Chen Moxiang
Xun Huisheng
(Originally published in "Xun and Shang Centennial Commemorative Anthology")
Chen Moxiang was born in 1884, Xun Hui was born in 1900, Chen was 16 years older than Xun, obviously first Chen Moxiang, then Xun Huisheng. Therefore, when I say "first there is Xun Huisheng, or first there is Chen Moxiang", there is no doubt that I do not refer to the biological age, but to the question of who is the dominant in the formation process of Xun School art. The reason why I raise this question is because Mr. Weng Yihong said to me ten years ago: "Chen Moxiang himself is a screenwriter, why do you still write Xun Huisheng's name on the script?" "I've been thinking about it ever since. Later, someone wrote a book saying that Chen Moxiang died of illness that year, and Xun Huisheng cried bitterly: "There is no Chen Moxiang." How can there be Xun Huisheng? The Peking Opera stage can be without Xun Huisheng, but it cannot be without Chen Moxiang. "At that time, I really thought that Chen Moxiang's script created the art system of the Xun School. Soon, however, some people said that when Chen Moxiang died, Xun Huisheng did not mourn, which caused various newspapers and periodicals in Beijing to accuse Xun of repaying virtue with resentment. So what role did Chen Moxiang play in the development of Xun Huisheng's art? Was it Xun Huisheng or Chen Moxiang who created the art of the Xun School? Recently, I had the opportunity to come into contact with Mr. Xun Huisheng's own sporadic diaries, which gave me a better understanding of this issue.
Indeed, from 1924, Chen Moxiang began to write books to Xun Huisheng, and by 1936, the two had lost harmony and parted ways. They have jointly created, sorted out and adapted more than 40 plays, such as "Yutang Chun", "Chao tou Feng", "DanQingyin", "Buried Xiang Illusion", "Liu Ruyi", "Embroidery Notes", "Xiangluo Belt", etc. are the main representative plays of the Xun School, which have an important position in the treasure house of Xun School art. At this stage, their cooperation is tacit and enjoyable. Xun Huisheng also has great respect for Chen Moxiang, always calling him "Brother Jingyu" in his diary, and they are also very close in life. Chen Moxiang could go to the Liuxiang Pavilion without going through the ceremony, and could even go to Xun Huisheng's bedroom during his lunch break to wake up Xun Shi, which was recorded in the diary. All this is enough to explain Chen Moxiang's screenwriting level, how important Chen Moxiang is to Xun Huisheng, and even more to explain Xun Huisheng's importance to Chen Moxiang. However, this absolutely does not explain that "without Chen Moxiang, there would be no Xun Huisheng", let alone that Chen Moxiang created the Xun School of art, because: First, before Xun Huisheng and Chen Moxiang cooperated in 1924, Xun Huisheng rehearsed the new play "Lady of the Orient" in 1918; after arriving in Shanghai in 1919, he rehearsed "Bao Toad Sending Wine", "Xun Guanniang", "White Peony", "Yang Naiwu", "XianXi Shi", "Immortal World", "Jia Yuanchun Provincial Relatives", the whole book "Picking Jade Bracelet", "The Legend of the Golden Gun", "Lying Down and Tasting Courage" after arriving in Shanghai in 1919. , the first and second books of "Fan Lihua", "West Lake Lord", the first and second books of "Butterfly Edge", "Huangjiazhuang", "The Legend of the White Snake", "Tao Sanchun", "Butterfly Dream", "Jiuqu Bridge", and also rehearsed "Qixia Pavilion" with Yang Xiaolou, rehearsed "Seven Captures meng" with Gao Qingkui and Gai Mingtian, rehearsed "Five Dragons Save the Saint" with He Yueshan and Wang Hongshou, rehearsed the first and second books "Zhuge Liang Zhao", "Zhuge Liang's Return to Li", and rehearsed "Three Searches and Wolonggang" with Wang Youchen and Bai Yukun. With He Yueshan, he rehearsed "Self-Mutilation of Flesh and Bones", rehearsed "Huijicheng" with Ma Lianliang, as well as the first and second books "Han Xiangzi Jiudu Wengong", rehearsed "The First Beauty" and "Tanuki Cat for Prince" with Lu Lanchun, rehearsed "Pansi Cave" with Zhang Dejun, rehearsed "Baolian Lantern" and "Xiaoyi Family" with Ma Lianliang and Gai Mingtian, and more than 40 new plays. At this stage, records were also produced and began to be passed on.
Second, after Xun Huisheng and Chen Moxiang parted ways, Xun Huisheng and other screenwriters choreographed a large number of new plays such as "Red Lady", "Marriage Magic Obstacle", "Qingwen", "Ping'er", "Yangzhou Dream", "Double Wife Jian", "Flower Protection Bell", "Chia Bone Xiang", "Zhuo Wenjun", especially the successful performance of "Red Lady" co-starring with Qingdao Chen Shuizhong in 1936, which brought Xun Pai art to a new peak. In the 1950s, Xun Huisheng made very important modifications to many plays such as "Golden Jade Slave", "Xiangluo Belt", "Xun Guanniang" and "Red Lady" according to the requirements of the times, so as to make the Xun school of art more perfect. Third, all the playwrights who cooperate with Xun Huisheng understand that every cooperation is not like the current troupe, where the screenwriter only cares about the screenplay and the actor only manages the acting. Mr. Xun has his own ideas for each new rehearsal, requiring the playwright to write the lines according to the script structure he envisions, and the requirements for the screenwriter are also very specific. For example, he said: "Actors always have a certain sense of appreciation and personal opinion on the screenwriter, and the scripts I perform have been studied with the playwright, and most of them have been changed." Some increase or decrease the number of scenes, and some transfer the layout to make it suitable for the actor's performance. Some scripts can capture the audience and even change the structure of the original script in order to be compact and concentrated. Mr. Zhou Huan, a playwright who revised the script of "Xun Guanniang" for Mr. Xun Huisheng for the third time in 1959, said that he wrote many lines for the revised version, but they were all based on the plan proposed by Mr. Xun Huisheng. Fourth, Xun Huisheng has his own set of rules in the creation of the script: he first requires that the lyrics should not be difficult and ancient, the text cannot be used, and the text is not small; second, it is necessary to experience it from the audience's psychology and drum up the audience's mood of seeking curiosity and winning; the third is to have the main scene, but also to have the secondary scene, and the plot should be undulating; the fourth is to give the audience the opportunity to digest, do not put out bird's nest shark fin when the stomach is full of fat; the fifth is to make the actor useful. Fifth, although Xun Huisheng and Chen Moxiang often quarreled in the process of screenwriting, it can also be said that it is an artistic debate like a close friend, but in the end, each script must be decided by Xun Huisheng. For example, the first screenplay they co-adapted, "Yutang Spring", was brought to Shanghai by Mr. Xun for the first performance, and Chen Moxiang did not go to Shanghai that time. In the process of the first performance, Mr. Xun made a temporary modification to the script on the spot, because the performance time was too long, he completely revoked the "Guan Wang Temple". It can be seen that Mr. Xun has the final right to decide on the script, and it does not need to be passed or discussed with the playwright. For example, some playwrights who have proposed that changing a word must be legally responsible, and at that time they were already bombarded by our masters of art. Sixth, from the diary, we see that before each rehearsal of a new play, Mr. Xun and Chen Moxiang ran to Mr. Wang Yaoqing's house in the Alley of the Temple of Damasus every day, and they were personally guided by Uncle Wang. From 1919, before Mr. Xun first performed in Shanghai, Wang Yaoqing personally donated the secret book "Xun Guanniang" and secretly taught the rehearsal essentials, and each of Mr. Xun's new rehearsal plays was guided by Mr. Wang Yaoqing. It can be said that Wang Yaoqing is the highest choreographer of the Xun School of dramas. Seventh, regarding how Mr. Xun cried bitterly after some people said that after Chen Moxiang's death, saying that "Pear Garden can live without Xun Huisheng, cannot do without Chen Moxiang", and using the income from the performance of the two "Phoenix" as Xun's memorial to Chen's death, etc., in fact, all belong to the fiction. In fact, after Mr. Chen's death, Mr. Xun did not go to mourn, and later some newspapers and periodicals attacked Mr. Xun for revenge, and Mr. Xun felt aggrieved and angry, and he was even more reluctant to go to the Chen family to mourn. After a month-long stalemate, Xun's good friend Dr. Wang Fengchun and the painter Hu Peiheng were entrusted by the Chen family to ask Mr. Xun to take care of Mr. Chen's face and practical difficulties, and stated that all articles attacking Mr. Xun in the press had nothing to do with the Chen family. Mr. Xun then performed a performance of "Pluto Phoenix" at the Chang'an Theater, earning more than 400 yuan, which was handed over by Wang Fengchun to Mr. Chen's family. Moreover, Mr. Xun said: "My affection for Jingyu has been extinguished, and outsiders do not know the truth, which is all random suspicion." Someone from Fu Jen University sent the script of "Mandarin Duck Sword", and Mr. Chen did not want me to act, so he said that people were useless. A friend in Tianjin sent the script of "Sai Jinhua", and he also lost his temper. Mr. Chen was angry several times without a name, and he didn't know why. Some people even said that I Xun Huisheng sang Chen Jingyu's script today. Don't you know that before I met Chen Moxiang, I was already Xun Huisheng. At that time, he was in poverty, after following me, he began to develop, and got the care of my friends, Cheng Yanqiu and Shang Xiaoyun and the Chinese Drama School now use him, a month can have an income of four or five hundred oceans, just get angry with me, I see that he and I have nearly ten years of friendship, several times tolerated, he still did not change, but became a gag against me. Some people don't understand the situation and think I'm pushing him out. Eighth, the author of a biography said that one day Xun Huisheng and Chen Moxiang discussed the script in the pavilion of the Xun family's back garden in Sanjo on the Tsubaki tree, and the yellow wind was very good, the two were completely unaware, the author went to the garden to urge them to come into the house to eat, and under the light, both of them became loess people, and so on. In fact, the biographer only entered the Xun family in the 1950s, and this person not only never entered the Xun family in Chunshu Hutong, but also could not "urge" Chen Moxiang, who died in the 40s, to dinner, and it can also be said that the author has never met Chen Moxiang. So legends, just legends, have nothing to do with facts. When we sweep away the dust of history, clarify the basic facts, and then look back at history, we will see the essence of the problem more clearly. Xun Huisheng therefore formed his own artistic style and formed his own genre. To show his artistic personality to the fullest, not only with the support of his taishi teacher Thirteen Dan, Meng Shi Pang, Yang Xiaolou, Wang Yaoqing, Yu Shuyan, Chen Delin, Sun Yiyun and many teachers and friends including Chen Moxiang, Wu Changshuo and many other teachers and friends in the north and south", but most importantly, he himself can grasp himself on the art stage, dare to adhere to his artistic opinions, and be good at playing his own strengths. Every rehearsal of a play, from the script to the singing voice, from the performance to the makeup, dare to establish their own style characteristics. In particular, in the creation and performance system, he was established as the center, and the former "four great Kongs" Zhang Chunyan, Zhao Tongshan, Jin Zhongren, and Ma Fulu, and the last four kongs, Chen Xixing, Fei Wenzhi, Zhu Binxian, and Shen Manhua, assisted by the Chunsheng Society and the Liuxiang Society, created a solid foundation for the formation and development of the Xun Sect. We know that Xun Huisheng and Shang Xiaoyun are friends of the same age who grew up together, Shang Weixun escaped from Pang's seven-year prison and risked risking to rescue Xun from the tiger's mouth, the relationship has always been very good, but in art, they are both independent portals, and each is different. From this we can extend to the four famous Dans, and even the "six famous Dans" at that time, although they are all Peking Opera Danjiao actors of the same period, most of them are wang Yaoqing's disciples, such as "Noble Concubine Drunk" and other plays are personally transmitted by Mr. Lu Sanbao, but each has his own acting method, his own pretty head, although they learn from each other in the background, learn from each other, and can not infect each other on the stage, integrate with each other, so that the audience is difficult to distinguish each other. It is precisely because they are artistically independent, so the screenwriters at that time were all writing books for the actors, and they all selected materials, conceived and compiled according to the needs of the actors. Instead of being selected, conceived, and compiled by the screenwriter himself, as is now, and then ordering the actors to reflect the screenwriter's creative intentions to the letter, so that the actor's personal consciousness cannot be reflected. Everyone knows that Qi Rushan is one of Mr. Mei Lanfang's screenwriters, but when Mei Lanfang and Qi Rushan disagreed on the script structure of "Farewell to the Overlord", Mei Lanfang did not hesitate to deny Qi Rushan's plan. At that time, Qi Rushan was stubborn and refused to revise, and Mei Lanfang was also unceremonious at that time, and immediately handed over the power of adaptation to Mr. Li Shikan. It can be seen from this that the reason why the four famous dans cannot replace each other, and the reason why they are inseparable from each other is because they are mainly based on me in terms of art, that is, from the script, singing voice, performance, makeup and other aspects, and they are centered on the main actor. Qi Rushan could only assist Mei Lanfang, but could not influence Mei Lanfang. Similarly, Chen Moxiang could only assist Xun Huisheng, but could not influence Xun Huisheng. There are no exceptions to the Four Great Names and the Four Great Su shengs. Therefore, Qi Rushan ran to Taiwan, and Mei Lanfang's new rehearsal "Mu Guiying Hanging Commander" was more exquisite. The year after Chen Moxiang and Xun Huisheng broke up, Xun Huisheng instead performed the Live Red Lady, reaching the peak of his own art. Its significance is probably self-evident. Admittedly, Xun Huisheng and Chen Moxiang were already ancient, and it was not right for them to fight this lawsuit again. Arguing about who comes first and who is second is even more boring. However, through understanding this period of history, it is not difficult to find out why Xun Huisheng can perform his own personality, create his own repertoire, and form his own genre, but our artists have rarely shown their own personality art in recent years, and almost no art genre has been produced. Facts show that Xun Huisheng needs Chen Moxiang, as well as Chen Shuizhong, Shou Shigong, Shu Sheyu, and Wang Yaoqing, but there is a premise, that is, Xun Huisheng must be the center of creative performing arts, and a system of creative performing arts centered on starring actors must be established. If the actor is required to obey the playwright and the director as it is now, the actor loses his personality, the art loses his style, the genre loses its soul, and the audience loses the artist. By the way, at present, it is often said that there are a group of cultural people around the good horns, and without them, no one can become a good horn. In fact, it is because of Mei Lanfang that there are these "cultural people", and with Xun Huisheng, there is Chen Moxiang. It should be understood that the performance of Peking Opera itself is culture, and the profession of Peking Opera actors is a difficult cultural discipline. Otherwise, how could there be so many "cultural people" around Mei Lanfang and Xun Huisheng, who had no culture? Therefore, in the United States, Mei Lanfang is called Dr. Mei; in the Soviet Union, Stanislavsky and Chernyshevsky are on an equal footing, only in our own country, Peking opera actors are considered illiterate, people without any academic qualifications. Of course, if you don't pay attention, you illiterate people may also go to the China Academy of Drama to teach undergraduates, or take graduate students.