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Handbook List   Table of Contents   /   Earliest Yan Luo Pingsha, 首頁
Guyin Zhengzong
Orthodox School of Ancient Sounds 1
古音正宗
1634  
  A Luwang "zhonghe" style qin 2                    
This handbook is one of several to have been compiled by a Ming prince, in this case (Prince) "The honor one-ness Taoist of Lu", Zhu Changfang, also famous for making qins (as at right).3 In 7 folios, it has 50 melodies, 5 with lyrics.

At present I have reconstructed three of the melodies here:

  1. 雁落平沙 Yan Luo Pingsha
  2. 廣陵真趣 Guangling Zhen Qu (prelude to the following)
  3. 廣陵散     Guangling San (new short version)

According to Zha Fuxi's introduction to this handbook, prior to its publication it was customary for qin handbooks to add forewords and/or afterwords with each melody, but starting here this was apparently no longer the custom. In fact, only two of the 50 melodies here have commentary.4

Other noteworthy aspects of this handbook include the following:

  1. It is one of the first handbooks to use the new decimal system for some finger positions.
  2. It has the earliest tablature for Yan Luo Pingsha, a melody still popular today (my reconstruction).
  3. It has the earliest tablature for a "modern" version of Guangling San, a title well known today but this version rarely played (my reconstruction).
  4. It has the second earliest tablature for another melody popular today, the modern version of Ou Lu Wang Ji; the earliest was published in Sizhai Tang Qinpu, a handbook published in 1620 by the widow of another prince, who must have been a cousin.

Furthermore, of its 50 melodies, at least 14 have their earliest known printing here, with 3 or 4 of them occurring only here.5 Meanwhile, several of the remaining 36 melodies that are not listed here as "earliest" are actually melodically unrelated versions of an older title (for example #50 Guangling San).6

Although as a prince Zhu Changfang apparently had old tablature that might have been copied here, I have not yet found that any of the melodies here has an identical copy in an earlier handbook. Zha Fuxi and other sources also comment on this (see next).

Zha Fuxi's introductory essay in Qinqu Jicheng (IX/2-3) begins as follows:7

Ming dynasty edition, not divided into folios. Compiled by Ming Lufan Zhu Changfang. At the front there is Zhu's own preface, dated Chongzhen 7th year jiaxu (1634). The first part then has (see the Table of Contents) a section covering topics such as the physical appearances of the qin, hand gestures, finger gestures, fingering techniques and qin essays. The second to the seventh parts have altogether tablature for 50 qin melodies. Then at the end there is an afterword from Zhu.

This is a very well-appointed volume, the edition itself very large, but judging from the qin music it collected, except for "Zong Ya Cao" most of it comes from combining a mix of popular score books. One cannot discern the lineage of the versions, perhaps they came from materials selected by palace hangers-on (qingke). From this handbook on, other than the Ming dynasty qin melody titles there is also an end to having individual introductions to each melody. Zhu Changfang's own introduction emphasizes, "People cannot be without music, music cannot be without form. But if there is form but not Dao there cannot but be disorder. So 譜正按形合道之法...." (Translation incomplete).

Zha Fuxi's comment about not being able to determine the lineage of the melodies in this handbook suggests that none of them are copies from other handbooks, so it is difficult to determine their source. The intriguing question, then, is whether it could also mean that Zhu collected these (or some of these) from people who were actually playing the melodies, rather than from handbooks that perhaps were being kept for reasons of prestige.

In this light it is interesting to speculate as to whether any some of the melodies might have been played by the women ("courtesans") that Zhu is said in this article to have had as constant companions (assistants?).

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Orthodox School of Ancient Sounds (古音正宗 Guyin Zhengzong) (QQJC IX/245-386)
3308.198...xxx
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2. "中和:皇明潞王敬一道人式 Zhonghe: Imperial Ming Luwang, the Jingyi Daoist, style" (from QQJC IX/272)
Most of the qins attributed to the Prince of Lu have the same style as the one in the image above; the style is described on the left side of the page. There are many "Lu Wang qin" still in existence, though apparently there are also many fakes, from the early Qing right up to the present. The particular illustration above comes in the handbook at the end of a list of qin styles. The left image on the right hand page is a view of the bottom; to our right is its top. Above the two qins are the characters 中和, identifying the qin style as Zhong He, a style mentioned in Qinshi Chubian but that is not in the Qin Shapes section of Taiyin Daquanji (compare Confucian"). "皇明潞王敬一道人式", to the right of the instruments, identifies this qin as in the style of the prince's own qins.

The commentary on the facing page is as follows:

中和琴式論:
是制也,額起八棱,以按八節;腰起四棱,以按四時;龍池上圓,鳳沼下方,以按天圓地方;琴尾作環雲,托尾作雙星,以按景星慶雲,乃成天象,名曰「中和」。

Not yet translated.
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3. 朱常淓 Zhu Changfang
For "潞國敬一道人 The honor one-ness Taoist of Lu", 朱常淓 Zhu Changfang, see separate page.
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4. Only two melodies with commentary
Qiu Hong(copying the preface from Shen Qi Mi Pu) and Mozi Bei Ge (new).
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5. Melodies newly introduced in the 1534 古音正宗 Guyin Zhengzong
Page# links go to their entries in the Guyin Zhengzong ToC, where there may be further information, or links thereto.

  1. 中和吟     Zhonghe Yin (1 section; earliest; lyrics; IX/272)
  2. 宗雅操     Zongya Cao (20 sections; only here: unrelated to earlier; lyrics; IX/275)
  3. 清夜聞鐘 Qingye Wen Zhong (14; earliest of this version; IX/299)
  4. 風入松     Feng Ru Song (8; earliest of this version; no lyrics; IX/304)
  5. 蘇武思君 Su Wu Si Jun (4; earliest of this version; IX/318)
  6. 雁落平沙 Yan Luo Pingsha (5; earliest of over 50; "jue mode!"; IX/319)
  7. 養生操     Yang Sheng Cao (5; only here; mode like #24; IX/323)
  8. 碧天秋思 Bitian Qiu Si (9; "earliest of 13" but some later versions are different; IX/324)
  9. 子猷訪戴 Ziyou Fang Dai (11; only here? See 1525 [very different]; IX/329)
  10. 悲秋         Bei Qiu (10; Mourn Autumn [but "also called 秋閨 Qiu Gui Autumn Boudoir]; IX/335)
  11. 鸞鳳吟     Luan Feng Yin (3; earliest of two; IX/348)
  12. 羽化登仙 Yuhua Deng Xian (Growing Feathers and Becoming an Immortal; 13; earliest of 18; IX/362)
  13. 岳陽三醉 Yueyang San Zui (Thrice Drunk at Yueyang; 20; earliest of 8; IX/365)
  14. 廣陵真趣 Guangling Zhen Qu (1; prelude to next; only here; IX/382)
  15. 廣陵散     Guangling San (9; earliest short version; IX/382)

Further details pending.
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6. New melody for older title
Others besides the new Guangling San are not yet identified.
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7. Introductory comments in Qinqu Jicheng (IX/2-3)
The original text is as follows,

明刊本,不分卷,明潞藩朱常淓纂輯。卷首有明崇禎甲戌(公元一六三四)朱常淓自序,第一册叙琴之形 象、手勢、指勢、指法與論琴等,第二至第七冊共收琴曲五十曲。卷尾有朱氏跋文。

這是一部裝潢很精,版本最大的刊本,但從它收集的琴曲看,除「宗雅操」而外,多從流行譜本雜湊而 成。看不出它的師承淵源,可能是一些王府清客所選獻的材料。從此譜起,明代琴曲標題之外還有解題的體裁 就中斷了。朱常淓自序強調「人不能無樂,樂不能無形,形而不爲道,不能無亂,則譜正按形合道之法也」, 而廢解題之例卻與此大相矛盾,序中指陳傳統琴曲派品駁雜,「卒未克以地限,以習違」,而他所採的卻是 「可以含天地之弘(原誤刊作私),吸取日月之光……王風股東衆遊其天」,似有狂妄之嫌。

本編用中國藝術研究院音樂研究所藏明潞藩刊本影印,所缺《漁樵問答》及《大雅》以後各曲用上海圖書館藏本補齊。

Above translation incomplete.
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Return to the annotated handbook list or to the Guqin ToC.