Xiandi pipa pu (Music score for Chinese flute and lute) 絃笛琵琶譜. by the Nanxi master, 1770.

This flimsy pamphlet contains thirteen pieces of music for Chinese lute and flute using the Gongche notation, a system of traditional Chinese music score. There is one illustration of a sanxian (three-stringed Chinese lute), flute, and vertical flute. The compiler has used a soubriquet or style name (hao). The woodblocks are carved by Fuwen Hall (Fuwen tang). This is probably a unique surviving copy, dating from 1770.

This work has now been digitised and is available via the Cambridge University Digital Library and using the viewer below: 

See also:

Yang Jian, 'Ancient Chinese Musical Notation Discovered in the Old Library of St John's College, Cambridge', East Asian Publishing and Society, 07/2014, Volume 4, Issue 2, pp. 175-180.

Article on the University of Cambridge's news site.

Back to James Inman's books.