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09. Autumn River Night Anchorage
- (Shang mode, standard tuning: 5 6 1 2 3 5 6, but played as 1 2 4 5 6 1 2 )		 秋江夜波
Qiujiang Yebo 1

This title occurs for the first time in Songxianguan Qinpu (1614); it then survives in 27 handbooks from 1614 to the present.2 It is thus a rather popular melody which has undergone gradual change over the years.

Qiujiang Yebo is clearly related to an earlier melody called Yin De, which can be found in four handbooks from 1425 to 1585 and once again in 1670. Virtually the same as Yin De is the melody Chumu Yin (Shepherd's Chant), found as a prelude to Mu Ge in Taiyin Xupu (1559) and Qinpu Zhengchuan (1561).3

Notes to a recording of Qiujiang Yebo dated 1995 suggest that Autumn River Night Anchorage was created extemporaneously around 1600 during a visit to a famous temple in Suzhou.4

According to tradition while Yan Tianchi and friends of the Qinchuan Society were visiting Cold Mountain Temple one evening, based on the poem Maple Bridge Night Anchorage by Zhang Ji of the Tang Dynasty, (Yan) calmly created this melody.

Zhang Ji's poem Maple Bridge Night Anchorage is included in the collection 300 Poems of the Tang Dynasty,5

As the moon goes down a raven calls,6 frost fills the sky.
Riverside maples and a fisherman's fire enter my restless sleep.
Just then beyond the walls of Suzhou, at the Cold Mountain Temple,
The midnight bell rings, and (the sound) reaches my boat.

Three of the four versions of Yin De are virtually identical, and Chumu Yin is almost the same. This perhaps indicates it was a melody being passed down through its tablature, rather than by active play. One might then theorize that Yan had played from the earlier tablature, and that his inspiration at the Cold Mountain Temple led him to transform this material enough that he gave it a new name.

Qiujiang Yebo has four sections, dividing them as in Chumu Yin, which broke Yin De Section 1 into two sections. Each section of Qiujiang Yebo then begins the same as the corresponding part of Yin De, except that section one of Yin De opens with a dayuan putting the thumb on the 8th position of the fourth string, while Qiujiang Yebo puts the thumb on the 7th position. The latter part of each section also follows similar contours.

A more notable change, however, is in the modality. Yin De (as well as Chumu Yin) and Qiuqiang Yebo are both said to be in the shang mode. As with other shang mode pieces they both have do (1) as the fundamental tone, but in Yin De (and Chumu Yin) mi (3) is sometimes flatted, sometimes not. In Qiujiang Yebo mi is never flatted but in some passages mi is changed to fa (4). In later handbooks the fa rarely occurs, leaving only major thirds.7

The Mei'an Qin Handbook (1931) has a related melody, but gives a completely different explanation from any of the previous ones. It says Qiujiang Yebo depicts musically the whole of Su Dongpo's 11th century poem Red Cliff Rhapsody #1, beginning with casting off the boat, followed by punting and loud singing in section two (second half of Yin De section one); hoisting sails and approaching mid-stream in the next section; and further singing, descriptions of the scenery, lowering the sails and re-anchoring in the last section.

Chongxiu Zhenchuan Qinpu (1585) attributes Yin De to the famous 13th century qin player Mao Minzhong. No other handbook has an attribution for either Yin De or Qiujiang Yebo.

There is no other recording of Yin De. However, in addition to my own (Listen 聽), there are recordings of Qiujiang Yebo by Cheng Wujia, Yu Bosun and Liu Chuhua as well as by Liu Zhengchun.

 
Original Preface
None

 
Music (Listen 聽)
Four sections (compare Yin De)8

(00.00)   1.  
(00.38)   2.  
(01.05)   3.  
(01.46)   4.  
(02.26)     Harmonics
(02.41)     End

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. 25505.69 only Qiu Jiang (Return)

2. See Zha Fuxi's index 30/236/--. Could Qiujiang Yebo （or something like it) have been the original name? One which Zhu Quan rejected? Some handbooks call the piece 秋江晚波 Qiujiang Wanbo, and 徽言秘旨 Huiyan Mizhi (1647) mistakenly calls it 秋江晚釣 Qiujiang Wandiao (Autumn River Night Fishing), but that is correctly the title of another piece in 8 sections. The connection between Qiujiang Yebo and Yin De was pointed out to me by Mitchell Clark. There are no other recordings of Yin De but several are available of Qiujiang Yebo. (Return)

3. 芻牧吟 Chumu Yin (see under Mu Ge)
Chumu Yin also has the flattened third intervals in part 3, as in Yin De. It divides the melody into four sections, as in Qiujiang Yebo, and it has a slightly different harmonic passage at the end. (Return)

4. Recording by 劉正春 Liu Zhengchun; see The Art of Qin Music, Hugo HRP 7136-2
The English translation of the commentary with this recording has some mistakes. The Chinese original is, 據傳說嚴天池和琴川社友夜遊寒山寺時據唐張繼（楓橋夜泊）詩即景生情而譜此曲. This connection is also made in 古琴曲集 　Guqin Quji, Vol 1, but there is no indication where it comes from. The CD preface also says "the tune and rhythm of the piece is very old, one should appreciate the content slowly, and never hurry at any note." This comes from Qinxue Rumen (1864). The only other handbook with commentary is apparently Mei'an Qinpu (see below). (Return)

5. Zhang Ji: Night Waves at Maple Bridge （張繼，楓橋夜泊）
The original Chinese for this poem is:

月落烏啼霜滿天。
江楓漁火對愁眠。
姑蘇城外寒山寺。
夜半鐘聲到客船。

Sun Daolin recites this poem on the Hugo CD Appreciation of Tang Poetry Quatrains, Vol.I. (Return)

6. For another mention of a raven (crow) calling see Wu Ye Ti. (Return)

7. See chart below. Contrast this with the development of Yu Qiao Wenda. (Return)

8. The timings here follow my recording. (Return)

 
Appendix: Chart Tracing Qiujiang Yebo / Yin De

  隱德 秋江夜波 / 秋江晚波 / 秋江晚釣
  1. 神奇秘譜
      (1425; I.6)		 p.125; 3  
  _. 浙音釋字琴譜
      (<1491; I.8)		 Lyrics of 1585 fit 1425, though it requires what seems quite unnatural phrasing  
  _. 發明琴譜
      (1530; I.11)		   p.325; 8; 秋江晚釣; not related
  2. 風宣玄品
      (1539; II.1)

p.145; same as #1; no commentary

  
  3. 西麓堂琴統
      (1549; III.1)		 p.85; almost same as #1; no commentary  
  4. 太音續譜
      (1559; III.4)		 Called Chumu Yin
 		  
  5. 琴譜正傳
      (1561; II.2)		 Called Chumu Yin
 		  
  6. 重修真傳琴譜
      (1585; IV.3)		 p.324; 3T; lyrics; preface says by 毛敏仲 ;
begins with 大七勾四 ! 		(also p.359; 8T; 秋江晚釣 ; not related)
  _. 真傳正宗琴譜
      (<1609; VII.2)		 (楊掄太古遺音)
(太古正音欽佩 ?) 		(p.91; 8; 秋江晚釣; not related)
  7. 松絃館琴譜
      (1614; VIII.2)		   p.96 (see above); 4; no attribution;
no flatted mis, but many fas
  8. 古音正宗
      (1634; IX.3)		 First to use decimal system, but inconsistent p.290; 4; no attribution
  9. 徽言秘旨
      (1647; X.1.)		   p.92; 4 (秋江晚釣)! should be 秋江晚波 ?
no commentary
10. 徽言秘旨訂
      (1692 ?; X.2)		   missing (秋江晚釣)
11. 琴苑新傳全編
      (1670; XI.4)		 p.479; 3; same as #1, including intro  
12. 大還閣琴譜
      (1673; X.3)		 decimal p.356; 4
Compare 1614: fas replaced by mi, as today
13. 澄鑒堂琴譜
      (1689; XIV.3)		   p.224; 4
14. 德音堂琴譜
      (1691; XII.7 )		   missing?
15. 琴譜析微
      (1692; XIII.2)		   p.68
16. 嚮山堂琴譜
      (<1700?; XIV.2)		   p.102; 4

 

  •   一峰園琴譜
          (1709; XIII.5)
    		•   

    p.511; 4

  •   臥雲樓琴譜
          (1722; XV?)
    		•   

    p.___

  •   存古堂琴譜
          (1726; XV?)
    		•   

    p.___(秋江晚波)

  •   琴書千古
          (1738; ?)
    		•   

    p.___

  •   蘭田館琴譜
          (1760; XVI.2)
    		•   

    p.216; 4

  •   自遠堂琴譜
          (1802; XVII.2)
    		•   

    p.345; 4

  •   裛露軒琴譜
          (>1802; ?)
    		•   

    p.___; 4 (秋江晚泊波 )
    p.___; 4 (秋江夜波) (also 秋江晚釣, 8 段)

  •   峰抱樓琴譜
          (1825)
    		•   

    p.___

  •   鄰鶴齋琴譜
          (1830)
    		•   

    p.___

  •   二香琴譜
          (1833)
    		•   

    p.___

  •   悟雪山房琴譜
          (1836)
    		•   

    p.___

  •   行有恒堂錄存琴譜
          (1840)
    		•   

    p.___

  •   琴學尊聞
          (1864)
    		•   

    p.___

  •   琴學入門
          (1864)
    		•   

    p.___

  •   以六正五之齋
          琴學秘書 (1875)
    		•   

    p.___

  •   天聞閤琴譜
          (1876)
    		•   

    p.___

  •   雅齋琴譜叢集
          ( ? )
    		•   

    p.___ & p.___

  •   梅庵琴譜
          (1931)
    		•   

    p.___ ; said to describe scene of Su Dongpo's 前赤壁賦 cf. Lieberman p.100

  •   夏一峰傳譜
          (19??)
    		•   

    p.74

         
  •   龍吟館琴普
          (1799)
    		•   

    earliest Mei'an-pieces; in VG Leiden collection

    Return to the annotated handbook list or to the Guqin ToC.