Zhou Bangyan

Zhou Bangyan (Chinese: 周邦彥; 1056–1121) came from Hangzhou , served under the last three emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127) as an official in the province and in the capital Kaifeng , u. a. as director of the music office. He is considered an outstanding poet of songs (詞, Ci ), for which he also wrote melodies himself.

Life

Zhou Bangyan was born in Qiantang, today's Hangzhou, in 1056. At the age of 23 he went to study in the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, Bianliang, today's Kaifeng. After he had found the emperor's approval in 1083 with a "Rhapsody on the capital" (汴 都賦), he received the post of inspector at the university without having to take the exams. In 1087 he was transferred to Lu Prefecture ( Anhui Province ) as a professor . Ten years in the province followed, most recently as sub-prefect of Lishui , south of Nanjing . Then he was recalled by Emperor Zhezong to a senior position at the university in the capital. Zhezong's successor, Huizong , promoted Zhou to the role of collator in the Imperial Library. Eventually he rose to the position of vice director at the court of the imperial regalia. In 1111 he was sent back to the province, first as prefect in Longde District (now Ningxia Province ) in the barren north of the empire, then in Mingzhou (now Ningbo ). In 1116 he was finally appointed director of the Imperial Library, but in the same year he was appointed director of the Music Office, probably because of his fame as a song writer who also wrote his own melodies for his texts. In 1118 he had to return to the province and finally died in 1121 at the age of 65 in Shangqiu .

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A first edition was printed about eighty years after Zhou Bangyan's death, but it has not survived. As early as 1180, however, a collection of his songs, which were very popular among the Southern Song, was compiled, which contains 182 texts on 114 different melodies and has been preserved to this day, while only twelve of Zhou Bangyan's traditional poetry ( Shi ) have survived.

Thematically, Zhou Bangyan's songs move largely within the framework of a gallant love poetry traditionally reserved for the Ci . His contribution to the heyday of this genre, which had developed in the urban entertainment districts, therefore lies less in material innovations than in the refinement of the language and a sure feeling for its musical qualities. With predecessors like Liu Yong (987-1053) the folk origin in the simple, sometimes coarse language, is still clearly noticeable, Zhou Bangyan creates verses of the highest elegance that reflect the refined life of a modern upper class in the prosperous cities of the Song era reflect. Another characteristic of his style is that he succeeds in integrating literary allusions seamlessly and naturally into his texts.

Translations

• Zhou Bangyan: songs. Translated from the Chinese by Raffael Keller. edition open field, Dortmund 2017. ISBN 9783743160248 .