Poetic song from Song Dynasty China: "Shu Ying"《疏影》by Jiang Kui 姜夔

A performance of a poetic song entitled "Shu Ying"《疏影》(Dappled Shadows), song no. 11 from the 17 poetic songs in ci (词) form in the collection "Baishi Daoren Gequ"《白石道人歌曲》(Songs of Whitestone, the Daoist), which was compiled c. 1202 by the Chinese poet, composer, musician, and scholar Jiang Kui (姜夔, c. 1155-c. 1221), during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). Both the words and music were composed by Jiang Kui, and this song, along with its companion, "An Xiang"《暗香》(Subtle Fragrance, song no. 10), is considered to be his finest work. The mode-key is Xianlü Gong (仙吕宫, Lydian on B-flat, based on a Huangzhong pitch standard of D).

Note that the chromatic ornamental pitches sung at 00:41, 01:06, and 02:42, which create a weird, jarring, and dissonant effect, are not specified in Jiang's original score, and their inclusion in the reconstruction used for this performance is unwarranted and highly unfortunate. In addition, the notes at 01:24 and 02:56 (on the syllables "bu" 不 and "yi" 一, respectively), which are sung as "Re" notes in this performance, should actually both be sung as "Do," this note completing the interesting triadic outline of Sol-Mi-Do.

For this performance, this melody was reconstructed from the original suzi notation by the musicologist Dr. Wu Santu (伍三土, b. 1982), a professor at Wenzhou University (温州大学) and a specialist in the music of China's imperial period; and the ensemble arrangement was made by Liu Lengni (刘冷妮). The singer (who is singing here in modern standard Chinese) is Ms. Chen Na (陈娜), and the accompanying ensemble is the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music School of Music Education MTC Chamber Orchestra (浙江音乐学院音乐教育学院MTC室内乐团), dir. Mr. Hang Zhigao (杭致高), whose members are playing modern traditional Chinese instruments rather than replicas of period instruments.

This performance was part of a concert entitled "Song Yun Liu Sheng"《宋韵流声》(The Confluence of Song Dynasty Rhymes and Melodies), which took place at the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music (浙江音乐学院) in Xihu District (西湖区), Hangzhou (杭州市), northern Zhejiang Province (浙江省), east-central China, April 18, 2025. The concert was co-organized by Professors Jin Meiling (金美玲) of the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music and Wu Santu (伍三土) of Wenzhou University.

Suzi notation (Chinese: suzi pu, 俗字谱, literally "popular character notation"), also known as yanyue banzi pu (燕乐半字谱, literally "banquet music half-character notation"), is a shorthand (cursive) form of gongche notation (Chinese: gongche pu, 工尺谱) whose symbols are based on wind instrument fingerings, which is believed to have originated in the Tang Dynasty for use in yanyue (燕乐, court banquet music), and which was used in scores of secular music dating to the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties.

Lyrics:

疏影
Dappled Shadows

苔枝缀玉，有翠禽小小，枝上同宿。
Mossy branches decked with jade; a pair of little bluebirds roost on them together.
客里相逢，篱角黄昏，无言自倚修竹。
When wandering we meet—by the corner of the fence in the dusk, without a word she leans on slender bamboos.
昭君不惯胡沙远，但暗忆、江南江北。
Unaccustomed to the remote barbarian sands, Zhaojun secretly longed for the Yangtze's climes.
想佩环、月夜归来，化作此花幽独。
Surely it is her jade waistband that returns on moonlit nights, transformed into this blossom so solitary.

犹记深宫旧事，那人正睡里，飞近蛾绿。
The old palace tale still comes to mind: as the beauty slept, one blossom fluttered to her black moth-eyebrows,
莫似春风，不管盈盈，早与安排金屋。
Don’t be like the spring wind, careless of beauty, but early prepare a golden chamber for it.
还教一片随波去，又却怨、玉龙哀曲。
If one lets all the petals drift off with the current, he will resent hearing the Jade Dragon's mournful tune.
等恁时、重觅幽香，已入小窗横幅。
If one waits till then to pursue that subtle fragrance, it will have entered a horizontal scroll over some small window.

Bibliography:
● Pian, Rulan Chao. Sonq Dynasty Musical Sources and Their Interpretation. Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series, no. 16. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1967.

宋词古曲·疏影·姜夔词（“想佩环、月夜归来，化作此花幽独。”）

More information:
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1UZG...
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/KUhds2zvGL...
https://zhejiang.eol.cn/zhejiang_news...
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https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/OErasl7uyD...
http://tvguide.cctv.com/tvguide/tvcom...
https://tinyurl.com/4c4pw7ja
https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E7%96%8...