"You are the dewdrops of the early morning, flowing into the mountain springs, running to the depths of the sea, turning into a rainbow in the sky..." From September 8 to 12, the original opera "Summer Rainbow" of the National Centre for the Performing Arts was emotionally staged in Beijing, with a simple and real touching plot, a tear-jerking lyrical melody, and a great choice of love and responsibility, bringing a soul-shaking artistic baptism to the audience.
From "Female Teachers in Mountain Villages" 12 years ago to "Summer Rainbow", which is now carefully polished and renamed, the National Centre for the Performing Arts pays tribute to the educators who rushed to the road of poverty alleviation on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the building of a moderately prosperous society in China, and to the ordinary heroes who insisted on selfless dedication in ordinary posts.
The children's chorus in "Summer Rainbow" became a major highlight
Original opera "Summer Rainbow"
Realistic themes pay tribute to ordinary heroes
"Female Teachers in Mountain Villages" is the first original opera with realistic themes launched by the National Centre for the Performing Arts, premiered in 2009, telling the touching story of Yang Caihong, a female teacher in poor mountainous areas, who dedicated her life to the cause of education. Once the works were launched, they were recognized by the industry and the general audience, and became an excellent representative of China's original opera.
"If you have a lot of strength, you can go far." 12 years after the premiere, the National Centre for the Performing Arts once again gathered composer Hao Wei, screenwriter Liu Heng and director Chen Liyi, adhering to the artistic attitude of excellence, comprehensively revised and polished the original version, and renamed it "Summer Rainbow", and strived to pay tribute to the educators who rushed to the road of poverty alleviation with this work of art rooted in the people and observing reality.
After the main creative team has carefully crafted, the music structure of "Summer Rainbow" is more compact, the melody is more distinct, and the dramatic tension is more prominent. "An excellent work must be made into steel, in the process of creation, we constantly look back, do not forget to summarize, and strive to move from the plateau to the peak, which requires great efforts and painstaking efforts, but this is positive for both the development of individual and Chinese opera." Hao Wei told reporters.
Screenwriter Liu Heng has created many films and drama works, and "Mountain Village Female Teacher" is his opera debut. In the early days of creation, he twice went deep into the mountains to experience life, integrated the real work and living conditions of female teachers in mountainous areas into the works, wrote herself crying several times in retreat writing, and the female teacher Yang Caihong on the stage was born out of many real character archetypes. Liu Heng said: "There are many such people in life, they are obscure, tenacious, persistent, and have a clear judgment of things and values. Yang Caihong is by no means a 'didactic' figure created for the typical tree, she is a pure elf with strong inner strength. ”
Compared with "Female Teachers in Mountain Villages", "Summer Rainbow" not only tells the extraordinary experience of female teacher Yang Caihong taking root in the education cause of poor mountainous areas, reflects the social group of rural educators for ideals, careers, love choices, and valuable dedication, but also focuses on showing the value choices faced by contemporary people through the different life trajectories of several protagonists, directly expressing praise for kindness and sincerity, with a strong sense of the times and practical significance.
Compact structure The melody is clearly divided into primary and secondary
The music of "Mountain Village Female Teacher" strictly follows the structural style of lyrical opera, and the most appropriate musical structure is selected to properly express each plot conflict. The symphony and lyricism of the band are full of strong Chinese colors and mountain and rural situations, showing a fresh and pleasant pastoral flavor in the melody, so that people living in the city can feel the idyllic atmosphere that comes to the face. In the play, "You are the dew in the morning", "Five years ago you said you loved me", "I want to fly", "I see the white and boundless ice and snow", etc., the lyrics are sincere, the melody is beautiful, catchy, and widely circulated.
"Summer Rainbow" focuses on adding scenes of Yang Caihong interacting with students and multiple arias of Yang Caihong, further portraying the characters in the play, strengthening the tension of the drama, highlighting the theme of teachers, and praising the majority of teachers for pouring all their selfless dedication to the cause of education.
"The opera relies on the aria of the protagonist to show the growth and personality change of the character, and in the three acts of "Summer Rainbow", we all arrange a very important aria for the heroine Yang Caihong." According to Hao Wei, another major feature of the play's music is the large-weight children's chorus. "Western operas such as 'Carmen' and previous Chinese operas have children's voice parts, but generally speaking, children's voices are small sections of color, and the children's chorus in 'Summer Rainbow' undertakes the dramatic task, with solo singing, heavy singing, and participation in performances."
Hao Wei said that this is a somewhat "unintentional willow" breakthrough. At first, the main creative team intended to add ink to Yang Caihong's relationship with the children, and after adding two teacher-student scenes, the proportion of children's chorus increased a lot. "During rehearsals, we found that this might be a highlight. Among China's original operas, "Summer Rainbow" may be the largest proportion of children's chorus. To this end, 26 young actors rehearsed hard for a summer vacation.
In terms of stage presentation, "Summer Rainbow" boldly innovates, from the idyllic realism of "Mountain Village Female Teacher" to a simple and atmospheric modern freehand style, with a jade-like texture and full of symbolic stage background, with high-tech multimedia images, following the ups and downs of the plot to fully display the psychological space of the characters and meet the aesthetic needs of the current audience.
As the curtain begins, the stage composition composed of geometric shapes such as herringbone classrooms and rectangular blackboards is full of ingenuity. The movement method of "Scenery Moves with Emotion" completes the scene transformation in the music, and the plot and emotions are more fluent. The main color of the gray background is matched with the changing lighting image, which can be a beautiful mountain village with bright colors under the blue sky and white clouds, or it can turn sharply and become a gray and white, suggesting the inner world of the characters.
Affectionate chants Sing the insistence of love
This round of performances is conducted by conductor Zhang Yi and presented together with outstanding artists from the Opera Singers' Team, Choir and Orchestra of the National Centre for the Performing Arts. Among them, the opera singers Zhou Xiaolin and Li Xintong play the pure and kind female teacher Yang Caihong; the baritone singer Wang Hexiang and Zhang Yang play the sincere and tenacious disabled soldier Zhou Luoping; the tenor singers Kou Jing and Wang Chongfen play the arrogant and weak Li Wenguang.
In several performances, Zhang Yi's grasp of music is precise and delicate, and under his baton, the National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra perfectly presents the symphonic, dramatic and lyrical nature of the play with its super musical shaping ability. The performances of the actors are remarkable, Zhou Xiaolin's voice is round and clean, and the performance is vivid and vivid; Li Xintong sings well and is at ease.
It is worth mentioning that the play's characteristic children's chorus is jointly completed by the actors of the Jinfan Choir of Beijing No. 171 Middle School and the Seven Acts of Life Children's Musical Theater. Their performances have also become a strong stroke of the play, and the dramatic emotions of each occurrence of the children's chorus have obvious changes, the children perform freely and full of spirit, and the depths of love are full of tears, infecting every audience. Especially in the chorus of "You Are the Dew in the Morning", the strong emotions rise, shocking the heart and making people unforgettable.
The director of the play, Chen Liyi, said: "A flower petal holds up a water bead, and a drop of water reflects the blue sky. Yang Caihong is such an ordinary and great petal. There are also many 'Yang Rainbow' around us, they are ordinary heroes who contribute to ordinary posts, they deserve to be praised, which is also what "Summer Rainbow" wants to pass on to the audience. (Reporter Liu Miao)
Source: China Culture Daily