On January 6, Jiangsu Performing Arts Group issued an obituary: Zhang Jiqing, a famous Kunqu opera performance artist, representative inheritor of Kunqu opera of the national intangible cultural heritage project, and honorary president of Kunqu Opera of Jiangsu Performing Arts Group, died in Nanjing at the age of 83 at 12:56 on January 6 due to ineffective medical treatment. The "departed soul" immortal death of the Kunqu master who won the first Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award and the "Chinese Artist Lifetime Achievement Award" of the Kennedy Art Center in the United States, and who was loved by the fans as "Zhang Sanmeng", made countless opera fans "lose their souls" heartbroken, and lamented and mourned: "The kingdom of heaven still hears of Du Liniang, and there is no Zhang Sanmeng in the world." ”
Life deeds: Kunqu art painfully lost the "successor" character master
Zhang Jiqing, formerly known as Zhang Yiqing, was born on January 3, 1939, from Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. She was born into a family of opera and studied art with her great aunt at the age of 14. In 1952, he joined the Suzhou Minfeng Su Opera Troupe, and later studied under You Caiyun and Zeng Changsheng, specializing in Kunqu opera Danjiao. In 1956, he transferred to the Sukun Opera Troupe of Jiangsu Province, and was taught and guided by famous Kunqu opera artists such as Yu Zhenfei, Shen Chuanzhi, Zhu Chuanming, Yao Chuanqian, Yu Xihou, etc. Her voice is round and thick, the words are clear, the line cavity is gentle, the charm is timeless, absorbing the characteristics of each family, forming her own unique singing method, creating many artistic images with distinct personalities, especially the "Three Dreams" - "Rotten Keshan - Crazy Dream", "Peony Pavilion - Frightening Dream", "Peony Pavilion - Dream" and "Peony Pavilion - Dream Seeking", which is recognized as the highest benchmark for Chinese Kunqu opera art performance, marking the highest benchmark for Kunqu Danjiao performance.
Since the 1980s, Zhang Jiqing has brought Kunqu opera to the world, and has been invited to Italy, Germany, Japan, France, Spain, the United States, New Zealand and other countries, Hong Kong and Taiwan and other regions for many times to visit, lecture, demonstrate, and perform, promoting cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, all of which have been warmly welcomed and highly praised, and have been highly praised by experts and audiences at home and abroad. Her performance in France set off a whirlwind of Chinese Kunqu opera in Paris, saying that it "brings the people of Paris an incomparable enjoyment". She performed at the third "Horizon World Cultural Festival" in West Berlin, Germany, and because of the overwhelming response from the audience, she closed the curtain as many as fifteen times, and appeared as a "grand event that has not appeared in more than a decade". She performed in Japan and was highly praised by Japanese drama critic Ozaki Hiroji as "in front of Zhang Jiqing, Japan can't find an excellent actress." After watching Zhang Jiqing's performance, Japanese national treasure kabuki actor Yusaburo Sakato was impressed by her artistic charm and resolutely decided to come to China to learn Kunqu opera with her. She was also awarded "Asia's Most Outstanding Artist Award" by lincoln center for the arts.
When the famous writer Bai Xianyong saw Zhang Jiqing's "Peony Pavilion" starring Zhang Jiqing in Nanjing in 1987, he was extremely moved, claiming that he could hear "the soul flying out of the sky". In 2004, Bai Xianyong planned and produced the youth version of "Peony Pavilion", and specially invited Zhang Jiqing as an art director, so that this legendary classic could be rejuvenated and performed all over the world, playing an important role in the revival of Kunqu opera. Zhang Jiqing led the "Nankun demeanor" of Kunqu performance, and the exquisite, elegant, delicate and freehand classic aesthetic style of Kunqu opera has nourished generations of artists in Jiangsu Kunqu Opera and spread throughout the country. She has successively accepted Wei Ying, Shen Fengying, Tao Hongzhen, Shan Wen, Shen Guofang, Liu Yu and other apprentices, trained a number of "Plum Blossom Award" winners, and made great contributions to the dissemination of Kunqu art and the cultivation of Kunqu talents.
Zhang Jiqing also performed on stage many times in his later years. In December 2014, 18 veteran kunqu artists sang "Peony Pavilion" in beijing Tianqiao Theater, of which Zhang Jiqing performed "Leaving the Soul" in a fold, which made the audience fascinated. On the night of The Mid-Autumn Festival on October 4, 2017, the "Kunqu Homecoming - Master Inheritance Edition" "Peony Pavilion", which gathered eight kunqu opera troupes and 55 heavyweight kunqu performance artists across the country, was performed in Kunshan, the birthplace of Kunqu opera, and the last fold of the night "Leaving the Soul" performed by Zhang Jiqing also made the audience weep with emotion. Some commentators believe that before Zhang Jiqing, "Peony Pavilion" almost did not perform "Leaving the Soul", and it was she who took the lead in changing "Leaving the Soul" from a text to a stage performance, and made it an insurmountable height. In October 2018, at the "Zijin Culture and Art Festival" held in Nanjing, Zhang Jiqing, who was 80 years old, and her disciple Shan Wen sang the song "Soap Robe" from "Peony Pavilion - Garden Tour" on the same stage, which was her last performance before bidding farewell to the opera stage.
Zhang Jiqing won various honors in his lifetime. In 1984, at the age of 45, she topped the inaugural Plum Blossom Awards with the most votes. The upper limit of the plum blossom award on the age of the actor is based on Zhang Jiqing's birthday that year. She was also awarded the honorary citizen title by the City of Villeurbanne, France in 1986, the Kunqu Opera Lifetime Achievement Award by the Chinese Ministry of Culture in 2002, the "Artist with Outstanding Achievements in Kunqu Art for a Long Time" jointly awarded by UNESCO and the Ministry of Culture in November 2002, the "Lifetime Achievement Award for Chinese Artists" by the Kennedy Center for the Arts in New York and the American Huamei Association in 2006, and the second batch of representative inheritors of national intangible cultural heritage in January 2008 In 2013, he was awarded the first "Zijin Cultural Honor Medal" in Jiangsu Province. She was also honored with a series of laurels such as "Danjiao Festival", "Kunqu Empress", and "Plum Blossom Leader". As a low-key and humble person, she is most fond of the elegant name "Zhang Sanmeng" given to her by the fans, she said: "This is the highest evaluation given to me by the audience and friends who recognize my performance." ”
Exclusive Interview: Teacher Zhang is a national treasure of Kunqu opera, a generation of masters
When the reporter contacted Ke Jun, chairman of the Jiangsu Dramatists Association, general manager of Jiangsu Performing Arts Group Co., Ltd., and famous Kunqu performance artist, he was arranging a spiritual hall for Zhang Lao, and his heart was very heavy. He sighed: "When we came into contact with Kunqu opera since childhood, we all grew up watching Teacher Zhang's plays. Her art, her personality, and her contribution to the whole of Chinese Kunqu opera have always influenced the growth of our generation. Her view of Kunqu opera, her Kunqu performance, is beautiful and elegant, and it has also nourished our generation. We pay her a New Year's greeting every Spring Festival, and on her 80th birthday, we celebrate with her, and she's fine. She has been teaching all these years, sometimes taking the stage herself. Her students are very accomplished, peach and plum fragrance. But her sudden departure this year made us feel particularly uncomfortable and sorry. ”
Wei Chunrong, a famous Kunqu opera performance artist at the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre, mentioned Teacher Zhang Jiqing, and he also had infinite reverence and emotion: "When we went to the student class, we had the privilege of observing Teacher Zhang's performance in Beijing. At that time, what impressed me most was not her acting in "Peony Pavilion", but her performance of "Zhu Maichen Divorced Wife", which fascinated me with a child at that time, and sincerely admired how I could act so well! Later, when I learned more about Teacher Zhang, I respected her even more. My teachers also admired and respected her. In 2014, I had the honor of performing the master version of "Peony Pavilion" with Teacher Zhang, and when she performed the fold of 'Leaving the Soul', we all watched the side curtain and were moved to tears. She is so old, but she plays a young girl so movingly and movingly. Especially the last paragraph, sung so deeply and fullly, that people burst into tears. Teacher Zhang Jiqing represents the most brilliant generation of Kunqu opera, and as the inheritor, she has done a lot of work and cultivated many artists. Now many actors in the south, including our actors in Beikun, have learned a lot from Teacher Zhang. ”
Ke Jun and Wei Chunrong, as well as many people who have come into contact with Zhang Jiqing, admire her art and personality. "Teacher Zhang is particularly low-key and simple in his life, simple and pure, but on the stage is so dazzling, delicate and evocative, and the stage and offstage exude the brilliance of two kinds of human nature." She is a true master of art, a generation of masters, a national treasure of Kunqu opera. ”
Reporter's Note: Unforgettable dementor singing and warm hands
I have the privilege of listening to Teacher Zhang Jiqing sing "Peony Pavilion" twice on the spot, like a dementor. Now I was shocked to hear that the master had fallen, and the sacrificial wine had left the soul, and my heart was infinitely sad, as if I had lost my soul, but I wished that the moon would fall and the lamp of rebirth would be red again.
In December 2014, when I saw Zhang Laocai singing "away from the soul" in the master version of "Peony Pavilion" at the Tianqiao Theater, I was deeply fascinated by the 75-year-old Du Liniang, who played her role, and could not be forgotten for a long time. In October 2017, in Kunshan, the birthplace of Kunqu opera, he interviewed "Peony Pavilion" of "Kunqu Home ~ Master Inheritance Edition", and on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, he saw Zhang Lao's interpretation of the Mid-Autumn Festival night Du Liniang's "leaving the soul" fold of returning to the west because of lovesickness. When the music sounded, she had already won the applause of the audience before she appeared on the stage; and when she just opened her mouth, she sang "What in the world seems to be a strong love, and the whole soul is painful..." It made people tear up. After listening to a song like a cry, a word into the heart, and an emotional voice, the audience was already sighing.
At that time, he met a Shandong driver who was specially responsible for picking up and dropping off actors, he had lived and worked in Kunshan for many years, but he had never seen Kunqu opera before, and that day he had the privilege of hearing Zhang Jiqing's Mid-Autumn Festival night stage play "Leaving the Soul", the Shandong han was moved by this "water mill Nanyin" for the first time "got goosebumps"; his 12-year-old son also watched the opera for the first time, and he was fully engrossed in watching the whole scene. The driver's uncle said: "I don't know how to express, I will only say yes!" I don't know opera either, but I can see that the actor's performance is so good that my tears are about to fall! ”
Elder Zhang takes art very seriously. Before each performance, she would go back to the theater three and a half hours in advance, put on her makeup early, put on her clothes, wrap her hair, lock the door and recite her lines silently, and enter the state in advance. And put on the costume, she will not sit down again, afraid that the clothes will make pleats, must maintain the best state of the character. When Zhang Lao's students performed with her, they also looked at everything the teacher did with respect, because there was so much worth learning from both on and off the stage.
Teacher Zhang Jiqing in life is easy-going and simple like the grandmother next door, and when talking to people, she likes to hold each other's hands tightly. Her hands were hot and conveyed warmth and strength, which I still remember. Now that the master has passed away, the light of art she left behind will forever illuminate and warm future generations.
Source Beijing Daily Client | Reporter Wang Run
Edited by Jin Liwei
Process Editor Wu Yue