Fresh and elegant orchids, lifelike chicks... The paintings displayed in front of people are not by the hands of painters or the works of a literati, but by Chen Suzhen, a master of Yu opera. Not long ago, the Chen Suzhen Memorial Hall opened in Kaifeng, Henan Province, exhibiting the performing arts life and historical images of a generation of Yu opera masters, among them, there are Chen Suzhen's manuscripts and paintings, the erhu and zizi she used when she was hanging her voice, the costumes with colors like new, the photos of performances and apprentices, and the ordinary moments in the master's life...
Chen Suzhen's chicken chicks
Chen Suzhen stills from 1941
Chen Suzhen and Mei Lanfang in 1957
Chen Suzhen and Tian Han in 1957
This year is the centenary of the birth of Yu opera master Chen Suzhen, led by the Chinese opera cooperation as the guiding unit, the Propaganda Department of the Henan Provincial Cpc Committee, the Henan Provincial Department of Culture, the Henan Provincial Federation of Literature and Literature, the CPC Kaifeng Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, the Henan Radio and Television Station, and the China Yu Opera Promotion Association, which is also the place where the master was born and became famous. The opening ceremony was a special commemorative program of the "Su Yun True Voice" column of Henan Radio and Television Station "Pear Garden Spring". One of the links in the performance was impressive, Chen Suzhen's four disciples - 71-year-old Guo Meijin, 72-year-old Niu Shuxian, 77-year-old Zhang Qiaoyun, 87-year-old Guan Lingfeng, 4 veteran artists sang on stage together to pay tribute to Master. Guan Lingfeng could not see with his eyes, and took the stage with the support of his disciples. After the three "post-70s" finished speaking, Niu Shuxian handed the microphone to the mouth of Guan Lingfeng, the "post-80s", and said: "Sister, it's time for you to say." The rich feelings conveyed by one sentence made the audience moved.
The organizers also held the opening ceremony of the National Arts Fund project "Yu Opera Chen Pai Performing Talent Training" training class, Chen Suzhen's centenary of birth symposium and discussion, two Chen Pai folding opera performances, and Guan Xiaofeng's "Three Shangshang Caravan", Xu Junxia's "Cosmic Front", Wu Suzhen's "Three Sleeves" and other Chen Pai representative repertoire brought by Chen Pai's descendants. Rich activities show the passing on of the legacy of Chen Pai art.
A beautiful "cultural business card"
At the opening ceremony of the Chen Suzhen Memorial Hall, in the crowd of visitors, the reporter saw the famous Peking Opera performance artist Sun Yumin and Chen Pai disciple Niu Shuxian. At the invitation of her friend and little sister Niu Shuxian, Sun Yumin went to Henan University to participate in the training class of "Yu Opera Chen Pai Performing Talent Training" and taught 30 young students. Sun Yumin told reporters that Chen Su is really the best heir and the biggest promoter of the mother tune of Yu opera, the xiangfu tone, and the art of chen school should be affirmed and disseminated in the form of a series of activities on the centenary of the birth. "This is a very meaningful historical event. The establishment of the Chen Suzhen Memorial Hall, students have come to visit, where the national art is good, where the beauty is, look at the memorial hall of Master Chen to know. She is all-rounder, and I admire her. I came here with the mood to learn. Chen Suzhen is a beautiful 'cultural business card', I did not know that Kaifeng has such a good artist, through this activity, but also enhance the cultural status of Kaifeng. ”
Participating in a series of commemorative activities, Niu Shuxian's understanding of Master also deepened. Niu Shuxian said that governments at all levels attach great importance to and support this activity, and Li Shujian, president of henan Yu Theater, has played a great role. She said that Master Chen Suzhen is a real generation of masters, singing and composing ideas to become a family, in the late 1930s has formed a performance system, is the earliest formation of a genre in Yu opera Danjiao. In addition, Master wrote down a lot of performance notes, and the information left for posterity was very rich. At her most difficult time, even when she went to the vegetable garden, she insisted on taking notes, which lasted for more than 60 years. Many of these manuscripts have not yet been collated and exhibited. Niu Shuxian said that Master is just and upright, seeks truth from facts, and often teaches his disciples that "there are people outside the people, and there are heavens outside the sky", that they should "be low-key people and sing in a high-profile manner", and her spirit of "not surprisingly dying endlessly" is worth vigorously carrying forward.
Chen Suzhen in Kaifeng in 1949
1952 with Chinese opera performance artist Chen Bohua (left)
In the memorial hall, the reporter paid special attention to Chen Suzhen's notes and manuscripts. Chen Suzhen's son, Wang Minxiao, told reporters that the manuscripts on display this time involved the creation of the mother's representative plays "Three ShangShang" and "Cosmic Front"; several paintings on display were found in the mother's relics. He said that his mother had many contacts with cultural celebrities in Henan, Beijing, Tianjin and other places. "When my mother studied painting with a painter, my family didn't take it seriously, and then most of the paintings were thrown away. A few were left behind, and they were not taken seriously after the death of their mother. For this event, we found a few remaining paintings and found someone to reframe and print them. Although the exhibition is a few small paintings, it allows the reporter to see the multifaceted artistic accomplishment of an opera master, and there are still many things that can be discovered about her research.
A leader in promoting and completing the cultural transformation of Yu opera
At the same time as the series of performances and the opening of the memorial hall, the opening ceremony of the training class of "Yu opera Chen Pai Performing Talent Training" and the symposium on the centenary of Chen Suzhen's birth were held at Henan University, a centennial institution. Located in the ancient capital of Kaifeng, Henan University, with its elegant Republican architectural complex, has a deep relationship with the Yu opera master Chen Suzhen. In March 1948, it was at Henan University that Chen Suzhen, in order to fund the then National Henan University, put into performances throughout March, and performed a total of 8 plays, 7 of which were "Fan Operas" created by Fan Puting, a student of Henan University and later known as the "Father of Modern Yu Opera".
Stills from Chen Suzhen's "Vatican Palace" in 1957
At the symposium, Ma Zichen, a theater critic born in 1933, brought several cultural relics, including a poster of Chen Suzhen's performance in Luoyang during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, which read: "Donate one more money, live one more life." In March 1938, Ma Zichen first read Chen Suzhen's "Defending the Great Henan" in Kaifeng. According to his statistics, in the days before 1938 in Kaifeng, in order to continuously launch new plays and achieve the goal of fundraising as soon as possible, Chen Suzhen worked day and night, worked tirelessly, and rarely stopped. For example, in May 1935, she staged 44 plays, of which only one was repeated; in the second half of 1936, there were no less than 30 plays per month. Such a scene record is basically all placed on Chen Suzhen, the only starring actor. With this experience alone, no one can afford today's actors. ”
Ma Zichen said that he had watched Chen Suzhen's plays for 80 years and had been in a relationship with her for 41 years. Before Chen Suzhen died, he struggled with the illness to help him do several things. One of them was the death of Chen Suzhen's mentor Sun Yande in 1947, when Chen Suzhen did not know, very regretful, she hoped to repay the bold acceptance of her own female disciple. In 2007, on the Qingming Festival, Ma Zichen joined hands with the People's Government of Fengqiu County to erect a monument for Sun Yande, which was 60 years after Sun Yande's death, but the village beat gongs and drums, and built a spiritual shed high, which was very grand and touched the whole village. Everyone said, "It seems that singing is not bad, and the provinces and counties have come to erect monuments for us." Therefore, as soon as the ceremony was over, the village party secretary pulled a boy and a girl with one hand, and pushed Ma Zichen to the monument, saying that you should lead them away to learn the play. Ma Zichen said: "At that time, I realized a truth: what is the reason for the lack of students in the opera school? It was in those years that the singers were raised high, and the opera actors were suppressed low. Today, seeing that singing is also good, the status of opera actors has improved, and some people have learned to play. ”
Stills of Chen Suzhen's "Three Whisks of Sleeves" in 1957
"Henan opera activities have come and gone, and the frequent activities have shown the prosperity of Henan opera ecology. Respecting the sages is the best way to inherit the tradition, and Henan has led a new atmosphere and created a new model in this regard. For this commemorative activity, Wang Shaojun, director of the Performance Department of the China Academy of Performing Arts, gave a high evaluation. He said: Among the local operas, there are two opera masters who are known for their "beauty," one is Chen Bohua of Han opera, and the other is Chen Suzhen of Yu opera, the so-called "er chen" of the opera world; in the opera circle, there are two Danjiao artists who are known for their unblocked literary and martial arts and kun and who are known for their "wholeness"; one is Guan Sushuang of Peking Opera, and the other is Chen Suzhen of Yu opera. Wang Shaojun believes that from these two aspects, Chen Su is really "beautiful and complete", which is rare among local actors in the country.
In 1963, Chen Suzhen performed "Cosmic Front" in Tianjin
In 1979, Chen Suzhen taught in Kaifeng, Henan
In 1982, Chen Suzhen taught in Tianjin
Chen Suzhen's three major contributions to Yuju Danxing, the first is to reform the makeup technology of Yuju Danxing, which enhances the sense of beauty; the second is that in terms of vocal cavity, on the basis of the old cavity of Yuju Xiangfu, the old is transformed into new, which enhances the beauty of the rhythm of Yuju Danxing's vocal cavity; the third is in performance, her water sleeves, stilt gong, taiwan steps, fan gong, braid gong, etc. have been innovated, which has enhanced the expressiveness of Yuju Danxing. "The reason why Chen Suzhen was able to achieve so much and form the Chen School, Wang Shaojun pointed out four major elements behind it: One is that the playwright Fan Puting provided a large number of high-quality scripts." Looking back at the history of Chinese opera, behind every performance, there is a big playwright supporting everyone, such as Mei Lanfang and Qi Rushan, Cheng Yanqiu and Luo Luogong, Chang Xiangyu and her husband Chen Charter." The second is to cross the industry, good at both literature and martial arts, qingyi, huadan, sword and horse, and flower shirt. The third is to have a sense of advanced communication. In 1936, Chen Suzhen produced several records at the Shanghai EMI Records Company, which is rare among Yu opera actors. It can be said that the film has made Yan Fengying, and the record has promoted Chen Suzhen. The fourth is that Chen Suzhen received apprentices at the age of 13, and there were many disciples and a wide distribution area, including Yu, Shaanxi, Gansu, Hubei, Hebei, Lu, Jin, Beijing and other places, forming a situation of "no Chen, no group, no cavity and no Chen" in the Yu opera circle.
In 1989, Chen Suzhen was married to Cao Yu and Li Yuru
In 1989, Chen Suzhen joined Li Yuru and Wang Jinlu
Speaking of the significance of this series of activities, Xiqu critic Shi Lei said that since the 1930s, Yu opera has launched a process of transformation from vulgar and vulgar to elegant and popular appreciation, and the formation of Chen Pai art is in this process. Chen Suzhen and his contemporaries Fan Puting, a pioneer of Yu opera reform, became outstanding representatives of promoting and completing the cultural transformation of Yu opera. However, this process was interrupted by the mid-1950s, and the Chen Pai art, the Chen Pai vocal cavity, and the auspicious tone were all hit hard. Shi Lei said: "Healing this kind of trauma is not something that can be done by a party or even a generation. Therefore, the commemorative activities held today will cause us to re-examine the entire history of the development of Yu opera and affect the direction of the future development of Yu opera art. ”
Source of this article: China Art Daily reporter Jin Tao "Today, what do we learn from Chen Suzhen, the master of Yu opera who is "beautiful and complete"? 》
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