Portrait of Zhang Erkui
Zhang Erkui (1814-1864), formerly known as Zhang Shiyuan (張士元), was a native of Wujiazhuang in Hengshui County (present-day Taocheng District, Hengshui City). The famous Peking Opera veteran actor, one of the three masters of the early Peking Opera, is equally famous with the famous Peking Opera masters Cheng Changgeng and Yu Sansheng, known as the Peking Opera Sanding Jia, one of the founders of the first three major schools of Peking Opera Laosheng, and is the leader of the Peking Opera (also known as the Kui School) Peking Opera.
There are various theories about Zhang Erkui's death year, one is that the Cihai (August 1980 edition) believes that Zhang Erkui "died after the second year of Qing Tongzhi (1863)". Second, the "Opera And Art Volume" of the Encyclopedia of China (published in August 1983) proposes that Zhang Erkui died in the third year of Qing Tongzhi (1864). The third is that the 1920s is said to have died in the Xianfeng Decade (1860).
Zhang Erkui's birthplace has historically been said to be different. In some pear garden materials in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China period, there is already a Beijinger, a Tianjin, and a Zhejiang, but most people think that he is directly subordinate to Hengshui.
Zhang Erkui was born in Shuxiangmendi, followed his ancestors to Beijing in business, and his brother Zhang Dakui served as a recorder in a certain department with his ancestors. Zhang Erkui entered a private school at an early age, but his heart was not in the drama, "where the situation plot in the play, good at memory, unique wisdom." As he grew older, he developed to carry his family to the Guanghe Theater Building located in Dashilar to see the play, after the play was dispersed, he was fascinated by the characters in the play, so he imitated the people in the play to sing under the stage, and often invited his friends to appreciate, enjoy himself, without any scruples.
When he was in his 20s, he worked as a small official called Jingcheng in the Dushui Qing Bureau of the Ministry of Works of Qingdao Guangshi, which was in charge of river canal boat navigation, road guanliang, public and private water affairs, and ice-cutting kilns, and was usually relatively idle, which created conditions for Zhang Erkui, who loved opera, to learn opera. Once he went to see a play, aroused his childhood hobbies, did not feel itchy, and walked around the back stage, so he secretly went to learn to sing, and soon became a ticket holder, and later often made cameo roles in the drama class to enjoy the drama. Finally, I fell deeper and deeper, unable to help myself. Because Erkui loves Peking Opera and personally appears on the stage, he has performed three consecutive dramas of "Taking Chengdu", "Catching and Releasing Cao" and "Hitting the Golden Branch", which has won the appreciation of the audience, "won very good praise!" Zhang Erkui was particularly pleased with the two dramas "Take Chengdu" and "Hitting the Golden Branch", which later became Erkui's representative works. Erkui's physique is xuanang, his appearance is heroic, his face is as beautiful as a crown jade, and he also has a good voice with high talent, which can be high into the clouds, "the words are solid, and the tops and turns are not broken." These advantages of his are fully revealed in the performance, and his artistic level is no longer comparable to that of ordinary professional actors. What I didn't expect in particular was that Erkui's performance with a game nature this time attracted the attention of insiders and outsiders, and was warmly welcomed by the audience, even the envy of professional actors.
Cheng Changgeng (1811.11.22-1880.1.24), a native of Qianshan City, Anhui Province.
At that time, in the other three classes of the "Four Great Emblem Classes", Cheng Changgeng was the main Sanqing class, which was famous in Kyoto, and the Sixi and Chuntai classes also had their own famous roles in picking beams, and the Duhe Spring Class did not have outstanding actors, and the income was quite poor, let alone compete with the above three classes. The class owner saw that Zhang Erkui "has extraordinary talents" and thought that he wanted to save the disadvantages of Hechun and revitalize his class, and Zhang Erkui was the best candidate, so he repeatedly pleaded with Zhang Erkui to "go to the sea" and be the leading actor of hechun class and become a full-time actor. Zhang Erkui felt that although he became a hit and won the praise of the audience, he had been a scholar for generations, and his eldest brother was serving in the DPRK, and in this case, "going to the sea" was absolutely not allowed, so he refused the persuasion of the class master. However, the class owner's heart became more and more earnest, and he repeatedly pleaded, and finally Zhang Erkui had to agree to the class owner's request, but proposed that he must make a cameo in anonymity. In order to save the crisis of hechunban, Zhang Erkui appeared on the stage of Hechunban again as a Xuannan famous ticket (because he once lived in Shi hutong, so he was called Xuannan famous ticket), which caused a sensation, and the performance in less than ten days had already made Zhang Erkui's reputation full of beijing masters. At that time, Zhang Erkui still did not have the heart to "go to the sea", but a catastrophe quietly arrived. His brother Dakui's colleagues, who had good deeds, secretly reported this "scandal" to his superiors on the grounds that "those who serve in the imperial court shall not be allowed to act in ink and ink", and Dakui was caused to lose his post because of the fact that there were bad children in the family. In this regard, Zhang Erkui felt deeply guilty, at the same time, Dakui's resignation also caused the family to lose its main source of income, the family was not rich, and the family's life would face difficulties in the future. So Zhang Erkui officially performed in Hechunban, became an old student of Hechunban Taizhu and took the stage name "Zhang Erkui". Later, the owner of the spring class died of illness, and the cast members in the class publicly promoted Zhang Erkui as the class leader. Together with Sanqing, Sixi and Chuntai, it is the most influential class society that has not been born for a long time. During this period, he was also invited to participate in the performance of the Sixi class.
He is dignified, dignified, quite bookish, graceful and dignified, good at performing the king hat play, with "extraordinary art, and then beautiful as a crown jade, meteorological hall, solemn behavior, dressed as an emperor, can be called the ancient and modern unique step", and also performs martial arts drama. Although he started late, he became famous quickly, and he was known as "young people competing for Zhang Erkui".
In the last year of Daoguang, Zhang Erkui took one of the four emblem classes for the first time and the Spring Class officially performed, starring in "Taking Chengdu" (as Liu Bei), because of his large body, graceful face, and intelligent nature, he seriously pondered the body and workmanship, and as soon as he appeared on the scene, he was imposing, had the style of an emperor, and was very popular with the audience. When performing in the Guanghe Grand Theater, the audience was unexpectedly full, and after the finale, Zhang Erkui closed the curtain many times, and the obsessive audience still refused to disperse. Zhang Erkui was extremely touched and almost burst into tears. Some people commented that his performance was "the performers are moving with the sky, and the viewers are satisfied."
Zhang Erkui's joining, so that and the spring class box office day into the gold, other drama classes are also competing to hire him to join, therefore, the time between Erkui and the spring class is not long, and then for various reasons to change to sixi class as the chief old student actor. In 1845, Zhang Erkui joined the Sixi class, one of the four emblem classes, and soon became the lead actor and foreman of the class, and was the head of the class. In the six-year performance career of Sixi Class, Zhang Erkui's acting skills have matured day by day and formed his own unique style.
In the early years of Xianfeng, Zhang Erkui left the Sixi class again, and formed his own "Shuangkui Opera Class" with Dakui Guan (Liu Wanyi), who was good at acting in Wang Hat Drama and Wusheng Opera, and also hired Xu Xiaoxiang, who was famous for singing Xiaosheng at that time, and Hu Xilu, who was famous for singing Qingyi, to join in, which caused a sensation in the capital. Erkui's last self-reliant "Double Kui Class" competed with the long-famous Sanqing Class, Sixi Class, and Chuntai Class, and became one of the most important classes in the early days of peking opera. Zhang Erkui became a famous corner after "going to the sea", and Yu Sansheng and Cheng Changgeng, who were equal to him, each marked a different role. The Hechun class, which was listed as one of the "Four Emblem Classes", was dispersed shortly after Erkui left.
Yu Sansheng (1802-1866), a native of Jiuzihe Town, Luotian County, Hubei Province, was the grandfather of Yu Shuyan, the founder of the "Yu Pai".
Because Zhang Erkui's prestige and reputation in the Beijing theater circle once surpassed that of Yu and Cheng, he had the title of "Champion of the Drama Circle", and led the drama circle before Cheng Changgeng, he was elected as the head of the Jingzhong Temple Festival, a half-official and half-civilian Liyuan Guild organization (Jingzhong Temple is the Jingzhong Temple, which manages the various affairs of the opera class). At that time, there were prominent officials who asked Yu, Zhang, and Cheng to cooperate at the church meeting, and they co-starred in "Take Chengdu", Cheng as Liu Zhang, Zhang as Liu Bei, Yu as Ma Chao, and the "three giants" on the same stage became a juyuan good story. The princes and nobles feasted on the guests and competed to invite the "Shuangkui Opera Class" to sing opera.
Zhang Erkui's singing skills are stable and wide, the noise is high-pitched and agitated, simple and unpretentious, wide open and closed, the atmosphere is majestic, kneaded into the Beijing rhyme, the words are clear, the bite words are solid, the plain and generous, and the style is self-contained. His "Hitting the Golden Branch" "Jin Wu Dongsheng" section is like "opening the palace in nine days, and the crown of all nations is crowned". The cover meter is both heroic, and the throat is loud, and it is sung high into the clouds. Zhang uses xipi in the play to tone a lot, the plate eye is extremely slow, and the zongzhi is known as the Kui Pai. In the past fifty or sixty years, the Kuipai has continued to exist endlessly, and it can be said that it can be said that it can open up its own atmosphere. In particular, the large section of "On the Roof" is sung by two yellows and three eyes, which is different from others and sings Jiang Yangru. Because his singing clip is in The Kyo tone, he is sometimes called "Kyo Pai" or "Kui Pai". In his singing, he is not only known for his singing work, but also attaches great importance to the style of work, and shiren yongzhi: "Four joys and a sentence 'push the king', Sanqing Changgeng also frowned, pity him Chuntai Yu Sansheng, "Catch and Release" when Rao "Touch the Monument". Zhang Erkui has strong strength from singing to repertoire, and the ability to call the seat is crowned at one time, when there was an oil poem circulating in beijing, reflecting the degree of Zhang Erkui's popularity with opera fans, "Four joys come to Zhang Erkui, three Qing Changgeng frowned, and Chun duan er did not sit on the seat, anxious to sing twice. From the poem, we can see the degree of impact on the pear garden after Erkui "went to the sea".
After Zhang Erkui enrolled in school from an early age, was gifted and intelligent, had a certain level of education, and was forced to "go to the sea," he made full use of this favorable condition and personally compiled the Liantai ben drama "Peng Gong Case" and the Qing costume play "Yongqing Shengping", and also adapted the Kunqu opera "Asking Qiao Qiao Mansion" into a leather yellow book, which has been passed down to this day and has become a housekeeper drama of the Tan school of Peking Opera and other genres. In response to the sixi class's popular play "Yanmen Guan", Erkui wrote and performed the Kui Pai drama "Shilang Visits the Mother", which has not faded to this day, and has become a classic play that must be performed every festival, cooperated by famous artists, and is well received by the majority of audiences.
The Xianfeng Emperor loved to watch dramas, and since he ascended the throne, the war of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had burned throughout the southeastern half of the country, and the country's internal and external troubles made him feel bored, so he often relied on watching dramas to dispatch. One day, he summoned Yu Sansheng, Zhang Erkui, and Cheng Changgeng, who were the most famous in the capital, and let them perform on the same stage, and the repertoire of the three of them was "Zhan Chengdu", Yu Sansheng played Ma Chao, Zhang Erkui played Liu Bei, and Cheng Changgeng played Liu Zhang. The three of them' wonderful performances made the Xianfeng Emperor forget his troubles, reward them greatly, and crown them as "Old Sheng Sanjie". In this performance, the Xianfeng Emperor was very impressed with Zhang Erkui, who played Liu Bei, and learned that he was the head of the Jingzhong Temple, so he rewarded him with four pins to wear. This Hengshui man, who loved the theater business, lost his official position because of it, and gained great glory because of it, reached the peak moment of his life at this time.
Zhang Erkui's stage career is not very long. In the autumn of the Xianfeng Decade (1860), just as Zhang Erkui's career was in full swing, his mother died of illness. During his lifetime, the old man had been depressed about his son's loss of official and went to the sea to sing, and Erkui was often guilty and sad about it, so he called his apartment "Zhongshu Hall". After his mother died of illness, he took out his savings, held a lively funeral for the elderly, and held a funeral for his mother, and on the day of the funeral, he built many road altars along the intersection of the street. Unexpectedly, he was accused by the villain of "alarming the official government with the pompous behavior of youling sneaking up on the official eunuch". Sentenced to a side court. On the way through Tongzhou, he was forced by local officials to sing operas, and he was depressed and indignant, and after the play was completed, he fell ill and died in Tongzhou about three years after Tongzhi (1864). A generation of Jutan talents died early in their prime.
After Zhang Erkui's death, Cheng Changgeng became a banner of the Jutan temple independently, and he took over the position of head of Zhang Erkui's Jingzhong Temple, and was also given the sipin top to wear.
Zhang Erkui is good at acting in Wang Hat plays such as Li Shimin in "JinshuiQiao", Guo Ziyi in "Fighting Golden Branches", Xue Pinggui in "Taking Xingyang", "Dadeng Temple", "Huilong Pigeon" ("Huilong Pavilion"), Yang Yanhui in "Five Thunder Arrays" and "Silang Visiting Mother", etc. Wusheng drama is the best short play in "Shi Gong Case" and LianTaiben's "Peng Gong Case" and "Yongqing Shengping", and plays Huang Tianba in "Evil Tiger Village". His performances in "Shepherd Roll", "Catching and Releasing Cao" (as Chen Gong), "Mulberry Garden Club" and other plays are also quite wonderful.
"The Great Dengdian" Yang Yuelou as Xue Pinggui (middle), Wang Yaoqing as Wang Baojun (second from right), Yang Xiaoduo as Princess Daizhan (second from left), Liu Chaisan as MaDa (first from right), Luo Shoushan as Jiang Hai (first from left)
After Zhang Erkui became famous, he moved to Zhongshuli, Yongdingmennei Avenue Road, Beijing, and his hall name "ZhongshuTang" was derived from this. Among Zhang Erkui's disciples, Yang Yuelou and Yu Jusheng were the most famous. It has the reputation of "Zhongshu Tang Wen Wu Bi". When Yang Yuelou was 10 years old, he played a trick on the overpass and was favored by Erkui. He is burly, flexible, smart and hardworking, and Zhang Erkui has taught him his art. Yang Yuelou fully inherited the "Kui Sect" and was deeply appreciated by Cheng Changgeng, who also studied the "Cheng Sect", succeeded him as the head of the Sanqing class, and repaid the "Grace of Knowledge" of the big boss all his life, ranking in the "Thirteen Absolute Perfections of Tongguang".
Stills from Yu Jusheng's "Nagasaka Slope"
Yu Jusheng created the "Yu School" in the martial arts of Peking Opera, known as Zhenjing Shi. The Yu faction pays attention to stability, accuracy, fierceness, and fierceness, and has made many contributions to Wushengxing. Wusheng sang the big axis, starting from Yu Jusheng. Along with Mei Lanfang and Yu Shuyan, the martial arts master Yang Xiaolou (Yang Yuelou's son) who is listed as the "Three Sages" of Peking Opera is a descendant of Yu Jusheng.
In the famous paintings of "Tongguang Thirteen Absolutes" painted by Shen Rongpu of the Qing Dynasty, there are a total of four famous masters, in addition to the big boss Cheng Changgeng, Zhang Shengkui, Lu Shengkui, and Yang Yuelou are all "Kui Pai", which shows that the influence of the "Kui Pai" created by Zhang Erkui is very large. In addition, there are also Xu Yintang, Wei Jiufeng, Zhou Chunkui, Liu Jingran, and so on.
Zhang Erkui was depressed behind him, and he had a son and a daughter, and his daughter Xu matched Wudan Zhang Zhifang, the master of the famous Peking Opera artist YunhuaTang, as the successor. His grandson, Zhang Mingcai, was famous for singing during the Guangxu years. He was named Wannian and was buried with the help of a tea house in Xuannan Stone Hutong, Beijing, who died during the Guangxu years and was buried with the support of the pear garden industry.
Zhang Erkui's artistic chronicle begins with bamboo branches and ends with bamboo branches, also known as a miracle. According to the Bamboo Branch, his main activity was from the twenty-fifth year of Daoguang to the third year of Tongzhi, and the nineteenth year of Fan, which was also the formation period of Peking Opera.
In the Qing Dynasty, the two books "Dumen Miscellaneous Songs" and "Dumen Jiluo" have many records of Zhang Erkui's deeds.
Due to the premature fall of Zhang Erkui, a superstar in Pear Garden, there are far fewer historical materials and legends about him than his contemporaries Yu Sansheng and Cheng Changgeng, but it is worth affirming that he loved the theater career, lost his fame as a result, and achieved great achievements because of it, and he made outstanding contributions to the formation of Peking Opera art on behalf of Hengshui people. Nowadays, Yu Sansheng and Cheng Changgeng have biographies passed down, but Zhang Erkui, who leads the way with them, does not, which cannot but be said to be a pity.
attach:
Zhang Erkui was born in Xiaokao
Zhao Yunwang
As for who Zhang Erkui is, in some pear garden materials in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China period, there are different theories, one is from Beijing, one is from Tianjin, and the other is from Zhejiang, but most people think that he is directly subordinate to Hengshui.
In the autumn of 2004, I (referring to Zhao Yunwang, the same below) communicated with the elderly Geng Baoyuan, who liked opera, and learned that there was a saying that he was a wujiazhuang person in the present-day Taocheng District. I was a treasure. Wujiazhuang is a village with a strong cultural flavor, and Zhao Huiqing, the treasurer of the Sanyitang Bookstore, which was famous in Ji'nan in the late Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, was from this village, and this village also produced several owners in the Eighteen Wineries. At the end of October, I rushed to the remote village to communicate with the 76-year-old An Lanxi, the 92-year-old Zhao Laoqi (nickname) and other elderly people in the village, perhaps because of the age, I did not get any information about him. However, what gives people a glimmer of hope is that this village has a tradition of acting since ancient times, and there were drama classes established by Zhao Xishun and others in the late Qing Dynasty, and Zhao Qingzhang, a folk artist who is famous in the two provinces of Hebei and Luzhou. At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, a popular theater troupe was set up in the village, and many plays such as "Little Son-in-Law", "Willow Well" and "Bean Juice" were rehearsed. In 1958, Wujiazhuang sent seven or eight backbone artistic talents to the newly established Hengshui Critics Troupe. Whether this style of drama has a certain origin with Zhang Erkui needs to be further examined.
This article is based on Zhao Yunwang's "Anecdotes of Zhang Erkui", Kang Zhanying's "Peking Opera Master Zhang Erkui" and the online article "One of the Three Dingjia of Lao Sheng: Zhang Erkui's Life and Art Experience".