Ci Songs From the Song Dynasty: A Ménage à Trois of Lyrics, Music, and Performance

Ci is a genre of Chinese poetry or song that has been continuously written, read, and/or performed since the late ninth century. In the last six or so centuries, however, the genre was more read as literature than sung as song. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, ci works are increasingly being sung as ancient songs (gudai gequ) with authentic or reconstructed melodies from the past. This development raises a web of questions about ci lyrics, music, and performance, which have inseparable but unequal and unstable interrelationships. To probe the issues of ci as text and/or music, this essay analyzes authentic lyrics, notated music, and contemporary performance of three masterpieces of Jiang Kui (1151-1221), one of the most cherished and documented poet-composers in Chinese culture and history. The analyses show that ci lyrics, music, and performance constitute a ménage à trois. Each of its expressive modes is autonomous, joining and leaving the other partners at will. When the three join forces at the same time and place, their expressiveness transcends that which each can individually offer.