Peking Opera has male Dan, also known as Qiandan, that is, men play women, there are also female old students, also called Kunsheng, that is, women play men, and often play bearded men. Female actors appeared on stage in Beijing around 1912. At this time, actresses from Shanghai and Tianjin came to Beijing and participated in various Beijing classes, creating a precedent for men and women to perform on the same stage.
The 1920s to the first half of the 1930s were the golden age of peking opera. Not only the "Four Famous Dans" and "Four Little Famous Dans" have emerged, but also the so-called "Xu (Biyun) Huang (Guiqiu) Zhu (Qinxin) Cui (Xiao Cuihua) Four Male Dans". However, due to the fact that the male Dan at that time was too strong, except for the famous Meng Xiaodong, who performed from time to time, there were fewer good female students.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, that is, before and after the founding of New China, a large number of female students rose up, and they could really compete with male students.
At that time, the outstanding female elderly students included Yang Jufen, Xu Dongming, and Wang Zezhao, who were both artists and Tan Yu factions, as well as Li Huifang, who could sing both Qingyi and Sword and Horse, and Li Huifang, who was a little younger than these, Zhang Wenjuan and Mei Baoyue, who had made great achievements in the Xueyu Sect, Zhang Shaolou of the Xueyu Sect, Jiang Muping of the Zongyang Sect, and so on. In addition, there are also the older generation of female elderly actors Xiao Lanying and Dou Lanfen of the "Chongya Society", as well as He Yurong in Jiangxi and Yin Yueqiao in Shenyang, all of whom are extremely good female elderly students. In addition, there are also Kunsheng who also have to sing a few old dramas from time to time, such as Yan Huizhu of the Sect of Words and so on.
Of course, the most famous Kunsheng is the "Winter Emperor" Meng Xiaodong.
Below, we introduce several famous Yu sect "Kunsheng".
First, Kunsheng first, "Winter Emperor" Meng Xiaodong
Meng Xiaodong (1907-1977), female, born in the Liyuan family, was an outstanding female elder in Peking Opera in the early years, and was rated as the "Winter Emperor of Peking Opera" by Tianjin Dafeng Bao. He is a disciple of Yu Shuyan, a famous old student of Peking Opera, and one of the outstanding descendants of the Yu Sect. Her appearance is mighty and spirited, and her singing voice is strict and thick.
On October 21, 1938, Meng Xiaodong officially worshiped Yu Shuyan as his teacher, becoming Yu Shuyan's closed disciple and the only female disciple. Meng is handsome in appearance, his voice is vigorous and mellow, high and low, wide, narrow and salty, full of energy, full of tone, and no female tone, and is recognized as the main descendant of the "Yu Sect". Among Yu Shuyan's disciples, Meng Xiaodong can be called the true inheritor.
She took up the door and practiced asceticism for five years, inheriting the mantle of the Yu Pai with amazing perseverance and piety, shouldering heavy responsibilities and spreading the Yu Pai qu art to the north and south of the river. Her achievements have won the rightful place for Peking Opera actresses on the opera stage, and have also left a strong mark in the history of modern Chinese opera.
Undoubtedly, Meng Xiaodong's influence is the largest among the Yu sect's descendants, especially in the folk. Some of the disciples she taught herself are mainly concentrated in Hong Kong and overseas, so now the folk, especially the overseas Yu sect lovers, basically can't get rid of her style.
On the whole, Meng Xiaodong's style can be considered as Yu Shuyan's style in his later years, and together with the evolution of Meng Xiaodong's own characteristics, it is a new style that most of the Yu schools we hear about now. The "stylization" of this singing method is very obvious, the traces of academic school are serious, and some singers pursue this style excessively, which will appear too contrived and gradually fall into the ears. It is also one of the reasons why for many people feel that the folk singing of the Yu Pai and the 18 and a half Zhang Yu Pai are gradually drifting away.
Second, Zhang Wenjuan of Zong Tan Xueyu is known as "Pocket Tan Xinpei"
Zhang Wenjuan, female, peking opera veteran. Born in 1923, he spent his early years under the famous Yu Pai teachers Chen Xiuhua and Zhang Rongkui, and later received care and guidance from Yu Shuyan's disciple Yang Baozhong (later the famous Jinghu Sacred Hand) and Yu Shuyan's pianist Wang Ruizhi, and received care and guidance from Yu Shuyan, Meng Xiaodong, Ma Lianliang, Tan Fuying, etc. He is a disciple of Mr. Zhang Boju, who is proficient in the art of the Yu School, and has the honorary title of "Pocket Tan Xinpei". She is one of the most influential female students in The Temple of Ju.
Since 1960, she has been teaching at the Shanghai Xiqu School, dedicated to nurturing the next generation.
Mr. Zhang Wenjuan had a famous disciple: Wang Siji. Wang Sihe has completely preserved and inherited the overall style of Yu Pai art, spied the true meaning of the laws of Yu Pai art, made great contributions to the ZTE of Yu Pai art, and is the first contributor to the yu Pai art that can still be carried forward today when the overall decline of Peking Opera art is still great. Wang Siji is the teacher of Wang Peiyu and Jiang Peipei.
Zhang Wenjuan's Yu Pai was taught by Chen Xiuhua, who is recognized by the insiders, and was also favored by Meng Xiaodong, and later asked Zhang Boju for a long time, which can be described as the most authentic descendant among the professional actors of the mainland Yu School. Zhang Wenjuan's singing method is rigorous, the charm is pure, and it is deeply rooted in the essence of the Yu Sect. Her voice is sweet and musical, but she never makes angry, but starts from the feelings of the characters, and plays and uses them appropriately. The meticulous pronunciation of the words reflects the characteristics of the Yu Pai's "high-pitched standing, midrange hall, bass cang" voice, and the vigorous, condensed, subtle and dexterous singing style. She follows the principle of "sound is born by love, love is transmitted by voice", and when singing, she is full of passion, and the characters are vividly expressed, reaching the realm of sound and emotion.
3. Mei Baoyue, daughter of Mei Lanfang
Mei Baoyue (September 28, 1930 – May 23, 2000), female, was a veteran of Peking Opera. She is the only daughter of Mr. Mei Lanfang, a master of Peking Opera.
Li Guifen, the sister of Mei Baoyue's mother Fu Zhifang, found that Mei Baoyue had a bold personality, and her voice was particularly high-pitched and loud, full of charm, and she was a good seedling who sang the old man, so she had the heart to cultivate, so she volunteered to become the enlightenment teacher of Mei Baoyue's Peking Opera art. Li Guifen is the first generation of famous Peking Opera actresses, who learned to sing Tan Xinpei in her early years and studied under Liu Hongsheng. From 1943 onwards, she began to teach Mei Baoyue to learn to sing Peking Opera, and since then Mei Baoyue has gone to school during the day, learned drama at home at night, and practiced kung fu with her voice hanging. In 1947, after Li Guifen and Lu Yan went to the United States, Mei Lanfang saw that Mei Baoyue was still diligent and fond of the art of Peking Opera, so she asked Yu (Shuyan) to send the old student Chen Xiuhua to Mei Baoyue to continue to speak. After worshiping Ma Lianliang as a teacher for further performance and body training, he also studied the art of singing and chanting by Yang Baozhong as a teacher.
From this point of view, Mei Baoyue first learned Tan, and then learned Yu. Mei Baoyue's singing is standardized and exquisite, her voice is vigorous and mellow, and she is full of vigor; her appearance is handsome and elegant, and her performance is delicate and rigorous. Her singing style was based on high-pitched and loud at first, and then Xi Yu and Yang Pai pursued the mellowness of rhyme. In the later period, he mainly practiced Meng Xiaodong's singing method, which was quite experienced.
Although he is from a famous family, he also has a famous teacher. However, judging from the video data that can be seen in the color singing at present, Mei Baoyue is generally followed, and the color head is limited. If you are interested, you can focus on Mei Baoyue's facial expression when she staged the opera characters on stage. Whether it is compared with the current actors, or compared with her peers, or even other actors in her predecessors, there is nothing too human. In terms of stage talent, it can be said that his qualifications are mediocre, especially in the perception of the characters and the performance of the vocal cavity on the stage, it seems that the typhoon is somewhat stiff, the acting skills are not enough, and the play is not deep.
Therefore, it is not as good as Zhang Shaolou, nor as good as Zhang Wenjuan, of course, not to mention Meng Xiaodong,
4. Wang Peiyu and Jiang Peipei
By the beginning of this century, some young female students and students trained in some opera schools in Beijing and Shanghai have graduated. At this time, there were some outstanding female veteran students. For example, Wang Peiyu, Jiang Peipei and Yang Miao in Shanghai, Youqi, one of the famous "four small bearded students" in Beijing at that time. The China Drama Academy also trained people like Ha Fuli, Zhao Lihua, Yao Danyang, Cao Yang, and later Niu Dongling of the Guojing Peking Opera Troupe.
The most dazzling ones belong to Wang Peiyu and Jiang Peipei.
Wang Peiyu, born on March 4, 1978, is a national first-class actor at the Shanghai Peking Opera House. He studied under Wang Siji and received teachings from Zhu Bingqian, Guan Song'an, Sun Yue, Li Fuchun, Wang Shixu, Qu Yongchun, Tong Qiang, Zhang Xuejin, tan Yuanshou and so on. In 2001, he entered the Shanghai Peking Opera House and won the Best Performance Award (Old Student Group) of the CCTV National Young Peking Opera Actors Television Competition in the same year. Winner of the 13th Shanghai Magnolia Theater Performing Arts "Protagonist Award". In 2011, he won the Plum Blossom Performance Award, the highest award of the 25th China Drama Awards.
Jiang Peipei, female, peking opera veteran. He studied under Wang Siji and was Wang Peiyu's sister. He participated in a special concert to commemorate the centenary of Meng Xiaodong's birth. She is dignified and handsome, and her singing voice is long. He was a teacher at the Shanghai Academy of Performing Arts.
Wang Peiyu's eighteen and a half pieces first became famous, and his skills gradually matured. If you are bent on Peking Opera, coupled with the grandfather's appreciation of rice (the king's voice is better among the female students), it is also possible to truly become a "little winter emperor". The fame is great, the skills are mature, but it is also deviated, but unfortunately, it is abandoned. Major variety shows, all kinds of clear music parties (I have been to the scene a few times in the past few years).
Of course, here I must first affirm that Wang Peiyu has a great role in the spread of Peking Opera. In addition, it must also be explained that I am not a singer, and there is no conflict of interest with her, and the evaluation of her here is completely independent of others (contributions to the inheritance of Peking Opera), but only discusses things and only talks about her Peking Opera level. If you say that ten years ago, Wang Peiyu's Peking Opera level had 7 points (out of 10), but now it is less than 5 points.
This statement is not unfounded. Everyone went back to listen to Wang Peiyu's previous singing segments, and compared them to the present. In the previous singing section, the basic skills were very solid, and now the singing section is unstable, the female tone is more, and the line is too tactful and not smooth enough. According to my guess, it should be a loss of effort after more incidents. Three days without practicing hands. Singing is even more so. Today's variety show, that is today less practice. Tomorrow's clear music meeting, it is estimated that tomorrow will not practice. Over time, even the best foundation will leak a little bit every day.
Jiang Peipei is the sister of Wang Peiyu, who studied with Wang Sihe during the Shanghai Opera School and was gifted. After graduating from school to teach, in recent years to the United States to develop, in-depth study of Yu's records, a batch of recordings in New York, compared to before going abroad, the charm is more mellow, the small cavity sound is more flexible, and the achievement is quite high.
Jiang Peipei is well versed in the Yu school style, but due to talent and conditional restrictions, he is slightly inferior to Wang Peiyu in terms of back sound and momentum, but Wang Peiyu has been involved in variety shows and entertainment circles in recent years, neglecting to practice, and his singing skills are now far less than ten years ago (ten years ago, they were really comparable, and Wang's stage explosive power was stronger), and there was a growing suspicion of falling into the cliché (you can refer to Yang in 2019), and Jiang Peipei lived in the United States, did not give up practicing, studied records more deeply, and felt more sophisticated. In appearance, Jiang Peipei is handsome and handsome, and it is said that her martial arts were also good when she was a teenager.
Boss Wang's level is really not as good as before.
However, I will see fans exaggerating her singing level in major websites, and some variety shows even give her the title of "Peking Opera Master" and "Peking Opera Performance Artist", which really feels very bad. What kind of people can be called Peking Opera masters Peking Opera performance artists, more understanding, you will know. Wang Peiyu is far behind, and the "famous peking opera masters" are enough to choke.
I sincerely hope that Boss Wang will not lose his business, go to variety shows, open a clear music meeting, there is nothing wrong with it, but his own kung fu must also be taken seriously. There are not many characters who sing opera and deserve to be called "bosses", and they must be cherished steadily.
Overall, if Meng Xiaodong is 100 points, Zhang Wenjuan can score 85 points, and Mei Baoyue can score 75 points. Then Jiang Peipei I give 65 points, Wang Peiyu, I give 60 points.