Wu Ye Ti was one of the most popular qin melody titles in the Ming and early Qing dynasties, surviving in 15 Ming handbooks, then in 11 more to 1800. Only six more to 1910 include it, but it is one of the early melodies to have been revived, and is now quite often played.²

The title Wu Ye Ti is one of the most ancient, being mentioned for example in lists of pieces associated with the Yue Fu - the official music bureau of the Han dynasty and later, one of whose functions was to collect music current among the people.

Today the raven is generally considered unlucky. However, in early poetic texts such as those collected by the Yue Fu it is not uncommon to find the theme of a woman at home hearing a raven call out as she wonders about a son (or man) who is away, and considering the call lucky. The raven can symbolize fidelity to family, but it can also suggest freedom to travel. It can bring a divine message, but it can also be an omen of death. Whether the call of the raven is considered an omen of ill fate or a sign of good luck may depend on the time of the call: an early evening call may be lucky, a late evening call unlucky.³

Folio 60, #2, in the qin section of Yuefu Shiji, has a Wu Ye Ti Ge, with a preface attributing the melody to a daughter of He Yan (190 - 246).⁴ The preface then says that when He Yan was in prison, two ravens came to the daughter's cottage. She considered this a lucky omen that her father would be released, and so she "selected" this melody. There are then lyrics by Zhang Ji; these concern a young wife hearing the call of a raven while her husband is imprisoned.⁵

Neither the Shen Qi Mi Pu preface nor any of the later prefaces to existing versions of Wu Ye Ti refers to this story. The story consistently used does also come from Yuefu Shiji. But instead of from the qin section it comes from Folio 47.

This story is set in the Liu Song dynasty (420-479), centered at Nanjing. The persons mentioned are the emperor, Liu Yilong (407-453),⁶ a son of the founder of the dynasty; another son, Liu Yikang,⁷ then prince in Yuzhou, an old name for Nanchang; and a grandson of the founder, Liu Yiqing,⁸ then governor in Jiangzhou, modern Jiujiang, about 100 km north of Nanchang. Liu Yiqing was said to have been a good writer. Perhaps when the raven calls it is in the early evening, since it turns out to be a good luck omen.

In selecting this story to explain the piece, perhaps it is significant that Zhu Quan was prince in Nanchang, and was also often in fear of keeping his position. Although all later handbooks relate the same story, the lyrics of the version in Zheyin do not mention it.

There is a story about the early Ming dynasty qin master Xu Hezhong that concerns Wu Ye Ti.⁹ It was said that a contemporary of Xu, a certain Mr. Xue, was so devoted to playing Wu Ye Ti that he was called "Xue Wu Ye"; however, when this person heard Xu play it he immediately became Xu's disciple. Again, there is no information about which particular versions were involved in this story.

An unusual characteristic of the version of this piece in SQMP is the longhand description near the beginning of the tablature explaining how to execute the opening finger strokes. This is found in several SQMP pieces, particularly from the first folio, which is supposed to have the oldest melodies. Such longhand descriptions are quite rare in later handbooks, but this one consistently shows up in the later versions of Wu Ye Ti.

In Zheyin, but not in SQMP (see comments with #42 Zhi Zhao Fei), the coda as written strangely centers on so in spite of the piece being in a la mode throughout.

 
Original Preface¹⁰

The Emaciated Immortal says

This is perhaps a very old piece. The Music Record of the Tang Annals states,

The tune which the Linchuan prince wrote belongs in the old Yue Fu, and was not actually a qin melody; but perhaps the one in Yue Fu and the qin melody illustrated the same ideas.

 
Nine sections (no lyrics¹²)
(Titles from Zheyin Shizi Qinpu; SQMP has one only for #7, Struggling for the nest)

(00.00) 1. The moon is bright, so the stars are indistinct
(01.01) 2. The small ravens fly south
(02.24) 3. "Ya ya" sounds in the cold
(03.07) 4. A solitary image of loneliness
(03.30) 5. Giving one's own food to parents out of love and compassion
(04.14) 6. Royal kindness provides a pardon
(04.48) 7. Struggling for the nest at midnight
(05.21) 8. Disgorging food to feed the chicks
(05.52) 9. Using something as an analogy
(06.57) -- play harmonics of the modal prelude
(07.11) -- Piece ends

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Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. 19454.120 烏夜啼﹕樂府西曲歌名；琴操名；詞牌名；曲牌名。 Evening Call of the Raven:

• Name of a Music Bureau Western Song;
• Name of a qin melody (YFSJ Section 60, p.872, has one poem, 烏夜啼引 Prelude to Wu Ye Ti, by 張籍 Zhang Ji: a raven's call tells a wife her husband will soon be released from jail; word count [5+7]x1 + [7+7]x3 + [5+5]x1 + [7+7]x1);
• Name of a pattern for lyrics (the pattern seems to have become 6,3,6,3; 3,3,3,6,3, though I haven't found this pattern in any of the early poems of this title);
• Name of a song pattern (this apparently refers to opera). (Return)

2. Zha's Guide 7/70/110 (chart not yet online). In the 15th century the tablature of Wu Ye Ti as transmitted in 1425 seems also to have been more consciously preserved than was done with the tablature of other melodies. Thus the handbooks of 1546, 1552, 1557 and 1561 all copy the 1425 tablature quite closely, including archaic forms.

There are about 10 recordings available of different versions of Wu Ye Ti. Yao Bingyan's from SQMP is available on an old recording with silk strings; his son Yao Gongbai's follows this version, as does Dai Xiaolian's. Then, besides the Zheyin version recorded in my CD, Music Beyond Sound, there are also recordings of the versions in Wuzhizhai Qinpu (Xu Xiaoying) and Ziyuantang Qinpu (Guan Pinghu), as well as ones by Xie Daoxiu and Yang Xinlun (sources not identified). (Return)

3. Wolfram Eberhard, A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols, pp.247/8, Raven (烏鴉 wu ya), relates the legend associating the raven with the sun (as the rabbit is with the moon). He says the raven bringing messages from the gods has three legs; some ravens are associated with temples. He says the raven call was generally considered unlucky, but that this might also be dependent on time: from 8 to 10 PM it is lucky; 10 - 12 PM unlucky.
(Return)

4. 何晏 He Yan (190 - 246; 489.217; Giles) was famous as a dandy with beautiful white skin. When young he attracted the attention of Cao Cao, but was sent home for petulance. He was later shunned by Cao Cao's grandson (Mingdi, r. 227 - 240) as effeminate. After Mingdi died He Yan became involved with Cao Shuang, and like him was eventually executed after some palace intrigue. He was also a noted for "pure talk" and his knowledge of Daoist classics.

The preface in YFSJ, Folio 60, #2, quotes Qin Shuo by Li Mian, as follows.

(The editor [Guo Maoqian?] adds,)

5. 張籍 Zhang Ji's poem begins,

6. Liu Yilong: 2270.918 劉義隆 (407 - 453); Giles: third son of Liu Yu, whom he succeeded in 424 as third Emperor of the Liu Song dynasty. (Return)

7. Liu Yikang: 2270.916 劉義康 Liu Yikang says nothing about music or poems, (Return)

8. Liu Yiqing (403 - 444) (Return)

9. 徐和仲 Xu Hongzhong is also said in some sources to have composed Si Shun. (Return)

10. There are three prefaces in Yuefu Shiji, Folio 47:

1. 唐書，樂志 Tang Shu, Yuezhi (Music Chronical from the Tang Annals)
   (It begins with the virtually identical passage as in SQMP. However, where the SQMP preface says, "and so he wrote the melody Wu Ye Ti," the Yuezhi says,
   "and so he wrote a song. Its lyrics are as follows, (sometimes the lines are reversed.)
   Every evening I look for my gentleman to come,
   He knocks at my window, but the window cannot be opened.

   The lyrics transmitted here were probably not written by Liu Yiqing."

   因此作歌。故其和云，

   夜夜望郎來,
   籠窗窗不開.

   今所傳歌詞，似非義慶本旨。

2. 教坊記 Jiaofang Ji (13546.33 Record of the Jiaofang [a sort of imperial court art academy], by 崔令欽 Cui Lingqin, 8th c.)
   (Retells basically the same story)

3. 古今樂錄 Music Records Old and New
   Wu Ye Ti is an old dance for sixteen persons.

4. 樂府解題 Yuefu Jieti
   There is also Raven Roosting Song (烏棲曲 Wu Qi Qu; this is the next melody in YFSJ, see p.695). It is not known if this is the same as (Wu Ye Ti).
   (Return)

11. 鎮 zhen; Donald Holzman, Immortals Festivals and Poetry in Medieval China suggests "mountain top", i.e., nearby 廬山 Mount Lu. (Return)

12. None of Wu Ye Ti lyrics in Yuefu Shiji Folio 47 directly refers to the Liu Yiqing story. The lyrics there are attributed to,

1. 無名氏 Anonymous: 8 lyrics (each is [5 + 5] x 2)

2. 梁簡文帝 Emperor Jianwen of Liang

3. 劉孝綽 Liu Xiaochuo (Xiaochao): 2 poems

4. 庾信 Yu Xin (Bio/2187)
   He is said to have had a qin named Qing Ying.

5. 李白 Li Bai (699-762)
   Translated in, e.g., Sun Yu, Li Po - A New Translation. HK, Commercial Press, 1982, p. 112. See also Xu Jian, pp. 45-49. It opens by relating the sadness of a young wife whose husband is off at the frontier. The lyrics then focus on the natural life of birds and the mutual devotion between parent and child.

6. （顧況 Gu Kuang): 2 poems

7. 李群玉 Li Qunyu

8. 聶夷中 Nie Yizhong

9. 白居易 Bai Juyi

10. 王建 Wang Jian

11. 張祜 Zhang Hu
    (Return)

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