1) The Garden: Mudan Ting
2) Keening
3) Commentator Erotics
4) Infernal Judgment
5) The Garden of Flowing Fragrance

Speakers (in order of appearance): Cindy Ye, Michi Osato, Alexis Scott, HH Hiaasen, Jules White, Ying Liu, Christine Zheng, Lemon Guo, Leslie Allison
Vocalists: Lemon Guo, Leslie Allison
Instrumentalists: Cindy Ye (experimental erhu, vases), Jace Arouet (bass, vases), Leslie Allison (keys, organ, vases, drums, ceramic bells sampled from Tan Dun’s earthsounds instrument library), Yunhe Liang (classical erhu, performed live in the Garden of Flowing Fragrance at Huntington Botanical Gardens)
Compositions
Music, lyrics, improvisational scores, and audio loops by Leslie Allison
Songs “Buds of Peony” and “Bed of Sickness” adapted by Leslie Allison from an excerpt of the 1994 recording “In Pursuit of the Dream” from the original Mudan Ting music composed by Wei Lianfu, as performed by the Lan Ting Troupe
Texts:
Poems by Leslie Allison
Dramatic dialogue and excerpts from The Peony Pavilion (Mudan Ting) by Tang Xianzu (1598)
English translation by Cyril Birch, second edition from Indiana University Press, 2002
Excerpts from The Three Wives Collaborative Commentary (1695) by Chen Tong, Tan Ze, and Qian Li & The Genius’ Version of the Peony Pavilion (1723) by Cheng Qiong
As translated and excerpted in Wei Hua’s “How Dangerous Can the ‘Peony’ Be? Textual Space, Caizi Mudan ting, and Naturalizing the Erotic,” in Journal of Asian Studies 65, no. 4 (Nov 2006): 741-762 & Jingmei Chen’s PhD Dissertation “The Dream World of Love-Sick Maidens: A Study of Women’s Responses to The Peony Pavilion,” from University of California Los Angeles, 1996
Research Guidance
Su Zheng (Professor of Music, East Asian Studies, and Feminist, Gender, & Sexuality Studies), Joy Lu (Director, Chinese Music Ensemble), and Alec McLane (Music Librarian) - all from Wesleyan University.
Image: Peony illustration by Molly Schaeffer

The Garden: Mudan Ting
minutes: 0:00 - 3:27
form: collaged sound bed
style: slow, intimate, detailed

solo voice, VOCALIST (Lemon Guo), whispers very slowly and lyrically in her interpretation of traditional Kun operatic style, sliding high and sighing low, recorded close to the mic, lush with consonant textures, layered, and repeated throughout

VOCALIST: Muse Erwang (慕色而亡 / “die of desire for beauty”)
ceramic bells (sampled from Tan Dun’s earthsounds instrument library) of four different low and mid-range tones ring, repeated throughout
voice, PRONUNCIATION SPEAKER (Cindy Ye), speaks phrase in the style of a language pronunciation tape, repeated throughout

PRONUNCIATION SPEAKER: Mudan Ting (牡丹亭 / “peony pavilion”)
bells sound in unison with the tonal phrase of the PRONUNCIATION SPEAKER
loop of whispering high erhu bowing, some tonal, some textural, and soft, eery pulsing electric bass emerges, throughout
song (“Buds of Peony,” see section 4) in reverse emerges, keys and sung vocals (unintelligable), bittersweet held tones, harmonizing with the bells, VOCALIST, and instrumental loop
all parts cut out except final whispering of VOCALIST
bell echoes to transitionKeening
minutes: 3:27 - 6:50
form: collaged sound bed
style: ominous, unpredictable, doleful

group of CHORUS SPEAKERS (HH Hiaasen, Jules White, Michi Osato, Alexis Scott) recite lines in unison, heavily distorted by crunchy echoing filters

CHORUS SPEAKERS: when I am dead / the moon / the moon / no more / no more / the mirror / dead souls / music of the flesh / spring is ended / coin / lily / lily / milk / crystal / ashes / spirit / fleshly
higher pitched ceramic earthsounds bells sound in pairs throughout
improvised trio of empty glass vases played with sticks, hands, and murmuring voice looped throughout
eery erhu descending slides and fluttering bass looped throughout
opening phrase of song (“Bed of Sickness”) in reverse starts then stops, starts then stops, and finally starts and plays through, with melancholy vocal melody (unintelligable) and roving bass keyboard line

PRONUNCIATION SPEAKER: the word for desire / is Se Qing (色情 / “sexual desire”)
song fades out, replaced by throbbing bass and whispering erhu drone loop

CHORUS SPEAKERS: in sickness / fear disturbance / seek rest / avoid the gossip’s chatter / but let us ask / the east wind to desist

prior loop replaced by slow swinging bass and sliding descending erhu loop

CHORUS SPEAKERS (more distorted): in sickness / fear disturbance / seek rest / avoid the gossip’s chatter / but let us ask / the east wind to desist

vases loop and bass/erhu loop continue and overlap with the beginning of Cheng Qiong’s monologue before fading outCommentator Erotics
minutes: 6:50 - 13:03
form: narrative monologues from historic women readers and commentators interwoven with instrumentals from through-composed song (“Glacial Erotics” composed and performed by Leslie Allison) which culminates in the song’s chorus as the finale
style: dramatic, sensual, embodied

CHENG QIONG (Ying Liu): I am aware that my years in this world are limited / I cannot attend to all the ladies / of the future / in person / therefore I make this commentary version / using the space in the upper margins / of The Peony Pavilion / I proceeded to work on one scene per night / using five ink colors / by and by / the entirety of this forefather’s book / was filled / with my feminine point of view
enter low organ bass line, roving, layered and occasionally harmonizing

TAN ZE (Cindy Ye): I found his first wife’s unfinished commentary / on The Peony Pavilion in a drawer / and became obsessed / I was never seen without it / I longed to consummate / what Chen Tong had begun /
enter low bass drum
but needed the same edition of The Peony Pavilion / sister Chen had used / when my husband finally found it and brought it home / though I am not good at drinking / I was so happy / I drank eight or nine cups of wine / I then stayed in my southern tower / and imitated elder sister Chen / in writing commentary on The Peony Pavilion / I wrote on small pieces of paper / after I finished /
enter syncopated high hat
I read them through and through / I am so happy

QIAN YI (Christine Zheng): I dreamed I went to a garden / in front of the pavilion / bloomed peonies / of five different colors / Suddenly a lady emerged from behind the pavilion / her beauty was such / that the peonies / were ashamed / While I was wondering whether this lady was Du Liniang / she bent a stem from the plum tree / and played with it / she just kept smiling / then a wind blew the peonies up to the sky / and the petals fell down like a shower /
enter tom drums
it is no coincidence / wetting my brushes with ink / I paint to keep my memory / happy for finally knowing a heavenly face / my heart breaks at the awakening from the dream / I told my husband /
enter hand claps
my elder sister Chen Tong wrote commentary for the former half of the play / and elder sister Tan Ze finished the rest / it is all because of you / that their names have remained hidden / if we do not reveal the truth / and make my sisters known to the public / won’t they feel unfulfilled in the underworld? / I am willing to sell my jewelry to pay for the printing
instruments fade out
layered echoing treble vocals sing “stay”
fade to silence

CHEN TONG (Lemon Guo): I love mountains / whenever I want / to take an expedition / my mother scolds me / for being naughty / the scenery / will remain the same forever / but once I die / I shall never return / my silk slippers are only two inches long / I used to commentate on The Peony Pavilion in my leisure / now I realize it is not easy / to awake from one’s dream / my commentary is unfinished / my spirit / if sincere / will stay forever / under the moon or by the flowers / I will not bother / leaving behind / a portrait of mine

single high hat rumble
organ bass line begins again
all voices simultaneous, partially intelligable

CHENG QIONG: “Never did spring torment one so” alludes to the sexual organ; “coverlet” means pudendum; “cloud” refers to cum; “pear blossom,” the same; “willow” means the sexual organ / The gist of The Peony Pavilion is essentially / that this thing called Seqing / sexual desire / deemed shameful by laws of this world / will not necessarily be condemned by the netherworld / The only ones who are really condemned / are those who have no beauty / to love / no passion to be / stirred by

QIAN YI: joy is born as heart of plantain flower / secretly unfolds / stain deeper red / apricot fills the mouth / willfully I bend to me / your fragrant softness

CHENG QIONG: I share my name / with the moon goddess Cheng’e / I long / to transform into tens of thousands of colored clouds / to block moonlight from reaching earth / and becoming soiled

PRONUNCIATION VOICE: Du Liniang / Liu Mengmei / Tang Xianzu

QIAN YI: on New Year’s Day / 1695 / in the evening / I set up a table in the garden / placed on the table an ancestral tablet / inscribed with the name Du Liniang / I offered stems of flowering plum, fruits, wine, and a copy of the newly-printed / Three Wives Commentary / then I worshipped the tablet / as if Liniang had been an ancestress / my husband mocked me / I told him / “The spirit of this cosmos dwells / with whatever is empathetic / be it a stone / or a piece of wood / The poet Qu Yuan once wrote an ode to the river goddess Xiang / so did Sung Yu compose a eulogy / for the mountain goddess Wu / these goddesses may have been just the poets’ imagination / but they are dignified by poems / so people worship them anyway / How can you or I judge whether Liniang exists or not?”

high hat rumble
epic erruption of fully orchestrated tonal/melodic song with bass organ drone and bass driving keyboard, treble keyboards, toms, hand claps, and harmonizing treble vocals

VOCALS: Stay with me / counting peaks / who knows / on which / the goddess / makes her home / on which / the goddess / makes her home / on which / the goddess / makes her home
organ continues on single low note
layers of irregular breathing sounds recorded through different vocoders emergeInfernal Judgment
minutes: 13:03 - 18:38
form: spoken dialogue from The Peony Pavilion with shifting sound bed
style: uncanny, patient, bureaucratic, rebelious

organ fades out
vocoder breathing increases and continues through the spoken dialogue (all parts performed by Leslie Allison)

CLERK (robotic-sounding monotone vocoder voice): They’re flogging the dead souls / in Ninth Court next door

JUDGE (more erratic vocoder voice): This is the “music of the flesh” / everything has been satisfactorily disposed of / are there are any other cases?

CLERK: your honor, all we have are some minor offenders / here is the female prisoner

JUDGE: step forward! / what kind of sickness brought you here?

echoing ethereal treble trilled ah vocals

DU LINIANG (higher, lusher, more tonal and harmonized vocoder voice): the dream / falling into longings / I lost my life / but there were indeed flower petals

echoing ethereal treble trilled ah vocals

JUDGE: call for questioning the Flower Spirit / come list for me / the flowers in your bag of tricks!

FLOWER SPIRIT (lower richer tonal vocoder voice, slow with pauses): I will list them / double peach / pink flowering pear / gold coin flower / embroidered ball viburnum / peony / brushtip magnolia / water chestnut / jade hairpin lily / rose / wintersweet apricot / shear spring narcissus / lantern flower / yeast flower / golden goblet / brocade sash weigela /

echoing ethereal high trilled ah vocals

joyous union mimosa /
breathing fades out
fade in of distant, slowed down, and pitch-lowered song “Buds of Peony,” with bass, erhu, and voice, simultaneous to Flower Spirit’s list

VOCALS: buds of peony / inset / along the balustrade / strand up strand / of weeping / willow / elm seeds / tossed like coins / at spring’s / sweet fragrances

FLOWER SPIRIT: willow / trumpet flower / pepper flower / smiling magnolia / sunflower / convolvulus / crape myrtle / son-bearing lily /

echoing ethereal high trilled ah vocals

lilac / mace / milk flower / gardenia / patience / orange blossoms / crabapple /

echoing ethereal high trilled ah vocals

baby flower / two sisters /

echoing ethereal high trilled ah vocals

pink /

song cuts out
lotus / pomegranate

echoing ethereal high trilled ah vocals layers and repeats
loop of field recording of wild geese emergesThe Garden of Flowing Fragrance
minutes 18:38 - 26:50
form: field recordings taken in The Garden of Flowing Fragrance, Huntington Botanical Gardens, Los Angeles, during afternoon erhu performance (Yunhe Liang), poem written during performance recited and chanted (by Leslie Allison)
style: romantic, floral, philosophical, warm

adults speaking, unintelligible

ERHU PLAYER: …modern, like pop music…called The Moon Represents My Heart. It’s a love song…

slow, pining erhu song plays
people speaking (unintelligible) in English and Chinese
wild geese
child squealing
erhu and sound bed fade out
solo voice enters speaking softly
slowly a second layer of unison spoken voice emerges
then a layer of low chanted singing
then a layer of higher harmonized singing, all same text roughly in unison

VOCALS: thrum / copper heart / lands on viened stones / sun drops / into the water / a goose dips over / call to her mate / caught / in the curve of her neck / silken hands flutter / to find what memory to unfurl next / eyes cupped in softness / weep / unload their tautness / earth owl who /emerges in black silk / to chat with his young friend / wait for the rain to quilt / the moon’s arch / scoop beneath the long surface / we are all two strings / but one is hidden / impossible dance / carried / by rich vibrating feet /

wild geese loop briefly underneath

of glassy leather / shuddering / sliding on slate / the wall between us / and the sky is false /compounded canopy / blind cat / wiggling into existences lap / as we embroider our songs / up to meet / the other countless other songs /

wild geese loop underneath, ongoing

we practice so hard / to make a resolution / at the melody’s tail / swaying in balance / carrying it with us / did you hear / it wiggles between thoughts / elderly murmuring / the moon represents my heart

low chatter
wild geese loop
ERHU PLAYER testing two notes for tuning looped in sync with wild geese
same four voices (two spoken, two chanting) repeat poem, the singing voices are in tune with the erhu song and create a low drone underneath its melody, this time the text is largely unintelligible, but certain lines (bolded) come forward louder and are clearly audible
over top of vocals, Erhu song with medium tempo, mood peaceful, contented, and contemplative, wide ranging in pitch and dynamic level, some light trills, some long held notes
sounds of young children in garden running and vocalizing

VOCALS: thrum / copper heart / lands on viened stones / sun drops / into the water / a goose dips over / call to her mate / caught / in the curve of her neck / silken hands flutter / to find what memory to unfurl next / eyes cupped in softness / weep / unload their tautness / earth owl who /emerges in black silk / to chat with his young friend / wait for the rain to quilt / the moon’s arch / scoop beneath the long surface / we are all two strings / but one is hidden / impossible dance / carried / by rich vibrating feet / of glassy leather / shuddering / sliding on slate / the wall between us / and the sky is false / compounded canopy / blind cat / wiggling into existences lap / as we embroider our songs / up to meet / the other countless other songs / we practice so hard / to make a resolution / at the melody’s tail / swaying in balance / carrying it with us / did you hear / it wiggles between thoughts / elderly murmuring / the moon represents my heart

vocals end
erhu plays vibrant dancing song with swift tempo, mood is delighted and expansive, texture is full of trills and elaborations
ends on long held resolved note