This is the first occurrence of a melody which became quite popular² under the title Yuan He Shuang Qing (Paired Clarity of Gibbon and Crane).³ Taigu Yiyin attributes it to the Song dynasty scholar official Shi Yangxiu (995-1057),⁴ but it is not clear whether the attribution is of the words as well as the music. I have not been able to trace independently the source of the lyrics.

R.H. Van Gulik has written considerably on the role of the gibbon and crane in the world of the literati.⁵ According to him the painter Yi Yuanji (active 1060s)⁶ was the first painter known to have painted gibbons, and that after this it became a popular subject. It is perhaps more than a coincidence that this melody is said to have originated around the same time.

Shuang Qing Zhuan has melodic connections with He Ming Jiu Gao as found both in Taigu Yiyin and Shen Qi Mi Pu.

 
Original preface⁷

According to tradition this melody has the sound of the upright Song dynasty official Shi Yangxiu enjoying the Dao. Its sound is cool in order to be clear, its mode is aloof and pleasantly expansive. Perhaps it is like an old crane calling out to the wind, or a mysterious gibbon calling to (the moon?). It causes people who hear it suddenly to forget their desire to take advantage of things, and instead to think about leaving the dust of society. Thus they call this paired clarity.

 
Music and lyrics: Eleven sections⁸
- six sections are indicated with circles; the further sectioning here follows Faming Qinpu)
- a largely syllabic setting, with lines of the poem irregular in length

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1 雙清傳 Shuang Qing Zhuan
43067.177 "雙清﹕存心與行事俱清之意。 Paired clarity: the idea of clarity in thought and deed." Quotes 杜甫，《屏蹟》詩之而 a Du Fu poem called Avoidance #2. Nothing about music. See also Yuan He Shuang Qing below. (Return)

2 Zha Guide 14/151/268 has 17 entries from 1511. (Return)

3 猿鶴雙清 Yuan He Shuang Qing
21054.13 猿鶴﹕"猿與鶴也。（宋史，石揚休傳）平居養猿鶴。 Gibbon and crane; (Song History, Shi Yangxiu biography) He lived in quiet retirement, raising gibbons and cranes." Nothing about music. See also Shuang Qing Zhuan above. (Return)

4 Shi Yangxiu (995-1057): 24574.685 石揚休 Official during 仁宗 Renzong reign. Bio/367: From 眉州 Meizhou (south of Chengdu and east of 峨眉山 Emei Mountain), 字昌言 literary name Changyan, orphaned as a child he studied hard. In 1038 he became a 進士 jinshi (top scholar). 累官 Working hard he became 刑部員外郎 Ministry of Punishments Official (Outer Official) and 知制誥 Administrator of Making Mandates, and同判太常寺sub-prefect in the Court of Sacrificial Worship (in Loyang). He memorialized the emperor strongly requesting (various matters), and this had benefit at the time. 為人純素忠謹，以律度自居。 In order to be pure, faithful and respectful to people he thought of himself in terms of the ordering of musical tones.

In addition to Shuangqing Zhuan he is also associated with the melody He Ming Jiugao. A poem of his about listening to the qin played by the monk Wen Ying is included in 琴書大全 Qinshu Daquan Folio 19B, #87, and discussed in Folio 17, #36. (Return)

5 See Van Gulik's The Gibbon in China (1967), a fascinating essay in animal lore. The book is discussed in Hin-cheung Lovell, Van Gulik's Gibbon in China, A Dossier of Facts and Fancies, Orientations 12/11 (November 1981). (Return)

6 易元吉 Yi Yuanji (Return)

7 As copied in Zha's index a few characters are changed. (Return)

8 The original lyrics begin,