T of C 
Home
My
Work
Hand-
books
Qin as
Object
Qin in
Art
Poetry
/ Song
Hear
Qin
Play
Qin
Analysis History Ideo-
logy
Miscel-
lanea
More
Info
Personal email me search me
TGYY / ToC
27. Thinking of Returning Prelude
- Standard tuning: 5 6 1 2 3 5 6 played as 1 2 4 5 6 1 2
思歸吟
Si Gui Yin 1

Taigu Yiyin has this melody set to a poem of this title by Shi Chong (249-300).2 The only other setting is in Chongxiu Zhenchuan Qinpu (1585), which has the same lyrics and somewhat different music.3 Meanwhile the title Si Gui Yin was also applied to an unrelated melody also known as Huai Gu Yin.4

Yuefu Shiji, Folio 58, #1 (p.838), has Shi's poem and two others of this title, one by Liu Xiaowei (496-549), the other by Zhang Hu (8th c.). The prefaces in Yuefu Shiji contain the following.

Qin Cao says, .... (It connects this story with that of Wei xiannü (a virtuous woman of Wei) who killed herself to avoid the "dishonor" of marrying after her fiancee died.)5

Shi Chong's Si Gui Yin Preface says, "When Chong was young he had great ambition; later he enjoyed taking it easy. Because he saw that a music volume had Si Gui Yin, and old melody with string (tablature) but nothing to sing, he wrote some lyrics.

(Guo Maoqian himself adds [?]), But Si Gui is 河陽 (north of the river type?) 別業 (with a different theme?), so it is different from the Qin Cao (theme).

Yuefu Jieti says, ...

According to Xie Xiyi's Qin Lun, Jizi wrote 離拘操 Li Ju Cao."

(Guo Maoqian adds [?]), This does not say that the Woman of Wei wrote it, so we cannot grasp the real story.

The prefaces in Taigu Yiyin follow the same basic outline, but omit the Yuefu Jieti comments and shorten some of the others.

The Si Gui Yin lyrics in YFSJ that are not in Taigu Yiyin are as follows,

Liu Xiaowei

胡地憑良馬,懷驕負漢恩....

Zhang Hu

重重作閨清旦鐍,兩耳深聲長不徹....

 
Original preface

According to Qin Cao, There was a virtuous woman of Wei. The king of Zhao (or Shao) was betrothed to her, but before he arrived the king died. The heir apparent said, "I have heard...."

Shi Chong of Jin says,....

Xie Xiyi's Qin Lun says,...

(Added comment, as in YFSJ)....(Translation incomplete.)

 
One section
Largely syllabic setting; Shi Chong's lyric structure mixes lines of 3+3 with lines of 7 syllables.

Thinking of returning prelude, returning to Heyang (or the north side of the river),
Drawing near my shelter, the geese fly high around.
....(translation incomplete)

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a
separate page)

1 10734.260 Si Gui Yin: a qin melody also called Li Ju Cao (離拘操 Leave Restraint Melody). It quotes Qin Cao, the Yuefu Shiji preface, and another poem of this title in the Old Yuefu.

2 See bio (Return)

3 Zha's Guide, 14/146/253 (Return)

4 Si Gui Yin a.k.a. Huaigu Yin and Yikuang Yin
Taiyin Buyin (1557) has a 思歸吟 Si Gui Yin that is musically unrelated to the 1511 Si Gui Yin; this other melody's earliest occurrence is in 1551, where it was called 懷古吟 Huaigu Yin (Zha Guide 17/218/570). Those handbooks connect that melody to the story of Confucius seeing an orchid, and it is used as a prelude to Yi Lan. Then elsewhere it is called 夷曠吟 Yikuang Yin. There are about 18 later occurrences of Yi Kuang Yin, but I have not yet compared them. (Return)

5 See TKW Qin Cao, p. 744. The 衛女 Wei Nü of this story is also discussed in Qin Shi #52. (Return)

Return to the Guqin ToC.