Du Fu

Du Fu (712 - 770),² though "one of the great geniuses of world literature,"³ was apparently not widely known until the 11th century. Now a great deal of information about him is generally available. Here, after a brief sketch, this page will focus on his connections to the qin.⁴

Biographies of Du Fu like to place his poetry into three distinctive periods of his life, not including his childhood. He was born in Henan,⁵ but his cultured family had its roots in Jingzhao, a region which included the Tang capital, Chang-An.⁶ During his first productive period, from about 731 to 745, he traveled, mostly in eastern China, though he also went to capital Chang'an, where he failed the Imperial Examinations. From 745 to 759 he lived in or near the capital, finally passing the Exam in 753. After the rebellion of An Lushan in 755, but during its extension by Shi Siming from 757 to 763, Du Fu moved west, spending his third period, 757 - 770, mostly in Gansu, Sichuan and Hunan provinces. Best-known is the period at his thatched cottage in Chengdu.⁷ He died in Changsha.⁸

Du Fu as a poet was so prolific that, although many of his poems were lost, almost 1,500 survive. At least 20 of these poems mention the qin.⁹ However, the collection of qin poems in Qinshu Daquan seems to have only one these:¹¹

Qin

Folio 20B, #7

¹²

Other relevant poems which have been translated include the following,

絕句漫興九首 Free Mood (I know well that my thatched hut)¹³
- Nine Versicles Written on Impulse, #3 (same as previous)
- Wandering Breezes, #4 of Nine Short Songs (again same as previous)
夜燕左氏莊 Evening Feast at Zuo's Manor¹⁴
螢火 Watching Fireflies¹⁵
向夕 Facing Night¹⁶
風疾舟中伏枕書懷 Thoughts, Sick with Fever on a Boat (excerpt)¹⁷

Lyrics by Du Fu have been used for several qin songs, including,

和賈舍人早朝 He Jia Sheren Zao Zhao (Echoing Chancellery Secretary Jia Zhi's Poem on an Early Morning Levee
With: 客至 Ke Zhi (A Guest Arrives) ¹⁸
飲中八仙歌 Yinzhong Baxian Ge (Song of Eight Drinking Immortals )¹⁹
兵車行 Bing Che Xing (Song of the War-Chariots)²⁰
早朝吟 Zao Zhao Yin (Early Morning Intonation; one of a set of three or four poems)²¹

Xu Jian, Chapter 6 discusses his lyrics later borrowed by Wen Tianxiang.²²

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Images Three more images of Du Fu (enlarge)
The image at top is from 三才圖會 Sancai Tuhui, copied here from 14796.79. An online search for "杜甫圖" shows mostly modern faux traditional images of Du Fu as a thin old man gazing wisely into the distance, though many are also doctored to show him doing odd things such as holding a rifle or shooting a basketball. By contrast the three images at right show Ming or Qing dynasty interpretations of Du Fu's appearance.
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2. 杜甫 Du Fu (712-770) (Wikipedia)
14796.79 style name 子美 Zimei; nickname 少陵野老 shao ling ye lao
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3. ICTCL p.813
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4. Collections of his poems in translation include:

David Hawkes, A Little Primer of Tu Fu; Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1967 (bi-lingual)
Wu Juntao, Tu Fu - A New Translation; HK, Commercial Press, 1981 (bi-lingual)
Li Weijian, Selected Poems of Du Fu; Sichuan, People's Publishing House, 1985 (bi-lingual)
David Hinton, The Selected Poems of Tu Fu; NY, New Directions, 1989
Arthur Cooper, Li Po and Du Fu; England, Penguin, 1973

Online the translations of Du Fu by L. Cranmer Bing, Lute of Jade, include one called A Night of Song that mentions lute-strings. Perhaps this refers to qin.
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5. By modern 巩義，康店鎮 Kangdian district of Gongyi, south of the Yellow River between Luoyang and Zhengzhou.
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6. 京兆 Jingzhao. His clan was particularly associated with 杜陵 Duling, in the southern part of Jingzhao, and 少陵 Shaoling, within Duling. There is a grave there said to be his, though he died in 潭州 Tanzhou (Changsha), where there is also a grave.
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7. The thatched cottage is now a major tourist site in Chengdu.
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8. Then called 潭州 Tanzhou. There is a grave site north of here in 岳陽市平江縣小田村 Pingjiang, near Yueyang, now being restored.
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9. See Music, Sadness and the Qin, HJAS 57, p.53. Compare Bai Juyi, over 160.
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11. See QQJC, Vol V, Folio 18 to 20
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12. Qin Terrace also mentions Feng Qiu Huang
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13. Full title: 《絕句漫興九首（其三）》Nine Quatrains Written on Impulse
There are at least three translations of all nine quatrains
Irving Y. Lo, in Sunflower Splendor, pp. 134-136.
Wu Juntao, op.cit, see p.134 (qin translated as "lute").
Arthur Cooper, op.cit, see p.199.
Only the third (or fourth according to Cooper) mentions qin. The original poem is,

熟知茅齋絕低小，江上燕子故來頻。
銜泥點污琴書內，更接飛蟲打著人。

Cooper translates qin as "lute", but adds explanation. He also translates the title "Wandering Breezes, #4 of Nine Short Songs", saying that what others consider the ninth verse is clearly the first, making this the fourth verse instead of the third.
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14. 夜燕左氏莊 Evening Feast at Zuo's Manor
The complete poem is,

林風纖月落，衣露淨琴張。
暗水流花徑，春星帶草堂。
檢書燒燭短，看劍引杯長。
詩罷聞吳詠，扁舟意不忘。

Translated in Wu Juntao, op.cit, see p.46; qin translated as "lute". Minford and Lau, p.808, have "zither".
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15. Firefly Glow (螢火 Ying Huo)
David Hinton, op.cit, p.89, translates the poem as "Watching Fireflies". There is also a translation in David Young, Five T'ang Poets.
The original Chinese text is:

螢火‧杜甫
巫山秋夜螢火飛，簾疏巧入坐人衣。
忽驚屋裡琴書冷，復亂簷前星宿稀。
卻繞井欄天箇箇，偶經花蕊弄輝輝。
滄江白髮愁看汝，來歲如今歸未歸。
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16. David Hinton, op.cit, p.98. The original Chinese text is:

向夕
畎畝孤城外，江村亂水中。深山催短景，喬木易高風。
鶴下雲汀近，雞棲草屋同。琴書散明燭，長夜始堪終。

Hinton translates "qin" as "koto", a Japanese instrument like the Chinese 古箏 guzheng.
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17. Full title: 風疾舟中伏枕書懷（三十六韻奉呈湖南親友; 1618）
David Hinton, op.cit, p.112, translates parts of this poem, which consists of 36 rhyming couplets ([5+5] x 36). The poem begins,

軒轅休制律，虞舜罷彈琴。
尚錯雄鳴管，猶傷半死心。
聖賢名古邈，羈旅病年侵。
舟泊常依震，湖平早見參。
如聞馬融笛，若倚仲宣襟。
故國悲寒望，群雲慘歲陰。
水鄉霾白屋，楓岸疊青岑。
鬱鬱冬炎瘴，濛濛雨滯淫。

No known complete translations.
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18. 和賈舍人早朝 He Jia Sheren Zao Zhao (Echoing Chancellery Secretary Jia Zhi's Poem on a Morning Levee; 1573)
This poem by Du Fu (full title 和賈舍人早朝大明宮之作) is set for qin in a qin handbook published in 1573 (see in ToC). There it is actually titled Intonation for Poetry (詩吟 Shi Yin), but the preface there writes that the melody was actually designed to go with pretty much any melody in the form (7+7)x4. My recording and transcription are linked here.

客至 Ke Zhi (A Guest Arrives)
As an example of this, Wang Di's Qin Songs, p. 26, has set this melody to the poem Ke Zhi by Du Fu (translation in Minford and Lau, p.791); the lyrics begin, 舍南舍北結春水...." Qin Songs says only that it is from 1585, a later edition of the 1573 handbook that does not in fact have this melody. In addition, the book Qin Songs has no tablature and does not mention that the actual melody is called Intonation for Poetry (詩吟 Shi Yin). But since Du Fu's Ke Zhi is in the form (7+7)x4 the pairing does work. (Likewise with Firefly Glow, above.)

Other possibilities for such pairing are linked here.
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19. 杜甫，飲中八仙歌 Du Fu, Song of Eight Drinking Immortals; 1618
The yinzhong baxian of the title can also be translated as the Eight Immortal Drinkers, the Eight Immortals while Drinking, Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup, Eight Immortals Indulged in Wine, etc. "Immortals" here is consciously metaphorical and the Eight Immortal Drinkers (45037.3) are not to be confused with, for example, the Eight Immortals. Du Fu apparently originated the appellation, which was again used in Li Bai's original official biography. The poem was later copied by some well-known calligraphers, and it can also be found as a theme in painting in both China and Japan.

The Eight Immortal Drinkers were as follows:

He Zhizhang 賀知章，會稽人，自稱秘書外監 (659 - 744)
Wang Jin 王璡，讓皇帝長子璡，封汝陽王 (? - 750)
(Grandson of 李旦 Li Dan [Tang emperor Ruizong], so original name would be 李璡 Li Jin,
but enfeoffed 汝陽王 Ruyang Wang (king), hence Wang Jin or Wang Ruyang)
Li Shizhi 李適之，天寶元年爲左丞相 (in the poem 左相 Zuo Xiang; 694-747)
Cui Zongzhi 崔宗之，日用之子，襲封齊國公 (name sometimes written "崔宋之 Cui Songzhi")
Su Jin 蘇晉，珦之子，官至左庶子 (676-734)
Li Bai 李白 (ca 705 - 762)
Zhang Xu 張旭，善草書 (8th c. calligrapher; Wiki)
Jiao Sui 焦遂，甘澤謠，布衣焦遂，爲陶峴客

One can find a Song of Eight Drinking Immortals on some old lists of ancient qin melody titles, such as this one, but actual tablature survives only from the qin handbook Lixing Yuanya.

Lixing Yuanya (VIII/290; 1618; see tablature) sets Du Fu's lyrics of this title to a melody that uses a very rare non-standard tuning (seventh string raised a whole tone, meaning most players would instead have to lower the other six strings). These lyrics (i.e., Du Fu's poem) are as follows (see also in Chinese Wiki):

知章騎馬似乘船，眼花落井水底眠。
汝陽三斗始朝天，道逢麴車口流涎，恨不移封向酒泉。
左相日興費萬錢，飲如長鯨吸百川，銜杯樂聖稱世賢。
宗之瀟灑美少年，舉觴白眼望青天。皎如玉樹臨風前。
蘇晉長齋繡佛前，醉中往往愛逃禪。
李白一斗詩百篇，長安市上酒家眠，天子呼來不上船，自稱臣是酒中仙。
張旭三杯草聖傳，脫帽露頂王公前，揮毫落紙如雲煙。
焦遂五斗方卓然，高談雄辨驚四筵。

The fourth line of the poem describes 崔宗之 Cui Zongzhi as follows: "A young genius of great beauty. Lifting his cup, he proudly gazes at the blue sky. His features are pure white, like a jade tree caught in a breeze." (Translation from Regina Krahl, Clarissa Von Spee, Chinese ceramics from the Gulexuan collection.) The phrase "jade tree caught in a breeze" (yushu lin feng) was later used as the title of another qin melody, 玉樹臨風 Yushu Lin Feng (21298.742 玉樹 Yushu quotes this poem but omits a phrase so that it reads, "宗之瀟灑美少年，皎如玉樹臨風前"); the dictionary entries make no mention of music. And although this reference suggests that "jade tree in a breeze" describes the appearance of a handsome person, later (modern) introductions to the melody of that name may ignore this and say it actually describes a beautiful tree. 　
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20. 杜甫 Du Fu, 兵車行 Bing Che Xing (original tablature; 1618)
"Song of the War-Chariots": Li Xing Yuan Ya (1618) has a 5-string melody set to and named after this famous poem by Du Fu. It divides the lyrics into three sections, as follows:

車轔轔，馬蕭蕭，行人弓箭各在腰。
爺娘妻子走相送，塵埃不見咸陽橋。
牽衣頓足攔道哭，哭聲直上干雲霄。
道旁過者問行人，行人但云點行頻。
或從十五北防河，便至四十西營田。
去時里正與裹頭，歸來頭白還戍邊。
邊庭流血成海水，武皇開邊意未已。
君不聞漢家山東二百州，千村萬落生荊杞。
縱有健婦把鋤犁，禾生隴畝無東西。
況復秦兵耐苦戰，被驅不異犬與雞。
長者雖有問，役夫敢申恨？
且如今年冬，未休關西卒。
縣官急索租，租稅從何出？
信知生男惡，反是生女好。
生女猶得嫁比鄰，生男埋沒隨百草。
君不見青海頭，古來白骨無人收。
新鬼煩冤舊鬼哭，天陰雨濕聲啾啾。

Often translated, e.g., here.
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21. Early Morning Intonation (早朝吟 Zao Zhao Yin; 1664)
This is a piece in three sections. Each section sets for qin a poem in the form (7+7) x 4, with the second poem being by Du Fu. Details are here
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22. The story concerns Wang Yuanliang and Wen Tianxiang meeting in prison shortly before Wen's execution.
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