Kunqu Aria 崑曲 "The Seventh Turn" 彈詞七轉 from Palace of Lasting Life 長生殿

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Before you begin, or while you are listening, I would like to say something about my favorite aria from the famous scene for virtuoso singing "The ballad" or tanci 彈詞. Ready for the basic information that will lead you to the world of Chinese virtuoso singing?

Tanci is an excerpt from the poet Hong Sheng’s (1645-1704) southern drama Palace of Lasting Life (1688), which consists of ten solos sung by the character Li Guinian, a former leading musician from the Pear Garden Academy at the glorious Tang (685-762) court, now a performer reduced to singing popular ballads in the marketplace after the An Lushan Rebellion.

In “The Ballad,” the 38th scene of Hong Sheng’s play, Li Guinian 李龜年 narrates the tragic love story of Emperor of the Tang and his most favored consort, Lady Yang Yuhuan (719-756). The Second Turn [二轉] tells the audience of the day how the Emperor is infatuated with Lady Yang's beauty at first sight. The Third Turn [三轉] portrays Lady Yang's beauty from a third person's point of view. The Fourth Turn [ 四轉] depicts the lovers' daily life. The Fifth Turn [五轉], their musical life. The Sixth Turn [六轉], the An Lushan rebellion interrupts the most exquisite musical performance of Lady Yang and the imperial lovers have to flee from the Palace of Lasting Life. Then comes the Seventh Turn [七轉], which reaches the emotional height of the tragedy--the death of Lady Yang at the Mawei Slope on their way to Sichuan.

Here is the lyrics:
[Seventh Turn]
By the ramshackle building of Mawei Station, off at an angle from a forlorn Chapel to the Buddha, the fairest face of a generation died there for her lord, and grief to last a thousand years dripped in blood on her scarf of gauze.
There is only a deficient mark for her tragic funeral stele. A scooped clod of earth serves as her heart-breaking tomb.
In future there will be no one to pass this desolate moor, and at this forsaken edge of sky, who would mourn for the pear blossoms’ fall?
Pity her solitary soul harboring her sense of wrong, kept company alone by the wailing cry of Emperor Wang, turned into the nightjar weeping to the moon.
【七转】
破不喇马嵬驿舍，冷清清佛堂倒斜，一代红颜为君绝，千秋遗恨滴罗巾血。半行字是薄命的碑碣，一掊土是断肠墓穴，再无人过荒凉野。嗳莽天涯，谁吊梨花榭？可怜那抱悲怨的孤魂，只伴着呜咽咽的鹃声冷啼月。