After the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, opera activities flourished in the folk, and every time there was a festival, it became more lively. From the middle of the Ming Dynasty to the middle of the Qing Dynasty, this two-hundred-year period, Suzhou Tiger Hill Kunqu Festival, has always been the most lively and prosperous folk entertainment project in the festival, many literati and scholars, after participating in this meeting, have been shocked by the scene, leaving a lot of articles and poems, such as the Ming Dynasty Yuan Hongdao has a very classic "Tiger Hill" short article, it is written wonderfully, let people read unforgettable, and Zhang Dai's following "Tiger Hill Mid-Autumn Night" (see the original text and translation at the end of the article), is a brilliant and lively "movie lens", It shows us the grand situation of the Mid-Autumn Festival on Tiger Hill.
Although the article is only more than three hundred words, the author tells the story in chronological order, the context is clear, the structure is clear, and it can be artificially divided into several small paragraphs, so that it looks more layered.
First write about the tourists attending the meeting. The author lists in detail the various people who attended the meeting, etc., in the author's pen, from nobles and gentlemen to ordinary people, handsome men and beautiful women, all came out of the city and came to Tiger Hill to participate in the Mid-Autumn Festival moon appreciation activities. In addition to listing all kinds of tourists, it also describes various scenic spots, but its purpose is also to highlight the number of tourists and the grandeur of the momentum, the author uses "geese fall on the Pingsha, Xiapu River" to write about the large number of people, which is almost a direct quote from Yuan Hongdao's original words, the Ming Dynasty Mid-Autumn Festival, the enthusiasm of the common people, which is evident.
In ancient times, the Mid-Autumn Festival was more important than in modern times. The Mid-Autumn Festival was officially fixed in the Tang Dynasty, when the Mid-Autumn Festival was just a scholar, a nobleman, but in the Song Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival became a festival of national carnival, and its liveliness was no less than that of the Spring Festival and the Lantern Festival; in the Two Dynasties of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, the Mid-Autumn Festival was even more lively, and we can also fully feel it from Zhang Dai's article.
Next, the author writes about the lively scene after the night falls. When tourists come from all directions, everyone does not have any "organizational discipline", so "fight for each other", each small group is blowing and playing, singing and dancing, good or not lively, because of the different backgrounds of various characters, so these programs have elegant and customary, people in it, can only feel the lively atmosphere of the gong and drum noise, but can not really appreciate the best music and singing. In the eyes of an expert like Zhang Dai, naturally there is only hilarity and slang, and there is no sense of elegance to speak of.
After the night gradually deepens, the lively tourists gradually leave, and those who remain are listeners who can really appreciate the music, so the silk bamboo orchestra, various special repertoire from the north and south are staged in turn. As time went on, there were fewer people, and then a wisp of holes slowly blew in, accompanied by elegant singing, which made people mesmerized, and by this point, there were only a few such programs left. From the hustle and bustle to the later "everyone is lonely [qù], not miscellaneous mosquitoes and flies", after a long time, in the author's pen, we can feel the process of gradual change, and after three more, the best program finally appeared.
An artist with quite high singing skills took the stage to perform, which attracted everyone's attention. In Yuan Hongdao's article, he also described such a person, the words used were as beautiful and elegant as Zhang Dai," "A husband appeared, four seats held breaths, the sound was fine, resounding through the clouds, every degree of a word, a few moments, birds wandering mainly, the strong man listened to the tears", the art appeal is very strong, so that the strong man listens to the tears, when it is really extraordinary.
Zhang Dai's description is more professional, "a husband appears on the stage, sits on the stone, does not shoot, the sound is like silk, the cracked stone penetrates the clouds, the string degree is suppressed, word by word; the listener finds needle mustard, the heart is dry, does not dare to hit the knot, only nod", which is one level further than Yuan Hongdao. You know, Kunqu opera to the end of the Ming Dynasty, became very elaborate and soft, the sound of more words less, a word three folds, ordinary people can hardly distinguish what the lyrics are, only opera connoisseurs are tireless, and after the moon appreciation reaches the third change, only connoisseurs will stay to appreciate such elegant art.
Connoisseurs naturally know the wonderful, so when they hear the wonderful, "do not dare to hit the knot, only the nod", for fear of disturbing this beautiful song. Zhang Dai writes from the perspective of an opera composer, which can be said to be more vivid and vivid, but also more professional perspective, while inheriting Yuan Hongdao's articles, a hundred feet and a further step, which can be called the most wonderful.
Zhang Dai's article, which can be called vivid, records for us the grand celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival in that era, not only wrote a lively and extraordinary mass "noisy" picture, but also wrote out the high and low opera fans, in order to appreciate the excellent songs, the psychological activities shown, although the length is not long, but the content is full, so that people can be attracted by this grand scene after reading, which shows the love of life and the importance of the festival of the broad masses of the people in ancient times.
The following is the full text and translation of Mingren Zhang Dai's "Tiger Hill Mid-Autumn Night" appended below, let us feel the cheerful atmosphere of this Mid-Autumn Festival night together:
In August and a half of Tiger Hill, the indigenous exiles, the relatives of the scholars, the female music singers, the famous prostitutes and dramatists in the song, the folk young women and good women, the cubs and children, the evil young people, the cleaners and the idle, the servants and the empty people, all gathered. Zisheng Gongtai, Qianren Stone, Goose Stream, Sword Pond, Shen Wending Ancestral Hall, down to the Test Sword Stone, Yi Er Shan Gate, all laid on the mat to sit, ascending and looking up, such as geese falling on the Pingsha, Xiapu River.
Translation: During the Mid-Autumn Festival on the 15th of August in Tiger Hill, there will be a variety of crowds, such as locals and foreigners living here, scholars and their families, singers and musicians, famous prostitutes and old bustards in the Qinglou, children of folk women and ordinary families, child prostitutes and scoundrels, cleaners, servants and liars, and so on. From shenggongtai, thousand people stone, goose stream, sword pond, Shen Wending ancestral hall and other famous places to the test sword stone, the first mountain gate and the second mountain gate, all paved with felt, people all sat on the ground, from a high place to look at the distance, there are many people like flat sand falling geese, yunxia paved on the water.
On the moon, preaching a hundred and ten places, blowing loudly, ten cymbals [náo, bó], Yuyang mixed with Lao [zhuā], moving the earth to the sky, thunder and boiling, the call is not heard.
Translation: When the sky is dark and the moon rises, there are a hundred and ten places to play and sing, all kinds of musical instruments are blown and beaten, ten gongs and drums, cymbals and cymbals are blown at the same time, Yuyang Fei agitates come, the drums are noisy, the gongs and drums are sounding in unison, the sound is like thunder, and it is like a wok of boiling, the sky is turned upside down, and it is difficult for people to hear each other's shouts even if they are close to each other.
More certainly, the drums gradually stop, the silk pipe flourishes, and the miscellaneous singing is sung, all of which are "Jinfan Open, Chenghu Lake is ten thousand acres" in the same scene, squatting and the sound of gong silk bamboo flesh, do not distinguish pat brakes.
Translation: At eight or nine o'clock in the evening, the sound of drums and cymbals gradually stopped, but all kinds of orchestral silk bamboo instruments flourished, mixed with the sound of singing, and many places sang the big song of "Jinfan Kai, Chenghu Lake", in the noise of the crowd, the sound of orchestra, almost indistinguishable rhythm and beat.
Deeper, the people gradually dispersed, the soldiers and their dependents all got off the boat and played in the water, the seat was sung, everyone gave their skills, the north and south were mixed, the orchestra was overlapped, the listener discerned the words, and the algae was followed.
Translation: After late at night, the crowd gradually dispersed, the scholars and their families were all playing in the water by boat, and at each table, there would be a singer or drama with a beautiful voice, who competed to dedicate their skills, the north and south styles blended here, the orchestral instruments were more blown, and the people who listened to the music were all experts, and as soon as they began to sing, people immediately began to taste.
The two drums are quiet, the screen orchestra, the hole is a wisp, the mourning is clear, and the flesh is introduced, and there are still three or four, and the overlap is more. Three drums, the moon is lonely, everyone is lonely [qù], not miscellaneous mosquitoes.
Translation: When the second day came, the human voice gradually became quiet, and the orchestral music gradually became quiet, and suddenly a wisp of hole sound was heard, and the mourning was green, such as crying, the beauty was lingering, and the sound of people singing echoed and echoed, such music and singing were about three or four places, changing with each other, and continuing. By the third day, there was no human voice, the moon hung lonely in the sky, the weather became cold, and even the sound of mosquitoes and cattle flies was gone.
A husband appeared, sitting high on the stone, not beating, the sound was like silk, the cracked stone penetrated the clouds, the string was suppressed, and the word was moment by word. The listener looked for needle mustard, and his heart was dry, and he did not dare to hit the knot, but nodded. However, at this time, there are still a hundred and ten people sitting in the goose. Make non-Suzhou, the seeker!
Translation: At this time, a man appeared, he sat high on the stone, without the accompaniment of Xiao Sheng and other instruments, he began to sing, at first his voice was like a gossamer, and then he became like a stone breaking the sky, and every word was as clear as a stone carving. People who hear it, if they can appreciate the subtlety in the song, are all shaken, and their blood veins are exhausted, and they even forget to applaud, just nodding their heads and saying yes. However, at this time, there were only about a hundred people who were still neatly arranged. If it wasn't in Suzhou, how could you see such a scene!