At face value, Peking Opera and Western opera seem to be quite different aside from the fact they both attempt to achieve the same thing: to convey a dramatic storyline through the medium of music. However there are many techniques used in Peking Opera that can also be found in Western opera and vice versa. Instead of futilely attempting to compare these two enormous genres of music I have picked two pieces from each genre to analyze; coming from the Peking Opera genre I have chosen a section of the well known opera Farewell My Concubine known as Looking at the Emperor, a division which is reminiscent of the division of Western operas into arias. From Western Opera, I have chosen to analyze Mozart's notorious Der Holle Rache, better known to English speakers as the Queen of the Night aria, from his work The Magic Flute.
Musical Links
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I particularly chose these two pieces because of an additional musical link they provide: both pieces feature a very high tessitura for the voice; while the high pitched voice is one of the striking characteristics of Peking Opera, Mozart's coloratura passages in the Queen of the Night aria were known and are still known to be exceptionally difficult. Now, it would be a mistake to say that the high-pithed singers of Peking Opera are sopranos; such forms of classification become uncertain in non-classical music. What is in fact the case is that different vocal ranges are used by different archetypal roles in Peking Opera. The role that we are interested is those of females which fall under the umbrella term "dan"; more specifically, in the case of Farewell my Concubine, the female lead plays the role of the "qing yi" which calls for the very high tessitura. It is worth noting however, that there are other dan roles, such as the "hua dan" which do not call for the high pithed singing; there are even roles that focus more on dramatic movement than singing with most of dialogue delivered through speech. While it is tempting to compare this to the recitative, it is important to note that the two are very different: the recitative is a segment of the opera designed to advance plot through the speech like delivery of lines whereas the hua dan delivers most, if not all of her lines through speech. Now it is also important to discuss the range of the vocal parts of the two pieces. In particular, though the qing yi role features a very high tessitura, her range is mostly within one octave perhaps occasionally calling for the fifth above the octave. Mozart's aria, on the other hand, requires quite a range extending a complete two octaves.
However, this comparison is not really appropriate. In Mozart's case, conventional Western musical notation allows him to specify exactly what frequency the singer should sing at. In Peking Opera, the actual pitch of the first note is the choice of the singer with the rest of the notes just following at the relative intervals. Because of this freedom, performers of Peking Opera try to sing their arias as high as their range allows. Thus while the melody stays the same, the actual key of the piece can change between performances.
Another point of analysis is the texture used by Mozart in his aria and the texture in Peking Opera. Both pieces extensively use stringed instruments in the accompanying material creating a homophonic texture; Mozart naturally uses a string section in his orchestra and Peking Opera often uses a two stringed instrument known as the Jinghu. While both pieces are homophonic, the Jinghu instrument is used to double the voice part in our excerpt of Peking Opera making the piece sound monophonic. Mozart, on the other hand uses the strings to create a tremolo beneath the voice making his aria homophonic instead of monophonic; in this way, Mozart's aria has a thicker texture than Peking Opera. There is also similar tremolo effect in Peking Opera. In the excerpt, one can hear another instrument aside from the Jinghu play rapid repeated notes again doubling the vocalist for a monophonic effect. However, it was easier for Mozart to create thick textures than for Peking Opera performers to create similar textures: Mozart had an entire classical orchestra to accompany his vocalists where as Peking Opera has very few melodic instruments at its disposal. Where Peking Opera has more variety is in its percussion section. Peking Opera makes extensive use of gongs, cymbals and clappers. While gongs and cymbals are not so present in the piece chosen, one can hear what appears to be a wooden clapper accenting important notes and beats.
Another similarity between the two works is the often distribution of one syllable over several notes, a technique known in Western music as melisma. In Looking at the Emperor, this happens for nearly every syllable; in Mozart, however, this occurs most pronounced in his coloratura passages. One possible explanation is that Mozart reserved his melismatic passages for the more emotionally charged phrases. Indeed the coloratura passages sound more angry, a technique inline with word painting as his coloratura passages usually coincide with emotional outbursts in the libretto.
The rhythm of the two pieces is also worth mentioning. Mozart's aria is in quite a standard meter, 4/4; in fact because of how common this meter is, it is referred to as "common time." The Peking Opera aria has a similar regularity to it; there are two strong pulses so we can classify the meter as most likely common time. However, the instruments make use of frequent rhythmic spaces to add make the pulses of the important beats stronger. This is important as often, the rhythmic pulsing coincides with strong cadences. This also plays a role in the harmonic structure of Peking Opera. Because Mozart is using the Western diatonic scale, a highly asymmetric arrangement, it is easier for him to establish tonality through the use of leading tones. The major pentatonic scale which is prominently featured in the selected Peking Opera aria is much more symmetric and thus is less tonal. The musicians rely on rhythmic cadences to establish tonal cadences. However, Peking Opera appears not to be constrained only to the pentatonic scale. Occasionally, one can hear a lowered third scale degree used by the musicians to introduce melodic variation.
Conclusion
editIn summary, both Farewell My Concubine and Der Holle Rache feature a very high tessitura for the voice. This tessitura is common for female roles in Peking Opera and less common for Western Opera; in particular, Peking Opera encourages transposing arias to the highest possible range the singer can produce. Both genres also employ instrumental accompaniment though Peking Opera uses less instrument and less complex accompaniment than Western Opera.
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References
edit- Huang, Jinpei (1989). "Xipi and Erhuang of Beijing and Guangdong styles". Asian Music 20 (2): 152-195
- Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. "No. 14 Arie." Die Zauberflöte. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts Werke, Serie 5. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1877-1910. Plate W.A.M. 620
- Titon, Jeff T. (2009). Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of the World's Peoples. Schirmer. pp. 261-263.