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Jiang Kui

Southern Song lyricist and composer who never held office; his song collection gives seventeen ci with notation, the main surviving scores of Song lyric music

Also known as Zi Yaozhang · Hao Bai Shi Dao Ren · Bai Shisheng

Jiang Kui, courtesy name Yaozhang, came from Poyang and spent his boyhood in Hanyang, where his father Jiang E held office. The poet Xiao Dezao admired his talent and married him to his niece, and Jiang settled with Xiao in Huzhou near White Stone Cave on Mount Bian, taking from it the name Baishi Daoren, the Daoist of White Stone. In 1197 he submitted a treatise on court music to the throne, and in 1199 a set of twelve victory songs; he was allowed to sit the metropolitan examination without the prefectural round but failed, and lived out his life as a commoner supported by patrons such as Zhang Jian. His Songs of the Daoist of White Stone (Baishi daoren gequ) give seventeen lyrics with notation in vernacular characters, among them Yangzhou man, Anxiang and Shuying. He died in Lin'an; the year is uncertain, one reckoning placing it around 1221. Zhang Yan's Sources of the Lyric (Ciyuan) likened his style to a lone cloud drifting in the wild.

Life and times

  1. c. 1155 CEBornSong
  2. c. 1221 CEDieddeath by another account c. 1209

Works

  1. Literature · Lyrics17
    1. Tune: Yangzhou Man — The Famed City East of the HuaiSongJiang Kui's self-composed tune on Yangzhou in ruins after Jin raids, lamenting lost splendour
    2. Sparse Shadows · Mossy Boughs Strung with JadeSongJiang Kui's long ci on plum blossom, woven from tales of Wang Zhaojun and palace beauties
    3. Rouged Lips · The Northern Geese Have No CaresSongJiang Kui's short ci passing Wusong in winter: geese, bleak peaks and an old recluse in mind
    4. Partridge Sky · The Fei River Flows East Without EndSongJiang Kui's short ci from a Lantern Festival dream of a love parted for many years
    5. Treading the Grass · Light as a Swallow, Soft as an OrioleSongJiang Kui's short ci of a New Year dream on the river, where a parted lover's soul follows him
    6. +12 more
      1. Celebrating Spring in the Palace · Twin Oars on Water-Shield WavesSongJiang Kui's long ci of a boat trip in the lake country, haunted by old outings and a lost love
      2. Joy Equal to Heaven · Master Yu Had Already Chanted of SorrowSongJiang Kui's long ci on an insect's autumn chirping, heard by sleepless wives and travellers
      3. Pipa Immortal · When the Twin Oars CameSongJiang Kui's long ci on meeting someone like an old love, and the past he will not speak of
      4. Eight Returns · Fragrant Lotus Sheds Its PowderSongJiang Kui's long ci seeing off his friend Hu Dehua in Hunan, as rain clears and autumn comes
      5. Charm of Niannu · A Boat Among Riotous RedSongJiang Kui's long ci of a boat among summer lotuses, painted as lovely women in wind and rain
      6. Lament at the Long Pavilion, Slow · The Catkins Are Nearly Blown AwaySongJiang Kui's long ci on the willows at the parting pavilion and a plea to come home soon
      7. Pale Yellow Willows · Dawn Horns in an Empty CitySongJiang Kui's mid-length ci from an empty city on the eve of Cold Food Day, as spring slips away
      8. Hidden Fragrance · Moonlight of Former DaysSongJiang Kui's long ci on plum blossom, recalling old moonlit nights and a love by West Lake
      9. Song of the Kingfisher Tower · Moon Cold over the Dragon SandsSongJiang Kui's long ci on a tall tower's feast in peacetime and the loneliness of a man far away
      10. Apricot Blossom Sky · Green Threads Brush the Mandarin Duck ShoreSongJiang Kui's short ci from a boat at Jinling in spring, with willows, tides and no way home
      11. A Single Red Calyx · In the Shade of the Old City WallSongJiang Kui's long ci of a winter climb in an old city: early plums, old terraces, homesickness
      12. Rainbow Skirt, First of the Middle Prelude · Gazing Far from the RiverbankSongJiang Kui's long ci of an ailing traveller in autumn, recalling his youth and a lost face
  2. Literature · Sayings3
    1. The Twenty-Four Bridges of YangzhouSongLine from Jiang Kui's Slow Song of Yangzhou: old bridges and a silent moon over a ruined city
    2. Ten Miles of Spring Breeze in YangzhouSongFamous line from Jiang Kui's Slow Song of Yangzhou: past splendor set against postwar ruin
    3. Grief of the Drooping Millet in Ruined YangzhouSongFamous phrase from Jiang Kui's Yangzhou Man preface: sorrow at a ruined city and nation
  3. Stage · Songs2
    1. Slow Tune of YangzhouWinter solstice, 1176 (Southern Song)A song tune Jiang Kui created on passing Yangzhou at the winter solstice of 1176, with its notation preserved
    2. Old GriefSouthern Song (by Jiang Kui, in the Songs of the Whitestone Daoist)Jiang Kui's own qin song, the earliest surviving qin song score written with fingering notation