Figure 1. Source.
Figure 2. Source.
Figure 3. Stringless guqin fan painting by Feng Chaoran (1943) Stolen traight from www.silkqin.com/10ideo.htm on silkqin.com:
Wind in the pines and a babbling brook are nature's melody. A qin was brought along, but there is no need to play it
The The Gateless Barrier vibe and Chinese naturalism is just awesome.
en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bo_Ya&oldid=1150295883#The_story_about_Zhiyin:
Bo Ya was good at playing the qin. Zhong Ziqi was good at listening to the qin. When Bo Ya's will was towards high mountains in his playing, Zhong Ziqi would say, "How towering like Mount Tai!" When Bo Ya's will was towards flowing water in his playing, Zhong Ziqi would say, "How vast are the rivers and oceans!" Whatever Bo Ya thought of Ziqi would never fail to understand. Bo Ya said, "Amazing! Your heart and mine are the same!" After Zhong Ziqi died, Bo Ya broke his Guqin because he thought that no one else can understand his music.
Figure 1. Source.
Figure 1. Source.
Bibliography:
John Thompson's Guqin website.
Holy crap amazing list of Guqin pieces by the guy for MP3 download! www.silkqin.com/06hear.htm
Download all mp3:
wget -r -np -l 1 -A mp3 http://www.silkqin.com/06hear.htm
Ciro Santilli Contacted John by email in 2019 telling him to put his stuff on YouTube and offering help, and he replied, but nothing came of it unfrotunately. Edit: he uploaded a bunch of videos of him playing live in 2020! www.youtube.com/user/silkqin/videos
John focuses on playing the tunes in a "historically informed performance", in particular using silk strings rather than metal ones which are used by most modern artists: www.silkqin.com/08anal/hip.htm
Video 1. Dialog between Fisherman and Woodcutter performed by John Thompson (2020) Source.
Video 1. Melody of Longshuo performed by Zhang Ziqian. Source.
Composed by Bo Ya for the guqin.
But there is an awesome guzheng adapatation which is perhaps better known in modern times, partly because it is not as long/slow. TODO origin.
Video 1. High Mountain and Flowing Water performed on the guzheng by Xiang SiHua (2000) Source. Performer Chinese name: 項斯華
韦编三绝 is a chengyu that means "to study diligently", i.e. to read so much to the point that your book starts to wear down.
There is a Chinese Wiki page for this song: zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/韦编三绝 which says it dates from the early Qing dynasty
Video 1. "The book binding broke three times" uploaded by guqincn. Source.
Lit: fish timber question answer.
The dialog is also known as allegory for an incredibly deep philosophical discussion between an idealized wise woodcutter and a fisherman, e.g. mentioned at: www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Writings/Fisherman%20and%20Woodcutter.pdf
This song is just too slow for Ciro Santilli to make much out of it.
Figure 1. Dialog between Fisherman and Woodcutter Chinese traditional painting by Xie Shichen.
Video 1. Dialog between Fisherman and Woodcutter uploaded by Fei Sun. Source.
Video 2. Dialog between Fisherman and Woodcutter performed by Wu Jinglüe. Source. Accompagnied by di flute to reinforce the idea of two voices. This one has TODO year.
www.facebook.com/131402556881886/posts/655763214445815/ gives an origin:
Li Sao was composed by Cheng Kangshi in late Tang dynasty based on the poem Li Sao, authored by Qu Yuan (340-278 BC) in the Warring States period of ancient China.
The silkqin.com entry: www.silkqin.com/04qart/07sqmp/57ls.htm does not mention this however.
Video 1. Li sao performed by Guan Pinghu. Source. Track from Master Of Traditional Chinese Music: guqin
Video 2. Lisao performed by NiniGuqin (2020) Source.