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36. Evening Talk by a Guest's Window
- Standard tuning:2 5 6 1 2 3 5 6 played as 1 2 4 5 6 1 2
客窗夜話 1
Ke Chuang Yehua

Xie Lin Taigu Yiyin ends with a section called "Newly added".4 This is followed by what appear at first glance to be four melodies. What makes it clear this is all one melody in four sections are the instructions (see preface below) written in the margins to repeat certain sections. There is no attribution and no preface.

This was obviously considered one melody in later handbooks, and it became quite popular, surviving in at least 24 handbooks to 1899.5 Later versions tend to expand the song into 10 sections.6 Fifteen of these have lyrics and all are related, but there are many differences between them, both in the music and lyrics, further evidence of the melody's popularity: it was actively played, not simply copied down out of respect.

Some later handbooks attribute the lyrics to Liu Ji7 (1311-1375). The melody and lyrics have no apparent connection to Evening Talk by a Snowy Window

 
Original preface 8

None.

 
Music and lyrics9
A melody in four sections, with lyrics thoughout (compare 10 sections)
- the setting is largely syllabic, with the lines of the poem irregular in length. The section titles are as follows (translation of lyrics to be added):

  1. Evening Talk by a Guest's Window (Prelude [harmonics])
    Restrain feelings and arrange thoughts, (....translation incomplete)

  2. Grateful to old; regret new

  3. Humming a poem and pouring out wine
    (This section is written in five or six distinct paragraphes; then a note at the end of this section says to repeat the lyrics of section 1. Thus, in effect, this could be considered as multiple sections; in my transcription they are 3 - 7.)

  4. One thousand li, one square
    (A note at the end of this section says first to repeat the lyrics of section 3 paragraph 2, then those of section 1. Thus, in effect, this could be considered as sections 8 to 10.)
 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a
separate page)

1. Ke Chuang Yehua 客窗夜話
7293.xxx; 5890.228 yehua has quotes from Li Bai and Su Shi.
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2. Tuning and mode
Taigu Yiyin does not group melodies by tuning or mode.
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3. Image
Not yet selected.
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4. Newly Added
新增
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5. Tracing Ke Chuang Yehua
Zha's Guide 14/153/286 does not include 客窗新語 Kechuang Xinyu from <1509, but it has basically the same music with new lyrics
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6. Ten section version of Kechuang Yehua
Most later versions of this melody have nine or ten sections. The following are the ten titles from the 1585 version of this melody. In my transcription of the 1511 Taigu Yiyin version I have tried to indicate how its four sections could be re-arranged as 10 by adding the titles below above at relevant points in the notation, in accordance with instructions given there. The 1511 section titles can be found her as titles sections 1, 2, 3 and 8.

  1. 客窗夜話 Evening Talk by a Guest's Window (Prelude [harmonics])
  2. 感古慨今 Grateful to old; regret new
  3. 吟詩酌酒 Humming a poem and pouring out wine
  4. (時世問答 Discussing timely topics)
  5. (問答輕聲 Quiet conversation)
  6. (抵掌一嘯 Clapping and singing)
  7. (清談良夜 Repeat lyrics of section 1 [harmonics])
  8. 千里一方 One thousand li, one square
  9. (半夜十年 Repeat lyrics of section 5)
  10. (神父心契 Repeat lyrics of section 1 [harmonics])
    (Coda (harmonics from Gu Qiu Feng, as in several later handbooks)
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7. Liu Ji (劉基; 1311 - 1375)
A noted essayist.
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8. Original Preface
None. Zha Guide [397] 153 gives one afterword and seven prefaces, beginning with the one in 1585, which credits .
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9. Original section titles and lyrics
The lyrics begin as follows. The original section titles are numbered here, but were not numbered in the original.

  1. 客窗夜話
    羈情旅思,故國他鄉。 (羈 is elsewhere written 霸)
    久相別,嘆那參商。忽相見,喜也非常。對此燈光,兩訴衷腸。
    世態多有炎涼,客路何苦風霜,風霜,風霜利名韁。
    吳楚東南望,看那江山雄壯。心腹話連床,百年詩酒疏狂。

  2. 感古慨今
    今古呵,嘆英雄,誰是英雄?記禮夫與漁翁,南陽東海,一舉成空。思憶臥龍,霸業也于今皆已成空。成空,成空,盡成空。

  3. 吟詩酌酒
    唾珠璣也,音律呵,.....(not yet online)

  4. 千里一方
    北鎮沙陀,千里雲合接黃河....(not yet online)

The rest are not yet online but can be seen in a .pdf file from Zha Guide [810] 286.
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