Autumn Moon over the Han Palace

Introduction

A Chongming-school pipa classic that Liu Tianhua transcribed for erhu from a gaohu record in 1929.

Han gong qiu yue is a widely played traditional piece of unknown authorship and date, known in versions for pipa, zheng, erhu and gaohu. The pipa version belongs to the civil repertoire of the Chongming school and portrays palace ladies recalling the past and lamenting their fate on a cold, silent autumn night. A Cantonese short-tune version, based on the first section of the piece, was printed in Shen Yunsheng's score collection of 1929. In the same year Liu Tianhua transcribed it for erhu from a gaohu record, using only the first position, and Jiang Fengzhi later cut it substantially. Shandong zheng music also has a piece of this name, originally in the large eight-beat form and plain, antique in style.