Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute

Introduction

Traditionally credited to Cai Wenji, it survives as a qin song and as an instrumental piece, both in eighteen sections

Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute is a guqin piece based on the long poem of the same name, written in the voice of Cai Wenji and first found in the Song anthologies of Guo Maoqian and Zhu Xi; whether she wrote it is much disputed. The earliest qin song setting of the poem is in the Lüqi Xinsheng of 1597, and the Qin Shi of 1611 has the same melody. The instrumental piece played today dates from the Qing and is best known from the Wuzhizhai Qinpu of 1722, and its melody is unrelated to the Ming song. Both forms have eighteen sections. The pieces Da Hujia and Xiao Hujia in the 1425 Shenqi Mipu share its tuning but are different works.