Faming Qinpu

This handbook, after the preface by Huang Longshan himself,⁶ accompanied by the image to the right, has 15 folio pages with fingering diagrams and explanations ending with a table of contents.

The tablature section then has 25 melodies, 16 with lyrics, nine without. The nine instrumental melodies are all copies from earlier publications; the 16 songs are mostly related to earlier publications: four have new titles, but one of these (Qiu Jiang Wan Diao) is related to earlier songs with different titles. Thus the handbook actually has the earliest surviving versions of only three melodies.

As for the four melodies that survive first in Faming Qinpu, I have reconstructed (transcribed and recorded) all of them. The four are:⁷

Qiujiang Wan Diao (3. Autumn River Evening Fishing; related to earlier Spring River melodies!)
Sheng De Song (22. Hymn of Grand Moral Virtue)
Yangguan Sandie (23. Thrice Parting for Yangguan, earliest short version)
Shiba Xueshi Deng Yingzhou (24. Eighteen Scholars ascend Yingzhou)

For further information about Faming Qinpu see:

The Table of Contents, listing all the melodies, and adding links to commentaries on them.
Zha Fuxi's Preface giving background to the history and contents of Faming Qinpu.
My additional commentary

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Faming Qinpu References
23178.64 發明 faming: name of a spirit bird;
in Shi Ji 68, "reveal";
in science, to come to an important understanding.

The full name of this handbook in QQJC is 新刊發明琴譜 Xinkan Faming Qinpu (Newly Engraved Faming Qinpu).
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2. Alternate translation: Qin Handbook for Spreading Clarity
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3. Huang Longshan 黃龍山
48904.1129 concerns only "Yellow Dragon Mountain", mentioning three (in Anhui, Zhejiang and Shaanxi). As for the man, I have found no further information beyond what is in his preface, which is signed, "弋陽黃龍山育金陵精舍謹書 Respectfully written by Huang Longshan of Yiyang (in Jiangxi province, see below) while living in a pleasant hut in Jinling" (Nanjing).

Huang Longshan's home town of Yiyang is only about 200 km east of Nanchang, home of Zhu Quan and his descendants. This could well be related to the fact that all nine songs in Faming Qinpu with no lyrics seem to be identical to the versions in Zhu Quan's Shen Qi Mi Pu.

As for the 16 melodies that do have lyrics, some of them seem to be related to versions in Zheyin Shizi Qinpu, compiled around the same time by a descendant of Zhu Quan in Nanchang. But many handbooks were also compiled around this time in Nanjing, and the song tradition seems to have been quite strong in Nanjing at that time. Thus Nanjing may well have been the source (or at least the immediate source) of Huang Longshan's melodies with lyrics (and/or the style of some of those melodies).

For more on this see QSCB, Chapter 7 and these further comments.

Hsu Wenying, p. 224, mentions a 李開先發明琴譜 Faming Qinpu by Li Kaixian (1502 - 1568; Wikipedia), a prolific biographer and one of the "eight great scholars" during the Jiaqing reign (1522 - 67), noted for his connection to opera. She references Li Kaixian's Ming biography, but she does not say specifically that it says he wrote a Faming Qinpu. There is in fact a reference to a Li Kaixian Faming Qinpu in Qianqingtang Shumu, so this is perhaps where Hsu got her information. However, this is only a listing and it is the only one I have found so far.

Furthermore, although one should perhaps consider the possibility that "Huang Longshan" was a pseudonym, it seems unlikely that he was in fact Li Kaixian, in particular because he would presumably have been too young. Further regarding this, on 6/7/06 Daniel Bryant sent me the following message,

"(Li wrote) one biography of a blind musician, but it has nothing to say about the music. Since Li was a Ming playwright, he would have had at least a working knowledge of the musical tradition, but that's as far as I would dare surmise without additional research. I have done a quick check of the union list of rare books in China and the index to collectanea and also had a look at Li's epitaph, probably the most detailed contemporary document about his life (in Guochao Xiancheng Lu, 70.33a). Neither of the indices includes a qinpu written or published by him. The epitaph refers at the end to his having left 21 titles of various sorts in addition to his collected poetry and prose, but it doesn't say anything about what was in them. So, I don't see where Hsu Wenying got her information (which is not to say that she made it up; there's just not anything in the most obvious places)."

More recent internet searches show the Qianqintang Shumu reference but no further information.
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4. Another Jiangxi province handbook?
弋陽 Yiyang is a town in Jiangxi province about 100 miles east of 南昌 Nanchang, where Shen Qi Mi Pu (1425) was compiled. It is about the same distance south of Huangshan, where Taigu Yiyin (1511) was compiled. Yiyang is on the 信江 Xin River, which flows west into Poyang Lake. The river is fed in part by streams coming down from 武夷山 Wuyi Shan to the south. The preface was "respectfully written while lodging at a pleasant hut in Nanjing".
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5. From Folio I, the second folio page, of Faming Qinpu; QQJC I/213
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6. Preface by Huang Longshan
The original text with punctuation and translation added is as follows:

君子之於琴也，觀其深矣。夫琴音之所由生也，其本則吾心之出之也。是故節物以和心，和心以協聲，協聲以諧音，諧音以著文。文之達也，天地將為昭焉。不但擿情性，舒血脈，理吾之身而已也，夫斯之謂深。顧琴雖作於聖人，而譜則昉於後世。相沿既久，傳者失真，間號能琴者，未免附會掇拾之勞，非誠有得於譜法而工之者也。夫含規矩方圓，無所不成，矧於琴也，而可苟哉？予日苦習累誦，詩讀書之暇，㫄及絲桐以定志，茹真潛紳，熈氣久之，頗有悟焉。乃取舊譜之踈者、紕者、遷者、曲者、淆亂而無章者，細加讎補，而錄為卷帙，庸壽諸梓，與天下士君子共之。而有志於琴者，無擿埴索途之憂，可以因此而識彼矣。雖然，譜可傳，而心法之妙不可傳，存乎其人耳。善學者能自得之，則藝成於德，其庶乎深矣！
嘉靖九年歲次庚寅春三月庚辰吉日序
弋陽黃龍山寓金陵精舍謹書

As for the attitude of junzi (people of culture) towards the qin, one can simply observe how deeply they engage with it.

Regarding from where sound emerges, it fundamentally arises from our own hearts. Thus, we regulate the external world to harmonize the heart, harmonize the heart to coordinate sound, coordinate sound to achieve musical harmony, and achieve musical harmony to give expression to natural patterns. And when such patterned expression is fully realized, Heaven and Earth themselves will be illuminated. It does not merely stir natural emotions, soothe the blood vessels, regulate our bodies and that is all. This is what is called depth.

Now, although the qin was created by sages, qin tablature originated in later generations. After long transmission, those who have passed it down have often lost the true meaning. Some claim to be skilled in the qin, but they inevitably resort to forced interpretations and patchwork efforts — these are not the ones who truly have mastered the art of tablature and skillfully applied it. Those who precisely distinguish between the square and round can accomplish anything. How much more so when it comes to the qin — could one then be careless with that?

Daily I have persisted in practice, repeatedly doing recitation. In moments of rest from reading poetry and books, I have turned to the qin to steady my will, absorb purity and withdraw in contemplation. Having nourished my qi for a long time, I gradually gained insight. I then selected from old tablature those that were incomplete, erroneous, altered, distorted, or jumbled and unstructured. I carefully edited and corrected them, compiling them into volumes and having them printed, to share with all the scholars and gentlemen under Heaven. Thus, those who are devoted to the qin need not worry about groping in the dark or searching aimlessly for a path — with this work, they can come to understanding.

Yet even so, although tablature can be transmitted, the subtle beauty of whan the heart is expressing cannot thus be transmitted as that exists only in the individual. Good students who can attain this on their own, their art is rooted in inner virtue. This is something close to true depth.

Written on an auspicious day, gengchen of the third month, in the ninth year of Jiajing (1530), cyclical year gengyin.

Huang Longshan of Yiyang, now residing at a retreat in Jinling (Nanjing), respectfully wrote this.

As discussed above, there seems to be no further information anywhere about a person called "Huang Longshan" ("Dragon Mountain Huang"); "Longshan" is almost certainly a nickname.
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7. Four melodies reconstructed from Faming Qinpu
Melodies with lyrics provide a particular challenge when reconstructing: assuming the pairing was done in a knowledgable manner, translation is essential to making the lyrics and melody fit each other. I was thus particularly tentative in my reconsructions of these pieces in that I recorded some of the reconstructions before having translated the lyrics. For the four that I have reconstructed from this handbook here is a brief accounting:

Qiujiang Wan Diao (Autumn River Evening Fishing
My translation of the lyrics is tentative and I do not sing them in the recording.
Sheng De Song (Hymn of Grand Moral Virtue)
I have recorded my reconstruction, but my tranlsation of the lyrics is tentative in places and my transcription will eventually need some revision.
Yangguan Sandie (Thrice Parting for Yangguan, earliest short version)
The lyrics are translated, and I sing them in my recording.
Shiba Xueshi Deng Yingzhou (18 Scholars ascend Yingzhou)
Grouped with Ying Zhou; my translation of the lyrics was completed after I actually recorded my reconstruction, and I play the melody much too fast for them to be sung in the recording.

In all cases I have tried to sing the lyrics by themselves (usually silently) to test how well they seem to fit the melody. For a performance a separate singer would be necessary.
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