This site has commentary on several melodies that have no tablature in the early handbooks on which I have focussed.² These are selected mostly from melodies in the modern repertoire, specifically,

Changmen Yuan Pingsha Luoyan Pu'an Zhou Yulou Chunxiao Yu Qiao Wenda

長門怨 平沙落雁 普庵咒 玉樓春曉 漁樵問答

Early books concerning qin, but without tablature, include the following:

Qin Cao Qin Ji Yuefu Jieti Qin Yuan Yao Lu Taiyin Daquanji Qinshu Cunmu Qinshu Bielu

琴操 琴集 樂府解題 琴苑要錄 太音大全集 琴書存目 琴書別錄

The following are some of the publications with modern transcriptions into staff notation of old qin melodies (see also my own):

Guqin Quji (Collected Guqin Melodies), Vol. 1, 1962 Guqin Quji (Collected Guqin Melodies, Vol. 2, 1983 Qin Ge (Qin Songs, 1982) Zhongguo Gudai Gequ (Old Chinese Songs, 1990)

古琴曲集，第一集，1962 古琴曲集，第二集，1983 琴歌，1982 中國古代歌曲，1990

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Here is some more detail on several books mentioned briefly in the Qin Bibliography

1. 古琴曲集，第一集。北京，人民音樂出版社，1962 (Guqin Quji; often reprinted).
   Collected Guqin Melodies, Vol. 1.
   Transcriptions into staff notation of 62 qin recordings made during the 1950s research project led by Zha Fuxi.
   (More detail to be added. Meanwhile, Search this site for "guqin quji")

2. 古琴曲集，第二集。北京，人民音樂出版社，1983 (and reprinted)
   Collected Guqin Melodies, Vol. 2.
   Transcriptions into staff staff notation of a further 17 qin recordings made in the 1950s (and later?). Those discussed on this site include:
   (More detail to be added. Meanwhile, Search this site for "guqin quji")

3. 王迪（編）﹕琴歌，文化藝術出版社，北京 (Wang Di [ed.], Qin Ge, Wenhua Yishu Chuban She, Beijing), 1982
   Wang Di, Qin Songs.
   Staff notation of 52 qin songs. This includes both short songs and long ones (including Hujia Shibapai). 14 are from Japanese handbooks, including Ziye Wu Ge and Fenghuang Taishang Yi Chui Xiao.

   Although Wang Di's transcriptions published in 1990 are mostly selected from 1982, the actual transcriptions are not always the same. Neither book includes the original tablature, and in both the qin's melodic lines are evened out for singing through octave transpositions.

   These transcriptions have often been used without attribution. Particularly when played on other instruments this sometimes gives the impression that these are old melodies handed down as is to the present, whereas the actual note values were all determined by Wang Di: traditional qin tablature gives no direct indication of note values. The books give no indication as to whether the note values she used conform to any actual performance practice. Generally there was no such performance practice to go by.

4. 孫玄齡、劉東升，中國古代歌曲， 人民音樂出版社，北京
   第四部，琴歌，有二十首五線譜，如下﹕
   Sun Xuanling and Liu Dongsheng [ed.], Zhongguo Gudai Gequ (Old Chinese Songs), Renmin Yinyue Chubanshe, Beijing), 1990.
   Section #4 (of 6), Qin Songs, has 20 transcriptions. They are by:

   王迪     Wang Di: 6, all from 1982 above; the three from Japanese handbooks include Ziye Wu Ge.
   許健     Xu Jian: 5
   夏一峰 Xia Yifeng: 2
   張子謙 Zhang Ziqian: 2
   管平湖 Guan Pinghu: 1
   吳景略 Wu Jinglue: 1
   楊蘟瀏 Yang Yinliu: 1     (Gu Yuan)
   姚丙炎 Yao Bingyan: 1   (Fenghuang Taishang Yi Chui Xiao)
   查阜西 Zha Fuxi: 1         (Su Wu Si Jun)
   (Return)

2. These melodies were part of my original repertoire (see Sun Yuqin), but I have rarely played them since getting fully involved in my reconstruction project.
(Return)

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