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01. Cry of the Ospreys
- Zhi mode, standard tuning: 2 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 |
關雎
1
Guan Ju An osprey: see full image |
The title is from the first poem in the over 2,500 year-old Book of Songs (Shi Jing), but whereas the Guan Ju Qu in Taigu Yiyin (1511) sets the whole poem (and the next four) word for word, here the lyrics are quite different. The poem here becomes not so much a love song as political commentary, with the marriage of Wen Wang and his queen symbolizing the harmony of society under his rule.
Only section six quotes from the Shi Jing poem.4
He seeks but cannot get her,
he thinks of her day and night.
Twisting and turning in his plight.
Twisting and turning in his plight.
Other than these four-character phrases the lyrics are in phrases of irregular length.
Though not surviving in the linear (unbroken) tradition, Guan Ju was once one of the most popular qin pieces, found in 54 handbooks to 1894. It was attributed to Zhou Gong, son of Wen Wang and younger brother of Wu Wang, first ruler of the Zhou dynasty (1122-255).5
The Beyond-Sounds Immortal says,
as for this melody, it began with Zhou Gong; later people often added to it, making the current version. The Royal Ancestor's Handbook does not have this melody. It uses Guan Ju, as the first section of the Shi Jing, (from) the southern kingdoms influenced by the culture of Wen Wang, to allude to the enjoyment of peace in the happy marriage and happy relationship of Wen Wang and his queen, since (marriage is), in fact, the first among human relationships, and is essential to the fundamentals of society.
Ah! His happiness - could anything be so great!
00.00 1. The prince-like osprey finds a good marriage
01.06 2. Very gentle are (the wives of the royal family of) Zhou and Zhao
02.09 3. Using (a birdcall) as a metaphor for (the queen's virtue)
02.40 4. Praise (her) virtue and acclaim (her) conduct
03.26 5. (Like) the wind (, the queen) guides the world
04.00 6. They mutually call out in harmony to each other
04.19 7. The correct (wedding) ceremony (leads to) a successful marriage
05.19 8. (The king and queen's) virtue (is) as great as heaven and earth
05.59 9.(The king and queen have) eternal worship in the Zhou family temple
06.37 closing harmonics
06.54 end
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a
separate page)
1. 42402.191 Guan Ju does not mention a qin melody (Return)
2. Standard tuning is also considered as 5 6 1 2 3 5 6 , but 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 seems to work better here. The music of this version of Guan Ju is more diatonic than pentatonic. The accompanying transcription, by treating the open first string as 1 (C) makes the tonal center here 5 (G), the equivalent of the open fourth string; the secondary tonal center is then 2 (D), the equivalent of the open second string. It is tempting instead to consider the open fourth string as 1 (transposing the tuning to 4 5 7 1 2 4 5). In this case the secondary tonal center would generally be 5 (G). However, 4 (F) would be more prominent than is common in qin melodies. And in this case the scale generally used would then become 1 2 3 4 5 6 7b 1 , with 3 often changed to flatted 3 and flatted 7 sometimes changed to 7. For more information about zhi mode see Shenpin Zhi Yi. For modes in general see Modality in Early Ming Qin Tablature. (Return)
4. This is 4-character phrases #1-4 then 9,10,12,12. (Return)
5. Besides Taigu Yiyin (1511), seven other early handbooks include lyrics for Guan Ju:
6. The original Chinese preface can be seen under 關雎. (Return)
7. The original Chinese section titles can be seen under 關雎. The original lyrics are not yet online. (Return)
Return to the Zheyin Shizi Qinpu index or to the Guqin ToC.