Gùqǔ záyán 顧曲雜言
Miscellaneous Sayings on Qǔ-Connoisseurship by 沈德符 (撰)
About the work
The Gùqǔ záyán 顧曲雜言 (“Miscellaneous Words on Looking-after-the-tune”) is the qǔ-criticism treatise of Shěn Défú 沈德符 (1578–1642), preserved in one juǎn. The title alludes to the Sānguó zhì anecdote of Zhōu Yú the Wú general — known as a connoisseur who would turn his head (gù) at the slightest off-note in performance (“qǔ yǒu wù, Zhōu láng gù” 曲有誤，周郎顧). The treatise discusses zájù, nánběi qǔ, gōngdiào theory (with extensive discussion of Liáoshǐ notation), and the prehistory of the Yuán dramatic tradition. The Sìkù tíyào is mildly critical of certain factual claims — Shěn’s assertion that the Yuán court before subjugating the Sòng had already tested scholars through zájù is rejected as gossip — but admits the work as a substantive contribution to qǔ-historiography.
Tiyao
Gùqǔ záyán, one juǎn. By Shěn Défú of the Míng. Défú has the Fēifú yǔlüè separately catalogued. This volume specifically discusses the differences between zájù, nánqǔ (Southern qǔ), and běiqǔ (Northern qǔ). His claim that the Yuán before subjugating the Southern Sòng tested scholars through zájù — examined against the Yuánshǐ Xuǎnjǔ zhì, there is not the slightest hint of any such thing — is a wěixiàng (alley-gossip) rumor. His treatment of the Liáoshǐ Yuèzhì’s Dàshí diào (which he says was originally Dàshí qǔpǔ miswritten Dàshí 大石) — as if dàshí were a guómíng (country-name) like Qiūcí 龜茲 — does not know that the Sòng already used the name (Wáng Guī’s zhì has it as Zhìbǎo dān; Qín Guān has a piece called Xiǎoshí diào), and so it is not a corruption-by-pǔ. His discussion of wǔ liù gōng chě shàng sì hé fán yī (the musical syllables) as deriving from the Sòng Yuèshū is also a fùhuì — examining Southern qǔ: there is no fán or yī or shàng, and high-low syllable distinctions in Sòng song were not the same as North-South qǔ distinctions. Such small infelicities aside, his discussion of běiqǔ as having xiánsuǒ (strings) as the primary instrument with the bǎn (clappers) setting a fixed measure, and nánqǔ using shēng and dí (mouth-organ and flute) with no need for fixed-length phrases, the qiāng binding to the bǎn — that is finely cut. His tracing of the páimíng of dramatic tunes from JīnYuán down through Míng is exhaustive and well-corroborated. Cíqǔ is a jìyì zhī liú (mere art-craft), but it is also the mòpài (end-tributary) of the music; the Táng Yuèfǔ zálù is still transmitted; one may preserve this volume as a survey of southern and northern qǔ-history, as one branch of broad-learning. — Qiánlóng 46 / 1781, 9th month.
Abstract
The Gùqǔ záyán is the principal late-Míng qǔ-criticism treatise that consistently distinguishes the technical practice of Northern and Southern qǔ — a foundational distinction in subsequent qǔ-historiography. The work’s running set of páimíng notices (tune-name histories) from JīnYuán zájù into Míng xìqǔ is a major source for the genre’s prehistory and is much cited in modern qǔ-history scholarship (Sūn Kǎidì, Wú Méi, Wáng Lìqì). Shěn’s Wànlì yěhuò biān (the great late-Míng court miscellany) is the companion piece; together the two works are essential for late-Míng cultural history. The composition window 1610–1620 reflects Shěn’s most active scholarly decade. The Sìkù editors’ mild factual corrections (the Yuán-zájù-examination claim; the Liáoshǐ Dàshí claim) reflect their consistent editorial standard.
Translations and research
- Wú Méi 吳梅, Qǔ-xué tōng-lùn 曲學通論 — discusses Gù-qǔ zá-yán in qǔ-criticism history.
- Sūn Kǎi-dì 孫楷第, Cāng-zhōu jí — bibliographic discussion.
- Wilt L. Idema and Stephen H. West, Chinese Theater 1100–1450: A Source Book — context for the prehistory Shěn discusses.
Other points of interest
The title’s allusion to Zhōu Yú of Wú — the connoisseur who turns his head at the slightest off-note — is a programmatic statement: Shěn presents himself in the volume as the connoisseur-arbiter, with the jìtán (anecdotal) discussions serving as moments of disciplined criticism rather than mere gossip. The “nánqǔ uses shēng and dí, the qiāng binds to the bǎn” formulation is one of the most-cited single statements on Southern qǔ in the late-imperial qǔhuà tradition.