The famous Yue opera performance artist Qi Yaxian is one of the "Four Famous Dans" in the contemporary Yuetan, along with Yuan Xuefen, Fu Quanxiang and Wang Wenjuan. The art of "Qi Pai" created by her is simple and unpretentious, deep and subtle, lingering and euphemistic, clear in words, mellow in rhyme, moving with emotion, easy to remember and easy to learn, and is a widely sung genre in the "Thirteen Major Schools of Yue Opera" recognized today.
Portrait of Qi Yaxian (1928-2003)
However, Qi Yaxian's original singing voice and performance were completely "copied" yuan xuefen, known as "Yuan Pai Xiaohua Dan". So, how did Qi Yaxian emerge from the Yuan sect and develop into a Qi sect with distinct personality characteristics?
Qi Yaxian and Yuan Xuefen took a group photo
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Qi Yaxian, whose original name was Qi Aiying, was born in 1928 in a poor family in Shanghai, and due to the compulsion of life, he entered the Shanghai Huxi Taoye Opera Troupe at the age of 12 to learn art. This class is commonly known as the "Ya" character class, and all the students must have a Ya character in the middle of their names, so Qi Aiying changed his name to Qi Yaxian after entering the class.
Stills from Qi Yaxian's "The Legend of the White Snake"
Qi Yaxian thought to herself that her innate conditions were not superior, and she often had to practice two or three times before she learned the drama that others would do at once, so she encouraged herself with the spirit of "stupid birds fly first", seriously studied art, studied hard, and even became a master of the class. Three years later, Qi Yaxian ran the docks with Keban in Hangzhou, Jia, and Hu, until around 1943, when Keban was fortunate enough to be hired by Shanghai Dalai Theater as a "team", which is now called the basic actor, Qi Yaxian ended his career of running rivers and lakes.
At that time, the famous Yue opera actor Yuan Xuefen was only about twenty years old, but the art was in the stage of prosperity, and had already hung up the top card of the Dalai Theater, determined to reform Yue opera, and formed the prototype of yuan pai singing, with a large audience. Yuan Xuefen played the main role, and Qi Yaxian played supporting roles in these "teams". And Qi Yaxian, as the top of these "teams", naturally has the opportunity to directly act on the same stage with Yuan Xuefen.
The former site of the Tai Lai Theatre
Yuan Xuefen played the xiangfei in "Xiangfei", and Qi Yaxian played the parrot of Xiangfei; Yuan Xuefen played the sister in "Bright Moon and Round Night", and Qi Yaxian played the younger sister... Yuan Xuefen performed nearly thirty major plays such as "The Sea of People", "Rainy Night Frightening Dream", "Gone with the Wind", "Long Hate The Sky", "Mother's Love" and so on, and Qi Yaxian also played supporting roles in these plays, either as Yuan Xuefen's "handmaiden", or Yuan Xuefen's "sister" or "daughter".
Stills of Qi Yaxian's "Tears of Incense Notes"
Qi Yaxian was only 15 years old at that time, was a fledgling little actor, she was very envious and admired Yuan Xuefen's performing arts, fascinated by her singing and doing, felt that Yuan Xuefen acted seriously, performed steadily, sang softly and beautifully, was her "idol", observed her every move every day, one cavity and one board, and tried her best to imitate. Because of the long time of acting on the same stage, "near the water building platform first get the moon", Qi Yaxian and Yuan Xuefen are also somewhat similar, so the audience began to pay attention to her, affectionately calling her "Yuan Pai Xiaohua Dan".
Qi Yaxian felt very honored for this, determined to be a Yue opera actor like Yuan Xuefen, so she learned Yuan Xuefen more vigorously, even to the extent of "obsession".
It is precisely because of the hard-working acting experience in the Dalai Theater that after Yuan Xuefen returned to her hometown due to illness to recuperate, the boss asked Qi Yaxian to "replace" Yuan Xuefen and let her star in some of the plays that Yuan Xuefen had acted. Because her singing voice and performance are similar to Yuan Xuefen, the audience has transferred their thoughts and love for Yuan Xuefen to Qi Yaxian, and Qi Yaxian's "fans" have become more and more.
A collection of Qi Yaxian stills
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After the contract with The Diners Club expired, because Qi Yaxian became famous for "Yuan Pai Xiaohua Dan", many troupes handed her "pole olive branches". After this comparative selection, Qi Yaxian joined the Fanghuayue Opera Troupe led by Yin Guifang and Zhu Shuizhao as the second shoulder Dan. Although he is not yet the protagonist, he has acted in many plays, including costumes, fashion, comedy, and tragedy, from decent to villain, from lady to handmaiden, from palace noble concubine to small family jasper, from flower girl to dancer... Acting everything, which makes Qi Yaxian's drama road open, his acting skills have also improved rapidly, and his fame has become more and more loud.
In 1947, when Xu Yulan first formed the Magnolia Troupe, she invited the 21-year-old Qi Yaxian to be her partner and sing head and shoulders Hua Dan, so later Xu Yulan always said that Qi Yaxian was her "original wife".
1947 "Notes of Tears" performance information
After Qi Yaxian was promoted from Xiaohua Dan to Big Hua Dan, the drama road gradually developed from "wide" to "specialized", and the audience especially welcomed her Zhengdan drama and sad Dan drama. First, Yuan Xuefen is better at playing Sad dan and Zheng Dan, and Qi Yaxian is influenced by her, and of course inherits her play path. Second, at that time, most of the people watching Yue opera were female audiences, and the tragedy could most touch their hearts, and the selling rate was high, and the choreographer of the troupe created the repertoire according to Qi Yaxian's strengths and love. A play of "Incense Notes and Tears" finally made Qi Yaxian win the name of "Yue Opera Sorrowful Dan", so she also began to become popular on the Stage of Shanghai Yue Opera.
Doing the home of Hua Dan, playing all the important plays, singing skills more, just rely on the moved Yuan Xuefen singing voice is not enough, you must find a way to "increase or expand"; Also, at that time, when I sang on stage all day, my voice often felt tired, and I had to change the "vocal method and singing method".
Qi Yaxian life photos
Qi Yaxian realized: If you want to blossom on the stage and take root in the audience, you must spend great efforts and hard work in performance, singing and other aspects, otherwise if you do not advance, you will retreat. At the same time, she also realized that if an actor wants to continuously introduce good plays, he should pay attention to and play the collective role of choreographers, composers, and stage dancers. The Yue opera has a weak foundation and needs to constantly learn, melt and innovate, and all of this requires the coordination and close cooperation of all departments of the troupe.
It is with this simple idea that Qi Yaxian, with the help of screenwriter Xu Jin, director Jin Feng, composer Liu Ruzeng, violinist He Zhongxiao and others, "seeks innovation and change". Use the Yuan Pai singing voice as the foundation, absorb the singing voice of other famous artists of Yue opera and the old tune of Yue opera or Shaoxing Daban, and then design a new cavity according to their own voice conditions and combined with the plot.
In this way, the "changed" singing voice has been tested by the theater, and some of them are welcomed by the audience, and some of the audience does not recognize it. For the popular singing voices of the audience, they are retained, and these singing voices gradually become their basic voices, thus laying the foundation for their personal singing style.
Qi Yaxian believes that the basic cavity should be sung frequently, constantly deepening the audience's impression and forming a fixed appreciation habit. Of course, you can't always say these few words, there must be changes, but you can't change too much. There must be no change in change, and there is change in change in change. She is good at repeatedly organizing her singing voice with several commonly used music collections, and thus begins to form a simple and deep, lingering euphemism, not yet fancy, plain and strange, simple and enduring, tragic and joyful, with a distinct personal style of singing, unique in the Yue altar, warmly sought after by the audience.
Stills of Qi Yaxian's "Yutang Spring"
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In February 1950, Qi Yaxian became the head of the troupe and partnered with Bi Chunfang, a young Yue opera student who had just emerged, and founded the cooperative Yue Opera Troupe. Although this is a self-financing private theater troupe, Qi Yaxian continues to study hard and has the courage to innovate and create, so the repertoire performed by the cooperative Yue Opera Troupe is easy to understand, elegant and popular, and welcomed by the audience. They have performed many major plays such as "Dragon and Phoenix Flower Candle", "Rainbow Miles", "Liang Zhu", "The Legend of the White Snake", "Pipa Ji" and so on, thus winning a certain position in the Yue opera industry.
In 1958, he cooperated with the Yue Opera Troupe to perform information
In 1954, the East China Opera Festival was held in Shanghai. Qi Yaxian won the first prize for actors with the role of Chan Juan in "Qu Yuan". After that, Qi Yaxian continued to innovate in the performance repertoire, not only with diverse themes, but also with a broadening of the drama path. He has performed "Blessing", "The Flower of Tang Di", "Save the Wind and Dust", "You Sanjie", "Yutang Chun", "Return My Taiwan", "Blood Handprint", "Female Communist Party Member", "Fire Phoenix", "Meng Jiang Girl", "Wang Tiger Snatches Relatives", "Wen Ji Gui Han" and other original dramas, and also sang for a number of Yue opera films filmed in Hong Kong.
Stills of Qi Yaxian's "Female Communist Party Member"
Stills of Qi Yaxian's "Wen Ji Gui Han"
In 1957, he cooperated with the Yue Opera Troupe to perform information
In these new opera performances, she continued to innovate the singing voice, not only retaining the original simple and sincere, strong musical characteristics, but also injecting light and bright new elements of the times, so that the Qi Pai singing voice was perfect day by day, and finally became a school of its own, becoming a new genre of Yue opera recognized by the audience, which was loved by the audience for a long time. Among them, "Blood Handprint", "Pipa Record", "Yutang Chun", "The Legend of the White Snake", "Wang Tiger Robs Relatives" and other plays have been repeatedly modified and processed to become Yue opera classics and their masterpieces, and their charm has not diminished.
Stills of Qi Yaxian and Bi Chunfang's "Blood Handprint"
She and Bi Chunfang have also become another pair of golden partners in the history of Yue opera, and have been stationed in the Jindu (later renamed Ruijin) Grand Theater for a long time, and the venue is full, so that it forms a brand effect in "Yue Fan": I want to see Qi Bi opera to Jindu; To go to Jindu is to see Qi Bi.