The fisherman in the title is not the common working man, but the scholarly ideal of a fisherman, living an idyllic life, enjoying nature and the pleasures of companionship and wine. The original preface, below, has him living along the Song Jiang (river),² which flows eastward from Tai Hu (the Great Lake³), passing south of Suzhou, then through the area which is today Shanghai.

This early version of Zui Yu Chang Wan is musically unrelated to the melody of this title played today. Zha Fuxi's Guide lists the title in 17 handbooks from 1549 to 1946.⁴ However, these 17 can be further sub-divided in three: two versions of the original melody, and the modern melody.

1. The original melody, found in the first two handbooks: 1549 and 1557. These two are nearly identical: 1557 gives a different attribution, but it also has 10 sections and the same section headings.
2. An elaboration of the first melody, earliest found over 100 years later in the third handbook Dahuange Qinpu (1673; X/387). It has 12 sections⁶ and is more elaborate; it seems to be the source of all the later versions up to Tianwenge Qinpu (1876).
3. The modern version,⁶ the first surviving occurrence of which is in Tianwenge Qinpu of 1876, which attributes it to the Sichuan qin player Zhang Kongshan. This modern Zui Yu Chang Wan, one of the most popular pieces in the current active repertoire, generally has six or seven sections.

The compiler of Xilutang Qintong, Wang Zhi, places Zui Yu Chang Wan after the short Dongting Qiusi (Autumn Thoughts of Dongting Lake⁷). These two pieces were not commonly paired elsewhere, but a sign at the end of Dongting Qiusi⁸ seems to indicate it was to be considered a prelude, and it shares some musical material with Zui Yu Chang Wan.⁹ It might be noted that, although the commonly known Dongting Lake is in Hunan province, Dongting was also used to refer to Tai Hu.¹⁰

As with other early qin melodies in the zhi mode, early versions of both pieces use ti (7) regularly, with Zui Yu Chang Wan often and Dongting Qiusi usually flattening the 7.¹¹ Later versions of these pieces eliminate the flattened 7s and often change the 7s to 1 (do).¹²

Wang Zhi's brief preface, which is perhaps intended also to apply to Dongting Qiusi, mentions two late Tang dynasty poets Lu Guimeng¹³ and Pi Rixiu.¹⁴ It then quotes part of a poem by another Tang poet, Zhang Zhihe (730-782).¹⁵

Lu Guimeng spent most of his life living in Fu Li,¹⁶ a village near Song Jiang. The qin handbook Qinshu Daquan¹⁷ includes several poems by Lu which praise the qin. One, called For the Old Man of Zixi, mentions a drunken fisherman.

Pi Rixiu, from Hubei province, came to the Suzhou area as an adult. Lu and Pi soon became very close friends; they wrote many poems together and also had a reputation for singing together. This, as well as their association with fishing and drinking, may be the reason for the attribution to this duo, rather than any specific melodic invention on their part.

Zhang Zhihe was an 8th century poet who quit his official position in the capital and retired to the countryside, living in seclusion by a river. He wrote a very well-known poem which goes,¹⁸

There was a Xisai mountain near the southern end of the Great Lake.

This is the only preface which mentions Lu and Pi. In contrast the nearly identical tablature of 1557²⁰ connects it to a poem by the early Song dynasty poet Zhang Yuangan.²¹ Later introductions do not mention specific people.²²

 
Original Preface²³

As Lu Luwang and Pi Ximei were floating in a boat on the Song River they saw an old fisherman drunkenly singing, and accordingly wrote this song. I think its flavor is as good as (that of Zhang Zhihe's famous poem which includes the lines,) "In front of Xisai Mountain...peach blossoms flow in the water."

 
Music
10 sections; section timings follow my recording ²⁴

00.00   1. Rowing through rippling water
00.50   2. Pulling the oars
01.20   3. Knocking on the boat planks (to frighten the fish)
02.01   4. Raising the nets (filled with fish)
02.35   5. The call of a fisherman: ao ai
03.43   6. (The boat settles in) the shallow water along the sandy shore
04.19   7. Forgetting society
04.45   8. A reed flute
05.50   9. Mourning antiquity
06.22 10. A mature man in retirement
06.57       Closing harmonics
07.12       End

 
Footnotes (Numbers refer to entries in Zhongwen Dacidian)

1. Zui Yu Chang Wan 醉漁唱晚
40778.101 has zuiyu only as a nickname; there is no mention of the melody by this or another version of the title, 醉漁晚唱 Zui Yu Wan Chang. (Return)

2. 松江 Song Jiang . Now called the 吳 淞 Wusong or, in English, Suzhou Creek. (Return)

3. 太湖 Tai Hu means "Great Lake". (Return)

4. Zha, Guide, pp. 20/186/--, lists the following occurrences of Zui Yu Chang Wan:

1. Xilutang Qintong (1549; 10 sections)
2. Taiyin Buyi (1557; 10)
3. Dahuange Qinpu (1673; 12)
4. Songfengge Qinpu (1677; 12)
5. Chengjiantang Qinpu (1689; 12)
6. Luhuaitang Qinpu (1702; 12)
7. Chengyitang Qinpu (1705; 12)
8. Wuzhizhai Qinpu (1722; 12)
9. Ziyuantang Qinpu (1802; 12)
10. Yiluxuan Qinpu (>1805; 12)
11. Wuxue Shanfang Qinpu (1836; 12/13)
12. Yiliu Zheng Wuzhizhai Qinpu (1875; 12)
13. Tianwenge Qinpu (1876; two: 6 [modern, attributed to Zhang Kongshan] and 12)
14. Tianlaige Qinpu (1876; 12)
15. Qinxue Qujin (1894; 12/13)
16. Shanxi Yucaiguan Yayue Jiangyi (1922; 6)
17. Shayan Qinbian (1946; 12).

See also Yanyixiqinzhai Qinpu (1961; 6). 古琴曲集 Guqin Quji Vols. 1 and 2 transcribe three performances of the new version (6 or 7 sections). All of those before 1876, and at least three later ones, present the earlier version. However, only the newer version is played today. None of the tablatures includes lyrics, though Zha Fuxi says 1946 appends some below each section title. (Return)

5. Sections 5 and 8 have been sub-divided. (Return)

6. Zui Yu Chang Wan, Modern Version
The modern version of Drunken Fisherman Sings in the Evening first survives from Folio 7 of 天問閣琴譜 Tianwenge Qinpu (1876), which says only that it is "by 張孔山 Zhang Kongshan". It is thus one of the handbook's eight melodies as played by the famous Sichuan qin player 張合修 Zhang Hexiu, better known as Zhang Kongshan (see Xu Jian's Qin History, Chapter 9 [p.174]). This new version quickly became one of the most popular melodies in the repertoire, with the effect that the musically unrelated earlier version soon disappeared and several varieties of the new version emerged. A recording of Zha Fuxi playing one of the modern versions can be heard on the website of Jim Binkley.
(Return)

7. Dongting Qiu Si 洞庭秋思 See further commentary in the main entry. 17777.56 and the following entries have nothing about "autumn thoughts" or the people mentioned here. This is the earliest surviving version of this title. Dongting Qiusi only precedes Zui Yu Changwan in the 1549 and 1689 handbooks. (Return)

8. 調終 "diao zhong" is often used with these short pieces; 曲終 "qu zhong" was generally used for the longer ones. (Return)

9. In my transcriptions compare m. 30-32 and 42-3 of Dongting Qiu Si with m.266-8 and 315-8 of Zui Yu Chang Wan. (Return)

10. Near the southern end of the lake there is a hill called Dongting Shan, and Republican era maps still show Dongting as a name for that end of the lake. (Return)

11. Since the fundamental note of the zhi mode is so (5), the flattened 7s are similar to the flattened thirds in the shang mode, which has do (1) as the fundamental note. (Return)

12. The changes can already be seen in Dahuange Qinpu (1673), which has edition #3 of Zui Yu Chang Wan and #5 of Dongting Qiusi; they also can be easily heard in the performances by Zha Fuxi and others of Dongting Qiusi. (Return)

13. Lu Guimeng 陸龜蒙 (d. c.881)
Lu Guimeng (42620.407 陸龜蒙, 字魯望,號江湖散人, etc.), literary name Luwang, was a 9th century poet who abstained from food, drink, festivities, etc., instead floating on a boat with his books, fishing tackle and equipment for making tea. He was from 長洲 Changzhou, now part of Suzhou. (Giles, Nienhauser.) (Return)

14. Pi Rixiu 皮日休 (c.834 - c.883)
A famous poet and scholar, Pi Rixiu (3340.12 皮日休 , 字襲美), literary name Ximei, obtained his jinshi in 867 then became a high official at the Court of Sacrificial Worship in Chang'an. When the rebel Huang Chao overran Chang'an in 880 he tried to force Pi to write prophecies, but these read like criticisms of Huang, so Huang had Pi put to death. His works include an editing of the 茶經 Tea Classic by 陸羽 Lu Yu (d.804; Giles, Nienhauser). He is said to have written a preface to a qin handbook that consisted of melodies as played by Chen Kangshi. (Return)

15. Zhang Zhihe 張志和 (730-782)
A friend of Pi Rixiu, Zhang Zhihe (10026.366) was also a famous poet; the poem quoted here (see 100 Tang and Song Ci Poems, #5) was popular even in Japan. Tales of Immortals (Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 2000), p.93, tells a story about him. It says he was a fine scholar, legendary drinker, master of qigong and an excellent painter of plants, animals and landscapes, especially fantastic scenery. (Return)

16. So one of his nicknames was 甫立先生 Mr. Fuli. (Return)

17. 琴書大全 (1593); see pp. 427, 443 and 451 (For the Old Man of Zixi [near Hangzhou?] 與紫耤溪翁). (Return)

18. 漁歌子：西塞山前白鷺飛，桃花流水鱖魚肥。青箬笠，綠蓑衣，斜風細雨，不須歸。 The popularity of this poem extended even to Japan. (Return)

19. 西塞山 ; 35587.587 says it is in the southwest of 吳興縣 Wuxing county; not on modern maps. There was an opera called 西塞山漁翁封拜 by 楊潮觀 Yang Chaoguan (Qing dynasty). (Return)

20. Taiyin Buyi (太音補遺 1557) introduces the piece as follows:

21. Zhang Yuangan 張元幹 (1091-1161)
Zhang Yuangan (10026.117 張元幹，字仲宗), literary name Zhongzong, was from 長樂 Chang Le, of which there are many, though none by Tai Hu. As with Lu and Pi, Zhang is not mentioned in any later introductions. Some of his poems in the Complete Song Ci (全宋詞，中華書局，卷二 , pp.1072-1104) mention drinking and fishing, but he is perhaps better known for his patriotic verse at a time when north China was being taken over by the Jin. (Return)

22. The 1722 handbook says, "醉漁唱晚為後世隱流所作". Several handbooks mention that it has a musical affinity with (the standard tuning version of) The Fisherman's Song (Yu Ge [徵調]漁歌 ), which appears first in Wugang Qinpu / Qinpu Zhenchuan (1546/7); the second occurrence, in Xilutang Qintong, seems to be a more accurate version. (Return)

23. 西麓堂琴統後序﹕
“陸魯望與皮襲美泛舟松江，見漁父醉歌，遂寫此曲。西塞山前，洮花流水，其興致恐不相下也。” (Return)

24. 西麓堂琴統小標題﹕
      聽錄音

00.00   1. 揚波
00.50   2. 鼓 (木+曳 = 枻)
01.20   3. 鳴榔
02.01   4. 舉網
02.35   5. 欸乃
03.43   6. 流灘
04.19   7. 忘世
04.45   8. 筦龠
05.50   9. 弔古
06.22 10. 逸老
06.57       泛音
07.12       曲終
(Return)

Return to the annotated handbook list or to the Guqin ToC.