Hong Lou Meng

In Chapter 54 Grandmother Jia recalls that when she was young her grandfather had an opera troupe that included an actress who was a very good qin player. She does not mention whether the actress actually played the qin as part of the opera. The small sound of the qin would make its inclusion there quite problematic, and I have not yet read a description of this ever happening. Today an actor will only pretend to play a qin; the prop used is usually an imitation.⁴

On the other hand, it is certainly possible that a small, private opera performance at a wealthy man's home could include someone playing a qin as a special event. In the above passage of Hong Lou Meng⁵ Grandmother Jia says that the actress once arranged with actual qin accompaniment a sequence of qin-playing scenes from the operas Xi Xiang Ji (Story of the Western Chamber), Yuzan Ji (Story of the Jade Hairpin), and a sequel to Pipa Ji (Story of the Lute).⁶

As for Hong Lou Meng itself, in Chapter 86 Lin Daiyu explains qin tablature to Jia Baoyu. There is then mention of the melodies Wen Wang Cao, Gao Shan and Liu Shui. And in Chapter 87 Dai Yu plays a suite combining Si Xian (also called Yasheng Cao) with Yi Lan.⁷

There is Ming dynasty qin tablature for all of the melodies mentioned above. I have reconstructed and can play at least one version of each of them.

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. 紅樓夢 Hong Lou Meng; also called 石頭記 Shitou Ji, Story of the Stone). The most complete translation is by David Hawkes (Vols. 1-3) and John Mitford (Vols.4-5), The Story of the Stone; London, Penguin Books, 1973-1986). (Return)

2. Illustration from 紅樓夢詩畫，天然如意寶藏本， 1882. (Return)

3. 曹雪芹 Cao Xueqin; 高鶚 Gao E. (Return)

4. I have seen the same phenomenon in films. (Return)

5. See The Story of the Stone, Vol. 3, Penguin edition, p.37. (Return)

6. This suggests that the player perhaps was freely adapting existing melodies or melodic motifs. This could be seen as a sort of improvisation, though not what is sometimes called free improvisation. (Return)

7. See Cao Xueqin, op. cit., Vol. 4, pp.151ff and 166ff. (Return)

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