Rain on the Paulownia Tree

Introduction

Bai Pu's Yuan zaju in a prologue and four acts, ending with Emperor Xuanzong woken by rain on the paulownia

Rain on the Paulownia Tree, in full Emperor Minghuang of Tang on an Autumn Night of Paulownia Rain, is a Yuan zaju by Bai Pu drawn from Bai Juyi's Song of Everlasting Regret and Chen Hong's prose tale that goes with it. It has a prologue and four acts, all sung by the lead male as the emperor, while Yang Guifei speaks but never sings. The story runs from An Lushan being spared after a defeat and made a frontier commander, through the lovers' vows in the Changsheng Hall on the Double Seventh night and the news of Tong Pass falling while Yang dances at the Chenxiang Pavilion, to the mutiny at Mawei and her death. In the fourth act the retired emperor grieves before her portrait, meets her in a dream and wakes to the sound of rain on the paulownia, an act that a recent study praises for its rising, shifting sound-painting. The Qing critic Li Tiaoyuan rated it the best of the many Yuan plays on Mawei, and Wang Guowei called it the crown of Yuan drama.

Parts

1. PrologueAn Lushan is spared after a defeat, and the emperor ignores warnings to make him a frontier commander
2. Act OneOn the Double Seventh night in the Changsheng Hall, the emperor and Yang Guifei exchange gifts and vows
3. Act TwoYang Guifei dances at the Chenxiang Pavilion, then the fall of Tong Pass sends the emperor fleeing to Shu
4. Act ThreeOn the flight west the guards mutiny at Mawei, Yang Guozhong is killed and Yang Guifei is put to death
5. Act FourRetired in the West Palace, the emperor dreams of Yang Guifei and wakes to rain on the paulownia