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Zhenchuan Zhengzong Qinpu Authentically Transmitted Orthodox Qin Handbook 1

真傳正宗琴譜 1589 and 1609 Yang Lun,2 with Zhong Ziqi cut from the pavilion 3

Zhenchuan Zhengzong Qinpu was published in Nanjing and thus might be considered representative of the late Ming

Qinqu Jicheng includes two editions of these, dated 1589 and 1609, making four entries in all (more detail in the outline below):

	Yang Lun Taigu Yiyin5 (1589)	31 (of 34) piecies, all with lyrics
	Boya Xinfa6 (1589)	7 pieces; none with lyrics
	Yang Lun Taigu Yiyin (1609)	1 (of the original 34) piecies
	Boya Xinfa (1609)	22 (of 29) pieces; 7 have lyrics

Qinqu Jicheng thus omitted from its reprinting of the 1609 edition those melodies already included in 1589. Apparently the 1609 edition was a re-issue of the 1589 edition, with the same content for Yang Lun Taigu Yiyin, but adding 22 melodies to Boya Xinfa.

There is at least one other surviving edition, called Qinpu Hebi.⁷ Qinpu Hebi may have been published shortly after the 1609 Qinpu Zhenchuan: as can be seen from its complete Table of Contents, it has the same melody content but added some further commentary.

The whole book is often given the general name Yang Lun Taigu Yiyin. For example, Van Gulik states that Boya Xinfa is an appendix to Taigu Yiyin.⁸ However, according to the introduction by Zha Fuxi in Qinqu Jicheng, Vol. VII,⁹ these were two parts of a book that originally had the name Zhenchuan Zhengzong Qinpu. QQJC first prints an edition of Zhenchuan Zhengzong Qinpu, dated 1589;¹⁰ after this it prints those parts of the later "commonly seen edition",¹¹ dated 1609,¹² that were not in this earlier Zhenchuan Zhengzong Qinpu.

Zhenchuan Zhengzong Qinpu begins with a preface by Li Wenfang, dated 1589.¹³ After that is an image of Yang Lun (top right), framed in the original by a couplet written by Li Zhushi of Nanyang.¹⁴ At the end of its Taigu Yiyin is an afterword by Lü Lan'gu.¹⁵ This Taigu Yiyin has 31 melodies, all with lyrics; the Boya Xinfa has 7 melodies, none with lyrics. For both sections, pagination is separate for each melody.

As mentioned above, from the 1609 edition QQJC includes only essays and melodies that were not already printed in the 1589 edition; this includes a new preface to Boya Xinfa, by Yu Yan, dated 1609,¹⁶ and a different image of Yang Lun (the lower image at right¹⁷). The reader, looking at the two images, can speculate as to whether they depict Yang Lun at different ages.¹⁸

Zha Fuxi has a short general introduction plus a table of contents (melodies only) in later edition in his Guide, Section 3.¹⁹ At that time Zha apparently had seen only this later edition. In addition to the preface by Yu Yan he mentions the preface by Li Wenfang (which he says is undated) and an afterword by Lü Lan'gu. Its table of contents includes 63 melodies: 34 for Taigu Yiyin and 29 for Boya Xinfa.²⁰ The pagination for each section is continuous.²¹

Comparing the two editions, the part called Taigu Yiyin seems to have been the same for both editions.²² However, while the earlier Boya Xinfa has only seven melodies, none with lyrics, the later edition has 29 melodies, seven with lyrics.²³ There are also a few other differences.²⁴

The fact that in the 1589 edition the pagination is not continuous, but instead separate for each melody, perhaps explains why the melodies are in a somewhat different order from what they are in the book as printed in QQJC.²⁵ However, it also leaves open the possibility that that the surviving 1589 edition is incomplete, and that it originally included more than seven melodies. The fact that Zha Fuxi makes no comment on this perhaps suggests that this was not the case. In that case the added melodies were presumably created or re-created by Yang Lun later in his career, or at least written down later.

The following outline of Zhenchuan Zhengzong Qinpu as published in QQJC shows that Yang Lun's handbooks have at least six new melodies for older titles,²⁶ plus seven new melodies for new titles. The following outline mentions melodies of particular note:²⁷

1. Yang Lun Taigu Yiyin (31 melodies [of 34], all w/lyrics; VII/49 - 152)
   A reprint of Zhenchuan Zhengzong Qinpu, 1589, but missing several diaoyi kao. See especially:
   Ting Qin Yin (VII/73); new song, with lyrics by Han Yu
   Qiu Sheng Fu (VII/85); new song, with lyrics by Ouyang Xiu
   Feng Qiu Huang (VII/111); new melody (compare Wenjun Cao)
   Qian Chibi Fu (VII/126ff); new melody (compare 1511)
   Dao Yi (VII/129ff); new melody and lyrics; qingshang mode (compare Dao Yi Qu)
   Le Ji Yin (VII/134); new melody; ruibin mode; lyrics almost same as for Yu Ge Diao
   He Wu Dongtian (VII/117ff); greatly expanded from 1549; the only one with lyrics
   Han Gong Qiu Yue (VII/119ff); compare 1549: the earliest version with lyrics
   Jiu Kuang (VII/61ff); a qin song (my recording is linked there) related to the 1425 melody
   Su Wu Si Jun (VII/123ff); for story: Han Jie Cao; for tuning: Li Ling Si Han; for recording: Zha Fuxi

2. Yang Lun Boya Xinfa (7 melodies, none w/lyrics; VII/153 - 168)
   A reprint of the same 1589 Zhenchuan Zhengzong Qinpu; five are new versions of old titles:
       Gao Shan, Liu Shui, Chonghe Yin, Shenhua Yin, Zhuangzhou Meng Die,
   The other two melodies seem to survive first from this 1589 Boya Xinfa:
   Jishan Qiu Yue (VII/157ff; from 1602 also called Xi Shan Qiu Yue)
   Saishang Hong (VII/165ff)

3. Yang Lun Taigu Yiyin 又本 extra volume (includes only 1 [Gong Yi Kao] of the 34 melodies); VII/169 - 170)
   A partial reprint from the 常見本 commonly seen edition published in 1609

4. Yang Lun Boya Xinfa 又本 extra volume (22 melodies w/out lyrics, 7 w/lyrics]; VII/171 - 219)
   Includes 22 of the 29 melodies from the same 1609 edition, omitting the seven that are exactly the same as in the 1589 edition
   See especially the following (includes six new melodies):
   Mozi Bei Ge (VII/175ff); new melody
   Shitan Zhang (VII/179); second setting, after 1592
   Gui Yuan Cao (VII/190); new song; lyrics by Li Qingzhao, slightly altered plus a coda
   Lou Shi Ming (VII/191); compare 1539: new setting of the Liu Yuxi lyrics
   Canghai Long Yin (VII/205f); new melody
   Gu Shen Hua Yin (VII/206ff); new melody: compare Shen Hua Yin
   Ba Ji You (VII/206ff); compare 1425: new melody, first in man gong mode
   Feiming Yin (VII/217); greatly expanded from the 1425 version
   Han Gong Qiu Yue (VII/202ff); from Yang Lun Taigu Yiyin (compare 1549; adds lyrics; see the ToC)
   Shuilong Yin (VII/201); 1st version with lyrics

Some of the titles Zha's Guide lists as new are in fact old melodies with new titles.²⁸ Many of the pieces not listed here as having new lyrics have in fact lyrics that are quite modified from earlier handbooks. Details of this have not been fully studied.

Also noteworthy in this handbook are the attributions given to contemporary "qin friends" for revising or writing the tablature;²⁹ the running commentary alongside some of the melodies;³⁰ and the style of the tablature itself, which is quite uniform throughout but somewhat different from that of earlier handbooks.³¹

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. QQJC, Volume VII.2
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2. Yang Lun 楊掄
The dates of Yang Lun (Bio/xxx) are not known. The preface by Zha Fuxi (see below) says Yang Lun's style name was 鶴浦 Hepu. However, the afterword by Lü Lan'gu (VII/152) says the style name was 文浦 Wenpu and that he was from 金陵 Jinling, i.e., Nanjing. The introduction to the facsimile editon of Qinpu Hebi does not mention a style name, saying he had the nicknames 桐庵 Tong'an and 鶴淑 Heshu. It adds that Yang Lun was from 江寧 Jiangning (apparently a district of Nanjing), and that he was a late Ming specialist on qin song. Qin Shi Xu does not include him and Xu Jian's Outline History only seems to mention him in passing, in connection with Yan Cheng's criticisms of qin songs in Chapter 7a2 (p. 127), not in its section on qin songs themselves. Thus one can only speculate as to what connection he might have had with Yang Biaozheng, whose handbooks were printed in Nanjing only a few years earlier. Van Gulik, Lore, p. 185, has some mistakes with both of these (he may be reflecting a Chinese confusion). Thus he calls Yang Biaozheng's handbook 琴譜合壁大全 Qinpu Hebi Daquan, a title I have not yet found elsewhere, and dates it impossibly early (1503). He also has for Yang Lun 楊倫字桐庵, i.e., a different character for Lun (Bio/840: a different person) and gives Tong'an as the style name instead of nickname. (See also the next footnote).
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3. Images of Yang Lun (see also above)
The image at right, from QQJC VII/49, has the inscription "楊鶴浦小像 small image of Yang Hepu" (Yang Lun). The illustration above, from Qinpu Hebi, Folio I/14-15, has "楊掄像 image of Yang Lun" written over the bearded figure in the middle. To the right, in the column outside the pavilion, can be seen the characters "鐘子期 Zhong Ziqi". This apparently took too far the already obvious attempt to equate Yang Lun with the great Boya himself (see footnote below). According to Van Gulik, Lore, p. 185, the Imperial Catalogue (ch. 114, leaf 8 recto.) was "much incensed at the fact that on the picture in the first volume the author is shown together with Zhong Ziqi." Van Gulik adds that this "arrogance" must have been recognized early, as "most copies which I have seen were printed from a revised block, where the image of Zhong Ziqi has been deleted from the unorthodox picture." The version in QQJC VII is missing the whole right half of that picture (see pp. 169 and 170); that edition is also missing many other illustrations.
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4. See previous footnote for the criticism this caused.
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5. Yang Lun's Music Bequeathed from Antiquity (楊掄太古遺音 Yang Lun Taigu Yi Yin)
Compare the earlier Taigu Yiyin.
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6. Shared Teachings of Bo Ya (伯牙心法 Boya Xinfa)
The basic meaning of xinfa (10531.80; 7/378) is apparently "修心 mend the heart/mind". Practically the term is used to describe a teaching method in which the teacher explains things carefully so that the student doesn't simply memorize but can come to a full understanding. In Buddhism it suggests doing this teaching without the aid of scriptures. It is also a neo-Confucian term for nurturing the essence of one's thoughts while examining how these thoughts can be put to use. The significance of using the name of Bo Ya in the title is discussed in a previous footnote.
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7. Qin Handbook Matched Well (琴譜合壁 Qinpu Hebi)
"Matched well" could be referring to the lyrics and music. On this see Van Gulik's comment in Lore, p. 185, with regard to Qinpu Hebi Daquan. The facsimile reprint published by Zhongguo Shudian, 2006, has five folios. The first three are Yang Lun Taigu Yiyin; the latter two are Boya Xinfa. This reprint also has two introductory essays.
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8. Van Gulik, Lore, p. 185, states that Taigu Yiyin (Qinpu Hebi) is "much better edited" than Yang Biaozheng's Qinpu Hebi Daquan, published only a few years earlier and also a qin song handbook from Nanjing. (See also his comment on the illustration.)
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9. Introduction to Zhenchuan Zhengzong Qinpu in Qinqu Jicheng, Vol. VII (1981)
Originally written in 1962 by 查阜西 Zha Fuxi, then edited by 吳鉊 Wu Zhao for the 1981 publication, it mostly concerns the different editions of this handbook. See further mention above and below. It ends with a quote from Li Lan'gu (see also below), concluding that, "From this one can see that the materials for this handbook must have been received from their teacher."
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10. 文化部，文學藝術研究院，音樂研究所藏 In the collection of the Music Research Institute
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11. 常見本 Changjian ben (no indication of where the original is)
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12. The date, 萬歷三十七年己酉 Wanli 37th year, appears on a preface by 俞彥 Yu Yan. This preface is not mentioned in Zha Fuxi's commentary in QQJC, but it is reprinted there in the excerpt from the later Taigu Yiyin (Volume VII, page 171).
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13. Li Wenfang 李文芳
(Bio/xxx); 己丑 1589; QQJC VII, p.49.
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14. Li Zhushi 李柱史
The couplet by Li Zhushi of 南陽 Nanyang (Bio/xxx) is:
      白雪陽春，絕調一聲非世響。
      高山流水，古人千載是心知。
     
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15. Lü Lan'gu 呂蘭谷
The 跋 afterword by Lü Lan'gu (Bio/xxx; Lan'gu/Lanyu: 33297.68xxx) to the 1589 edition (QQJC VII, p. 152) has no further information about Lü, but the same afterword in the 1609 edition (see facsimile edition Folio III, end) identifies Lü as a 長湖居士 retired scholar of Changhu (42022.522 says only that this means a "very long lake"). This afterword (also in QQJC VII, p. 152) includes the following statement (no further information on "浙東太史余公 the grand scribe/astrologer of Zhedong (east Zhejiang), Master Yu (549.xxx; Bio/???)":

"是譜係浙東太史余公刪定。至若指法之精絕，則本之楊鶴州、李泗泉，楊生又能繡諸梓以廣其傳，楊生可謂不背本矣。
This handbook was abridged and edited by Master Yu, Grand Scribe of Zhedong. As for the exquisite finger techniques, they originated with Yang Hezhou (Yang Lun) and Li Siquan. Mister Yang was also able to 'illustrate all the catalpa (printing blocks)' in order to broaden this tradition. Mr. Yang could call it an essential volume."

The 1609 edition also changes "Li Siquan" to "Zhou Tong'an" (see below).
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16. 俞彥 Yu Yan
Yu Yan (Bio/1750), style names 仲茅 Zhongmao and 容自 Rongzi, was from 應天府上元 Shang Yuan in Yingtian (today's Nanjing). He became a metropolitan scholar in 1602, then later was a high military official in Nanjing. In his preface he refers to himself as 第八洞天主人 Master of the Eighth Paradise.
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17. QQJC VII, p. 170
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18. Van Gulik, Lore, p. 185, says that the edition he saw had no picture of Yang Biaozheng.
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19. Zha Guide, pages 63 - 66 (105 - 108 overall). Zha writes that this book could be found in many bookstores.
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20. The re-print of the earlier edition had 31 instead of 34 melodies because it is missing three modal preludes, 宮意考 Gong Yi Kao, 徵意考 Zhi Yi Kao and 羽意考 Yu Yi Kao. QQJC includes only Gong Yi Kao from the later edition. No reason is given for this.
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21. The 1609 Taigu Yiyin includes only a few pages, so the total number of pages is not revealed. The 1609 Boya Xinfa has 127 pages.
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22. This conclusion is based on comparing the earlier Taigu Yiyin, in QQJC, with the Table of Contents for the later edition, as described above. Since I haven't seen the later tablature, I cannot say for certain that there were not changes within the melodies, as happened between the two available editions of Chongxiu Zhenchuan Qinpu. (But see next footnote.)
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23. Although QQJC tried to include from the 1609 edition only melodies that were not already printed in 1589, apparently by oversight it included in the 1609 edition the end of Jishan Qiu Yue (see QQJC, VII, p. 187, and compare p. 161). The latter looks as though it might have been traced from the former. (Perhaps also from oversight a folio page [93] is missing from the middle of the 1609 Gu Shenhua Yin [see QQJC VII/207].)
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24. Differences between the 1589 and 1609 editions
Zha Fuxi's introduction in QQJC (see above) mentions the following differences:

1. In 1589 the preface to Jishan Qiu Yue begins, "按是曲，乃我明會稽處士周桐菴，擬巢由之高潔而校 As for this melody, I understand that the reclusive scholar Mao Jizu (17141.xxx) of Kuaiji revised it while deciding where the noble and unsullied nature of his nest might come from" (?; see VII/157); the 跋 afterword in 1609 (facsimile IV/39) is verbatim except that the revisions are attributed to 金陵處士周桐庵 the reclusive scholar Zhou Tong'an of Nanjing (compare 1602).
2. The 1589 afterword by Lü Lan'gu (VII/152; see above) mentions editing by 李泗泉 Li Siquan; in 1609 this is also changed to 周桐庵 Zhou Tong'an.

Zha Fuxi suggests that this means either that Zhou Tong'an was a contemporary of Yang Lun and personally made the changes, or that the changes were done by the book's printer.
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25. The most notable difference is that the listing in Zha's guide puts the five 意考 modal preludes in front.
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26. Yang Lun's handbooks include the following new melodies for titles surviving earlier with different melodies:

27. Yang Lun's handbooks include the following new melodies with new titles (compare above):

1. 廳琴吟 Ting Qin Yin (VII/73)
   New song with lyrics by Han Yu; see further details

2. 秋聲賦 Qiu Sheng Fu (VII/85)
   New song with lyrics by Ouyang Xiu; see further details

3. 箕山秋月 Jishan Qiu Yue (VII/157)
   Autumn Moon at Jishan; 24 sections; jiao mode; see further details

4. 塞上鴻 Saishang Hong (VII/165)
   Guide 29/232/--: first of 33 to 1914; zhi mode; see further details

5. 墨子悲歌 Mozi Bei Ge (VII/175)
   Guide 29/228/--: first of 32; ToC #39

6. 閨怨操 Gui Yuan Cao (Lament in a Lady's Chambers; VII/190)
   Guide 29/232/442: only here, but compare Fenghuang Taishang Yi Chui Xiao and see further details

7. 滄海龍吟 Canghai Long Yin (VII/205)
   First of 23; also called 龍吟 Long Yin and 滄江夜雨 or 蒼江夜雨 Cangjiang Yeyu; see further details

8. 古神化引 Gu Shen Hua Yin (VII/206)
   Guide 30/233/--: first of four; different from Shenhua Yin;
   "新安琴友汪喜吾校 Revised by qin friend Wang Xiwu of Xin'an, near Huangshan (1609 is same)
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28. Zha's Guide indicates that these volumes within Zhenchuan Zhengzong Qinpu include 12 new melodies. However, four of these are in fact versions of the same melody published earlier with different titles. The four are:

1. 復聖操 Fu Sheng Cao (see Ya Sheng Cao)
2. 漢宮秋月 Han Gong Qiu Yue (see Han Gong Qiu; here there are two, one with lyrics, one without)
3. 客窗新語 Ke Chuang Xin Yu (a version of Ke Chuang Ye Hua, but with new lyrics)
4. 清商調 Qingshang Diao (see Shenpin Guxian Yi)
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29. Some of these are mentioned among the new melodies above; see also "melody" under Mozi Bei Ge.
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30. In both Zhenchuan Zhengzong Qinpu and the later "commonly seen edition", some of the melodies with lyrics have added text as commentary or explanation. For example, 復聖操 Fusheng Cao, Section 1 (VII/64), has 音必 to explain the punctuation of 俾 bi; many other melodies have such explanations of pronunciation. Almost always "重 chong" is written where there are repeats in the music, presumably so that the player will keep singing during the repeat. 客窗新語 Kechuang Xinyu (VII/182ff) has a great many explanations of people and phrases. 閨怨操 Gui Yuan Cao adds "呼連 hu lian" in small print between "奩 lian" and "塵 chen" (line 2; VII/190); I am not sure of the significance of that.
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31. Some notes on the tablature in Zhenchuan Zhengzong Qinpu
Regarding the tablature itself, my study has been mostly with earlier tablature, and I haven't studied carefully enough other handbooks from around 1600 to be able to state which of these characteristics found in Zhenchuan Zhenzong Qinpu are unique to it, or new with it. These include:

1. Positions between the hui (markers, or studs) are expressed (see also Indicating the pitch of stopped sounds) only by the word "半 half" (sometimes shortened to 八). The main difficulties this causes are in upper positions, where there are more intermediate positions between the markers. Thus positions 5.9 and 6.2 are both indicated simply as 6 (see, for example, my Mozi Bei Ge transcription, measure 77), while 4.4 and 4.6 are both indicated as 4 1/2 (same transcription, measure 96). Since the music seems to have a similar modality to that in other handbooks of that time, this is generally not a major problem.

2. Several techniques commonly used here are not explained clearly. These include:
   略上 Lue shang: it seems to indicate sliding up after playing an indicated stroke (in my Mozi Bei Ge transcription I shorten it to 田上).

   分開 Fenkai: traditionally this means to pluck a string twice with the left hand at the same marker, but adding a slide up in between. The two plucks are usually written together, with fenkai after, but fenkai might also be written between the plucks. Here the second pluck is often at a lower position, and sometimes it is not even written. Since some handbooks around that time suggest that fenkai is actually like zhuang (撞 written "立" one pluck with a slide up and down), this makes the intention of the tablature unclear. This seems to happen especially when fenkai is followed by a zhuang. (The first such instance in my Mozi Bei Ge transcription can be seen in measure 29.)

   度 Du: elsewhere this is the same as 歷 li, a right hand indication of a finger going over several strings; but at the beginning of the Mozi tablature (QQJC VII, p. 175) there is a statement that du is like a fast 撞 zhuang (see above). However, zhuang is itself said to be fast (see 立 in QQJC VII, p. 55), and some zhuang within the tablature are said to be "fast zhuang". How are these to be distinguished? (First occurrence in my transcription of Mozi is m. 73.)

   急歷猱 Ji li nao: a fast (ji) run (li), with a vibrato (nao, also called rou) written at the side. See Mozi transcription measures 178, 182, 185 and 210: a vibrato would not seem actually fit with a fast li; at best I put in a very short one.

3. The expression 急 ji ("quickly") is used inconsistently. For left hand ornaments the upper half (without 心) is used; atop right hand stroke indications a shorter form is used, consisting of only the top two strokes. (The first such instance in Mozi Bei Ge can be seen in measure 2 of my transcription.) However, in some instances this figure is combined with an ornament that suggests that the note cannot be played quickly (e.g., Mozi transcription, m.47). In addition, these two strokes always appear at the top of 掩 yan (having put the left hand ring finger at an indicated position, press down the left thumb at the indicated higher position), while the music idiom suggests that this should not always be done with at the same speed. As a result in my interpretation I often ignore this. (See, e.g., m.31 of my Mozi transcription: I write only the common shorthand form of this technique, without the indication "quickly". In other cases I keep the ji, but do not necessarily play it that way, assuming this to be a mistake in the tablature.)

4. The printing of some parts of some of the melodies in QQJC VII is not always clear. Also, some punctuation seems either to have become invisible or been omitted. In Mozi Bei Ge I have usually tried to work out unclear notes or phrasings by comparing it to the most similar other version of this melody, dated 1647.
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