Maximiliano Amici: To the Fleeting Water Say – 35 Musical Hexagrams after the I Ching

PREFACE
To the Fleeting Water Say is directly inspired by the I Ching. I composed music for 35 hexagrams, with the exploration of change as a guiding principle. Artistically, I engaged with the I-Ching as a book of wisdom rather than as one of divination: I made no use of chance. The title itself holds a double reference: to The Analects (9.17), where Confucius compares the course of things to a river in ceaseless flow, and to the final line of the last sonnet of Rainer Maria Rilke’s Sonette an Orpheus, which it directly quotes.
While I sonically evoke broken and unbroken lines as longer and shorter streams of sound, I do not directly map hexagram structures onto scales or rhythms. The I Ching’s deeper influence emerges instead in the work’s structure and compositional process. For each trigram—the basic unit from which each hexagram is formed, combining an upper and a lower trigram—I developed motives and musical structures: small collections of pitches and rhythms that serve as generative seeds. These initial materials are not yet tied to a fixed expressive character. I first composed eight pieces based on hexagrams formed by doubling a single trigram, allowing these seeds to unfold into complete short works. The remaining pieces arise from combining trigram-specific materials according to their position within each hexagram. The symbolic images of the hexagrams then shape the expressive character of each piece, emerging from the interaction between the two constituent trigrams. The first eight tracks, based on doubled trigrams, present the core musical ideas from which the others derive. The remaining pieces may be heard in any order; their sequencing here simply aims to create variety of character and instrumentation. Here follows a brief summary of the images that inspired me for each hexagram.

Listening guide

1. ䷀ The Creative 乾 (qián): Unrestrained energy; light; time, as basis for the motion of energy; the constant creative action of yang, of the Deity in relation to the universe.

2. ䷁ The Receptive 坤 (kūn): Dark, yielding, receptive primal power of yin. It is the complement of The Creative and thus represents space against time. The Receptive is activated by The Creative and brings its impulses to birth.

29. ䷜ The Abysmal (water) 坎 (kǎn): Water, coming from above and pervading the earth through streams and rivers, gives birth to all life. Water fills all vacuums, and in its turbulent flows in ravines, presents an element of danger.

30. ䷝ The Clinging (fire) 離 (lí): Fire has no definite form, but clings to the burning object. In the same way, one has to find something to cling onto, in order to shine. It’s an image of perseverance and clarity of mind.

51. ䷲ The Arousing (shock, thunder) 震 (zhèn): This hexagram offers an image of great, terrifying shock. For those who suffer such shock, resistance is pointless; it is necessary to retreat, keeping still until composure is restored.

52. ䷳ Keeping Still, Mountain 艮 (gèn): Mountains are a symbol of rest. Immobility and perfect rest bring forgetfulness of the otherwise restless ego, allowing people to turn to the outside world.

57. ䷸ The Gentle (the penetrating, wind) 巽 (xùn): The wind that disperses clouds, leaving clear skies, is a gentle force. Nonetheless, its ceaseless perseverance (through movement) in time makes it a very powerful and penetrating element.

58. ䷹ The Joyous, Lake 兌 (duì): The image of calm lakes brings joy. Joy is conceived as a firm, self-restrained, truthful, yet gentle state of mind. Lakes, like knowledge, replenish each other in turn.

6. ䷅ Conflict 訟 (sòng): Water below tends to seep further, while heaven above tends to move higher. These diverging directions generate conflict, which can be solved only by meeting halfway.

11. ䷊ Peace 泰 (tài): The influences of The Receptive and the Creative, of light and darkness, are balanced and in harmony; therefore, all living things are in harmony and can prosper.

25. ䷘ Innocence (the unexpected) 無妄 (wú wàng): The rolls of thunder are below the sky, under its influence. In the same way, women and men, below the sky, have received a good instinct from heaven, which guides their actions in a natural state of innocence, which should be maintained to avoid misfortune.

34. ䷡ The Power of the Great 大壯 (dà zhuàng): The movement of thunder’s electrical shock is in harmony with that of heaven. There is also a dimension of danger, created by the sudden release of energy and the resulting potential disharmony.

22. ䷕ Grace 賁 (bì): The light of fire flares up from the depths of the earth, illuminating the mountain. Beauty can emerge in full, but, as decoration, it is only a stage in a broader development. At the highest stage, all adornment is cast away, and form can fully reveal content, being simply fit to it.

33. ䷠ Retreat 遯 (dùn): The mountain in the lower trigram tends toward the sky in the upper part, which nonetheless keeps receding further, so that the light of the creative force remains out of the reach of the ascending dark forces. Withdrawal is a sign of strength.

23. ䷖ Splitting Apart 剝 (bō): The broken lines (yin) are exerting a destructive force over the upper unbroken line (yang), about to exit the hexagram. Only when the negative cycle is concluded can more propitious times return.

40. ䷧ Deliverance 解 (xiè): Thunder and rain set in, clearing the air and bringing deliverance.

14. ䷍ Possession in Great Measure大有 (dà yǒu): The combination of heaven and fire symbolizes the unification of strength and clarity. Thanks to the fire shining in the sky, everything becomes visible and thus manifest.

12. ䷋ Standstill [Stagnation] 否 (pǐ): The trigrams of heaven above and earth below drift in contrasting directions; heaven ascends, the earth sinks further and further. The powers are not in relation and the elements are in disharmony.

38. ䷥ Opposition 睽 (kuí): The hexagram combines the image of fire, which burns upwardly, with the lake, a body of water which percolates downwards. The opposition is generated by their growing distance. While opposition can be seen as an obstruction, when considered a polar moment of a process, can bring out differentiation and individuality.

32. ䷟ Duration 恆 (héng): The blows of wind and the rumbles of thunder are paired phenomena. The hexagram shows a gentle figure, since wind is at its foundation. Wind and thunder generate movement, and therefore duration, which takes place within immutable laws.

43. ䷪ Break-through (resoluteness) 夬 (guài): The lake evaporates into heaven, thus creating the conditions for a burst of energy after a long period of accumulated tension: a breakthrough. It is a dangerous moment that requires resolution.

35. ䷢ Progress 晉 (jìn): The hexagram describes the sun rising over the earth, as an image of rapid progress and increasing clarity.

59. ䷺ Dispersion (dissolution) 渙 (huàn): The wind is here blowing over the water and dispersing it into mist. This image suggests that the dissolution of the rigidity of the self and of our own desires can be achieved through gentleness.

5. ䷄ Waiting (nourishment) 需 (xū): Water above the sky takes the form of clouds that give rain to refresh and nourish all creatures and provide humankind with the resources to live. But rain is unpredictable; we need to wait for it to come. Waiting is a moment of preparation, therefore a sign of strength.

4. ䷃ Youthful Folly 蒙 (méng): A spring at the base of a mountain offers a metaphor for the raw inexperience of youth. Carelessness and folly are not evil in youth, as young people take things playfully, but they must be overcome with discipline and inner strength during maturity.

13. ䷌ Fellowship with Men 同人 (tóng rén): The flame, in the trigram below, blazes up toward the sky in the trigram above, generating the idea of unity and fellowship. Fellowship leads to order through structured diversity.

8. ䷇ Holding Together [Union] 比 (bǐ): Water flowing on the earth’s surface recalls the idea of the sea, where rivers converge and are held together.

39. ䷦ Obstruction 蹇 (jiǎn): The hexagram forms the image of a water formation in a mountain, which forms obstruction, inaccessibility. We can extricate ourselves from such difficulty by means of immobility, that is to say introspection and character building.

9. ䷈ The Taming Power of the Small 小 畜 (xiǎo xù): Wind is blowing through the sky. Perseverant, gentle determination can resolve dangerous situations through the accumulation of small effects.

17. ䷐ Following 隨 (suí): The hexagram evokes the image of thunder in the middle of a lake. During autumn, the electricity withdraws into the earth, thus no longer generating further motion. Following here means adaptation to a dark, quiet time of rest.

16. ䷏ Enthusiasm 豫 (yù): The hexagram describes resounding thunder over the earth, like a refreshing spring thunderstorm. In the same way, music can be refreshing, allowing the easing of tension and the expression of enthusiasm in song and dance.

61. ䷼ Inner Truth 中孚 (zhōng fú): The wind, blowing over the surface of the lake, ruffles its surface. Thus, in the ripples of the water we can see manifest effects of invisible forces.

53. ䷴ Development (gradual progress) 漸 (jiàn): The hexagram shows the image of a tree on a mountain, as a metaphor for development. Since wind is the upper trigram, development will be gradual but penetrating, like the incessant work of moral development.

62. ䷽ Preponderance of the Small 小過 (xiǎo guò): Thunder in the mountains seems nearer, more immediate and audible than thunder on a vast plain. Wise people are conscious of their smallness and focus on their duties without looking to great successes and benefits, but to incremental advances.

24. ䷗ Return (the turning point) 復 (fù): The concept of a turning point is embodied in the emergence of a new unbroken line at the bottom of the figure. The season of darkness and decay has passed, giving way to renewal. Maximiliano Amici © 2026