古琴名曲——神人暢.note¶
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神人暢
《神人暢》一曲表達了堯帝祭祀之時彈琴，奇妙琴聲感動上天，使天神降臨，與人們歡樂歌舞，共慶
盛典。六朝時期謝希逸《琴論》曰：《神人暢》，唐堯所作。堯彈琴，神降其室，故有此弄。《古今
樂錄》曰：堯祀天，座有神見堯，曰：洪水為害，命子救之。
此曲音調古樸，粗獷，節奏鏗鏘，其淳樸自然的原始祭神舞蹈節奏使得曲風蒼古雄健，如江河行
地，音節清瑩透亮，似日月經天。《神人暢》處處透露出的古代琴人超凡脫俗的審美趣味和崇尚天人
合一的審美理想。
現存最早關於此曲的記載出現在漢代桓譚的《新論 • 琴道》中： “ 《堯暢》，遠則兼善天下，天下
通暢，故謂之 ‘ 暢 ’” 。雖無法考證《堯暢》是原始曲名還是堯《神人暢》的簡稱，但由此可見，此曲早在
漢代就已是廣為流傳的名曲了。
“ 暢、操、引、弄 ” 四種最早琴曲題材都有傳譜，《琴操》就載有 “ 五曲、九引、十二操 ” ，但 “ 暢 ” 題
材的琴曲惟有兩首：一是《神人暢》，另一是《南風暢》。
http://www.silkqin.com/02qnpu/16xltq/xl132src.htm
Rhapsody on a
Celestial
- Linzhong mode2;
standard tuning, usin only five strings: 5
6 1 2 3
g
神人暢
Shen en Chang
Long han period "jade celestials" 3
1
r
s
The title of this qin melody is elsewhere most commonly translated as "Harmony Between Gods and
Men", i.e., chang between shen and ren. Although this translation may be possible by itself, the
preface here and other early commentary on this title suggest that it is more accurate to consider
shenren as a specific type of individual (also translated as "god man", "spirit man", and so forth),
and chang as a type of melody, one that expresses joy.
As a qin melody title Shenren Chang survives in some ancient melody title lists, generally attributed
to the legendary . However, tablature for an actual qin melody survives only from this
handbook. In addition, although various ancient lyrics for Emperor Yao's rhapsody survive,
specifically in Yuefu Shiji and with an account of melodies attributed to , no tablature
survives setting them to a qin melody.
The theme here is the joy of Emperor Yao at being given a suggestion with regard to solving the
problem of floods, which periodically destroyed the crops. The most famous myth in this regard has
finally controlling the floods. However, there are several other related stories. The present
account is perhaps related to one of these earlier stories.
According to the preface here, after a celestial came to Emperor Yao to warn him about the potential
dangers of flooding he created this music to express the happiness he felt at this event. Related to
this, some ancient sources say that whenever a qin piece expresses pleasure it is called a "":
Yao was happy to have seen the celestial, so he wrote a chang. This particular story is not in the Shi
Ji accounts of Yao or his successors, but it is in several other ancient sources. The only other
surviving qin melody directly related to the flooding is , also only in the present
handbook.
According to these sources, as quoted in of the qin melody lyrics section in the ,
the celestial being appears before Yao while he is conducting a sacrifice. In one of the sources,
, Yao is said to have been playing a qin, thus perhaps suggesting that it was his playing that
brought the celestial. After the celestial tells Yao of the danger from floods, Yao composes a song to
commemorate this event. In the lyrics Yao says he has obeyed the deity by inviting Yu to the palace
However, the Shenren Chang introductions all end the story before this, with no mention of Yu. In the
more complete accounts, it is Gun that Yao summons to the palace; Gun, however, is not successful
in solving the problem of the floods. It is not until Yao's successor has appointed Yu to the task
that the flooding is brought under control. Shun eventually names Yu as his successor. Yu,
commonly known as the , has his own associations with the qin.
According to tradition the earliest form of the qin was a , and this was the instrument
played by Shun. It is presumably for this reason that this piece, ascribed to Shun's predecessor,
appropriately uses only the lower five strings.
4
5
6
Emperor Yao7 1
525 8
9 Xue Jixuan10
E
mperor Yu
11
chang
12
Xiangling Cao
entry 3 Yuefu Shiji13
14 Qi
n Lun
Shun
15
Great Yu 16
five string qin
17
There are many recordings of Shenren Chang. Peiyou Chang plays it with silk strings in an online
video during which she also recites The Mountain Spirit, a poem from the Nine Songs. However,
most recordings other than use metal strings, such as those by Dai Xiaolian, Ding Chengyun,
Ding Yang, Gong Yi (with ensemble), Xu Junyao, and Zeng Chengwei.
Original commentary:
Xie Xiyi, Qin Lun, says:
Shenren Chang was created by Tang Yao. Yao played the qin and a celestial came down into his
room. Thus we have this composition.
Gujin Yuelu says:
As Yao was sacrificing to earth and heaven, a celestial sat there looking at Yao, saying, There is
danger from flooding. I order you to provide a solution.
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my own
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