Three Stanzas of Plum Blossoms
Meihua Sannong (梅花三弄) is among the most representative yongwu (咏物, “object-singing”) compositions in the guqin repertoire. The phrase sannong (三弄) — literally “three turns” — refers to the threefold appearance of the principal theme as harmonics at three different positions on the instrument, evoking the plum blossom’s clear, unyielding bearing in the cold and, by extension, the literatus’s refusal to bend with the season.
Zhu Quan’s Shenqi Mipu (神奇秘谱, 1425) records the tradition that:
“Huan Yi played the flute, producing the melody Meihua Sannong; later musicians arranged it for the qin as Sannong.”
By this account the piece was originally composed for the transverse flute by Huan Yi (桓伊), an Eastern Jin general and renowned flutist, and only subsequently transplanted to the qin — making it one of the more famous “flute-into-qin” transitions in Chinese musical history.
Historical Versions
The story of Huan Yi playing three turns on the flute for Wang Huizhi appears in the Jin Shu · Biography of Huan Yi and in Shishuo Xinyu · Renden chapter, but no Jin-dynasty flute tablature survives. The earliest extant version of Meihua Sannong is the ten-section reading in Shenqi Mipu (1425), in which the theme appears as harmonics at three distinct positions, providing the clearest model of the sannong structure.
From the late Ming through the modern period, the piece was reshaped in nearly every major school. Particularly important readings include the Guangling-school version in Qin Weihan’s Jiao’an Qinpu (蕉庵琴谱, 1868) and the Meian-school version in Wang Binlu’s Meian Qinpu (梅庵琴谱, 1931). The Meian reading, with its quicker tempo and distinctive sliding figures, contrasts sharply with the more reserved Yushan-school treatment and remains widely played today.
Performance Notes
- Structure: ten sections in standard layout. The thematic yi nong, er nong, and san nong appear as harmonics around the seventh, fifth, and fourth hui (studs), respectively — middle, upper, and uppermost registers.
- Idiomatic figures: the harmonic statements demand a light, clean, evenly weighted touch; the stopped sections rely on left-hand nao (猱) and yin (吟) to convey the bite of wind and snow.
- Tuning: F-key standard tuning (仲吕均 zhonglü).
- Interpretive challenge: the dynamic and tempo gradient across the three statements is the structural heart of the piece. Played too uniformly, the layering of the sannong design collapses.
About This Score
The version on this page is based on the Shenqi Mipu (1425) reading, cross-checked with Jiao’an Qinpu (1868). All fingerings are encoded in the Qixianpu (七弦谱) format and can be opened directly in the online editor for further editing, annotation with numerical (jianpu) notation, or export to PDF.
Further Reading
- Zhu Quan, Shenqi Mipu (神奇秘谱, 1425) — the earliest surviving qin tablature of Meihua Sannong, public domain
- Qin Weihan, Jiao’an Qinpu (蕉庵琴谱, 1868) — Guangling-school edition
- Wang Binlu, Meian Qinpu (梅庵琴谱, 1931) — Meian-school edition, distinctive in tempo and slide ornamentation
出处文献
- 神奇秘谱（1425）
- 风宣玄品（1539）
- 蕉庵琴谱（1868）
- 梅庵琴谱（1931）