Confucius

The Book of Songs (Shi Jing),⁴ said to have been compiled by Confucius (traditional dates 551 - 479 BCE), has the earliest known literary references to the guqin. And the biography of Confucius in the Hereditary House of Confucius (Kongzi Shijia), Annal 47 of the Annals of History (Shi Ji) by the Grand Historian Sima Qian, stated that Confucius learned the qin from Shi Xiangzi. Nevertheless, there seem to be no actual descriptions of a qin until much later (in Xi Kang's Rhapsody on the Qin) and there is little historical evidence from earlier sources to suggest that Confucius actually played the musical instrument we know today as the qin or guqin (old qin).⁵ Nevertheless, there is a long history of stories featuring Confucius playing an instrument called a qin,⁶ as well as of images showing him playing specifically the seven-string qin⁷. In addition, some old melody lists attribute at least 12 qin melodies directly to Confucius,⁸ and in the actual repertoire there are quite a few further pieces associated with, if not directly attributed to, him.⁹

The rather long entry in Qin Shi about Confucius mentions at least three of these melodies (Yi Lan Cao, Jiang Gui Cao¹⁰ and Guishan Cao), plus You Lan (YFSJ p.840) and Wen Wang Cao (which Seng ascribes to Shi Xiang).

Qinshu Cunmu, Folio 16 quotes six stories about Confucius and the qin from a book called The Household Sayings of Confucius (Kongzi Jiayu).¹¹

The story of Confucius studying qin with Shi Xiangzi is not told here, but with the biography of the latter (#32). Qin illustration 6 in Taiyin Daquanji claims to be a depiction of his Confucian Style [仲尼 Zhongni] qin.)

The Qin Shi biography of Confucius begins,

Confucius was born during the period of the Zhou (dynasty). Experiencing disorder in Lu he got in his cart and traveled everywhere, but he was not living in the proper generation. In (Lu) he remained with the duke for 14 years. When he was 56 years old....

(Translation incomplete.)

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Kongzi 孔子 (551 - 479 BCE)
See also in Wikipedia, as well as the comments below.
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2. 43 lines
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3. Images of Confucius (see also below)
The illustrations here are "孔子真影 True image of Confucius" and an extract from "晝息鼓琴 Daytime leisure playing the qin" (full image shows 閩子 Minzi and 曾子 Zengzi listening) from, 孔子聖蹟圖，河北美術出版社，1996.
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4. Book of Songs: Confucius' 詩經 Shi Jing (Wiki)
Also called Classic of Poetry or Book of Odes, it has 305 poems. The best known English translation is by Arthur Waley. It mentions the qin in 8 poems, usually together with se. These could be instrument types rather than specific instruments.
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5. Historical information on Confucius
As pointed out by Annping Chin (Wiki) in her Confucius, A Life of Thought and Politics (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), the closest we have to actual historical details of the life of Confucius come from two classical texts most closely associated with him:

The Analects (論語 Lun Yu; Wiki); and
The Spring and Autumn Annals (左傳 Zuo Zhuan; Wiki).

For online versions of the original text of these two sources see the Chinese Text Project, The Analects and Chun Qiu Zuo Zhuan.
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6. Early references to Confucius and qin
As for the earliest sources on Confucius (see previous footnote), The Analects mentions only a 瑟 se (translated by Legge as "lute") while Zuo Zhuan seems to have 11 references to 琴 qin. None of these has him playing one.

Qinshu Daquan, Folio 16, includes many early references to "qin", including the references from the Book of Songs, said to have been compiled by Confucius. However, as discussed under Origins of the Qin, it is not certain just whether at that time the characters 琴 qin and 瑟 se referred to the instruments we now know by those names. The earliest historical evidence for the long zither with seven silk strings that came to be known as "qin" dates from only the 3rd century CE. That information, though, does suggest it had been in existence in that form for quite some time.
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7. Tradition of images showing Confucius with a qin
It is not certain when this began. This website includes a number of them, mostly linked here.
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8. 12 melodies commonly attributed to Confucius
The listing here comes from the Song dynasty list of qin melodies compiled by Seng Juyue. The 12 melodies attributed to Confucius are #24 - #35). The titles are:

歡樂操 Huan Le Cao (not in 16602.88 歡樂 etc.)
將歸操 Jiang Gui Cao (YFSJ p.841)
龜山操 Guishan Cao (YFSJ p.842)
猗蘭操 Yi Lan Cao (YFSJ p.839)
獲麟操 Huo Lin Cao (compare Huo Lin)
畏匡操 Wei Kuang Cao (22284.xxx)
厄陳操 E Chen Cao (or 厄於陳 E Yu Chen; 2942.xxx, or Kongzi E [#17])
閑居操 Xian Ju Cao (or 閑居樂 Xian Ju Le; nothing with 42162.32 閑居 or .33 閑居賦 Xian Ju Fu)
東武泰山操 Dongwu Taishan Cao (or Dongwu Taishan; Dongwu and Taishan?)
回風操 Hui Feng Cao (or 風操 Feng Cao)
悲風操 Bei Feng Cao (or 悲風 Bei Feng)
憶顏回 Yi Yan Hui (survives as alternate title for Ya Sheng Cao)

As shown by the links, there are actual melodies associated with at least five of these titles
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9. Surviving melodies associated with Confucius
See Confucian qin themes.
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10. Jiang Gui Cao: also called 陬操 Zou Cao 42622.10
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11. Confucius' Household Sayings (孔子家語 Kongzi Jiayu)
This is a collection of stories attributed to Confucius, but most of them are thought to have originated at a later date. The earliest surviving compilation is by 王肅 Wang Su (195 - 256), who is thought to have added some of them himself. This book is quoted variously on this site: see especially the six selections from four books.

A list of its 44 chapters is online at the China Knowledge website, which translates the title as The School Sayings of Confucius.
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