Horses are loyal companions of humans. As far back as the Xia, Shang and Zhou periods, our ancestors tamed wild horses as an important tool for transportation and warfare. Horses have a unique style in the traditional culture of the Chinese nation, and they add charm to the art of opera. In opera, there are many scenes related to horses, and it is interesting to talk about.
Qin Yan "War Horse Super"
Let's start with the horse in the title of the play.
"Red Sideburns and Fierce Horse" is popular in the theater world, and it is a large-scale traditional Qin opera, which is divided into two books, also called "Wudian Slope".
"Horse on the Wall" is a work by Yuan miscellaneous dramatist Bai Pu, and is one of the top ten classical comedies in China.
"Flaming Horse" is a work by Li Shisan, a playwright from Shaanxi Province in the Qing Dynasty, and the story takes place in the Northern Song Dynasty.
"Ma Weiyi" is a play about the death of Yang Guifei Ma Wei.
"Xiliang Meets Ma Chao", also known as "Zhantong Pass", an old-fashioned repertoire in Weinan, is a story about the Three Kingdoms.
"War Horse Chao" originates from the Three Kingdoms Opera and is a unique style of Qin-style martial arts.
In addition, the Qin repertoire about horses also includes "Horses Stepping on Green Seedlings", "Horse Trading", "Stealing Royal Horses", "Blocking Horses", and "White Horse Slope......
Speaking of horses in opera lyrics, they are everywhere.
For example, in the traditional drama "Golden Beach" in the Qin dialect, "all the brothers and sisters fell off the horse, and Yan Zhao was painful", this horse is not a real horse, and it hints at Yan Zhao's helplessness, resentment, and pain at the moment in a virtual and freehand way.
Qin Yan's "Eight Pieces of Clothing" in "got on the horse in front of the original city hall, Yang Lian was upset and braved the wind and snow, and pulled back the horse's head to think that back then, I Yang Lian had read the book since childhood", the horse is an important means of transportation in ancient times, and has an intimate relationship with people in all aspects, and the experience of human emotions and psychological world is inevitably mentioned with pen and ink, and Yang Lian feels a great responsibility here.
For example, in the Peking Opera "Qin Qiong Sells Horses", "Look at your horse, you are so hungry that you have become four sticks and branches, who wants it"?
"The war horse tied outside the kiln door will be distressed", "Pull back the horse's head and think about the year" and other drama words about horses, which are full of pictures.
Qin Yan "Golden Beach"
The performance characteristics of traditional opera are "bringing the real with the virtual" and "breaking the real to make the virtual", and the horse is artistically transformed in the play. The horses that are most commonly seen as props on the stage are expressed in a variety of ways.
One is to use a horsewhip instead of a horse. The color of the whip represents red horses, white horses, black horses, etc.;
the second is to use horse boys instead of horses, which are mostly used for brave characters such as Guan Gong and Overlord, so that the performance of horses is more vivid;
The third is to use knives and guns instead of horses, and the people in the play take over knives, halberds and other weapons and count them on horses, and in battle, knives and guns are both weapons and horses. For example, Ai Qian's horsewhip in Qin's "Flame Horse" has a large red silk flower tied to it, indicating that this horse is a BMW.
The horses on the opera stage are in a variety of postures, clean and ugly, and there are vivid "horse" scenes in all walks of life, but in the final analysis, they serve the script creation and characters. "The Flame Pony" created the image of a loyal and resolute horse seller, if he hadn't ridden the flaming horse day and night and reported the news, how could there be Li Yanrong's family reunion?
In martial arts, such as "Blocking the Horse", "Out of Tangyi", "Lu Bu Trying the Horse" and other plays have also created a complete set of programs in the performance of horses, which are still talked about today. For example, on the stage of Peking Opera, Ma Tong was used to replace the horse, and Ma Tong's kung fu of flipping and falling paved the way for the later important role Guan Yu to appear on a horse, creating a momentum that took the lead. Horses have a unique style in traditional culture, and their rich literary heritage is often active on the stage with a strong legend.
Editor: Cong Ying