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Qin Shi #133   Qin biographies   首頁
Chen Kangshi
- Qin Shi #133		 陳康士 1
琴史 #133 2

Qin Shi calls him Chen Kang, but it seems to be the same person that other historical sources call Chen Kangshi: both are referred to as famous qin players with the literary name Andao. Biographical dictionaries and Xu Jian's Outline History, Chapter 5. A.,3 mention only the period 874 - 888/9, but the Qin Shi biography (which he quotes) seems to suggest Chen Kangshi began his activities during 806 - 825. Several contemporary qin handbooks,4 now lost, apparently had tablature recording his versions of quite a few melodies. His Qin Shi biography quotes from his own preface to one of these collections. The famous poet Pi Rixiu (c.834 - c.883) apparently wrote a preface to another of the handbooks.

Some of his explanations of finger techniques seem to have survived. These are discussed in Qinshu Daquan, Folio 8.

Qinshu Cunmu includes nine entries (#58 to #66) attributed to Chen Kangshi:

  1. 琴譜，十三卷 Qin Pu: Qin Tablature
    Qin tablature for 100 章 zhang in 11 sections (? sections have names like 宮調 as well as 離騷) (10 lines)

  2. 琴譜敘，一卷 Qinpu Xu: Qin Tablature Arranged
    (4 lines)

  3. 琴調，四卷 Qin Diao: Qin Melodies
    (4 lines)

  4. 琴譜調，三卷 Qinpu Diao
    (5 lines)

  5. 琴書正聲 Qinshu Zhengsheng: Correct Sounds of Qin Writing
    Tablature for 10 melodies (listed) (3 lines)

  6. 琴調，十七卷 Qin Diao: Qin Melodies
    (2 lines)

  7. 琴譜記，一卷 Qinpu Ji: A Record of Qin Tablature
    (1 line)

  8. 楚調五章，一卷 Chudiao Wuzhang: Tablature for Five Melodies of Chu
    (1 line)

  9. 離騷譜 Li Sao Pu: Tablature for Li Sao
    (1 line)

The Qin Shi biography begins:

Chen Kang, style name Andao, truly loved the elegant qin. When his name became known in the upper levels of state, the melodies he had created were gathered into a collected edition. For this he wrote a preface that said, "When I studied qin, although my sounds were informed in accord with my teachers, later I came to my own realizations. I looked everywhere for (Qin?) Zheng Sheng Jiu Nong, 5 Guangling San, and the two Hujia (short and long), which could be called the sounds of ancient flavor (gu feng) that had not been destroyed. The other melodies, moreover, were completely neglected and difficult to continue. From the years of Yuanhe (806 - 21) and Changqing (821 - 25), gentlemen of those past generations who had become well-known often did not understand the technical side of music. Perhaps the those with virtuoso technique were inflicted by prevalent customs, those who created surpassing sound plagued by 直置 unsubtle expression; they all brought an end to their teachers' traditions, not following what they had learned through study....

Not completed.6

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. 陳康士 Bio 1389 says he lived during 僖宗 Xizong (r, 874 - 889); its source is given as 文獻通考 Wenxuan Tongkao, Folio 186. The Qin Shi entry has his name only as Chen Kang, but this is thought to be a mistake rather than a different person.
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2. 9 lines
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3. page 57
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4. These collections of qin melodies apparently were only copied out by hand, so there would have been few copies. There may have been some overlap between collections, and perhaps not all versions of any particular melody would have been identical.
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5. 遍尋正聲九弄廣陵散....
Xu Jian seems to understand this as, "I looked everywhere for the correct sounds of (Xi Kangs's) Jiu Nong, Guangling San...."
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6. The original Chinese begins (and ends),
陳康字安道篤好雅琴。名聞上國，所制調弄綴成編集，嘗自敘云，余學琴雖因師啟聲，乃自悟遍尋正聲九弄廣陵散二胡笳可謂古風不泯之聲也，其餘操曲亦曠絕難繼。自元和、長慶以來....東嶽道士梅復元授康琴法。
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