Liangxiao Yin is a very popular melody, occuring in over 30 handbooks and still in the active repertoire; two versions have lyrics.³ The title occurs for the first time in Songxianguan Qinpu (1614).⁴ However, a melody called Cangwu Yin,⁵ as printed in Wenhuitang Qinpu (1596), is very similar to Liangxiao Yin.⁶ The title Cangwu Yin suggests it may originally have been a prelude to a melody called Cangwu Yuan, which is a lament on the death of Emperor Shun.⁷ Both melodies are in jiao mode. However, no surviving handbook uses the Cangwu Yin/Liangxiao Yin melody as a prelude to Cangwu Yuan, and the 1596 Cangwu Yin is instead placed just before a version of Liezi Yu Feng.⁸

The 1596 handbook is the only one to call this melody Cangwu Yin, and it has no commentary on melodies. Songxianguan Qinpu also has no commentary on its melodies. Seven later handbooks do have commentary on Liangxiao Yin, but the only preface with specific information about the melody's origin is one published 250 years later, in Tianwenge Qinpu (1876). Here it is attributed to a Sui dynasty general with literary talent, Heruo Bi.⁹ Tianwenge Qinpu has no further information on the connection, and none of the other prefaces gives any hint at what the connection could be. It thus seems that one can only speculate as to what the original meaning or title of this melody might have been.

The modality is purely pentatonic.

 
Two sections

(00.00) 1.
(01.05) 2.
(01.49) Harmonics
(02.15) End

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. 31289.112 liangxiao peaceful evening; IX.263 adds "元宵節得夜晚 evening of Yuanxiao Jie, the 15th day of the first lunar month (a full moon), also called Lantern Festival. (Return)

2. For more on 角調 jiao mode see Shenpin Jiao Yi and Modality in early Ming qin tablature. (Return)

3. Zha's Guide 30/236/443. There are two versions with lyrics, dated 1730 (facsimile I/31: "籟靜窗虛....") and 1894 ("上畫樓...."). The lyrics are completely different from each other. (Return)

4. 松絃館琴譜 by 嚴澂 Yan Cheng, also known as 嚴天池 Yan Tianchi. (Return)

5. Cangwu Yin (1596)
As mentioned above, its title connects Cangwu Yin with Cangwu Yuan. And, as explained in a footnote to Cangwu Yuan, four of the five entries under Cangwu Yin in Zha's Guide 28/221/-- are in fact versions of Cangwu Yuan. However, the first of them, published in Wenhuitang Qinpu (1596; see VI/226), has no apparent musical relationship to Cangwu Yuan other than being in the same musical mode (jiao). This 1596 Cangwu Yin, a completely different melody, is apparently a predecessor of Liangxiao Yin, to which it is closely related. The 1596 handbook has no commentary on individual melodies, and it places Cangwu Yin just before the melody called Liezi (a version of Liezi Yu Feng); it does not include a Cangwu Yuan. On the other hand, Songxianguan Qinpu does include a Cangwu Yuan, but it is placed it two entries earlier than Liangxiao Yin. Neither of these two handbooks has commentary on individual melodies; and Songxianguan Qinpu does not follow the earlier custom of placing short melodies before related longer ones. (Return)

6. See VI/226: it omits one phrase and has generally less ornamentation indicated. (Return)

7. In the notes for Liang Xiao Yin on her double CD 嘯樂琴韻 Qin Sounds Calling to the Moon, 李楓 Li Feng points out the connection and adds the opinion that this melody quite likely originated as a prelude to Cangwu Yuan; however, see my comments above.
(This reference was pointed out to me by Julian Joseph; it is not apparent from Zha's Guide.) (Return)

8. Wenhuitang Qinpu does seem to try to pair melodies with apparent prefaces: see its ToC. However, there is no apparent connection between Liezi and the Cangwu region. (Return)

9. 賀若弼 Heruo Bi (544 - 607)
See separate biography. (Return)

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