Ting Qin Yin 聽琴吟

This melody, like the panel at right from a long scroll called Poetic Feelings of Ancient Sages, is connected to a poem by Han Yu called Listening to Reverend Ying Play the Qin: the text of that poem is used as lyrics for the qin melody, and it was also inscribed by the famous calligrapher Jin Cong onto the painting at right, part of a long scroll.⁴ Reverend Ying was a well-known qin player of Han Yu's time.

The title Ting Qin Yin is found in four handbooks from the 1589 edition of the present handbook to one published in 1820.⁵ They are all very similar to each other, or even copied from each other, though the third version omits the lyrics. The opening melody is remarkably similar to the opening of the melody Jing Guan Yin as published in 1579.

Requiring particular comment is a phrase added to the melody just before the closing harmonic coda. This phrase, "When playing, to meet someone knowledgeable of music one keenly feels so filled it is painful" (see Melody and lyrics, Section 3), is not in Han Yu's original poem (q.v.). The tablature at this point indicates a multiple finger technique (tao cuo san sheng) often found at such endings. The inappropriate nature (from a literary standpoint) of this additional text can only be explained by understanding the pairing rules, described elsewhere, that require lyrics whenever notes are plucked. The effect created is that someone set Han Yu's lyrics to music very nicely, then someone later decided that the tao cuo san sheng needed lyrics as well, so they created some.⁶

Preface⁷
Not yet translated: after crediting the poem by Han Yu, it mentions Reverend Ying's playing skills, then refers to stories about Minzi and Cai Yong that concern true expression on the qin.

Melody and lyrics ⁸
The melody and lyrics are divided into three sections, each with a title. Titles are not sung. Phrases with // at both ends are repeated: the tablature does not make clear whether the lyrics should be repeated or only the music. (Note the added phrase at the end of the penultimate line, and see the comment on the translation.)

Timings follow my recording 聽錄音 (see transcription 看五線譜 and compare with 1579 Jing Guan Yin)

(00.00)
The music becomes magical (Gōng shāng biàn huàn 宮商變幻)
//昵昵兒女語，// 恩怨相「爾汝」。
//Nì nì ér nǚ yǔ,// ēn yuàn xiāng ěr rǔ.
//Affectionately whispering a young boy and girl speak,// in fondness or anger they (call) each other "dear".
劃然變軒昂，勇士赴敵場。
Huà rán biàn xuān áng, yǒng shì fù dí chǎng.
Abruptly it changes to the heroic, brave warriors charging to the battle field.
浮雲柳絮無根蒂，天闊地遠隨飛揚。
Fú yún liǔ xù wú gēn dì, tiān kuò dì yuǎn suí fēi yáng.
Floating clouds of willow fluff without stamens, (across the) sky broad and earth vast accordingly fly and flutter.
(00.45)
Fingering straight as the strings (Zhǐ rù tūn zhǔn shéng 指入焞準繩)
//喧啾百鳥群，忽見孤鳳凰。//
//Xuān jiū bǎi niǎo qún, hū jiàn gū fèng huáng. //
//The raucous cries of hundreds of birds in a flock, suddenly see a solitary phoenix.//
躋攀分寸不可上，失勢一落千丈強。
Jī pān fēn cùn bù kě shàng, shī shì yī luò qiān zhàng qiáng.
It scrambles upwards inching (until it) no longer can go up,
losing control it abruptly falls a thousand fathoms and more.
(01.20)
Feeling the music brings tears (Gǎn yīn xìng tì 感音興涕)
嗟余有兩耳，未省聽絲篁。
Juē yú yǒu liǎng ěr, wèi shěng tīng sī huáng.
Oh, (ever since) I've had two ears, I've never known how to listen to strings or pipes.
自聞潁師彈，起坐在一旁。
Zì wén Yǐng shī tán, qǐ zuò zài yī páng.
//(But) since I've heard Reverend Ying play, (I've had to) rise from my seat (in respect) to one side.//
推手遽止之，濕衣淚滂滂。（added: 彈遇知音痛感傷。）
Tuī shǒu jù zhǐ zhī, shī yī lèi pāng pāng. (Tán yù zhī yīn tòng gǎn shāng.)
(I) wave my arm in order to stop him, soaking my robe my tears gush down.
(Added: When playing, to meet someone knowledgeable of music one keenly feels so filled it is painful.)
(02.05)
（泛音）潁乎爾誠能，無以冰炭置我腸。
(Fànyīn) Yǐng hū, ěr chéng néng, wú yǐ bīng tàn zhì wǒ cháng.
(Harmonic closing) Ying, ah! You are really capable,
(but) don't cause (your) ice and coals (i.e., the emotional turmoil of the music) to go straight to my belly!
(02.25: End)

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Intonation on listening to a qin (聽琴吟 Ting Qin Yin (VII/77)
聽琴賦 29852.xxx (no 聽琴). The melody and lyrics here are unrelated to those of the Rhapsody on Listening to a Qin (Ting Qin Fu). For more on the lyrics here, see the Melody and Lyrics.
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2. Shang mode
Shang mode is commonly associated with autumn and sadness. See more under Shenpin Shang Yi.
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3. Du Jin image: Listening to Reverend Ying play the qin 杜堇：聽穎師彈琴圖
Du Jin (Wikipedia) was a well known Ming dynasty painter about whom little personal detail is known. The segment above was part of a scroll called Poetic Feelings of Ancient Sages that includes 11 or 12 such poems and 9 related images.
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4. Listening to Reverend Ying Play the Qin (聽穎師彈琴 Ting Ying Shi Tan Qin)
See text.
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5. Tracing Ting Qin Yin
Zha Guide 29/226/433 lists this title in four handbooks, as follows:

1589 (VII/77; here; shang mode)
1802 (XVII/532; zhi mode, but almost identical)
>1802 (XIX/145; shang mode; "same as 1589" but omits lyrics)
1828 (XX/456; zhi mode; seems to be copy of 1802)

As mentioned, all seem to be copies or near copies of each other.
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6. Added phrases
To me adding the lyrics here is like "adding feet on a snake". In contrast, though, this same melody in three places has a two-note passage at the beginning of a phrase with no lyrics attached. These are clearly passing tones that should not require lyrics, but often such lyrics would be applied anyway because of the pairing rules described elsewhere.
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7. Original Chinese preface
The original preface in the 1589 Yang Lun Taigu Yiyin of Zhenchuan Zhengzong Qinpu is as follows:

按是吟，乃大唐韓文公所作也。公以文名卓冠當時，想于聲音之理，已熟諳矣。是以一聞穎師之奏虞弦，而獨契於心，始焉名壯其音之幺，既焉摩寫其指之清，終焉感嘆音之戚而發其哀痛之思，非知道者，其能然乎？昔閔子驚于取鼠，蔡邕駭于沸捕蟬。公之聽，其似之矣。
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8. Original lyrics for Ting Qin Yin
My transcription of this melody includes under the respective notes the original Chinese characters of the poem by Han Yu, under this their pinyin romanization, then under this a mostly word by word translation, with the a copy of the original tablature at bottom.

The translation is based on that in Egan, Controversy (p.48), but altered so that it can fit into this word for word structure.

The melody of Ting Qin Yin arranges Han Yu's original lyrics into three titled sections, as follows. Titles are not sung. Phrases with // at both ends are repeated: the tablature does not make clear whether the lyrics should be repeated or only the music. And note the added phrase at the end of the penultimate line.

1. 宮商變幻
//昵昵兒女語，//恩怨相爾汝。
劃然變軒昂，勇士赴敵場。
浮雲柳絮無根蒂，天地闊遠隨飛揚。

2. 指入焞準繩
//喧啾百鳥群，//忽見孤鳳凰。
躋攀分寸不可上，失勢一落千丈強。

3. 感音興涕
嗟余有兩耳，未省聽絲篁。
自聞潁師彈，起坐在一旁。
推手遽止之，濕衣淚滂滂。（added: 彈遇知音痛感傷。）
（泛音）潁乎爾誠能，無以冰炭置我腸。

This text is included with translation and Romanization above.
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