Yuanquxuan 元曲選

Yuanquxuan 元曲選 "Selected Yuan theatre plays" is a collection of the greatest part of surviving Yuan-period 元 (1279-1368) theatre plays. It includes 100 plays and is therefore also called Yuanren baizhong qu 元人百種曲 "One hundred theatre plays by authors of the Yuan period".

The collection Yuanquxuan was compiled during the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Zang Maoxun 臧懋循 (1550-1620), courtesy name Jinshu 晉叔, style Guzhu 顧渚, who hailed from Changxing 長興, Zhejiang. He belonged to the so-called four masters (sizi 四子), famous writers that also came from this region (the others are Wu Jiadeng 吳稼竳, Wu Mengyang 吳夢暘 and Mao Wei 茅維). Although he passed the metropolitan state examination, he renounced official career and became instead a teacher at Jingzhou 荊州, Hubei. Later on he became a professor (boshi 博士 "erudite") at the Directorate for Education (guozijian 國子監) in Nanjing, but then again retired to a private life. He was a founding member of the Jinling Poetry Club 金陵詩社. Zang Maoxun established his private study at Mt. Guzhu, where he continued writing and compiling until the end of his austere life. His most famous books are Gushisuo 古詩所, Tangshisuo 唐詩所, Yumingtang chuanqi 玉茗堂傳奇, Xianyoulu 仙游錄, Mengyoulu 夢游錄, Xiayoulu 俠游錄, and the collection Fubaotang ji 負苞堂集.

Zang Maoxun was very interested in ancient poetry, especially in that of the Yuan period, which was until then largely neglected. In his theoretical deliberations he explained that all three main types of Chinese poetry (shi 詩, ci 詞 and qu 曲) came from the same source, but the last type (qu) had an exceptional character as aria in theatre plays (xiqu 戲曲, or musical comedy or opera). This peculiar use made it necessary that qu poetry served for very different types of language, adapted to the particular roles that were to sing the aria.

Furthermore, the texts were written in a language with a strong colloquial and regional taste not easy to understand for laypeople. Unlike shi poetry or even ci poetry that were not sung (although the textual pattern of ci poems is based on melodies), qu poetry was not only to be read aloud, but to be sung, and the vocabulary expressing the feelings and sentiments of the singing character therefore had to be adapted to a listening and viewing public.

Zhang Maoxun divided theatre plays into two types, namely those of "famous authors" (mingjia 名家), mainly characterised by a brilliant language, and those of "common authors" (xingjia 行家), that excelled in the use of melody patterns (qupai 曲牌). The specific success of the Yuan opera lies in its ability to combine artfully composed airs with naturalistic scenes, so that it can be called "an art without making use of artistry" (bu gong er gong 不工而工). Zang's intention was not only to preserve a whole literary genre of a past age, but also to provide a collection of excellent operas that could eventually serve as a model for contemporary composers of the typical southern plays (nanqu 南曲).

The collection Yuanquxuan is divided into two parts (Qianji 前集, Houji 後集), the first part being printed in 1615, and the second one a year later. Both parts include 50 theatre plays, making a total of 100 plays, the authors of 69 of which are known: Guan Hanqing 關漢卿 (c. 1234-c. 1300), Ma Zhiyuan 馬致遠 (1255-1321), Bai Pu 白樸 (1226-1306) and Zheng Guangzu 鄭光祖 (c. 1260-c. 1320) alone have written more than 20 plays. Other famous authors are Wang Shifu 王實甫 (1260-1336), Qiao Ji 喬吉 (1280-1345), Zhang Guobin 張國賓, Yang Xianzhi 楊顯之, Shi Junbao 石君寶 (1191-1276), Li Zhifu 李直夫, Gong Tianting 宮天挺 (c. 1260-c. 1330) and Jia Zhongming 賈仲明 (1343-1422). There are in total 39 different writers. 6 plays were written during the early Ming period.

Zang Maoxun used the copies of his own collection, but also asked other collectors to provide him with the text of Yuan theatre plays in their collection. A third type of source for his collection Yuanquxuan were copies owned by the imperial palace (yuxi jianben 御戲監本). Zang has made a very accurate textual critique, comparing different versions of theatre plays he had at his disposal. The Yuanquxuan is therefore a very reliable source for the study of Yuan-period operas. At the end of each act (zhe 折), a phonetic commentary is added, helping to reader (and re-enactor) to get along with the Yuan period pronunciation of words. The collection is enriched by several theoretical essays on Yuan-period theatre and on the music of that time.

The Yuanquxuan attracted the interest of a lot of experts on opera, like Wang Jide 王驥德 (d. 1623), Xu Fuzuo 徐復祚 (1560-1629), or Ling Mengchu 凌濛初 (1580-1644) and initiated a series of collections of other literary genres. Only about one fourth of all Yuan-period theatre plays have survived, more than half of them included in the collection Yuanquxuan. The most famous Yuan plays are Hangongqiu 漢宮秋, Dou E yuan 竇娥冤, Jiufengchen 救風塵, Wangjiangting 望江亭, Chenzhou tiao mi 陳州糶米, Qiangtou ma shang 墻頭馬上, Wutongyu 梧桐雨, Qiannü lihun 倩女離魂, Li Kui fu jing 李逵負荊 or Zhaoshi guer 趙氏孤兒. Not all theatre plays have an excellent quality, but it is important that they have survived.

The original edition has been republished as a facsimile by the Yiwen Press 藝文印書館 in Taipeh (no year), in 21 volumes. A four-volume modern print has been made in 1996 by the Zhonghua Press 中華書局.

Yuanquxuan waibian 元曲選外編

Yuanquxuan waibian is a supplement to the collection Yuanquxuan. It was compiled by Sui Shusen 隋樹森 (1906-1989) and includes 62 theatre plays. These plays were discovered in sources other than Zang Maoxun, compiler of the Yuanquxuan, had used. These are mainly Sui Shusen's own collection Yuankan zaju sanshi zhong 元刊雜劇三十種, including 30 plays, the Gu mingjia zaju 古名家雜劇 and the Yuan-Ming zaju 元明雜劇, of which a copy of the Maiwang Studio 脈望館 survives.

The sequence of the plays follows the life dates of the authors as provided in the earlier collections Luguibu 錄鬼簿 and Taihe zhengyin pu 太和正音譜. It includes also some plays written during the very early Ming period, but less Ming-periods plays than in the Yuanquxuan and Wang Jilie's 王季烈 (1873-1952) collection Guben Yuan-Ming zaju 孤本元明雜劇. The sequence of anonymous plays follows that in the Yuankan zaju sanshi zhong, Sun Jichang's 孫季昌 list Zhenggong duanzheng hao 正宮端正好 in the Ji zaju mingyong qing 集雜劇名詠情, the Taihe zhengyin pu, Luguibu xubian 錄鬼薄續編, Gu mingjia zaju 古名家雜劇, Yuanren zaju xuan 元人雜劇選 and the Maiwang Studio edition of the Gujin zaju. The compiler has undergone a critical review of his sources and added punctuation marks, as well as notes to the musical tunes.

The supplement Waibian is an important addition to the Yuanquxuan and includes otherwise not easy to find Yuan theatre plays. Unfortunately, fragments are not included. It was published in 1959 by the Zhonghua Shuju Press 中華書局.