Musical Settings (XIX): “Verses of Red Beans” 紅豆詞, Liu Xue’an 劉雪庵

Verses of Red Beans 紅豆詞
from Hónglóumèng 紅樓夢 (Dream of the Red Chamber)
Cáo Xuěqín 曹雪芹

滴不盡、相思血淚拋紅豆，
[di¹ bu² jin⁴ xiang¹ si¹ xue³ lei⁴ pao¹ hong² dou⁴]
ㄉㄧˉ ㄅㄨˊ ㄐㄧㄣˋ ㄒㄧㄤˉ ㄙˉ ㄒㄩㄝˇ ㄌㄟˋ ㄆㄠˉ ㄏㄨㄥˊ ㄉㄡˋ
Drip unceasingly blood-stained tears of longing, casting red beans in the air.

開不完、春柳春花滿畫樓；
[kai¹ bu⁴ wan² chun¹ liu³ chun¹ hua¹ man³ hua⁴ lou²]
ㄎㄞˉ ㄅㄨˋ ㄨㄢˊ ㄔㄨㄣˉ ㄌㄧㄡˇ ㄔㄨㄣˉ ㄏㄨㄚˉ ㄇㄢˇ ㄏㄨㄚˋ ㄌㄡˊ
Bloom endlessly the young willows and spring flowers, surrounding the ornate mansion.

睡不穩、紗窗風雨黃昏後，
[Shui⁴ bu⁴ wen³ sha¹ chuang¹ feng¹ yu³ huang² hun¹ hou⁴]
ㄕㄨㄟˋ ㄅㄨˋ ㄨㄣˇ ㄕㄚˉ ㄔㄨㄤˉ ㄈㄥˉ ㄩˇ ㄏㄨㄤˊ ㄏㄨㄣˉ ㄏㄡˋ
Sleep unsettled, wind and rain thrashing the window screens after dusk.

忘不了、新愁與舊愁；
[wang⁴ bu⁴ liao³ xin¹ chou² yu³ jiu⁴ chou²]
ㄨㄤˋ ㄅㄨˋ ㄌㄧㄠˇ ㄒㄧㄣˉ ㄔㄡˊ ㄩˇ ㄐㄧㄡˋ ㄔㄡˊ
Forget not—sorrows, new and old,

嚥不下、玉粒金波噎滿喉，^[1]
[yan⁴ bu² xia⁴ yu⁴ li⁴ jin¹ bo¹ ye¹ man³ hou²]
ㄧㄢˋ ㄅㄨˊ ㄒㄧㄚˋ ㄩˋ ㄌㄧˋ ㄐㄧㄣˉ ㄅㄛˉ ㄧㄝˉ ㄇㄢˇ ㄏㄡˊ
Swallow not, delicate food and wine, choking with sorrows.

瞧不盡、鏡裡花容瘦。
[qiao² bu² jin⁴ jing⁴ li³ hua¹ rong² shou⁴]
ㄑㄧㄠˊ ㄅㄨˊ ㄐㄧㄣˋ ㄐㄧㄥˋ ㄌㄧˇ ㄏㄨㄚˉ ㄖㄨㄥˊ ㄕㄡˋ
Gaze repeatedly into the mirror, countenance waning.

展不開眉頭，
[zhan³ bu⁴ kai¹ mei² tou^2]
ㄓㄢˇ ㄅㄨˋ ㄎㄞˉ ㄇㄟˊ ㄊㄡˊ
Open not—furrowed brows,

捱不明更漏，
[ai² bu⁴ ming² geng¹ lou⁴]
ㄞˊ ㄅㄨˋ ㄇㄧㄥˊ ㄍㄥˉ ㄌㄡˋ
Endure unending hours until dawn.

呀！呀！
[ya¹, ya¹]
ㄧㄚˉ ㄧㄚˉ
Ah, . . .

恰似遮不住的青山隱隱，
[qia⁴ si⁴ zhe¹ bu² zhu⁴ di⁵ qing¹ shan¹ yin³ yin³]
ㄑㄧㄚˋ ㄙˋ ㄓㄜˉ ㄅㄨˊ ㄓㄨˋ ㄉㄧ˙ ㄑㄧㄥˉ ㄕㄢˉ ㄧㄣˇ ㄧㄣˇ
This agony is like: The vague silhouette of mountains, unconcealable;

流不斷的綠水悠悠。
[liu² bu² duan⁴ di⁵ lü⁴ shui³ you¹ you¹]
ㄌㄧㄡˊ ㄅㄨˊ ㄉㄨㄢˋ ㄉㄧ˙ ㄌㄩˋ ㄕㄨㄟˇ ㄧㄡˉ ㄧㄡˉ
The flowing crystal water, meandering.

__Hongdou ci 紅豆詞, Liu Xue’an 劉雪庵 (1943)

In 1943, playwright Zhu Tong 朱彤 created Yu Lei 鬱雷/郁雷, a four-act play, based on Hónglóumèng 紅樓夢 (Dream of the Red Chamber) by Cáo Xuěqín 曹雪芹.^[2] First presented in several school productions, the play opened in Chongqing in 1944. Liu Xue’an 劉雪庵 set music to verses taken from Chapter twenty-eight of Cáo’s novelas incidental music for the final act.^[3]

The poetic content and structure of Hongdou ci had been discussed in detail in a previous post.^[4] The poet and the composer were also introduced in the series previously. The following discussions will focus on the musical components of the song.

The vocal line in Liu’s setting is in Yu mode 羽調式 (yu-gong-shang-jue-zhi, 羽宮商角徵, la-do-re-mi-sol), comparable to the natural minor scale, with occasional added auxiliary tones—pian yin 偏音, bian gong 變宮 between the first two tones.

The opening four-bar melodic line becomes a recurring thematic figure.

Liu uses dotted rhythm to emphasize the anxiousness reflected in the initial three-word phrases in verses three to six– Shuì bù wěn 睡不穩, wàng bù liǎo 忘不了, yàn bú xià 嚥不下, qiáo bú jìn 瞧不盡.

The rhythmic pattern changes for the following couplet.

The longer initial notes manifest the unyielding suffering while the repeating-note endings mimic the sounds of a water clock or night watches.^[5]

The melodic line unfolds in small intervals mostly. Two large downward movements take place in mm. 12 and 13. They are rhetorical gestures for the “new and old sorrows” in the text. Portamenti will be appropriate in delivering these musical sighs.

The piano accompaniment is uncomplicated but well designed:

• The upper voices complement the vocal line, often in parallel motion.
• Tonally, it maintains the pentatonic character. Most noteworthy is the descending bass line which accompanies the thematic pattern.
• Western traditional cadences are used to punctuate phrases.
• Frequent appearances of syncopations enhance the restless feelings in the texts.

A different version of accompaniment by Sang Tong (1923-2011), included in the third volume of the Centennial Collection of Chinese Art Songs 中國藝術歌曲百年曲集, has become popular in the last decades.^[6] The craftmanship and the beauty of this accompaniment deserve a discussion of its own.

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^[1]玉粒金波 appears as 玉粒金蒓 or 玉粒金蓴 in some literary sources. 蒓/蓴, [chùn] ㄔㄨㄣˊ, water plant.
^[2] The title page of Yu Lei (Shanghai, Mingshan Bookstore 名山書局, 1946) reads: Original work by Cáo Xuěqín 曹雪芹原著; Adaptation by Zhu Tong 朱彤改作. Zhu later argued that his play was influence by Cáo’s novel but was not a retelling of the story. Ibid., 142-146.
Yu Lei 郁雷.pdf_Wiki Commons
^[3] On May 20, 1948, Zhou Xiaoyan 周小燕 recorded Liu’s setting for Pathé Record.
Zhou Xiaoyan_Hongdou ci_YouTube
^[4] https://goldfishodyssey.com/2021/11/03/chinese-poetry-xiv-verses-of-red-beans/
^[5] Geng 更is a time measurement, equal to two hours. Geng lou更漏 is a slow-dripping water clock. In ancient time, village watchmen would patrol the streets beating the gong or clappers to call out the time at night.
^[6] Liao Changyong 廖昌永 ed., Zhongguo yishu ghequ bainianquji, di san ji—zhengrongsuiyue (中國藝術歌曲百年曲集，第三集—崢嶸歲月, Collection of Chinese Art Songs in 100 years, volume 3), Shanghai Conservatory of Music Press, 2020. In the edition for high voices, Hongdu ci arranged by Sang Tong is found from page 107 to page 109.