The 300 Yuan Qu Translations, Annotations, and Commentaries (Volumes 1 and 2)

Author: Zhu Jingyuan et al.
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Features: The connotation of Yuanqu (Yuan Dynasty qu poetry) can be broadly or narrowly defined. The former includes Yuan zaju (operas) and Yuan sanqu (qu poems), while the latter refers solely to Yuan sanqu. This book is a selected collection of Yuan sanqu. In the Yuan Dynasty, sanqu was also known as "yuefu" (music bureau) or "guci ci zhang" (song lyrics and poems), indicating that it was a form of musical literature, specifically the lyrics of songs. It developed from northern folk songs and ditties during the Jin and Yuan dynasties, evolving into a new poetic form. Its flourishing environment was the urban centers of the Jin and Yuan periods. While its authors included high-ranking officials and prominent scholars, the majority were middle and lower-tier literati and folk artists. The performers were mostly courtesans in the entertainment districts (goulan), giving sanqu a strong urban flavor—almost making it a form of urban literature. Yuan sanqu primarily has two forms: xiaoling (single qu) and quashe (qu sets). However, there is also a transitional form called daigu (qu with a bridge), which is generally classified under xiaoling. This book is organized into xiaoling, daigu, and quashe. A xiaoling is a single qu piece. A daigu is a sequence of two to four xiaoling, likely arranged due to their similar melodic tones. A quashe is a concatenation of two or more to over a dozen qu pieces in the same key (gongting). The musical aspect of Yuan sanqu is now extremely obscure, with only the names of the keys (gongting) and qu forms (qupai) preserved. In the main text of this book, the gongting and qupai are enclosed in square brackets ([]) above each qu piece, while the text below is the title.