Seven Castles

Kunqu Opera

                                      

December 26, 2007

 

Kunqu Opera is one of the oldest extant forms of Chinese opera, with its origins dating back to the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). Among the earliest genres of drama, the traditional performing art was named for its birthplace, Kunshan, near the city of Suzhou in Jiangsu Province of East China.  It evolved from the Kunshan melody and has been artistically refined over a period of 200 years.  It stood out prominently among the various competing schools of opera in China for its "delicate tunes and elegant melodies" and dominated Chinese theatre from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries.

 

The development of the opera music went through several stages. In the early days, the songs were composed of long and short lines. The singer sang solo, and the orchestra came in at the end of each line. In the course, only percussion instruments were used. The performing art was originally with no costumes, makeup or acting. Later, the art was transformed into a stage drama and the opera became quickly popular, with numerous new plays created and staged.

 

In the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the opera became mild, smooth and graceful. The performers attached great importance to clear recitation, correct singing and pure tunes. Meanwhile, the composers wrote the musical scores after working out the tunes, and the songs were written in seven-character or ten-character lines. Moreover, three types of musical instruments (stringed instruments, bamboo flutes, and drums and clappers) formed the accompaniment.

 

After the opera was introduced to Beijing, it became one of the two official forms of drama within the imperial court, and was soon a nationwide favorite. A large number of plays and performers emerged, and were welcomed by both scholars and ordinary citizens alike.

 

Its standard scenario is very intricate and its program not only details the arrangements of acts, verses and the names of tunes to which verses are set, but also defines the roles, stage settings, costumes, props and performers' movements, even going so far as to explain the significance of the position performers take on stage. Its roles are broadly divided into seven categories, including male roles, female roles, painted face, middle-aged male roles and clowns, and each category has further subdivisions.

 

The opera is acknowledged as an elegant opera in terms of music, recitation and the performers' movement. It is foremost acclaimed as "watermill song" because of its soft arias and the graceful movement of its performers. Carrying forward the tradition of ancient poetry and common speech, the art is also of very high literary value. Some famous literary works including The Peony Pavilion and The Peach Blossom Fan were originally written for the Kunqu stage. In addition, many classical Chinese novels and stories, such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin and Journey to the West were adapted very early into dramatic pieces.

 

The opera has distinguished itself by the virtuosity of its rhythmic patterns and is known as the "teacher" or "mother" of a hundred operas, because of its influence on other Chinese opera forms, including Peking Opera that absorbed the melodies from various local operas and the Kunqu melodies also constituted an important facet. Most of the patterns and techniques of Peking Opera facial makeup evolved from Kunqu and some were copied wholesale from it. The Kunqu style of performance was also the basis of the distinctive Peking Opera acting technique, and the Peking Opera repertoire retained the more superior Kunqu arias. Consequently, an aria performed by Kunqu actors was called Kunqu, while the same aria performed by actors of Peking Opera was called Peking Opera. Students of Peking Opera were for many years required to learn Kunqu skills, and some Peking Opera masters could sing both Kunqu and Peking Opera. Even today, some of the scenes within Peking Opera are borrowed from Kunqu, and there are plays performed by both Kunqu and Peking Opera troupes.

 

The emergence of the opera ushered in the second Golden Era of Chinese drama. However, acknowledged as an elite opera, it has suffered some of a decline since the eighteenth century because it requires a high level of technical knowledge from the audience and by the early twentieth century it had nearly disappeared. Today, it is facing competition from mass culture and a lack of interest amongst the young. Of the 400 arias regularly sung in opera performances in the mid-20th century, only a few dozen continue to be performed.

 

In 2001, UNESCO listed the opera as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. 

【作者: zhangliping】【访问统计:】【2007年12月26日 星期三 05:43】【注册】【打印】