Tang-era piece: Cao Po
《曹婆》
compiled by David Badagnani (rev. 9 March 2023)
compiled by David Badagnani (rev. 9 March 2023)
In an effort to make this information more accessible, this document contains resources related to the Tang-era piece entitled Cao Po《曹婆》, which is preserved in instrumental parts for a single-movement piece consisting of 17 measures of 2/2, in the Mixolydian mode on D, called Yue diao (越調) in Chinese and Ichikotsu-chō (壹越調) in Japanese.
As preserved in Sino-Japanese sources, this piece is called Sōba『曹婆（そうば）』, and it appears in the following score collections:
1) Kagaku ifu (13th century)
2) Shinsen Shōteki-fu (1302 or 1303)
The ethnomusicologist Stephen Jones (who was a pupil of Laurence Picken) points out that there was a musician named Cao Poluomen (曹婆罗门; "Poluomen" being Chinese for "Brahman") , who was originally from Kabudhan (called Caoguo 曹国 in Chinese) northeast of Samarkand, and served as a court musician during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534). Many of his descendants went on to become prominent musicians. Jones believes that the piece's title might be an abbreviation of "Cao Poluomen," but Picken states that "it seems somewhat improbable that 'Brahman Cao' should be associated with so slight a piece."
Rembrandt Wolpert, a former member of Laurence Picken's Tang Music Project, believes the surname Cao (曹) to derive from the Hindi Jhā, from Sanskrit Upādhyāya (उपाध्याय, literally "teacher, preceptor, advisor, counselor"), a surname used by some Brahmin people in India.
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Chinese poems and poetic lyrics mentioning Cao Po
《追昔游》
(Zhui Xi You)
作者：元稹（中唐）
by Yuan Zhen (mid-Tang Dynasty, 779-831)
谢傅堂前音乐和，狗儿吹笛胆娘歌。
花园欲盛千场饮，水阁初成百度过。
醉摘樱桃投小玉，懒梳丛鬓舞曹婆。
再来门馆唯相吊，风落秋池红叶多。
Notes:
This poem was written in Luoyang in the year 809. Located about 350 km east of Chang'an, Luoyang (洛阳), in Henan province, flourished as the second city and eastern capital of the Tang Dynasty, and at its height it had a population of around one million, second only to Chang'an, which, at the time, was the largest city in the world.
《阿曹婆辞 镇陇西三首 其一 第一》（敦煌曲子）, anonymous Tang-era poetic lyrics from Dunhuang
昨夜春风入户来。
动人怀。
祗见庭前花欲发。
半含咍。
直为思君容貌改。
征夫镇在陇西坏。
正见庭前双鹊喜。
君在塞外远征回。
梦先来。
《阿曹婆辞 镇陇西三首 其二 第二》（敦煌曲子）, anonymous Tang-era poetic lyrics from Dunhuang
独坐幽闺思转多。
意如何。
秋夜更长难可度。
慢怜他。
每恨狂夫薄行迹。
一从征出镇蹉跎。
直为思君容貌改。
疆场还道□□□。
□□□。
《阿曹婆辞 镇陇西三首 其三 第三》（敦煌曲子）, anonymous Tang-era poetic lyrics from Dunhuang
当本祗言三载归。
灼灼期。
朝暮啼多淹损眼。
信音稀。
妾守空闺恒独寝。
君在塞北亦应知。
懊恼无辞呈肝胆。
留心会合待明时。
□□□。
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Videos and recordings of Cao Po
● Electronic realization of a Lydian solo pipa version of Cao Po, done by Tokinori Yanagita using synthesized sounds (Japan, 2021)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPzz9ZhbO2Q&t=60s
● Small-ensemble realization of a Lydian version of Cao Po, done by Tokinori Yanagita using synthesized sounds (Japan, 2021)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TffWMozz4Jg
● Small-ensemble realization of a Lydian version of Cao Po, done by Tokinori Yanagita using synthesized sounds, revised version (Japan, 2022)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn3lSHu7FqE
● Electronic realization of Cao Po, in three full-ensemble versions, by YouTube user 古樂尋蹤_HGofACH (Canada, 2022)
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Bibliography
● Laurence Picken, ed., with Rembrandt F. Wolpert, Allan J. Marett, Jonathan Condit, and Elizabeth J. Markham, and with Yōko Mitani and Noël J. Nickson. Music from the Tang Court, vol. 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987, pp. 113-114.
● Laurence Picken and Noël J. Nickson, eds., with Rembrandt F. Wolpert, Allan J. Marett, Elizabeth J. Markham, Yōko Mitani, and Stephen Jones. Music from the Tang Court, vol. 5. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
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