User:Chengtw11/sandbox-Sichuan opera

History edit

Before the Ming Dynasty edit

The origin of Sichuan Opera can be traced back to the pre-Qin period and even earlier, and the Jiaodian opera of the later Han Dynasty laid the foundation for the early Sichuan opera. "Song Yu Asks the King of Chu"[1], a famous poem of the Warring States States that "they are Xialiba people, and there are thousands of people in the country who belong to harmony". The so-called "Xialiba people" is the name of Sichuan folk songs and dances or singers and dancers. According to the records of Taiping Guang Ji and Tares History Compilation, there was a play of Bullfighting since Li Bing, the governor of Shu County. In The Three Kingdoms Period, there appeared the first satirical comedy in Sichuan, which can be regarded as the originator of Sichuan opera comedy.

From the Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties, the popular drama of Sichuan reached its peak, and there appeared the situation of "Shu skills leading the world". Frequently performed plays in this period included Liu Bijimai, Maixiu Liangqi and Guankou God. And appeared the earliest troupe in the history of Chinese opera so far, namely Qian Manchuan, Bai Jia, Ye Si, Zhang Mei and Zhang Ao in "Youyang Zaozu"

In the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Southern opera and Szechuan Zaju were popular in Sichuan, and the famous song was "Jiu Se Cai Qi".[2]

Gaoqiang Opera===Ming and Qing Dynasties ===

Jin Guanger's class of "Sichuan Opera" in the Ming Dynasty once went to Jiangsu and caused a stir in Nanjing, forming a competitive situation with the Southern Opera.[3]


At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the population of Sichuan dropped sharply, and immigrants from all over the country moved into Sichuan, which is known as Huguang-filling Sichuan. Immigrants brought a variety of operas from their hometown, which made a variety of operas of northern and southern dialects spread throughout Sichuan successively. In the long-term development and evolution, based on Sichuan Lantern Opera, Sichuan Opera has integrated with other dialects, such as Gaoqiang Opera, Kunqu Opera, Huqin opera, and Tanqiang Opera, and merged with Sichuan dialect, folk customs, folk music, and dance, gradually forming a formal form of Sichuan opera, which is a voice art with Sichuan characteristics.

Republic of China edit

Xuantong three years (1911), the 1911 revolution succeeded. In the revolutionary trend of thought, the lead singer Gaoqiang opera troupe banquet music, Changle, Bingle, Cui Hua; Taihong, Shuyi, who mainly sing Kunqu opera, playing opera and Hu qin, voluntarily formed the "Sanqing Hui" after consultation, so that the five kinds of voice can be integrated into one. "Sanqinghui" has Kang Zilin, Xiao Kaicheng, Tang Guangti, Tang Deyi, Zhou Mingchao, Liu Zhimei, Lei Zhejiang, and other famous actors. It advocated the reform of opera. While inheriting and preserving the traditional Sichuan opera, it created fashion shows that cut to the heart of The Times, such as The Story of Qiu Jin, The Recovery of Wuchang, and the Queen of the West. The establishment of "Sanqing Hui" promoted the development of Sichuan opera from square art to theater art, and the artistic level and cultural taste of Sichuan opera rapidly improved, becoming the most influential local opera in southwest China.

The People's Republic of China edit

 
1952 sichuan opera "the autumn river"

In 1952, the Sichuan Opera delegation organized a large performance group to attend the first National Opera Viewing and performance Conference in Beijing. Many excellent plays and performances, such as The Willow Shadow, Autumn River, Snow Review and Trace, Farewell, Brother Wutaihui, etc., won awards. In the aspect of voice cavity, the innovation mainly takes the high voice cavity as the main object. Female voice lead cavity, help cavity, choose good singing, beautiful tone actress as a lead cavity, help cavity personnel. On this basis, there were other experiments, such as female actors helping with female voices, male actors helping with male voices, and male and female voices helping with combined voices, etc. Each troupe also set up full-time female voices helping personnel, which became a system. At the same time, some troupes also made some innovations in singing and accompaniment.

  • Zhou Enlai's "Speech at the Symposium on Literary Work and the Conference on the Creation of Feature Films" (19 June 1961)I saw the material in Sichuan. A vice minister of culture went to Sichuan and said: Sichuan opera is backward. Offended the people of Sichuan. At that time, a comrade replied: Whether backward or not is up to the 70 million people in Sichuan to answer and decide. I think this comrade is very brave. Good answer! People like it. You don't like it. Who are you? Shanghai people love Pingtan, Huai Opera and Yue Opera. What do you want Beijing people to approve? Leaders may have preferences. Some love operas, some love paintings, and some love antiques. What does it matter? We saw the play say good, not necessarily good, our words are unreliable, everyone has their hobbies, how can as a standard? Art is to be approved by the people. As long as people like it, it has value.

During the "Cultural Revolution", more than 100 Sichuan opera troupes were disbanded, and a large number of famous actors, directors, writers, and artists were treated as "devils, ghosts, snakes and gods", or expelled, or transferred to "reform through labor teams", and some were even persecuted to death. After the "Cultural Revolution", Sichuan opera was quickly revived. The Cultural Bureau of Sichuan Province announced the opening of traditional operas in batches while holding literary and artistic arrangements to promote the creation and performance. Sichuan Opera School was restored, Sichuan Opera Art Research Institute was established, and Sichuan Opera Theater and other units were rebuilt. Emei Film Studio produced a variety of TV series called Sichuan Plum Blossoms, which was shown throughout the province and the whole country. In 1979, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of National Day, Sichuan operas such as Lying Tiger and Repair or Not were performed in Beijing and won awards. In 1980, the Art of Sichuan Opera, a quarterly opera magazine, was published.

profession edit

The roles in the drama are called trades in Sichuan Opera. Sichuan Opera is divided into six categories: sheng, dan, jing, mo, chou, and za.[4]

Make up edit

Sichuan Opera makeup, it's exquisite and artistic, no less than Beijing Opera, clean and ugly facial makeup, clown facial makeup is painted on the bridge of the nose white square, which people called the "bridge of the nose", there are positive characters, there are negative characters, Yu Zhuang in harmony; Pure Angle, also known as "flower face", has a colorful facial makeup with clear loyalty and treachery. Black represents fortitude and integrity, white represents treachery and cruelty, red represents loyalty and courage, green represents chivalry and righteousness, blue represents firmness and determination, yellow represents cruelty and tyranny, and gold and silver face represents holiness and majesty.[5]

costume edit

There are many kinds of costumes in Sichuan opera, including “anaconda”, “dependent child”,“ official clothing”, and “pleated child”.[6]

School of thought edit

During the long-term development of Sichuan Opera, due to the differences in the regions where various voice styles were popular and the relationship between the artists and their teachers, several schools of Sichuan Opera were formed in terms of performance, such as Huanxian (Huaxian) school, Chouxing Fu (Sangan) School, and Cao (Junchen, Wusheng), and Wuchou, praised as "King Cao") school, which were mainly called outstanding artists. At the same time, there are four schools, namely the western Sichuan school, Ziyang River School, northern Sichuan school, and Eastern Sichuan school, which are the so-called "four rivers" in the circle of Sichuan opera.[7] There is no standard tone in Sichuan Opera and all kinds of folk arts, and each of the "four rivers" has its cultural center. Taking Sichuan Opera as an example, it can be divided into the western Sichuan Ba School (centered in Chengdu and Wenjiang County, and the actors use the Chinese Chengdu dialect without the Meihua sound), the Ziyang River School (centered in Zigong City and Neijiang County, and the standard tone is ZiChinese dialect), and the North Sichuan River School (centered in Nanchong County and Santai County). There is no specific standard tone, and based on the differentiation of n/l and f/h in the Nanchong dialect, it is influenced more by the Qinqiang dialect, with multi-lining characters and heavy nasal tones) and Xiachuandong School (centered in Chongqing, greatly influenced by Han Opera and Peking Opera, with diversified languages, usually mixed with Wuhan dialect and Peking Opera based on Chongqing dialect).[8]

characteristic edit

Gaoqiang is the most distinctive and representative form of Sichuan opera. Its main characteristics are as follows: free line and free singing style. There is no accompaniment, and only a clapper and drum are used to adjust the rhythm of Gaoqiang[9]. The percussion music uses big gongs and drums, which run through the Qupai all the time so that the help, playing, and singing are closely combined. In the singing process, the recitative and aria are used alternately, and the accompaniment and singing enhance each other. In addition, the accompaniment of gongs and drums can make the atmosphere of the stage change infinitely. The most distinctive feature of Gaoqiang music is its tone. In the past, Sichuan Opera was mainly assisted by drum masters and other musicians. In recent decades, it has been specially equipped with a female chorus with a better voice. It can set the tone, describe the environment, create the stage atmosphere, remind the inner feelings of the characters in the play, and represent the evaluation of the third party on the characters in the play. The language of Sichuan opera is lively, humorous, and full of vivid local colors and a strong life atmosphere. In the mass performances of Sichuan Opera, the most attractive thing is the content of the drama based on life, and the humorous words often attract the audience to cheer and laugh repeatedly. Gongs and drums play an important role in Sichuan opera music, which not only accompany the opera but also directly express the thoughts and feelings of the characters in the opera. Commonly used small drums, Canggu, large gong, large cymbals, and small gong are collectively called "five squares", together with strings and Suona, six squares are conducted by small drums. During singing, gongs and drums run through it, so that singing, acting, reading, and playing can be organically combined, forming a unique style of Sichuan Opera art. At the same time, the gongs and drums of Sichuan Opera play a special role in the whole stage art of Sichuan opera. There are about 300 gongs and music pieces alone. In Sichuan opera, gongs and drums are often used as sound effects. The sound of rowing, gurgling water, rushing beach, whispering wind and rain, as well as the thudding sound of moving heavy objects can all be vividly expressed.[10]

External link edit

Category:Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

References edit

  1. ^ "宋玉对楚王问". 古诗文网 (in Song Yu asked the king of Chu). Retrieved 3 April 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  2. ^ 印, 佛. "酒色财气歌". Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  3. ^ "地方剧种:川剧--艺术特点". 川剧频道 (in Local operas: Sichuan Opera -- Artistic characteristics). 2009-04-29. Retrieved 29 March 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  4. ^ "传统剧种川剧简介". 新浪娱乐 (in Introduction to traditional Sichuan Opera). 2007-10-23. Retrieved 29 March 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  5. ^ "川剧简介". 中国戏曲网 (in Introduction to Sichuan Opera). Retrieved 29 March 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  6. ^ "川剧服饰:制作工艺涵盖蜀锦、蜀绣等多种技法". 中国新闻网 (in Sichuan Opera costumes: The production process covers Shu brocade and Shu embroidery and other techniques). 成都日报. 2011-12-08. Retrieved 3 April 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  7. ^ "地方剧种:川剧--艺术特点". 川剧频道 (in Local operas: Sichuan Opera -- Artistic characteristics). 2009-04-29. Retrieved 29 March 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  8. ^ "浅谈川剧的形成与流派". 掌桥科研 (in On the formation and schools of Sichuan Opera). Retrieved 29 March 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  9. ^ "川剧艺术特点". 中国戏曲网 (in Artistic Features of Sichuan Opera). 2014-10-31. Retrieved 3 April 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  10. ^ "川戏锣鼓在川剧中的作用". 中国戏曲网 (in The role of gongs and drums in Sichuan opera). 2014-10-31. Retrieved 3 April 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)