Kunqu Opera
Kunqu, originating in Kunshan of Jiangsu Province, is one of the most renowned and prestigious forms of Chinese opera. Kunqu boasts a 600-year history and is known as the “teacher” or “mother” of a hundred operas, because of its influence on other Chinese opera forms, including Beijing opera. Its emergence ushered in the second golden era of Chinese drama, but by the early twentieth century it had nearly disappeared.
Kunqu opera was listed as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2001. Its melody or tune is one of the Four Great Characteristic Melodies in Chinese opera.
Repertoire:
- The Peony Pavilion by Tang Xianzu
- The Peach Blossom Fan by Kong Shangren
- The Palace of Long Life by Hong Sheng
- The White Snake the author unknown
- The Western Mansion by Wang Shifu
- The Injustice Done to Dou E by Guan Hanqing
- The Kite by Li Yu
Introduction to Beijing Opera
Beijing Opera is China’s national opera. Full of Chinese cultural facts, the opera presents the audience with an encyclopedia of Chinese culture, as well as unfolding stories, beautiful paintings, exquisite costumes, graceful gestures and martial arts.
Beijing Opera has a 200-year history. Its main melodies originated from Erhuang and Xipi in Anhui and Hubei respectively and, over time, techniques from many other local operas were incorporated.
Beijing Opera gradually came into being after 1790 when the famous four Anhui opera troupes came to Beijing. There emerged lots of sects of the opera last century. The four most famous were “Mei” (Mei Lanfang 1884-1961), “Shang” (Shang Xiaoyun 1900-1976), “Cheng” (Cheng Yanqiu 1904-1958), and “Xun” (Xun Huisheng 1900-1968). Every sect had its groups of actors and actresses.
In ancient times, Peking Opera was performed mostly on stage in the open air, teahouses or temple courtyards. Since the orchestra played loudly, the performers developed a piercing style of song that could be heard by everyone. The costumes were a garish collection of sharply contrasting colors to stand out on the dim stage illuminated only by oil lamps. Beijing Opera is a harmonious combination of the grand opera and acrobatics, consisting of dance, dialogues, monologues, martial arts and mime.
Beijing Opera band mainly consists of an orchestra and percussion band. The former frequently accompanies peaceful scenes while the latter provides the right atmosphere for battle scenes. The commonly used percussion instruments include castanets, drums, bells and cymbals. One person usually plays the castanets and drum simultaneously, which conduct the entire band. The orchestral instruments include the Erhu , Huqin , Yueqin , Sheng , Pipa and other instruments. The band usually sits on the left side of the stage.
Facial painting in Beijing Opera as well as other Chinese operas is worth appreciating for its artistic value. The paintings are representations of the characters roles. For example, a red face usually depicts heroic bravery, uprightness and loyalty; a white face symbolizes a sinister, treacherous and guile character and a green face connotes surly stubbornness, impetuosity and lack of self- restraint. In addition, facial painting patterns reveal information about a character as well. Essentially, the unique makeup allows characters on stage to reveal them voicelessly.
Beijing Opera costumes are called Xingtou in Chinese. Lavish costumes include:
- Toukui , or opera headdress: crown, helmet, hat and scarf
- Costume (about 20 kinds): the ceremonial robe, or Mang ; the informal robe, or Pei ; and the armor, or Kao, for soldiers
- Opera shoes and boots, or Xue in Chinese
Audiences can distinguish a character’s sex and status at the first glance by the type of headdress, robes, shoes and baldrics associated with the role.
Main roles in Beijing Opera fall into four categories: Sheng, Dan, Jing and Chou. The roles have the natural features of age and sex, as well as social status, and are artificially exaggerated by makeup, costume and gestures.
- Male Role (Sheng): civil, military; Laosheng (old man with a beard, dignified, polished, official, scholar); Xiaosheng (young man, shrill voice, young warrior, slight of stature, elaborate dress),Wusheng (acrobatic male, extremely agile and physically skilled).
- Female Role (Dan): Qingyi (modest, virtuous), Huadan (flirtatious , playful), Guimen Dan (young, unmarried girl), Daoma Dan (strong woman, female general), Wudan (female acrobat), Laodan (old woman).
- Painted Face Male (Jing): Spectators are usually startled by the appearance of the Jing. His facial colors symbolize the type of character: red connotes good, white treacherous, etc.
- Comedy Actor or Clown (Chou): dim-witted, amusing, rascal, occasionally slightly wicked.
Quyi
Quyi refers to vocal folk art forms such as ballad singing, story-telling, comic dialogue, clapper talk and crosstalk.
As an ancient performing art in China, Quyi is a general term that covers several different types of performances, in which speech, singing or both are used. Stone sculpture unearthed in Sichuan Province shows that the art existed early in the Han Dynasty. As an independent art, it was formed in the middle Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. Now more than 300 forms of Quyi are popular among all ethnic groups throughout the country.
Deeply rooted in China, the art is divided into three style categories and subdivided into 400 parts. The three major styles are story-telling, story-singing, and joke-telling.
Story-singing seems to have the largest sub-group. Each style has a strong local flavor in either its accent or music. Story-telling can be either words alone, or words accompanied by music. One of the most representative non-music styles in the North is called Pingshu ; the same style in the South is called Pinghua.
The most important form of joke-telling is Xiangsheng or crosstalk, the comic dialogue of Northern China, which in the South is called Huaji , comic words in Chinese. Crosstalk is a language art combining four basic techniques: speech, mimicry, comedy and song. It can be performed by one person or more, but the most common form is two people. Crosstalk performers try to use funny conversations to make the audience laugh.
Quyi has a wide mass basis and a strong Chinese flavor. Many excellent Quyi items reflect the Chinese people’s thought, ideals and moral aspirations; many works sing the praises of national heroes, honest officials, and faithful lovers.
