Jiang Kui (1155-1221); Chinese

Jiang Kui, also known as Jiang Baishi, was one of the foremost poets of the
Southern Song Dynasty.  'Gu Yuan' (Ancient Lament) appeared in a collection
of his songs printed in 1202.  In addition to the song text, the publication
also included the melody, and a tablature for the guqin, this last being one
of the oldest tablatures extant, not only for the guqin, but for any
stringed instrument anywhere.

The guqin is the Chinese seven-stringed zither, long esteemed by polite
society in China as the pre-eminent musical instrument.  'Gu Yuan' belongs
to the genre known as 'qinge' (guqin song), in which the guqin essentially
doubles the vocal line.  An instrument commonly coupled with the guqin is
the xiao (a recorder-type instrument) and this realization of the score
gives the vocal line to the xiao.

A major challenge in sequencing guqin music is the realization of the rich
palette of tone colours.  Two basic types of tones are differentiated:
   1  Shi yin (concrete tones) - which are produced by plucking or striking
the strings;
   2  Xu yin (empty tones) - produced by means of sliding the finger up or
down the fingerboard to reach different notes after the production of a 'shi
yin'.

Additionally, 'shi yin' can be realized either on one of the seven open
strings, on a stopped note, or as a harmonic.  Different ways of plucking or
striking the strings also affect the timbre.  Finally, there are the
peripheral, very audible noises produced by the finger sliding up and down
fingerboard to realize portamenti and a host of other ornaments (or to
produce 'xu yin') and the characteristic percussive thud that is heard when
a string is struck against the fingerboard to produce some notes.  All these
noises are an integral part of any performance on the instrument.

The task of realizing Gu Yuan in MIDI format is made easier by its
antiquity.  Older tablatures rely more heavily on open strings, reducing
markedly the scope for portamenti, and the whole gamut of grace notes
implied or specified by later tablatures.  Similarly, the tablature also
suggests a a more restrained interplay of contrasting tone colours so
typical of later guqin performance practice.

In the 1202 publication, Gu Yuan is preceded by a preface in which Jiang
elaborates on the unusual tuning for the piece; giving a set of open strings
tuned to a series which he makes clear was no longer customary in his day.
The notes of the open strings are sounded at the beginning of the file.  The
unusual tuning is probably the most striking aspect of the piece to the
casual listener.  Indeed, many modern interpreters of the piece, troubled by
a number of strange melodic progressions suggested by the tablature, shy
away from a literal interpretation, and tweak the musical text here and
there in an attempt to 'normalize' the melody.  The tablature itself is open
to interpretation on certain points due to the use of some figures which
differ from later practice.  My interpretation takes the tablature quite
literally, the way I learnt it from my teacher, Chen Wen.

On the surface, the poem expresses the sorrow of a woman lamenting her lost
youth and her advancing age.  On a deeper level the lament is a subtle
metaphor for the poet’s grief at the humiliation of the Chinese nation after
having recently lost the northern half of the country to the Jurchen.

Listeners who wish to learn more about the piece might want to read the
excellent (if somewhat technical) article by L.E.R. Picken, 'A
Twelfth-Century secular Chinese song in zither tablature' in _Asia Major_ 16
(1971), pp 102-120.