This melody and its lyrics are unrelated to the melody and lyrics of the Sheng De Song meaning Hymn of Holy Moral Virtue. The Hymn of Grand Moral Virtue survives only in Faming Qinpu and Longhu Qinpu (1571).³ The version in the latter handbook has 10 titled sections (it divides Faming Qinpu's Section 8 into three sections). The lyrics are basically the same but the music seems quite different. The Longhu Qinpu version includes a brief preface.⁴

The title Sheng De Song is included in some Song dynasty melody lists, including the one compiled by Seng Ju Yue (Less Ancient section).⁵

My reconstruction and commentary are not yet completed.

 
Preface
None (but the Longhu Qinpu version has one⁶)

 
Music and Lyrics⁷
Eight Sections, untitled (but the Longhu Qinpu version has section titles⁸)

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Faming Qinpu does not mention the mode, but Longhu Qinpu includes it with zhi mode pieces. (Return)

2. 23537.167 盛德，謂天德之盛行者也。（詩、大序）頌者美盛德之形容。 5960.366 大序 writes out the Da Xu; it says it comes before the first poem, 關雎 Guan Ju, but doesn't say when or by whom it was written. The 頌 song (hymns) are Shi Jing Mao numbers 266-305. I haven't found a textual relationship between those hymns and the lyrics here.

.167-.173 all concern 盛德 sheng de, but none mentions the qin and the reference just quoted is the only one to mention 頌 song. .171 盛德舞 concerns a Han dynasty shengde dance. 7/1430 adds nothing.
(Return)

3. Zha Fuxi's Guide 15/--/339 does not include Longhu Qinpu. The Faming Qinpu version begins in QQJC I/366. The Longhu Qinpu version begins in Qin Fu, p. 260.
(Return)

4. The textual differences amount mainly to changed words here and there, a few additions/subtractions, and extra phrases added (one each) in Faming Qinpu at the end of sections 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7, all applied to the multiple fingering technique 搯撮三聲 taocuo sansheng. Although the sections in Longhu Qinpu are titled, they are not numbered.
(Return)

5. 僧居月 See Tong Kin-Woon, Qin Fu, pp.1695-6.
(Return)

6. The original preface in Longhu Qinpu says:

7. The original lyrics in Faming Qinpu begin as follows:

8 The section titles in Longhu Qinpu are as follows (the music and lyrics of Sections 8 to 10 are equivalent to those of Faming Qinpu Section 8)

1. 盛德頌
2. 出入尊高
3. 立治正中
4. 敬思劬勞
5. 三握三吐 (10.1369:梁元帝﹕三握再吐...)
6. 存仁施德
7. 名清千載
8. （泛起）樂守從吾
9. （泛止）清虛物外
10. （泛起）坦然安居
    (Return)

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