Suzhou Kunshan is the birthplace of Kunqu opera, and the Kunqu opera of Yangchun White Snow has attracted the inheritance of generations of artists. Kunqu opera was stolen by Peking Opera in the Qianlong and Jiaqing eras of the Qing Dynasty, but in Shanghai and Suzhou, where it originated, it still has a large number of fans with the ability to appreciate and understand the sound cavity. In the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China era, Kunqu opera was still a traditional play with great theater appeal. Yu Zhenfei is a very famous Kunqu opera performance artist.
Elegant Kunqu
Yu Zhenfei has a family tradition of Kunqu opera, his father Yu Zonghai is a well-known amateur Kunqu singer, when he moved to Suzhou, there were Kunqu opera group singing, Yu Zonghai is a must-have iron foot ticket friend. Yu Zonghai is good at calligraphy, and is known for his calligraphy. Yu Zhenfei has been listening to Kunqu since he was a child, learning Kunqu opera at the age of 6, performing on stage at the age of 12, and being proficient in singing 200 Kunqu operas at the age of 18.
Jingkun Taidou Yu Zhenfei
Kunqu opera is very elegant, the listener is few, the theater is narrow, and it is difficult to make a living. After yu Zhenfei learned many Kunqu opera scripts, he decided to change his career to Peking Opera. As the saying goes, "changing careers is like getting out of the birth", 18-year-old learning Peking Opera, singing and composing a lot of kung fu have missed the best age, and Yu Zhenfei Kunqu is a primary school student, learning Peking Opera is a great damage to the voice. Yu Zhenfei decided to change his singing of Peking Opera, and he was determined to learn from home, and he studied opera assiduously under the famous Peking Opera artists Li Zhixian and Jiang Yanxiang. By chance, Yu Zhenfei and Cheng Yanqiu, the founder of the Peking Opera Cheng School, shared the stage, and thus became famous.
Cheng Yanqiu, the founder of chengpai, is Yu Zhenfei's benefactor
Yu Zhenfei, who has a talent for opera, has lit up a red light in his married life when the sound and light of Kunqu opera and Peking opera are prominent. Fan Pinzhen, the yuan wife who was arranged by his father Yu Zonghai, has a low culture, narrow vision, and does not like Kunqu opera, and Yu Zhenfei cannot say a word to her at all. Over time, Yu Zhenfei took a concubine outside, which was his second wife, Lu Peizhen. Lu Peizhen is young, has a posture, is rough in literature and ink, eats and drinks with Yu Zhenfei, and has a comfortable life. Yuan pei Fan Pinzhen was dissatisfied with Yu Zhenfei's smallness, but he could not do anything with him, so he made Lu Peizhen angry, making Lu Peizhen uncomfortable everywhere, and could not settle down in Suzhou Yu's house. Yu Zhenfei had no good idea, so he had to take Lu Peizhen to Shanghai to rent a house and live alone. Shanghai housing prices are high, life is not easy, Yu Zhenfei singing income is small, delicious and lazy, only know how to enjoy Lu Peizhen after Yu Zhenfei and the original Fan Pinzhen divorced, can not stand the poverty and left Yu Zhenfei.
Yu Zhenfei and Yan Huizhu took a group photo
One is divorced and willing; one does not quit, and he is unwilling. Yu Zhenfei's married life is very heart-wrenching. With Yu Zhenfei's fame in the Beijing-Kunming circle, he began to attract the attention of famous characters, who were also famous characters across Peking Opera and Kunqu Opera, Huang Manyun. Huang Manyun, who is one year older than Yu Zhenfei, is a disciple of the famous Peking Opera character Wang Yaoqing, and is known for "listening to the Lord of the Maple House". Huang Manyun began to communicate warmly when he was learning Kunqu opera from Yu Zhenfei. In 1936, Yu Zhenfei married Huang Manyun. Married for 20 years, the two were childless. In 1956, at the age of 55, Huang Manyun died of lung cancer. Yu Zhenfei is deeply saddened by the loss of his most beloved lover.
Stills of Yu Zhenfei and Huang Manyun
The 54-year-old Yu Zhenfei, who has once again become a middle-aged and elderly bachelor, never dreamed that he would soon get married for the fourth time. The object of this marriage was The Kundan Empress Yan Huizhu. Yan Huizhu is the daughter of the famous Peking Opera actor Yan Jupeng. Yan Jupeng is a descendant of the Mongolian Zhenglan Banner family and has the eminent aura of the court. Yan Huizhu is a big lady of the court, frank, straightforward, arrogant, bold, and arrogant, and she has to do whatever she wants, which is very spicy, and even Yan Jupeng can't control this daughter.
Young Yan Huizhu
Yan Huizhu once studied opera from Peking Opera master Mei Lanfang and became popular for playing the third lady in "Hu San Niang". Dare to think and dare to love Yan Huizhu was once in love with the movie star Baiyun, for some reason, the two did not enter the palace of marriage. After Yan Huizhu formed the "Yan Opera Troupe", she made a lot of money, bought Huayuan in Shanghai, and married Xue Haowei. After Yu Zhenfei was widowed in 1956, Yan Huizhu began to pursue Yu Zhenfei desperately, and after divorcing Xue Haowei, she was approved by the organization to marry Yu Zhenfei in 1960. On the wedding night, the two of them were unhappy. This year, Yan Huizhu was 41 years old and Yu Zhenfei was 58 years old.
Middle-aged Yan Huizhu
Yan Huizhu's Peking Opera career was at a low ebb at this time, and her own "Yan Huizhu Opera Troupe" was a public-private partnership, and she wanted to enter the China Peking Opera House in Beijing, but her hopes were disappointed again. She can act, there is no drama for her, and no one is looking for her to act. Yan Huizhu, who has a strong personality, can only grumble and complain. Yan Huizhu studied Kunqu opera and was also a perfect match for Yu Zhenfei, but this good day was in vain when the Cultural Revolution arrived. She had accumulated a lifetime of diamond rings, jadeite, gold bars, US dollar bills, and passbooks, all of which were confiscated. In desperation, Yan Huizhu chose to commit suicide. This year, Yan Huizhu was 47 years old and had only been married to Yu Zhenfei for 6 years.
Yu Zhenfei was playing the flute
At the age of 64, Yu Zhenfei, who became a widower again, always adhered to the reverence for Jingkun art. Yu Zhenfei's warm and nurturing temperament also makes him full of love for life. Although he did not have children, he raised Yan Huizhu's son as if he were his own. Fourteen years after Yan Huizhu's death, the 78-year-old Yu Zhenfei married 51-year-old Li Qianghua. When Li Qihua was 64 years old, Yu Zhenfei, 91, passed away. After Yu Zhenfeixian's death, Li Qihua and her ex-husband Guan Zhengming remarried and enjoyed everything Yu Zhenfei left behind, which made people wonder and sigh.
Li Qiaohua in her youth