As one of the oldest types of traditional opera, Kunqu opera is a treasure in the traditional Chinese opera art and the essence of China's excellent traditional culture. With the emphasis on excellent traditional culture from the state to the local level in recent years, Chinese opera culture is becoming a unique cultural symbol of China and going to the world, an effective carrier for the world to understand China, and the best medium for spreading Chinese voice.
"Damei Kunqu Meets Love in Kunqu", Dean Yang Fengyi lectured at the scene
In fact, the development of Kunqu opera was not smooth. With the social turmoil and frequent wars in modern China, the development of Kunqu opera has ushered in several difficulties and is almost extinct. In 1956, he adapted the Kun opera "Fifteen Guan" into Beijing, and moved the name of Jinghua. In May of the same year, an editorial in the People's Daily titled "From "A Drama Saves a Drama to a Genre"" attracted widespread attention in the society, and in the short few years since, a number of professional Kun opera troupes have sprung up across the country, cultivating a batch of Kun opera rookies. Among them, the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre, established in 1957, and a number of Kunqu opera performing arts under its troupe have become an important force in promoting the inheritance and development of Kunqu opera. In 2001, Kunqu opera was listed by UNESCO as a "masterpiece of oral and intangible heritage of mankind", becoming the World Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 001, and in 2006, it was included in the first list of representative items of national intangible cultural heritage, which was widely loved by the audience.
Kunqu opera in history
Kunqu originated in the Kunshan area of Jiangsu province in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, with a history of more than 600 years, the earliest sound cavity of Kunqu opera is Kunshan cavity, and the four vocal cavities in China include Haiyan cavity, Yuyao cavity, Kunshan cavity and Yiyang cavity. Nowadays, Kunshan Cavity is a relatively complete inheritance and has high historical, artistic and aesthetic value.
In the beginning, kunshan cavity was just a folk mountain minor, and what promoted Kunshan cavity to stand out was Wei Liangfu, an opera musician in the Ming Jiajing period. Wei Liangfu made a living singing folk tunes, and in the process of running for his livelihood, he collected a large number of northern and southern folk minor tunes. At the same time, he found that the Kunshan dialect was too simple, straight, and lacked a sense of undulation, and he was determined to delve into it with the folk musicians of the time, and a new Kunqu accent was born, which was the water mill tune. According to the legend of later generations, Wei Liangfu climbed the building for ten years and immersed himself in the study of water milling tones, and in the process, with the help of the famous Northern Qu artist Zhang Yetang, he integrated the accompanying instruments such as tang drums and three strings in the Northern Qu into the Southern Qu and enriched the music of Kunqu.
The water mill tune spread rapidly, and folk musicians learned singing skills from Wei Liangfu, so that this beautiful tune quickly spread in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. On the basis of the water mill tone, the Ming Dynasty dramatist Liang Chenyu and folk masters jointly studied and created the earliest Kunqu opera in China, "Huan Sha Ji", which opened the prelude to the history of Chinese Kunqu. In the late Ming Dynasty, Kunqu opera entered the court and became a form of royal entertainment. It is understood that at that time, the Wangye Mansion had its own Kunqu family class, and a tide of Kunqu opera was also formed throughout the country, "every household cleaned up, every household did not guard against", "clean up" and "do not guard" were the first words of the two songs in Kunqu, which shows the prevalence of Kunqu opera in the country at that time.
From the birth of the water mill tune to the later heyday, Kunqu opera led the Chinese opera stage in 200 years, and a number of well-known playwrights and many famous plays of the population emerged, including Tang Xianzu's "Peony Pavilion", Hong Sheng's "Hall of Eternal Life", Li Yu's "Qing Zhong spectrum", Kong Shangren's "Peach Blossom Fan" and so on. The addition of literati makes the cultural heritage of kunqu opera more thick, and the music and performances more delicate and euphemistic. At the same time, the grandeur of Kunqu opera provided nourishment for the development of many drama genres, and the development of opera was deeply influenced by Kunqu opera, which laid the status of Kunqu opera as a gagaku and promoted it to become a "master of a hundred plays" and "the ancestor of a hundred plays".
Love in Kunqu
On April 9th, Yang Fengyi, a famous Kunqu performing artist, a national non-hereditary inheritor of Kunqu Opera, the winner of the Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award, the vice chairman of the Chinese Dramatists Association, and the president of the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre, shared an open class with the theme of "Great American Kunqu Opera Meets Love in Kunqu Opera" at the Music Hall of Zhongshan Park in Beijing, leading more than 200 live listeners and nearly 10W online listeners to appreciate the beautiful love in Kunqu.
As the "most beautiful Kunqu propagator", President Yang Fengyi has led the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre in recent years to protect and pass on Kunqu opera. She once "sang three folds and nine sighs" and performed the tactful tunes and beautiful figures of Kunqu opera on the stage, and now, she manages the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater, which shoulders the heavy responsibility of the inheritance and development of Chinese Kunqu opera, and has become a "waiter" who promotes Kunqu opera to serve the public.
So what is love like in Kunqu? In order to let the audience feel the love in Kunqu opera more intuitively, President Yang Fengyi invited young actors Zhu Bingzhen, Weng Jiahui, Shao Tianshuai, and Wang Chen to perform excerpts from "Peony Pavilion" and "A Hundred Flowers Giving Swords" to everyone.
Dean Yang shared that when it comes to love in Kunqu opera, it is necessary to mention Tang Xianzu and his 4 legendary plays "Purple Chao", "Handan Record", "Peony Pavilion" and "Nanke Record", because the dream scenes of these four plays are called "Linchuan Four Dreams" by posterity. Among them, "Peony Pavilion" has a fairly high achievement in art, and some experts have commented that its structure is ingenious and peculiar, the author adopts a combination of reality and virtuality when arranging the plot, and uses realistic techniques when exposing the feudal etiquette on the shackles and control of the character Du Liniang in the play, and reflects the cruelty and hypocrisy of feudal etiquette and feudal forces with the real plot in real life. In the play, Du Liniang struggles for the pursuit of ideal love, in order to show this romance and imagination, the plot sets up a dream and soul travel scene, Du Liniang can get rid of the shackles of feudal etiquette and realize the pursuit of love. "Beautiful scenery, pleasant things, clouds and clouds, towards the twilight roll." Tang Xianzu borrowed the sentences of Wang Bo's "Preface to the Tengwang Pavilion" of the Tang Dynasty and used brilliant and colorful language to write lyricism.
"Peony Pavilion Frightening Dream" Weng Jiahui and Zhu Bingzhen
"Peony Pavilion" tells that during the Southern Song Dynasty, Du Bao, the taishou of Nan'an, was bent on cultivating his beloved daughter Du Liniang into a model, and he asked the government to teach Chen Zhiliang, and ordered Yu Chunxiang to accompany him to read, and used the "Book of Poetry" to instill the virtues of feudal concubines in Du Liniang. However, contrary to Du Bao's wishes, Du Liniang yearns for freedom and is full of longing for unrestrained and unrestrained ethereal thoughts about traveling in space. Li Niang disregarded her parents' detention, and went to the garden with Chun Xiang to enjoy the spring, a hundred flowers bloomed, Zi Yan was red, but she felt that the well was broken and decadent, a miserable, such a courtyard scene caused Li Niang infinite bitterness, and the pleasure was not exhausted. Subsequently, Li Niang leisurely fell asleep, and in the dream, she met a Xiucai, in front of the peony pavilion, the flowers danced, and she and the pure and sincere youth were in agreement. But in reality, the dream can not be found, Li Niang has nowhere to complain, and it is difficult to throw away her obsession, so she is sick because of love, and she drinks and hates and dies in the world. At this time, the Jin soldiers rose south, And Du Bao was sent to guard Huaiyang, and before leaving, he buried Li Niang under the plum tree in the back garden according to his last words, and built a plum blossom temple, asking Shi Daogu to take care of it. In the dream, Liu Mengmei came to Nan'an because of her dream visit, lived in the Plum Blossom Temple to recuperate, and one day Liu Mengmei went to the garden to hang out, just to Get Du Liniang's spring appearance, and met her soul. In the end, after being rescued by people and flowers, Du Liniang's soul and Liu Mengmei were forever reconciled.
"Phoenix Mountain, Hundred Flowers Giving Sword" Shao Tianshuai, Wang Chen
"Hundred Flowers Giving Sword" tells the love story of princess hundred flowers and Hai Jun's first acquaintance, and is presented as a classic folding play in Kunqu opera.
Si Gu: Zhuang Decheng Si Di: Wei Lan
Dean Yang introduced that Kunqu opera cannot express love in words, but only with body, which relies on the combination of performance programs and virtuals. In traditional Chinese culture, people's expression of emotions is relatively subtle, but the inner entanglement drama in Kunqu opera and the love shown through guqin, poetry and other forms are so appropriate that it is difficult to resist.
After the lecture, Dean Yang had a close exchange with the audience who were reluctant to leave in front of the stage
Kunqu opera of the moment
In 2001, UNESCO inscribed Kunqu on the Representative List of the Oral Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. At that time, when the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre went to the United Nations Headquarters in Paris, France on behalf of China to report on the performance, when The head of the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater, Hua Dan Wei Chunrong, performed on the stage, a United Nations Director General wrote on the paper: This is the most beautiful actor I have seen on the international stage so far, and I have also seen very beautiful art. This is the charm of China's excellent traditional culture, and it is the beautiful note of Kunqu opera that emits a Chinese voice.
"Peony Pavilion" starred Wei Chunrong and Shao Zheng, famous actors of the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre
In the past ten years, President Yang Fengyi has made unremitting efforts in inheriting and carrying forward Kunqu opera, and has made contributions to promoting the "living" of Kunqu opera in contemporary times. Under her leadership, Kunqu opera "put down the shelf" and went to the market, achieving fruitful results. The public believes that Kunqu opera is a high art and has no connection with the grassroots. In recent years, Kunqu has changed this way of thinking, and has begun to go down to the grassroots level, into the community, into the school, into the factory, into the countryside... As long as someone watches, someone acts, and slowly, the audience of Kunqu opera is more and more, and gradually there is a market. Nowadays, more and more young people are devoting themselves to the development of Kunqu art, the theater rehearses good plays and new plays, more and more audiences enter the theater, and Kunqu opera blooms on the traditional Chinese opera stage.
The music of Kunqu opera belongs to the qupai body, and the Peking opera belongs to the plate cavity. During the Republic of China period, a Kunqu artist collected more than 4,000 Kunqu qu tablets in the south and more than 1,000 in the north, but only more than 200 qu cards are still used on the stage. It can be seen from the decreasing number of music cards used on the stage year by year that the inheritance of Kunqu opera is imminent. In addition, the Kunqu opera has a very strict rhythm, in addition to writing Kunqu opera scripts with profound literary skills, it is also necessary to understand the ququ cards, so there are fewer Kunqu opera writers at present, which is the anxiety of the innovative development of Kunqu opera.
The opening ceremony of the Beijing Culture and Art Fund-funded project "Rongqing Academy"
Teacher Hou Shaokui gave a lecture
Three years ago, the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater opened the Rongqing Academy. Through videos and lectures, Rongqing Academy has inherited nearly 150 traditional origami plays in three years, including plays that have disappeared for many years. Only with inheritance can we talk about development. President Yang Fengyi introduced that the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater allows young people to learn Kunqu opera through various means. In 2009, the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater built a platform in the Centennial Lecture Hall of Peking University and launched 4 major dramas, which attracted many young audiences to watch. Today, on the basis of inheritance, the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater also pays attention to its innovative development, and will hold 100 commemorative performances at the Centennial Lecture Hall of Peking University at the end of this year. It is understood that the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater has tailored many plays for Wei Chunrong, the winner of the Drama Plum Blossom Award, and the recent performance of "National Style" tells the patriotic feelings of the female poet Mrs. Xu Mu, and the play is still continuing to polish, and will appear on the stage with a more mature and novel appearance.
Stills from "National Style"
In order to further promote Kunqu opera and expand the influence of Kunqu art among young people, the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater has recently launched many wonderful performances. From April 15th to 17th, the auspicious grand theater will stage the beautiful and timeless classic works "Pity Xiang Companion", "West Chamber" and "Peony Pavilion" for three consecutive days. At 19:30 on April 20th, the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre will hold the "Meet the Love in Kunqu Opera Gu Yu Gala" at the Zhongshan Music Hall in Beijing, which will stage classic plays such as "The Tale of the Evil Sea, Double Descent", "Phoenix Mountain, Hundred Flowers Giving The Sword", and "Qishuanghui Writing", leading the audience to feel the gentle love in Kunqu. On April 21st, the "A Song of Neon Clothing Broadcast for a Thousand Years" Yuan Guoliang Kunqu Special Session will be held at the Meilanfang Grand Theatre, and the classic traditional folding plays "Changshengdian Bullet Words", "Qianzhongjie • Soshan Taxi", "Aozuka Chronicles , Zhaojun Out of the Jam", "Rotten Keshan • Forced Rest" will be brilliantly staged, bringing together national first-class actors Yuan Guoliang, Zhang Yuanyuan and outstanding young actors Zhang Belle, Shi Shuyue, Yu Xuejiao, etc. On April 22nd and 23rd, the Qing May 1st Kunqu Classic Origami Opera Exhibition will be held in the Small Theater of Mei Lanfang Grand Theatre, which will capture the excellent repertoire inherited by the Rongqing Academy project in recent years, display the original Kunlu Kun rhyme, and highlight the traditional charm of Kunqu art. On April 22, 19:30, the classic play "Peony Pavilion" will be staged at the Auspicious Grand Theater, with a beautiful and gentle singing voice and a tender and graceful figure, adding a moving spring color to the spring season.
On April 22, the classic play "Peony Pavilion" will be staged at the Auspicious Grand Theatre
The famous actors Shao Tianshuai and Wang Chen of the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater starred
Zheng Yi Ancestral Hall Theater Building
It is worth mentioning that the Zhengyi Temple Theater, known as the "Living Fossil of Chinese Opera Building", will reopen on April 19. It is understood that the resident play "Blessing of Heavenly Officials" produced by the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre will meet the audience for the first time as the opening celebration play, bringing an "immersive" performance with both a sense of history and the innovation of the times for audiences of all ages. It is reported that the Zhengyi Ancestral Hall Is also known as the "Silver Horn Guild Hall", and in the early years of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty, zhejiang silver trumpet merchants raised funds to establish an ancestral hall building to enshrine the old ancestor of zhengyi Xuantan (that is, Zhao Gongming), commonly known as the "God of Wealth". Performing "Blessings from Heavenly Officials" here contains respect and inheritance of tradition, and a beautiful meaning to the present and the future.
Mei Lanfang and Han Shichang's "Garden Tour"
Of course, the inheritance of Kunqu opera is not only sung and performed from generation to generation. In June 1957, when the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater was established, opera masters Mei Lanfang and Han Shichang performed a play "Dream of Visiting the Garden" on the same stage. During the rehearsal of the performance, Han Shichang's asthma cough was very bad, and he was about to look for a spittoon when he saw a spittoon in front of him, and it was Mei Lanfang who took the spittoon. From this, we can feel the respect and love between the predecessors of the opera industry, which is also the spirit and example that contemporary artists should inherit.
Next month will mark the 21st anniversary of Kunqu's inscription as an Intangible Cultural Heritage. In the past 21 years, Kunqu opera art with a long history and profound heritage has increasingly entered the public vision and been favored by more and more audiences. The Northern Kunqu Opera Theater has always adhered to the purpose of literature and art for the people, continuously consolidated the foundation of the inheritance and development of Kunqu Opera, and consciously shouldered the mission and responsibility of opera people in the new era, which is not only the foundation of the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater, but also the inheritance of its mantle, and it is also the theme of the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater that never fades and the never-ending melody. Traditional art has ushered in creative transformation and innovative development in the new era, and with the continuous efforts of generations of Kunqu people, Kunqu art is constantly reborn in the times!
(Image from Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre)
Editor-in-charge: Huang Tao