On January 1 and 2, 2021, 91-year-old conductor Zheng Xiaoying will give two New Year concerts to the people of Shanghai at the Oriental Art Center in Shanghai. After more than twenty years of fighting cancer, music is a good medicine for her.
"What is more special is that the classic excerpts of the opera "La Traviata" and "Carmen" in the second half of the concert will be sung in Chinese. This is an attempt I wanted to restore 'singing in foreign dramas', and it was also my 'thief's heart' that did not die. ”
On the phone, she was so angry that she couldn't tell that she had been battling cancer for more than twenty years. Music is a good medicine for Zheng Xiaoying. Zheng Xiaoying, the first female conductor after the founding of the People's Republic of China, was the director of the conducting department of the Central Conservatory of Music and the chief conductor of the Central Opera House, and is still active on the front-line symphony and opera stage in her nineties. Her straightforward personality, her hot temper and surging professionalism have made colleagues in the industry give ya the nickname "Karajan in a Skirt". Treating life, she was dashing and indignant: "If you fall on the podium one day, that is the most romantic thing." ”
Produced by Xinmin Evening News "Shanghai Moment"
"I'm not a big lady, I'm a worker"
The Chinese "Karajan in a Skirt" has a stubborn personality, in her own words: "It is best to get the approval of others; if you don't agree, then make it for you." "Stubbornness is also a kind of genetic gene. Zheng Xiaoying was born in Shanghai on September 27, 1929. Instead of naming their daughters according to family lineage, the parents used the father's surname and the mother's name. This is the crystallization of their pursuit of love in spite of opposition and their insistence on marital autonomy. Zheng Xiaoying's father, Zheng Wei, was a member of the Yongding Hakka family in Fujian Province, a student in the United States at public expense for the second phase of Gengzi's indemnity from Tsinghua University, a master's degree in agricultural economics from Columbia University in New York, and a doctorate in business from the University of Pennsylvania. Zheng Xiaoying's mother, Wen Siying, was born in Chongqing, Sichuan Province, and was influenced by the "May Fourth" ideology and insisted on going to Shanghai to study the women's sports higher normal class and learn new sports. In that era when girls didn't leave the house and didn't smile and show their teeth, it was a big rebellion. But Wen Siying, who had a stubborn personality, bought a ticket for the unified cabin without her family, and boarded the ship to Shanghai alone with her luggage. After graduation, Wen Siying returned to Chongqing to become China's first generation of female physical education teachers. It is said that she also let the female students put on lantern pants and vest skirts to the playground, and danced Western dances to the accompaniment of the music played by the phonograph, which caused a sensation in the mountain town. When Zheng Xiaoying talked about her mother Wen Siying, she frankly said: "My independent and strong personality is inseparable from accepting my mother's words and deeds since I was a child. ”
Zheng Wei, Wen Siying and Xiao Ying when they were young
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Zheng Xiaoying's family moved from Shanghai to Zhenjiang Pavilion in the middle of Laojundong on the south bank of Chongqing. At that time, there were media with the theme of "Miss Republic of China" to shoot and interview Zheng Xiaoying. Zheng Xiaoying said: "I am not a big miss, I am a worker." Because of her participation in the women's movement, her mother Wen Siying became acquainted with He Xiangning, Shi Liang and other democratic patriots. Shi Liang lived upstairs in Zheng Xiaoying's house. Shi Liang once wrote such a paragraph to 8-year-old Zheng Xiaoying: "You have a father who seeks the interests of the toiling masses, and a capable mother who serves the family and society, they are models for men and women, and you must learn from them and shoulder the responsibilities that Chinese children should have, which is the real salvation of the country." More than half a century later, Zheng Xiaoying still has a commemorative album with this precious inscription.
On December 24, 1948, Zheng Xiaoying decided to go to the Liberated Areas, "only with enthusiasm, I felt that I had to take a little responsibility for the nation." Like her mother's choice at that time, she also left home without hesitation, and half a month later, Zheng Xiaoying arrived safely in the liberated area before reporting to her family that she was safe. In the Liberated Areas, Zheng Xiaoying participated in the literature and art training class of Zhongyuan University led by the great artist Cui Wei. The Shanghai girl arrived at a "completely incredible" place, where 8 people gathered around a pot of vegetables and squatted on the ground holding a large bowl to eat, next to the toilet that was only half-cut and covered by the wall.
The Literary and Art Training Class of Zhongyuan University, which Zheng Xiaoying participated in with a loudspeaker, became the Literary and Labor Corps of Wuhan Zhongyuan University after liberation. In 1952, the Cultural and Labor Troupe sent Zheng Xiaoying to study in the Composition Department of the Central Conservatory of Music. Zheng Xiaoying studied piano at the age of 6 and has a high musical talent. In 1955, the Soviet conductor Dumashev opened a choral conducting training class in the Central Orchestra. Because he was not satisfied with the students who had enrolled, he went to the Central Conservatory of Music to personally select some people, including Zheng Xiaoying, who studied in the Composition Department. In the following year, the Conducting Department of the Central Conservatory of Music was established, and Zheng Xiaoying served as the main teacher. In 1960, Zheng Xiaoying went to the Soviet Union for further study, and his graduation certificate read: Zheng Xiaoying studied opera symphony in the orchestra department of the MSI State Tchaikovsky Conservatory from 1960 to 1963, under the guidance of the meritorious artists Professor Anosov and Professor Rozhdestvinsky. Zheng Xiaoying conducted several concerts in the Soviet Union. On October 3, 1962, Zheng Xiaoying performed the extremely difficult opera "Tosca" in the theater named after Stanislavsky and Danchenko, becoming the first Chinese conductor to appear on the stage of a foreign opera house. Just like this, a female conductor, put down her body, and devoted her life to the popularization of classical music in China.
It was the autumn of 1979, and the opera "La Traviata" was staged at the Wudaokou Workers' Club in the western suburbs of Beijing. This is the first performance of this Western opera after more than a decade of banning performance, and the conductor is Zheng Xiaoying. Under the dim light on the stage, Zheng Xiaoying, wearing a black velvet performance dress, took the stage. The music will start, and the audience is still chatting, sniffing melon seeds, and eating peanuts. The baton drew out of the shot, the venue was still not quiet, and the band had to amplify the volume to drown out the noise. The poignant overture was played with a sonorous and high-spirited performance, the performers smiled bitterly, and the audience laughed loudly. Zheng Xiaoying said that during the intermission, an audience actually ran to the orchestra pit to greet her, "I can't complain about it so qi, dare to feel that there is a beat here", "Hey, the aunt of the beater, what is the drama that you don't say when you sing it alone."
At the end of the performance, Zheng Xiaoying sat alone in the audience where qu finally dispersed. She flipped through the score, and an hour passed, and she didn't look into the line. She wanted more people to understand classical music. Since then, the conductor Zheng Xiaoying has another identity: a docent. Therefore, 20 minutes before the opening of each performance, Zheng Xiaoying took the horn to the door of the theater and shouted, inviting the audience to enter the lecture early. At first, there were only twenty or thirty listeners, and later there were one or two hundred people, and even some people bought tickets many times just to listen to Zheng Xiaoying's lectures. Some people hold the program list and take notes while listening to the lecture, and some people even bring a brick-sized tape recorder to record the lecture content. This is the famous "Zheng Xiaoying model".
She was in the '80s
"This Shanghai New Year Concert will also adopt the 'Zheng Xiaoying model'. However, now that it is the information age, the 'Zheng Xiaoying model' must also keep pace with the times and use the network. Ms. Zheng said she recently launched a show on an online audio platform that introduces classical music in each 20-minute program. Her explanation, without advanced technical terms, is easy to understand. Zheng Xiaoying felt that this was something longer, at least it could be left to the children.
Wear a wig and swing the bat on stage
In the second half of 1997, after retiring, Zheng Xiaoying planned to go to Xiamen to prepare for an orchestra. At that time, Zheng Xiaoying's meal volume suddenly decreased significantly, and the whole person was severely emaciated. Her wife, Liu Enyu, advised her to go to the hospital for a check-up. In early November, Zheng Xiaoying went to the hospital alone for examination, and the results were like a thunderbolt on a sunny day. Zheng Xiaoying suffered from rectal cancer. "I was nervous because I had a lot of things I hadn't done, especially I wanted the world to hear symphonies and operas with Chinese characteristics." What Zheng Xiaoying was most worried about was that there was not much time left for herself. After the operation, in order to recover as soon as possible, she gritted her teeth every day under the support of her wife Liu Enyu and moved slowly in the corridor of the hospital, one step, two steps, to dozens of steps, to a hundred steps, to a thousand steps. Zheng Xiaoying said that she only had one belief in her heart at that time, and nothing could stop her from standing on the podium again.
In April 1998, Zheng Xiaoying was discharged from the hospital. In May, he flew to Tallinn, Estonia, to conduct performances by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. Because of chemotherapy, Zheng Xiaoying's hair fell out, she put on a wig, and conducted two Chinese symphony concerts. When she conducted the orchestra to play a concerto based on the famous Chinese classical song "Overlord Unloading Armor", under the strong and powerful gestures, the fierce battle of jingo iron horses on the ancient battlefield was not the struggle of her life.
Zheng Xiaoying has always had the idea of bringing the four-act opera "Yue Fei" written by Chinese composer Huang Anlun to the stage. At the end of 1997, before Zheng Xiaoying entered the operating room due to cancer, he specially instructed his friend and lyricist Xu Qingdong: "If I can't come out, you must remember that you must discharge "Yue Fei". "Fortunately, the operation went smoothly. After the operation, Zheng Xiaoying searched for her roots and ancestors, and came to her father's ancestral home for the first time- Yongding, Fujian. After sweeping the tomb for her ancestors, she visited the Tulou in Yongding and was immediately shocked by the unique architectural style and history of the Tulou. Zheng Xiaoying suddenly thought: Why can't the ancient Tulou culture be expressed with modern symphony, isn't it more important for the world to know its value? Under the impetus of Zheng Xiaoying, 9 months later, composer Liu Xiang composed a 5-movement symphony "Tulou Echo" premiered. Since then, Zheng Xiaoying has conducted the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra and performed this work to more than a dozen countries such as Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Canada, the United States, Malaysia, Singapore, Russia, and Australia, setting a record for the most symphonic suite performances in China. Zheng Xiaoying laughed that this was her "Tulou Global Dream".
In 2015, Huang Anlun's opera "Yue Fei" premiered at the Tianjin Grand Theatre, and 86-year-old Zheng Xiaoying spoke before the performance In late 2005, 76-year-old Zheng Xiaoying performed in Longyan, Fujian Province, wearing her iconic white shirt and black coat, striding into the left side of the stage. Before he could ascend to the command seat, the soles of his feet slipped and fell to a depth of more than a meter. There was a loud bang on the floor, and everyone was shocked to get up from their chairs. Zheng Xiaoying was helped to the edge of the stage. She stabilized for a moment and continued to take command. Before the opening, she announced in a loud voice: "Please rest assured, a false alarm." "The posture is still straight, but the hair is a bit messy. After conducting the one-hour concert, Zheng Xiaoying was in pain for two months. Looking back now, she raises her eyebrows and laughs: "After wrestling, I was quiet for a while, and then I lived." "Singing in foreign dramas" is now Zheng Xiaoying's "last attempt in life" that "the thief's heart does not die". She said that Western opera sung in the original language has kept the vast majority of Chinese audiences away from the thousands of miles away. She hopes to resume the Chinese version of Western classic opera in more opera houses. A few years ago, Zheng Xiaoying tried to perform composer Mahler's "Earthly Song" with Chinese at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, hoping to gain attention and discussion, but unfortunately she was widowed. And this time in Shanghai, Zheng Xiaoying will also try the "singing in foreign opera" she advocates. The vitality of Zheng Xiaoying's life can be said to come from opera, but also from her stubbornness, "I just want to burn all my light and heat on the opera." (Shen Qihua)