Spring Dawn
《春晓》 · Meng Haoran · Tang dynasty
春眠不觉晓
chūn mián bù jué xiǎo
Asleep in spring, unaware of dawn —处处闻啼鸟
chù chù wén tí niǎo
everywhere, everywhere, the calling of birds.夜来风雨声
yè lái fēng yǔ shēng
In the night came the sound of wind and rain;花落知多少
huā luò zhī duō shǎo
who knows how many blossoms have fallen?
chūn mián bù jué xiǎo
Asleep in spring, unaware of dawn —处处闻啼鸟
chù chù wén tí niǎo
everywhere, everywhere, the calling of birds.夜来风雨声
yè lái fēng yǔ shēng
In the night came the sound of wind and rain;花落知多少
huā luò zhī duō shǎo
who knows how many blossoms have fallen?
Mode gōng modeForm square formInstrumentation silk-and-bamboo trio (dizi + erhu + guzheng)Tempo ♩=84
A scholarly translation
I awake light-hearted this morning of spring,
Everywhere round me the singing of birds —
But now I remember the night, the storm,
And I wonder how many blossoms were broken.
“A Spring Morning”, tr. Witter Bynner, The Jade Mountain (1929). Public domain.
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Meng Haoran · Inspiration Seed 424242 ("Singing Spring Prelude", shared with Jiangnan) · gōng mode · silk-and-bamboo trio · ♩=84 · all 16 checks passed (pre-ornamentation)
The reduplication chù chù ("everywhere, everywhere") enters the music as a recurring motif, flowing bead upon bead. The gōng mode is bright as morning; at ♩=84 the dizi, erhu and guzheng keep the texture crisp, with a breath at the end of every line.