Qiu Feng Ci 秋風詞
Played by Joan M. Vigo
Recording by David Sánchez
Girona, 2007
Commentary
The following excerpt is part of Lieberman’s analysis of the composition in his work A Chinese Zither Handbook - the Meian Qinpu (pages 69 to 73 of the 1983 print edition).
The Meian qinpu attribution of Qiu feng ci to the great Tang dynasty poet, Li Bai 李白 (A.D. 699-762), is only partly defensible. Li Bai certainly wrote the first six lines of text; they are in fact one of his better-known short poems entitled San wu qi yan 三五七言 [Three, five, seven words]. The second six lines, however, comprise a different poem, in a different style, by a lesser poet than Li Bai. Li Bai’s poem is a haunting evocation of autumnal yearnings and is technically elegant:
Fresh autumn breeze
bright autumn moon
falling leaves collect and scatter
winter ravens roost then flutter
when, my love will be meet again?
now, tonight I feel only sorrow
…
Here is a translation of the second part of the text of Qiu feng ci:
Just enter my love’s gate
you’ll know my lovesickness
long loves are long in memory
but brief loves go on forever
had I known hearts thus are fettered
perhaps we never would have met
…