The earliest surviving version of the present melody, today more commonly called Ao Ai or Ao Ai Ge,⁴ occurs here in Zheyin Shizi Qinpu, where it follows the short Yuge Diao (Fisherman's Song Melody), a setting to music of a poem called Yu Weng (The Old Fisherman). Yu Weng is by the famous poet Liu Zongyuan (Liu Zihou, 773-819), and apparently for this reason the melody Yu Ge has also often been attributed to him.⁵

In fact, there are two Fisherman's Songs, the present one using the raised fifth string tuning (tonal center 6 [la], secondarily on 3 [mi], but in many passages the tonal center changes to 1 [do] and 5 [so]), and another using standard tuning (zhi mode, tonal centers 5 and 2 [re]). Both remain in the current repertoire, the standard tuning one still called Yu Ge. There are over 30 published versions of each,⁶ with most having 18 sections.⁷

In addition, there are also about eight recordings of the standard tuning Yu Ge as well as about 14 recordings of Ao Ai. Within each tuning all melodies are clearly related, though there are also very significant differences.⁸

The Yu Ge (Ao Ai) using ruibin tuning occurs in about 40 handbooks dating from ca. 1491 to 1876. The Yu Ge using standard tuning occurs in about 30 traditional handbooks dating from 1549 (Xilutang Qintong⁹) to 1910. Xilutang Qintong attributed it to the late Song dynasty qin master Mao Minzhong, but this attribution is generally not repeated in later handbooks. About 10 handbooks, beginning with Xilutang Qintong, have a version with each tuning. Xilutang Qintong is the first to call the ruibin version Ao Ai.

Commentary on Ao Ai Ge in at least two handbooks, Chuncaotang Qinpu (1744) and Erxiang Qinpu (1833), begins by saying that it is commonly called the "northern Yu Ge"; the writers then suggest this is a mistake, Erxiang Qinpu explaing that Ao Ai is pentatonic (5 tone scale) and Yu Ge is diatonic (7 tone scale).¹⁰ Several other factors also suggest that the ruibin tuning Yu Ge should be considered a southern counterpart to the standard tuning northern one. Section titles and lyrics of the ruibin version associate it with the south (Chu), whereas the Xilutang Qintong standard tuning version has section titles with associations to the region around Jiangsu's Lake Taihu. In addition, other melodies with one of the raised fifth tunings are often associated with Hunan and the ancient kingdom of Chu.¹¹ And Liu Zongyuan spent years of exile in Hunan.¹²

My recording from Zheyin Shizi Qinpu shows some rather exotic modality in Section 14. First there is a passage which has the repeated sequences 1 3 4 3 4 6 4 3 ( 1 is actually written in a position producing 7 , but the fingering required for this followed by that for 3 is very awkward), very much like a Japanese scale. The phrase ends on repeated intervals of a diminished ninth chord (3 and 4) and the following phrase then ends with a strong cadence on another diminished ninth (6 and 7 flat). I interpret the flatted 7 as leading strongly into the next passage, which begins on 6 (the tonic).

As mentioned in Tuning the Qin, early qin music includes quite a few passages which don't fit into the modality expected today. This is perhaps the most idiosyncratic passage. At first when I encountered it I was quite convinced there was a mistake (the sample page shows some actual mistakes from that page), and I tried to get myself to "correct" it; but the more I tried, the more I kept coming back to these fanciful dissonances. For me they work.

 
Zheyin Shizi Qinpu preface

Zheyin groups this with the preceding piece, Yuge Diao, and so it has no separate preface.¹³

 
Sections titles¹⁴

00.00   1. Clouds over the Xiao and Xiang rivers
01.08   2. The autumn river shines like a ribbon of white silk cloth
01.51   3. Autumn thoughts by Dongting lake
02.16   4. Mist and waves on the Chu and Xiang
02.54   5. A brilliant moon in the broad firmament
03.30   6. The fishermen's songs echo back and forth
04.29   7. Wild geese call
05.01   8. An evening alongside the western
05.27   9. The fishermen sing in the evening
06.23   10. Drunkenly lying among the rushes
07.07   11. Evening rain on an overgrown lattice window
07.33   12. Leaves fall from the wutong tree
08.00   13. At dawn drawing water from the Xiang river
08.30   14. The fishermen row their
09.04   15. Casting nets into the cool river
09.45   16. The sun comes out, dissolving the mists
10.12   17. The sound "ao ai" (oars splashing)
10.29   18. High mountains and long rivers.
10.49       Closing harmonics
11.02       End

Return to the Zheyin Shizi Qinpu index or to the Guqin ToC.

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Yu Ge 漁歌
18588.87 "song sung by a fisherman"; 18589.88 漁歌子，Yu Gezi 詞牌名 name of a ci song poem pattern connected to a poem by Tang poet 張志和 Zhang Zhihe (730-782). (Return)

2. Ruibin mode 蕤賓調
1=do, 2=re, etc.; in my transcription do is written as c, but the exact pitch depends on such things as the size and quality of the instrument and strings. For more information about 蕤賓調 ruibin mode see Shenpin Ruibin Yi. For modes in general see Modality in Early Ming Qin Tablature. (Return)

3. Wu Zhen (1280-1354): The Fisherman 吳鎮，漁父圖
The above is an excerpt from the Shanghai Museum website. There is a painting on this same theme also attributed to Wu Zhen in the Freer Gallery, Washington, D.C. (compare compare).
(Return)

4. Pronunciation of 欸乃 and 欸乃歌 (see in poem)
16442.0 欸 gives ai, i and ao as pronunciations for several types of interjections.
115.0 乃 gives both nai and ai as pronunciations, associating the latter with 欸乃.
16442.1 欸乃 can thus be pronounced Ao Ai, Ai Ai or I Ai, though it is now also commonly pronounced Ai Nai. It is defined as the sound of oars being rowed, adding that by extension it also represents a boat song or fisherman's song.
16442.2 欸乃曲 Ao Ai Qu gives several references and says it is also a 詞牌名 poetic rhythm. 16442.3 欸乃詞 Ao Ai Ci is a woodcutter's song. (Return)

5. Liu Zongyuan, the Old Fisherman 柳宗元，漁翁
Liu Zongyuan was also called 柳子厚 Liu Zizou. Melodic settings of his poem, which survive in 12 handbooks up to Meian Qinpu (1931), are discussed under Yu Ge Diao. Xu Jian, Qinshi Chubian, p.75 discusses the connection between Yu Ge Diao and Ao Ai. Some handbooks also attribute Ao Ai itself to Liu, while some later ones even attribute to him the zhi mode Yu Ge. (Return)

6. Tracing Yu Ge and Ao Ai
For details see appendix below. The information here is tentative, as many of the handbooks after 1802 have not been available for examination. For prefaces, etc., see Zha 11/117/200 (Yu Ge) and 21/190/376 (Ao Ai). Zha generally puts all the Yu Ge together, even if they use ruibin tuning.
(Return)

7. The main exception is a 10 section standard tuning Yu Ge noted as following the Meixuewo revision. (Return)

8. Guqin Quji has transcriptions of three versions of the standard tuning Yu Ge. See Vol.I, p.104 (from Wuzhizhai Qinpu as played by Wu Zhaoji); Vol.I, p.115 (Ziyuantang Qinpu as played by Zha Fuxi); and Vol.II, p.78 (Wuzhizhai Qinpu as played by Wu Jinglu). After the beginning, all are quite different from 1549. There are no published transcriptions of Ao Ai; none of the recordings is clear about where or how the player learned them. (Return)

9. Ao Ai and Yu Ge in Xilutang Qintong (1549)
Ao Ai is the 112th melody in Xilutang Qintong, compiled by Wang Zhi (王芝), who lived on the southeast side of Huang Shan mountain in Anhui province. Wang in the introduction of his handbook says he spent 30 years collecting the tunes. Some of these seem to be very early versions, some quite late. His Ao Ai is quite different melodically from the earlier raised fifth Yu Ge. In addition, the titles of the 16 sections are also quite different from those for Yu Ge in Zheyin Shizi Qinpu. The preface for Ao Ai in Xilutang Qintong as follows,

The standard tuning Yu Ge is the 82nd piece in Xilutang Qintong. For it Xilutang Qintong has the following preface,

10. Northern and Southern Songs of the Fisherman
Chuncaotang Qinpu (1744) and Erxiang Qinpu (1833) both have statements about the raised fifth version of Yu Ge being incorrectly called "northern Yu Ge". 1744 says this is wrong and it does not know where the idea came from. 1833 seems to give some explanation. After saying that Ao Ai Ge is commonly called "northern Yu Ge" it first says that old handbooks such as 1589, 1596 and 1611 call it Yu Ge and that their harmonic closings end either with the sounds of the 3rd and 5th strings (so do; see 1589, 1596 [but note, e.g., that <1491 ends on la; 1539 and 1579 end on mi la) or on the first and sixth strings (mi mi; 1611 [as do 1549, 1553]). "These are other melodies. Later, 1689 closed with the second and fourth strings (mi la): this is a yu melody" (羽 yu is la). Moreover, the northern "一字" (do) is not seen (as an ending) in printed versions. The so-called 'northern Yu Ges' are different from the Yu Ges that are 正調商音 zheng diao shang yin (standard tuning)." It goes on to say that in China, northern music tends more towards being diatonic than does southern music, and that it wants to distinguish the two melodies by referring to the raised fifth tuning one as Ao Ai because of the line in the poem by Liu (Zongyuan). It may be that later versions of Yu Ge were more diatonic (using seven tone scale) and of Ao Ai were more pentatonic, but this is not evident in the earliest surviving editions. See also the footnote with the standard tuning Yu Ge.
(Return)

11. There is no information explaining the connection, nor any evidence that ancient Chu melodies had this characteristic. (Return)

12. The situation is made more confusing by there being a 洞庭 Dongting (an island, hill or cave) in Taihu as well as the more famous Dongting Lake in Hunan. There is a relationship between the section titles of the ruibin Yu Ge and those of Xiao Xiang Shui Yun, which also uses ruibin tuning. And several prefaces to later versions of Zui Yu Chang Wan suggest it has melodic relations to (the zhi mode version of) Yu Ge. (Return)

<13. See the Yuge Diao Preface. In later handbooks, commentary with this ruibin tuning Yu Ge, as with Ao Ai, often associates the melody with Liu Zongyuan, as here. (Return)

14. The original Chinese section titles can be seen under 漁歌. The original lyrics are not yet online. (Return)

 
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Appendix: Chart Tracing Standard and Raised Fifth Ao Ai / Yu Ge
Based mainly on Zha Fuxi's Guide, 11/117/200 Yu Ge and 21/190/376 Ao Ai
See also the Yu Ge Diao chart

琴譜     (year; QQJC Vol/page)	Further information (QQJC = 琴曲集成 Qinqu Jicheng; QF = 琴府 Qin Fu) Raised fifth tuning                         -           Not clear           -                         Standard Tuning
1.  浙音釋字琴譜       (<1491; I/201)	18TL; ruibin diao (RBD); first version of melody later called Ao Ai Yu Ge; "by Liu Zihou", preceded by Yu Ge Diao, with which it shares a preface
2.  風宣玄品       (1539; II/340)	18T; RBD; similar music to <1491, with same section titles but no lyrics Yu Ge (no Yu Ge Diao)
3.  梧岡琴譜       (1546; I/412)	10; 徵調 zhidiao (ZD); first printing of standard tuning Yu Ge Meixuewo edition, 即山水綠 same as Shanshui Lü"; Yu Ge
4.  琴譜正傳       (1561; II/505)	10; ZD; identical to 1546 Meixuewo edition, "即山水綠 same as Shanshui Lü"; Yu Ge
5.a.  西麓堂琴統       (1549; III/204)	16T; RBD; section titles different; melody also very different: e.g., opens with harmonics Ao Ai (very different, though parts are clearly related)
5.b.  西麓堂琴統       (1549; III/163)	18; zhi diao (ZD; earlier version than 1546?) I play this version; afterword mentions Mao Minzhong; Yu Ge
6.a.  太音傳習       (1553-62; IV/178)	18; RBD Ao Ai Ge; preceded by Leji Yin; preface mentions 山水綠之詩 poem of Shanshui Lü
6.b.  太音傳習       (1553-62; IV/124)	12; ZD Yu Ge
7.a.  太音補遺       (1557; III/393)	18; RBD Ao Ai Ge; preceded by Leji Yin; preface mentions 山水綠之詩 poem of Shanshui Lü
7.b.  太音補遺       (1557; III/365)	10; ZD Yu Ge
8.  步虛僊琴譜       (1556; III/282)	11; ZD Yu Ge
9.  五音琴譜       (1579; IV/243)	18; RBD (listed under wai diao) Ao Ai Ge; no commentary
10. 新刊正文對音捷要       (1573; --)	#61; same as 1585? Yu Ge; preceded by Yu Ge Diao
11.   重修真傳琴譜       (1585; IV/465)	18L; RBD; attrib. Liu Zihou; lyrics similar to <1491 but melody quite diff.; Yu Ge; preceded by Yu Ge Diao
12. 玉梧琴譜       (1589; VI/75)	18; RBD Ao Ai Ge; attrib. Liu Zihou
13.a. 真傳正宗琴譜       (1589; VII/134)	18TL Yu Ge; preceded by Leji Yin
13.a. 真傳正宗琴譜       (1609; facsimile)	Repeat of 1589? Yu Ge; preceded by Leji Yin
14. 琴書大全       (1590; V/522)	18; RBD; preceded by 神品蕤賓意 Shenpin Ruibin Yi (SPRBY) Yu Ge; the SPRBY somewhat resembles the Yu Ge Diao melody
15. 文會堂琴譜       (1596; VI/259)	18; RBD Yu Ge, "also called Ao Ai Ge"
16. 綠綺新聲       (1597; VII/38)	20L; RBD Ao Ai Ge
17.a. 藏春塢琴譜       (1602; VI/418)	18; RBD; Ao Ai Ge; attrib. Liu Zihou, but no lyrics
17.b. 藏春塢琴譜       (1602; VI/377)	13; ZD; commentary says only "古曲 old melody" Yu Ge
18. 陽春堂琴譜       (1611; VII/418)	18; RBD; no commentary Yu Ge; preceded by Leji Yin (Yu Ge Diao)
19. 琴適       (1611; VIII/37)	20L; RBD; lyrics are related, but very diff.; no commentary Ao Ai
20. 松絃館琴譜       (1614; VIII/125)	18; zhi (diao); no commentary Yu Ge
21. 思齊堂琴譜       (1620; IX/49)	18; 徵意 zhi yi; no commentary Yu Ge
22. 太音希聖       (1620; IX/219)	18L; RBD Ao Ai Ge
23.a. 徽言秘旨       (1647; X/220)	18; RBD Ao Ai Ge
23.b. 徽言秘旨       (1647; X/148)	18; ZD Yu Ge
24.a. 徽言秘旨訂       (1692; facsimile)	18; RBD Ao Ai Ge; same as 1647?
24.b. 徽言秘旨訂       (1692; facsimile)	18; ZD same as 22.b.?; Yu Ge
25. 友聲社琴譜       (early Qing; XI/144)	18; zhi (diao); 嚴譜 Yan tablature; no other commentary Yu Ge
26. 愧庵琴譜       (1660; XI/45)	18; ZD Yu Ge
27. 琴苑新傳全編       (1670; XI/428)	8; RBD; attrib. Liu Zihou Yu Ge
28. 嚮山堂琴譜       (<1700?; XIV/130)	18; RBD; Section 2 is like Section 1 of earlier versions Ao Ai Ge; earliest pu where Section 1 is like Leji Yin or a modal prelude
29.a. 澄鑒堂琴譜       (1689; XIV/327)	18; RBD; seems identical to <1700 Ao Ai Ge
29.b. 澄鑒堂琴譜       (1689; XIV/246)	18; ZD Yu Ge
30.a. 蓼懷堂琴譜       (1702; XIII/???)	1876 Ao Ai Ge says it is copied from here, but there is no pu and it is not in ToC Would be Ao Ai Ge
30.b. 蓼懷堂琴譜       (1702; XIII/237)	No lyrics or commentary; 18; ZD Yu Ge
31.a. 五知齋琴譜       (1722; XIV/480)	only lyrics of Leji Yin and Yu Ge Ci: no music (placed directly after standard tuning Yu Ge) Yu Ge (no tablature)
31.b. 五知齋琴譜       (1722; XIV/480)	18; ZD; "熟、金二譜合壁，歌文錄未 compared Shu and Jin tablature; put lyrics at end" Wu Zhaoji notation: GQQJ#1/104; Yu Ge
32. 存古堂琴譜       (1726; XV?)	18; RBD Ao Ai Ge
33.a. 春草堂琴譜       (1744; facsimile, folio 5)	18; 無射均，羽音 wuyi jun, yuyin; afterword: "一派南音，並無北韻。俗呼為'北漁歌'，不知何指" Ao Ai; like <1700;                         "completely southern sound, don't know why called 'Northern Yu Ge'"
33.b. 春草堂琴譜       (1744; facsimile, folio 3)	14; 中呂均 zhonglü jun (ZLJ), 商音 shang yin (SY) see afterword ("originally 18 sections...."}; Yu Ge
34. 蘭田館琴譜       (1760; XVI/233)	18; ZD Yu Ge
35.a. 琴香堂琴譜       (1760; XVII/166)	18; RBD; like <1700 Ao Ai Ge
35.b. 琴香堂琴譜       (1760; XVII/73)	18; ZD Yu Ge
36. 研露樓琴譜       (1766; XVI/518)	18; RBD; like <1700 Ao Ai Ge
37.a. 自遠堂琴譜       (1802; XVII/489)	18; zhidiao shangyin Ao Ai Ge; like <1700
37.b. 自遠堂琴譜       (1802; XVII/372)	18; shangyin Zha Fuxi pu in GQQJ#1/115; Yu Ge
38. 裛露軒琴譜       (>1802; ?)	18; ZD Yu Ge
39.a. 琴譜諧聲       (1820; ?)	18L; 清變宮音 qingbian gongyin Ao Ai
39.b. 琴譜諧聲       (1820; ?)	14; 角商 jiaoshang Yu Ge
40. 鄰鶴齋琴譜       (1830; ?)	18; NFI Yu Ge (guess it has raised fifth tuning because it is last melody, after Xiao Xiang Shuiyin)
41. 二香琴譜       (1833; facsimile, folio 9/28)	18; 羽音 yu yin; like <1700 Ao Ai Ge; like 1744, says Ao Ai commonly called the "Northern Yu Ge"
41. 二香琴譜       (1833; facsimile, folio 7/15)	short afterword; 18; 商音 shang yin Yu Ge
42. 悟雪山房琴譜       (1836)	19; 中呂均 zhonglü jun (ZLJ) Yu Ge
43. 行有恒堂錄存琴譜       (1840)	18; has 眉批 comments at top of page Yu Ge (guess it has raised fifth tuning because it is last melody, after Xiao Xiang Shuiyin)
44. 張鞠田琴譜       (1844)	18; has commentary, gongche notes and marginal comments; attrib. Liu Zihou Yu Ge; 宮調商音 gong diao shang yin
45. 稚雲琴譜       (1849)	18; RBD Ao Ai
46. 琴學尊聞       (1864)	13; 商音宮調 shangyin gongdiao Guess tuning is standard, because other pu here mention tightening strings; Yu Ge
47. 蕉庵琴譜       (1868; facsimile, folio 3)	18; shangyin attrib. Liu Zihou but standard tuning; Yu Ge
48.a. 天聞閣琴譜       (1876/facsimile, Folio 7)	preface and afterword; ToC: "from 1722"; 18; ZY; says lyrics are at end, but they are not; Yu Ge
48.b. 天聞閣琴譜       (1876/facsimile, Folio 9)	14; yuyin, shangdiao; commentary; ToC "from 1744" marginal comment, "originally 18 sections...."; Yu Ge
48.c. 天聞閣琴譜       (1876/facsimile, Folio 14)	8; RBD; "琴苑譜" (almost same as 1670: corrections?) Yu Ge
48.d. 天聞閣琴譜       (1876/facsimile, Folio 14)	18 + 尾音 coda; RBD; starts like <1700 but then Section 2 adds a descending glissando Ao Ai Ge; ToC says = 1702, but the available 1702 and other early pu do not have exactly this version
49. 天籟閣琴譜       (1876)	18; RBD Ao Ai Qu: "same as the old Yu Ge"
50. 響雪齋琴譜       (1876)	18; RBD Ao Ai
51. 希韶閣琴譜       (1878)	compare 1722; attrib Liu Zihou; "熟，金二譜合壁"; 18; ZY; preface, comments between sections, at end adds lyrics of Leji Yin and Yu Ge; Yu Ge
52. 雙琴書屋琴譜集成       (1884)	"邗江吳派 Wu School of Han River" (near Yangzhou?)； 19 (including 尾聲 weisheng); shangyin No mention of re-tuning strings; Yu Ge
53. 枯木禪琴譜       (1893; facsimile, folio 5)	18; zhiyin attrib. Liu Zihou; Yu Ge
54. 琴學初津       (1894)	19 including 收音 finale; shangyin Guess standard tuning (Zha guide mentions no tuning changes for any piece here); Yu Ge
55. 琴學叢書       (1910; 琴府/986)	18; gongdiao shangyin; from 1802 Yu Ge
56. 夏一峰傳譜       (1957)	18 Yu Ge
57. 虞山吳氏琴譜       (2001, p.74)	said to follow Wu Jinglue's 1940s reconstruction from 1722; 18 Yu Ge

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