Text/Tang Lan
He Luting, a people's musician known as the "forerunner of Chinese national music", is a composer, music theorist and music educator who has made important contributions to China's music industry. He inherited the essence of traditional Chinese music culture and witnessed the development of new Chinese music in the 20th century. On the occasion of the 115th anniversary of He Luting's birth, the crew of the original opera "He Luting" came to He Luting's hometown of Shaoyang, Hunan Province, and performed two consecutive performances at the Shaoyang Culture and Arts Center from July 21, presenting us with a wonderful spiritual and cultural feast. To a large extent, it has enhanced the cultural reputation and influence of Shaoyang, enhanced the cultural self-confidence of the people of Shaoyang, and carried forward the spirit of the new era.
The opera "He Luting" was created on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 2017, including He Luting's devotion to the revolution, his further study at the Shanghai National Conservatory of Music, his assiduous study of Western music theory and playing skills, the organization and leadership of the Shanghai Literary and Art Circle Salvation Drama Team to the front line, and the creation of "Guerrilla Song" amid gunfire and gunfire. Set against the background of the grand history of the Chinese nation in the first half of the 20th century, the whole drama tells the touching story of Mr. He Luting, the first president of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music after the founding of New China, who began from his youth, used music as a weapon to devote himself to the revolutionary cause, constantly forged ahead, grew into a singer of the times, a people's musician, and played the strongest voice of the nation and the times. The story has ups and downs, the performance lineup is strong, and the actors' touching singing voice and full dedication to the performance make the audience deeply moved by He Luting, the "hard bone" Shaoyang who has been pursuing truth and artistic truth for decades.
In the opera performance on the evening of the 21st, Professor Shangyin Gu Ping, the actor of He Luting, showed the multi-faceted image of He Luting in a fascinating way: from a peasant boy from the mountains to a young man who experienced the baptism of the May Fourth New Culture Movement, he gave up his stable position as an art teacher to join the Hunan peasant movement and became a member of the Communist Party of China in the early days of the founding of the party. After that, he participated in the Guangzhou Uprising and the battle of the Hailufeng base area. When the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out, He Luting, who had become a musician, temporarily left his small family and took the lead in organizing the Shanghai Anti-Japanese Salvation Theater Troupe to go to the front line in Shanxi... He Luting's wife Jiang Ruizhi is played by Professor Fang Qiong of Shangyin, a native of Hunan. She adhered to He Lao's guidance for her in college: "Sing according to the score to make a rustic feeling, rather than too much decoration." Teacher Fang Qiong interpreted the image of Jiang Ruizhi's virtuousness, open-mindedness, self-esteem and self-improvement with her skillful and excellent performance and atmospheric and soulful singing. Jiang Ruizhi was born into a famous family, his grandfather served as the general office of supervision and marketing at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and his father was a rich man on the rich side. She and He Luting became acquainted with the drama and the two had a deep love. In the scene of creating "Shepherd Boy Piccolo", He Luting was hesitant to participate in the Chinese style competition held by the Russian pianist Qi Erpin, but it was his wife Jiang Ruizhi who encouraged him and inspired him, making him full of confidence and determined to participate. When He Luting was questioned on the road of music, it was Jiang Ruizhi who always inspired and supported him, making him always optimistic and full of hope for the revolutionary cause. These touching revolutionary feelings and sense of responsibility have been well interpreted and displayed in the superb performances of Professors Gu Ping and Fang Qiong. The careful shaping of other characters such as Qiu Qiao and the Great General, and the careful design of musical types and vocal cavity singing methods have laid a solid foundation for the success of the performance.
In addition to the superb and selfless performances of the actors on stage, the high spiritual tone of the play also infected every crew member and the audience present. When "Guerrilla Song" sounded, the post-95 students on the stage were radiant and their songs were agitated. Even if He Luting's era is nearly a hundred years away from the present, the meaning of life, the passion of youth, the national spirit and emotions and other cultural contexts and bloodline genes are not easily mutated due to different times. During the two-hour opera performance, we saw the best choreography, lighting, sound effects, music and exquisite costume props in the industry. Scenes such as "Shaoyang Street", "Ten Mile Yangchang" and "Northern Shaanxi Cave Kiln" highlight the regional characteristics of the work, allowing the audience to travel through the cultural life of different time and space on the same stage. Moving singing sections such as "Shepherd Boy Piccolo Caprice", "People's Musician He Luting", "Jialing Jiangshang", "Shangyin, My Love" and so on, can be called classics, reflecting the strong feelings of home and country and the artistic charm of opera. It expresses the deep nostalgia and admiration of The Shangyin people and the people of Shaoyang for He Luting. In particular, "Shepherd Boy Piccolo Caprice", the reproduction section of the work adopts the flower variation method of the flute of China's traditional musical instrument, vividly reproducing the scene after the shepherd boy plays with a gentle and dynamic melody, so that people seem to see the playing child gradually disappearing with the melodious melody after playing, giving people a feeling of endless aftertaste and after-sound.
He Luting's hometown of Shaodong County, Shaoyang City, this "spiritual homeland" of the Shangyin people, the cultural fertile land of which the people of this hometown are very proud, has successively given birth to the national righteous He Jinsheng, the pioneer of the "May Fourth" movement Kuang Husheng, the director of the Political Department of the New Fourth Army Yuan Guoping, the people's musician He Luting, the news monster Yan Weiyu, the famous historian Jiang Tingdi, the master of brush painting Chen Baiyi, the famous oil painter Li Zijian and other celebrities. He Luting inherits the past and the future, integrates Chinese and Western culture and art, and creates a sacred highland for Chinese national music with firm cultural self-confidence, and has embarked on a successful music road that is widely recognized at home and abroad. He closely integrated his musical activities with the fate of the country and the people, so that we can see the backbone of a people's musician and feel his deep love for the country and the nation. The opera "He Luting" is supported by the great patriotic spirit of the Chinese nation, with He Luting's pursuit of revolutionary ideals and artistic ideals as the main tone, organically combining his classic works with the newly created lyrics of the play, and using both Chinese and Western methods in harmony construction and melodic processing, constituting a unique Chinese style. Such an opera performance with great feelings and great deeds is the first time in Shaoyang, and the high-quality performance has won the warm applause and cheers of the audience, so that the people of Shaoyang have enjoyed a wonderful and rich cultural feast.