中国古筝十大名曲《渔舟唱晚》| One of the Ten Great Chinese Guzheng Classics – “Fishermen’s Song at Dusk” - Chinese Music guzheng

“Fishermen’s Song at Dusk” (《渔舟唱晚》) is a famous traditional Chinese guzheng solo piece. There are two accounts regarding the origin of the composition. For many years, it was generally believed that the piece was developed by Lou Shuhua (娄树华) in the 1930s, using the ancient melody “Gui Qu Lai” (归去来) as source material. In recent years, however, some scholars have suggested that the piece was adapted by Jin Zhuonan (金灼南) from traditional Shandong guzheng pieces such as “Shuang Pi” (双皮), “San Huan Tao Ri” (三环套日), and “Liu Shui Ji Shi” (流水激石).

The widely circulated version by Lou Shuhua shares the same opening section as Jin Zhuonan’s version, while the latter half is unique to Lou Shuhua’s arrangement.

The title comes from a famous line in “Preface to the Pavilion of King Teng” (滕王阁序) by the Tang Dynasty poet Wang Bo: “Fishermen’s boats sing at dusk, their voices echoing to the shores of Lake Pengli.”

The entire piece is highly poetic and picturesque. Its flowing melody begins slowly and gradually becomes faster, moving from a relaxed and spacious mood to a more lively and energetic one. The emotions build layer by layer, vividly portraying the beauty of lakes and mountains bathed in the evening sunlight, as fishing boats race back home and fishermen sing to one another, creating a serene, idyllic, and poetic scene.

The piece is not only one of the representative works of the guzheng repertoire, but has also been transcribed for Western instruments such as violin, piano, and flute as solo pieces.