Guqin - Changmen Yuan 《長門怨》 [Lament at Changmen Palace]

Changmen Yuan 《長門怨》 or "Lament at Changmen Palace" in English is from the Mei'an Qinpu 【梅庵珡諩】 (1931). It is about the concubines of the emperor who fell out of favour with him that were sent to live a life of imprisonment at the 'cold palace' where they spend the rest of their lives living in loneliness and sadness.

This piece is learnt from various sources and is played on silk strings.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• 古琴
• guqin
• qin
• changmen
• yuan
• lament
• palace
• 長門怨
• zither
• traditional
• chinese
• music

[CharlieHuang]

I was about to wear my BA gown and hood but as the sun was going fast, I decided to skip it and record the playing before the sun goes.

[plaaitaekaat]

Way too stiff, my friend, for playing this tune on a silk-stringed qin. It doesn't give the sense of Changmen Yuan. I know each player has his own rendering of each tune, but your rendering lack the contrasting between hard and soft or slow and fast sound. Kind of monotonal and not very much in depth and details. Also you do some techniques a little too hard, such as zhuang or yan. Maybe if you reduce you weight on the finger you use to press or hit on the string, the tune will sound deeper. ^^

[eastwest3002]

It is not an easy piece of music - not the techniqiue but creating the ambiance. It is trying to release the "怨" of a woman who was prisioned in the palace and left alone by the king. It is quite difficult to express the 怨 of a woman.

So far, in so may pieces that I heard and experienced, the best one was from Master Wu Ziying in his volume II. It really expresses a woman's 怨 in his piece.

[obbytoo]

Deep stuff. No attire this time? :)