Open the song on Suno to listen to this edition.
A question of profit meets another answer. Creative direction: literary art song · proposed guqin and xiao dialogueWhat do these music words mean? ↓
The questions about profit for country, household and self put three positions inside one argument. Competition leads toward danger before family and public duties return the discussion to benevolence and right. This is the selected passage, not a summary of all Mencius.
The brief brings literary words, voice and accompaniment together, a useful doorway into art song; an ancient text does not make the music ancient. It also proposes a rising three-note motif. Remember a small melodic shape and ask whether it returns, without assuming a verified location in this recording.
Art song joins words, voice and accompaniment; a motif is a small recognisable musical fragment. Follow the turn away from profit and notice a shape that stays with you. The proposed three-note idea has not been acoustically verified.
Art song · words, voice and accompaniment · a little more An art song brings text, voice and instrumental accompaniment together; poetry is common in the traditional repertoire. Art does not rank songs, and the term does not mean opera. Here, literary art song is our editorial reading of the combined creative label, not certification of a fixed Western form.
Try listening: Follow a sentence, then ask whether accompaniment continues, answers or leaves space for it. Naming instruments is optional.
Art Song Preservation Society of New York · What Is Art Song? (PDF p.4) ↗ Motif · a small, recognisable musical fragment · a little more A motif is a short, distinctive musical fragment, recognisable through pitch shape or rhythm and usable as material for development. It is not a psychological motive or a whole chorus. A motif requested in a brief is not a motif already identified in the recording.
Try listening: Remember a small shape or rhythm. Does it return, change voice or develop? Not every repetition needs that label.
The Open University · Understanding musical scores, New textures ↗ Read the lyrics [Instrumental Intro]
[Verse 1]
孟子見梁惠王。王曰：「叟！不遠千里而來，亦將有以利吾國乎？」
[Verse 2]
孟子對曰：「王！何必曰利？亦有仁義而已矣。王曰：『何以利吾國？』大夫曰：『何以利吾家？』士庶人曰：『何以利吾身？』上下交征利而國危矣。
[Instrumental Interlude]
[Verse 3]
萬乘之國，弒其君者，必千乘之家；千乘之國，弒其君者，必百乘之家。萬取千焉，千取百焉，不為不多矣。苟為後義而先利，不奪不饜。
未有仁而遺其親者也，未有義而後其君者也。王亦曰仁義而已矣，何必曰利？」
[Instrumental Outro]
