The Yang Chun melody in Xilutang Qintong (1549) is completely unrelated to the Yang Chun melody in the first folio of Shen Qi Mi Pu (1425). Versions related to the 1425 melody are found in only two later handbooks, dated 1552 and 1670. By contrast, versions of the melody in Xilutang Qintong survive in at least 33 handbooks from 1539 to 1946 (see chart); they also can be found in the active modern repertoire.³

The earliest known publication of this later version of Yang Chun is the Yang Chun included in Fengxuan Xuanpin (1539). The 1539 version has lyrics,⁴ and also in other ways seems to have more problems of interpretation than does the 1549 version. For this reason I decided to focus on reconstructing this 1549 version.⁵

At least eight 16th century handbooks have versions related to the one here, most of them quite different from each other. Their number and variety would seem to indicate that this was one of the most popular pieces during that period. Some of them⁶ say that this melody is also called Dragon Gate Peach Wave Prelude,⁷ so perhaps this latter version of Sunny Spring emerged from a melody of that title.

The 1549 version of Yang Chun has as a prelude a short melody called Xiuxi Yin (Purification Ceremony Melody). It might seem more natural for Xiuxi Yin to be connected with #12 Liu Shang: Liu Shang means "floating goblets", and its preface connects it to a particular Xiuxi ceremony at Lanting Pavilion in the year 353 CE, an event made famous by calligrapher Wang Xizhi. Furthermore, no explanations anywhere make any overt connection between Xiuxi Yin and Yang Chun. However, the xiuxi was a spring ceremony, and is thus appropriate as a prelude.

According to R. H. Van Gulik, Yang Chun and Bai Xue (White Snow) were melodies of the southern state of Chu originally popular in the 5^th c. BCE, but of such continuing popularity that the names were soon ascribed separately or together to a great variety of melodies.⁸ This also has contributed to the confusion of stories mentioned in the various qin tablatures. Zhu Quan's preface quotes five of these sources; of these Xilutang Qintong relates three.

As for the sources mentioned in Xilutang Qintong, Van Gulik goes on to state that the Bowu Zhi, by Zhang Hua, actually says Su Nü⁹ played the piece on a se zither; that the part about Song Yu, a nephew of the famous 4^th century BCE poet and official Qu Yuan, is available from many sources, quoting a Han dynasty original;¹⁰ and the story about Shi Kuang,¹¹ a qin master from Confucian times, is from Huainanzi (perhaps 2^nd c. BCE). He further states that the common attribution (as in SQMP) to Liu Juanzi,¹² a 4^th c. CE Daoist doctor, is from Qin Essay by Xie Zhuang (421-466); and that the information about Lü Cai¹³ (again as in SQMP) is from the Xin Tang Shu (New Tang History).

The Song Yu reference, said to be the earliest surviving one though it may actually be Han, not pre-Han, is found in Wen Xuan,¹⁴ "Song Yu Responds to the Questions of the Prince of Chu". Song Yu, having been told that some people are criticizing him, compares himself to a rare melody, saying,

The Yang Chun recordings by Ding Yang, Wu Jinglue, Wu Wenguang, Wu Zhaoji, Xie Xiaoping and Su Sidi are of a modern version related to the one in Xilutang Qintong.¹⁵

 
Original preface ¹⁶

Zhang Hua's Bo(wu) Zhi says,

Song Yu told (King) Xiang of Chu,

So Shi Kuang of Jin used the seven string qin divided it into gong and shang modes, making two pieces.

And so forth.

 
Music
Ten sections¹⁷

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Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Tracing the title Yang Chun
42673.149/2 Yang Chun says "music piece" and quotes a Wen Xuan story contrasting it with the melody 巴人 Ba Ren; 42673.153 Yangchun Baixue says "old song, and gives the Song Yu story from Wen Xuan.
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2. For more information on gong mode see Shenpin Gong Yi and Modality in Early Ming Qin Tablature.
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3. Tracing Yang Chun melodies
The Chart tracing Yang Chun is based largely on Zha Fuxi's Guide 3/27/19. Zha's Guide does not distinguish between the two versions. 太音傳習 Taiyin Chuanxi has both versions. The lyrics of 重修真傳琴譜 Chongxiu Zhenchuan Qinpu (15 sections) cannot be matched to SQMP. These two handbooks also usually follow SQMP for other pieces.
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4. Yang Chun with lyrics
In all, seven versions of Yang Chun survive with lyrics (links are to the Chart tracing Yang Chun):

1. Fengxuan Xuanpin (II/58; 1539)
2. Wugang Qinpu (I/380; 1546)
3. Qinpu Zhengchuan (II/399, 409; 1561)
4. Chongxiu Zhenchuang Qinpu (IV/300; 1585)
5. Zhenchuan Zhengzong Qinpu (VII/57; 1589)
6. Lixing Yuanya (VII/190; 1618)
7. Shayan Qinbian (1946)

Of these, there seem to be three unrelated sets of lyrics. Those of the versions dated 1585, 1609 and 1618 are completely different from those of 1539 and 1561 but are related to each other; the version dated 1946 has completely different lyrics from all the above. Although in 1561 the lyrics of 1539 are included prior to the tablature, they don't fit the music.

The lyrics of the 1539 version begin as follows:

Yuefu Shiji also has lyrics for Yang Chun, but not in the qin melody lyrics section, which has lyrics only for Bai Xue (called Bai Xue Ge; see lyrics: two of the three do mention spring). The Yang Chun lyrics are included under Qingshang quci, with one entry by Shen Yue in Folio 50 (preceded by commentary) and ten entries in Folio 51 (see lyrics below). Xilutang Qintong sometimes adds lyrics to only one or two sections of long melodies, and I have found that lyrics consisting of couplets having 5+5 characters can be matched quite nicely to the tablature for the present Yang Chun Sections 7 and 9, both of which adapt well to six couplets of 5+5, though the fourth couplet in Section 7 is somewhat strained according to the traditional pairing method).

The Yuefu Shiji lyrics for Yang Chun on pp. 742-4 are as follows:

5. As a general rule I have always tried to learn the earliest version of whatever melody I try to reconstruct.
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6. See in particular 太音傳習 Taiyin Chuanxi (1552; IV.28), which has both versions, plus 梧岡琴譜 Wugang Qinpu (I.380) and the identical 琴譜正傳 Qinpu Zhengchuan (ca. 1546/7).
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7. Dragon Gate Peach Wave Prelude (Longmen Taolang Yin 龍門桃浪引)
49812.191 and 12/1470 龍門 Longmen: places in Shanxi, Henan and Sichuan; gate to success. 4/984 taolang quotes a passage from Pipa Ji (琵琶記，才俊登程) that also mentions longmen, and says this can refer to 4/981 桃花浪 taohua lang, for which see also 15099.68 (15099.99 added nothing): it can mean 桃花汛 spring flooding. This also mentions longmen, and together these seem to suggest that when a stream rises, as it does in spring, fish must jump through the dragon gate and become dragons, otherwise they will die. No mention of music.
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8. See R.H. van Gulik, Hsi Kang and his Poetical Essay on the Lute, Tuttle, 1969. p.92
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9. Su Nü 素女
27924.11 素女 mentions three woman with this name; the one who was contemporary of the Yellow Emperor was skilled at music; see also Qin Ji (?); Qinshi Bu, #5.
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10. 琴論 Qin Lun by 謝莊 Xie Zhuang, an important source on early qin players; he has a biography in 琴史 Qin Shi (#100), but the quote is different from here.
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11. See Folio II, Bai Xue, which Zhu Quan attributes to Shi Kuang. The statement by Song Yu about Yangchun Baixue is quoted in Wen Xuan and elsewhere from an earlier source.
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12. Early qin sources are confusing about the name Juanzi, of whom there seem to be three:

13. Lü Cai 呂才 (600? - 665)
Lü Cai (3479.5; Bio/523) was a skilled musician and Daoist who rose to the rank of　太常丞 taichang cheng, a deputy in the 5965.354 太常 Taichang, a government department whose responsibilities included rites and music; they apparently would take old tunes and re-do them as ritual pieces. Lü's biography is in Chapter 79 of Jiu Tang Shu. Xu Jian, with reference to Tang Hui Yao (唐會要), says Lü Cai played an accompaniment to local lyrics. Hsu Wen-Ying (The Ku-Ch'in, p.171) writes that the Gaozong emperor (650-684) wrote lyrics for Bai Xue, and that Lü Cai altogether set to music 16 poems written by Gaozong, who called them Yue Fu.
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14. Folio 45, first piece. See also David Knechtges, Wen Xuan, Vol. 3, p. 222 and Xu Jian p. 9. The four comparisons are: 下里巴人 Xiali (and) Baren; 陽阿薤露 Yang A (and) Xielu; 陽春白雪 Yangchun (and) Baixue; and 引商刻羽，雜以流徵 yin shang ke yu, za yi liu zhi.
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15. The transcription and recording by Yao Bingyan is of the SQMP version; it can be found in Bell Yung, Celestial Airs of Antiquity. Yao Gongjing's version follows that of his father.
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16. Original Chinese preface not yet online.
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17. 1585 has the same section titles; those of 1539 are completely different. Three later handbooks have section titles for latter sections only. The original titles in Xilutang Qintong are as follows:

1. 晴天錦繡
2. 紫陌芳菲
3. 鳴鳥穿林
4. 香塵拂袂
5. 羌管落梅
6. 金鈴護月
7. 遊人鼓吹
8. 鷗浴晴波
9. 燕語雕梁
10. 鞦韆院落
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