Video loading...
The opera La Traviata is the last in the "popular trilogy" of the Italian Romantic composer Verdi and one of the highest-grossing classics in the history of world opera. At the same time, it was also the first Western opera staged in New China. The story is based on Dumas's famous novel La Traviata. This online class of the Classical Art Lecture Hall invites the famous soprano singer Zhang Liping and the famous composer Hao Wei to have an in-depth dialogue to interpret their understanding of "La Traviata" and opera art.
First, the love of the Traviata includes sacrifice, tolerance and fulfillment
Zhang Liping:
The opera La Traviata is one of the five most attended operas in the world (La Traviata, The Wedding of Figaro, Carmen, Tosca, Career as an Artist). Verdi opera is the essence of Italian opera, and his works are melodic and deeply moving. The National Centre for the Performing Arts produced the opera La Traviata is the sixth round of performances this year, and I have participated in five of them. In this process, I can feel that the popularity of opera in the Chinese market is related to the continuous growth of actors.
The role of Traviata begins as a female character who covets vanity and wants to live a good life, but she slowly discovers that this is not the life she wants. Her love contains sacrifice, tolerance and fulfillment, which is a great mercy. I think this is also the reason why Traviata can be understood and loved by the public.
Second, the National Centre for the Performing Arts's production of a "mirror" version of "La Traviata" is a version worth thinking about
The National Centre for the Performing Arts's production of a "mirrored" version of "La Traviata" is a version worth thinking about. When I performed on stage, I didn't realize that the mirror behind me had any effect on me. But when I, as an audience member, saw the mirror rise and saw my own appearance, I felt that "drama is like life, life is like drama". This "mirror" stage design integrates the audience and the actors, so that we have a kind of thinking - what responsibilities and obligations do we have for life, value, and society?
Hao Wei:
All works of art ultimately have to offer not just an aesthetic, but an idea. If you're a person in the play, if your life is facing these problems, what are your options? Can you answer these questions truthfully and honestly?
Third, the role of the heroine Violetta needs to have three abilities at the same time: flower cavity, lyricism, and drama soprano
Violetta, the heroine of the opera La Traviata, is a popular character, but also a character that is difficult to grasp in terms of singing. The first act requires the use of a floral soprano; the second act uses a lyrical soprano; and the third act also requires the use of some dramatic sopranos. It is difficult for an actor to have the singing ability of all three sopranos at the same time. Physiologically, any soprano has an innate condition at work. On the other hand, it takes years of hard work, exercise, learning and growth, and integration into the experience of life.
"La Traviata" is indeed more difficult to perform, the first act to use the flower cavity to show the heroine Violetta's frivolity, as a high-level social flower's personality; the second act requires the actor to use the lyrical ability of the lyrical soprano and the ability of the musical narrative line to show the heroine's hope to wash away the glitz, return to the family, become a good wife, a good mother' image; the third act needs to use the ability of the dramatic soprano to show a dying person's desire for survival, anger toward society, and shouting for life, and the actor needs to shout out with all his strength.
When I was younger, I was a flower soprano and played a lot of roles as a flower soprano. Later, when I performed operas such as "Artist Career" and "Countess", my lyrical ability was exercised; when I performed "Madame Butterfly", my dramatic emotion and tension were greatly exercised.
Fourth, whether it is Chinese or Western songs, the most important thing is to convey affection
Peking Opera is very broad and profound, and in terms of bel canto and Chinese song singing, Peking Opera has really helped me a lot. I've sung a lot of Chinese songs, and I think they're beautiful, full of national melodies, familiar lyrics, and Western techniques. Some people think that bel canto singing takes the tone, and there are some criticisms of this. But I think that if we sing well, the bel canto will also be liked by the Chinese audience, because beautiful things are common.
Chinese have their own national aesthetics and preferences, but whether it is Eastern or Western works of art, the real beauty is human nature, which is common. There is one word in this - love, we just want to communicate, which is what everyone can feel. Singing is not just about singing, it's about sharing the emotions of the deepest human heart with people. When I played Violetta, I had to really go into Violetta's heart to feel her "feelings", and let the audience accurately feel the true feelings I wanted to convey through singing- the so-called true feelings
Artist Profile
Zhang Liping is a professor in the Vocal Opera Department of the Central Conservatory of Music, a member of the 12th and 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and a famous vocal artist active in the top international opera houses. Her outstanding interpretations of bel canto works are known in major opera houses around the world and have been well received by the European and American media. He has starred in the Royal Opera House, The Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Paris Opera, the Bavarian National Opera, the Berlin Opera, the Royal Opera Palma, the Barcelona Opera and the National Centre for the Performing Arts. Many of her roles have been loved by audiences around the world, including Madame Butterfly (Chochosan), La Traviata (Violet), Artist Career (Mimi), Turandot (Willow), Lucia of Rammer (Rukia), Rigolet (Gilda) and so on. He has participated in the production of operas "Madame Butterfly", "Sisch", "La Traviata", "Othello", "Troubadour", "Rukia of Ramemore", "Tosca" and so on.
Hao Wei, a famous composer, a professor of the Composition Department of the Central Conservatory of Music, a doctoral supervisor, the director of the Composition Teaching and Research Office, and a national "four batches" and "Ten Thousand People Plan" inductees. In 1999, he graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music with a doctorate in composition under the tutelage of Professor Wu Zuqiang. Major orchestra works: Symphony Orchestra music painting "North of the Mountains, South of the Clouds"; Cello Concerto "Ode to the Sea"; National Orchestra Work "Legend II". Main stage works: "Yishan Landscape", "Terracotta Warriors", "Mulan", "Re-writing the Epilogue for the National Centre for the Performing Arts Version of Puccini's Opera "Turandot", "Long Hate Song", "Tea House", "Lobbyist". Major film and television works: the movie "Father", "Tibetan Sky", the TV series "Long Tassel in Hand", "Plain Life", "Wrong Love A Life", the documentary film "Suffering and Glory" and so on.
Ministry of Education/Planning for the Popularization of Arts at the National Centre for the Performing Arts
Zhang Liping, Hao Wei/Dictation
Cai Bo, Gao Mengchu /Finishing