Lingxu Yin

Lingxu Yin occurs quite commonly in early qin handbooks, surviving in fifteen from 1425 through 1670.⁴ After 1670, however, it is included in only one extant handbook, Qinpu Xiesheng (1820).⁵ Lingxu Yin is almost always placed directly before Liezi Yu Feng, for which it seems to serve as a prelude. This connection is emphasized in Shen Qi Mi Pu, where the last two phrases plus concluding harmonics of each of the two melodies is almost the same.⁶

Lingxu Yin has only three sections, as do many preludes. Such preludes often have no commentary, each borrowing its commentary from the longer melody that follows it.⁷ Thus it is not surprising both that there is no direct attribution of this melody until the ninth handbook to include it, Chongxiu Zhenchuan Qinpu (1585), and that this one, attributes it to the reputed creator of Liezi Yu Feng, Mao Minzhong. In fact, though, this 1585 version is very different from previous ones.⁸

Zhu Quan mentions "a friend like Zhong or Lü". Zhong must be Zhong Ziqi (see Gao Shan and Liu Shui for his friendship with the qin player Bo Ya); Lü　has not yet been identified.⁹

There are no other available recordings of this title.

Original Preface¹⁰

The Emaciated Immortal says

this piece must have been written by a follower of Zhuangzi or Liezi, or a friend like Zhong or Lü. Perhaps the flavor of the tune is like a long chant in the environs of a clear heavenly Daoist temple, or skywalking above the dark purple universe. This is what is called "a peaceful night with the moon shining so that the sky is like water, and the empty void has only the sound of (immortals) skywalking."

Music
Three sections; titles are from Chongxiu Zhenchuan Qinpu¹¹

(00.00) 1. Ascending the clouds riding a crane
(00.40) 2. Riding the winds to the vault of heaven
(01.13) 3. Skywalking in the distant universe
(02.12) -- Play harmonics of this mode
(02.27) -- Melody ends

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Lingxu Yin 凌虛引 1696.83 "rise to the sky"; old poetic references but none connected to music; = 陵虛 42621.105: more poetic references (Return)

2. For more information on jiao mode see Shenpin Jiao Yi. See also Modality in Early Ming Qin Tablature. (Return)

3. Illustration: Riding a Crane, by Edgar Francisko Jimenez.
The calligraphy to the left of the image says:
躡雲鶴駕 Ascending the clouds riding a crane; (See Section 1)
睥睨江漢 Looking aloofly at the Yangzi and Han (rivers; see the preface to Shen You Liu He).
唐世璋__碧鈺題 John Thompson asked Biyu to write this.
(Return)

4. See Zha Guide 5/55/79. In 13 of these 16 handbooks (as indicated) Lingxu Yin directly precedes Liezi Yu Feng:

1425 (I/136)
<1491 (missing; probably was on the missing pages 2-3; the lyrics of 1585 fit)
1539 (II/217; follows Liezi Yu Feng)
1549 (III/133; somewhat elaborated; pentatonicized)
1552 (IV/102; preface and melody almost same as 1425)
1557 (III/346; same as 1552 but no preface)
1571 (Qin Fu/252; lyrics; omits first section)
1579 (IV/222; same as 1425)
1585 (IV/409; lyrics; melody seems completely different; attrib. Mao Minzhong)
1589 (VI/44; opening different, but then more related)
1590 (V/500; occurs two melodies after Liezi Yu Feng; combined into two sections)
1602 (identical to 1589; same preface as 1425)
1647 (re-copied in 1692)
1670 (two: XI/355 [same as 1425] and XI/507 [same??]}
1820 ("角宮，凡三段；有後記"; this handbook does not include Liezi Yu Feng)
(Return)

5. 琴譜諧聲 Qinpu Xiesheng; I have not been able to examine this handbook. (Return)

6. See my transcriptions, pp. II-81/2 (mm. 56 - end) and p. II-88 (mm. 195 - end). In addition, phrases two and three of the opening of Shenpin Jiao Yi are almost the same as phrases one and two of Lingxu Yin. This and some other similarities suggests that these three: modal prelude, prelude, and melody, were intended as a set. (Return)

7. Ming Dynasty handbooks through around 1600 commonly precede long melodies with short preludes. I do not believe there is sufficient evidence at present to know how common this custom was during the Song dynasty, so I am skeptical of attributions made on this basis. (Return)

8. Note also that the lyrics used with this 1585 version fit the SQMP tablature and almost certainly were at the beginning of the surviving edition of Zheyin Shizi Qinpu. (Return)

9. 鐘，呂﹕鐘子期；呂？ Zhong Ziqi or Lü? (Return)

10. See the original Chinese text
(Return)

11. See the <1491 lyrics; the original Chinese titles are:

1. 躡雲鶴駕
2. 乘風天表
3. 步虛太羅
(Return)

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