Chunxiao Yin survives in at least 20 handbooks from 1549 to 1899.² In addition, the melody Youshi Yin dated 1559 is almost identical,³ and two other handbooks from the 1550s have a related melody called Wu Gan Yin.⁴ The first surviving specific preface for Chunxiao Yin was published in 1692, with the ninth surviving occurrence of the melody.⁵ Both editions of Wu Gan Yin have a preface; the prefaces are identical, as is the music, and in both handbooks Wu Gan Yin serves as a prelude to Wu Ye Ti.⁶

Xilutang Qintong places Chunxiao Yin before Zhi Zhao Fei, as though it is a prelude. Both pieces are in the yu mode, and both are set in early morning. In addition the poem Zhi Zhao Fei by Li Bai is set in spring.⁷ On the other hand, the mood of Chunxiao Yin seems to be much calmer than that of Zhi Zhao Fei, which tells of a middle aged man seeing a male and female pheasant fly together, and bewailing the fact that he himself is still without a mate. Since the first surviving example is in Xilutang Qintong, one must consider the possibility that Wang Zhi composed it as a calm introduction before the excitement of Zhi Zhao Fei. Zha Fuxi's index claims that the melody is pre-Ming, but does not give an authority.

There is a ci rhythm named Chunxiao Qu (Spring Dawn Melody). A poem in this rhythm by Zhu Dunru (1080 - c.1175) begins, "The moon sets behind the west pavilion; the chicken sounds anxious." I have not found any specific connection between the ci rhythm or title and the qin melody.

A modern recording by Guan Pinghu says it is based on some handcopied tablature; the transcription in Guqin Quji, Vol. 1 says it is based on the tablature in Ziyuantang Qinpu (1802). Two recordings by Sun Guisheng, with ensemble, incorrectly state he uses the 1549 handbook. Versions by Gong Yi (three, including one with xun ocarina and one with xiao flute) say they come from Ziyuantang Qinpu in consultation with other versions. None of the introductions gives any history of the piece or title, only saying that it describes a spring morning.

 
Original preface

None (the one for #90 Zhi Zhao Fei applies?).

 
3 Sections (none titled)

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. 14148.643 春曉曲，詞牌名； （詞譜）朱敦儒詞有「西樓月落雞聲急」，又名「西樓月」；見花草粹編。。。 (Return)

2. Zha Guide 20/189/-- has 20 entries from 1549 to l899. The second was not published until 1590 (Return)

3. 憂時吟 Youshi Yin (3; Intonation on a Melancholy Time) Zha Guide 24/203/-- : only in 1559. The preface is:
    時可有為，而己不得仕，己懷其術，而時不可為，此皆君子之所憂也。 (Return)

4. 物感吟 Wu Gan Yin (Intonation on the Influence of All)
Zha Guide 24/200/-- : two handbooks, 1552 and 1557. Like Chunxiao Yin, Wu Gan Yin is also in three sections. Sections 1 and 3 of Wu Gan Yin are almost identical to Sections 1 and 3 of Chunxiao Yin. Section 2 of Chunxiao Yin is in harmonics. Section 2 of Wu Gan Yin has stopped sounds, but the right hand fingering is in many places similar to the corresponding parts of Chunxiao Yin, giving what at first seems to be a rather stange melody. In both handbooks Wu Gan Yin is a prelude to Wu Ye Ti. (Return)

5. The preface to Chunxiao Yin in Qinpu Xiwei (1692) begins, 氣之雍和可親者，於歲為春，於晝為曉.... (Return)

6. The prefaces to Wu Gan Yin both refer to Wu Ye Ti. (Return)

7. See Yuefu Shiji, p.836 and also the Shen Qi Mi Pu preface to Zhi Zhao Fei. (Return)

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