ABSTRACT
Qupai (‘labeled melody’) is a melody known by its specific name, which is often independent of contextualized associations. However, some qupai names have been recontextualized, as will be seen in the case of Liu Yao Jin 柳搖金 (‘Willow shakes its gold’), optionally written Liuye Jin 柳葉錦 (‘Ornate as a willow leaf’), but subsequently renamed Shuilong Yin 水龍吟 (‘Lament of the water dragon’). In this chapter I examine the capability of instrumental qupai melodies to adapt to almost every genre and place through centuries of evolution and adaptation. Two contrasting qupai are examined: Chao Tianzi 朝天子 (‘Imperial audience’), a melody with regular (even square) phrase structures, which for the most part is still performed in its original form, though modestly embellished; and Liu Yao Jin 柳搖金, a more irregular melody, which over the years has become surprisingly influential on the growth of new repertoire. Significantly, both were introduced into Europe between the 18th and 20th centuries, and were documented by the famous scholars Joseph-Marie Amiot and Erich von Hornbostel. I examine the basic forms, variant forms and expanded variations of the two qupai, followed by analyses of these scholars and a 21st-century reevaluation.
