?

Suppose Sun Wu were suddenly to come here and drill them for battle—what would that drilling be? Slender branches swaying and swaying. The jade railings are filled with wind; drifting rosy vapors become waves. Across the steps and up the tiered terraces there are ten thousand blossoms on a thousand stems. Xi Shi and Nanwei, the River Luo goddess and the maidens of the Xiang—some leaning, some supporting one another, their vermilion faces flushed with color. They outshine the red lamps at the corners and vie with green-browed beauties in frowning charm. Bright, brilliant, enchanting, winding and trailing on without end. The three thousand women of the Han palace arrayed in gorgeous ranks like stars across the Milky Way—yet what I see here makes them seem few, so who could call them many? Sporting their colors and displaying their loveliness, they press shoulder to shoulder and eclipse all light. Mats are spread, silver candles lit; from the censers rises crimson smoke. It is as though perfected beings from the caverns of immortals were assembled among the host of divinities. Glittering, gleaming, coming and going; golden lamps stand ranked like coins. They gaze fixedly upon one another, yet never exchange a word. Before ever clouds and rain can arrive, they first astonish the drought-stricken lotus.

In the mansions of princes and nobles they are arrayed thick as hemp. Men spend ten thousand in gold with a mere cough or spit, buying this luxuriant splendor. All day long they worry over nothing else, each only speaking of his own display with pride. Canopied tents are set up in the courtyards; silk screens glow like opened clouds. Curved verandas and double beams, pines and bamboo intermingled all around. It is as though they were stored in some deep women’s chamber; as though seen dimly through window gauze. One seems almost to glimpse Xi Gui; one half discerns the beauties of Guanwa Palace. When I come to look at them, it is as though I were riding on an immortal raft. They gaze with deep feeling and say nothing; slowly, slowly the sun slants westward. On the great avenues roam visitors; fine horses and fragrant carriages pass by. Wine flows like the Min River; everywhere are banquets, music, and song. Men compete only in getting drunk—who knows anything beyond that? When I assess the ranks of flowers, this one is first. It has cast off the whole crowd of other kinds and alone occupies the glory of spring. Its bloom may be a full foot across; its fragrance fills the room. Its leaves are like emerald feathers, clustered and embracing one another in serried ranks. Its stamens are like flecks of gold, adorning its lovely substance. Roses die of shame before it; the peony’s cousin, the shaoyao, loses all confidence. Early peaches hide their traces; luxuriant plums are ashamed to emerge. Azaleas melt away in the night; magnolias slip off unseen. The hibiscus loses heart; the crape myrtle bends the knee. All yield precedence to it—who among them would dare still harbor resentment or jealousy?

How splendid! How beautiful! This is one of the things produced by the Earth herself. If its flowers are so marvelous and grand, why was it that in earlier ages they remained obscure and unheard of, whereas now they flourish gloriously and arrive in full abundance? Can it be that even the fate of grasses and trees has its times of blockage and its times of opening? I would ask you: for what reason were you born? But you do not speak. You only leave me lingering here, delighting in you and pacing to and fro.
(Return to the footnote)

 
Appendix 2
金谷春 Spring in Jin Gu
琴曲、歌詞：陳大斌 Qin melody and lyrics by Chen Dabin
太音希聲 Taiyin Xisheng (1625)

Spring in Jin Gu (金谷春 Jingu Chun; IX/144-7) is the only other qin melody I have found that concerns peonies. Like the 1585 melody it has lyrics throughout; it might also have been called Rhapsody on Peonies as the style of its lyrics are more like the traditional style of rhapsodies.

This melody was not included in the Zha index because at the time the index was compiled Zhe Fuxi apparently had not seen its handbook, 太音希聲 Taiyin Xisheng (1625; see QQJC IX/140-143, 12 Sections).

The preface and Section 1 of the lyrics to Spring in Jin Gu are as follows (original text copied from www.douban.com):

I do not know of anyone having reconsructed that melody. From my preliminary examination there is nothing to suggest "Tai Xi' was influenced in any way by the earlier melody about peonies.

 
Return to the Chongxiu Zhenchuan intro, to the annotated handbook list or to the Guqin ToC.