An Abundance of Opera Styles
Around China there is a plenitude of
different styles of regional operas. These regional or local
operas are called difangxi
(ti-fang-hsi). According to different estimations and ways of
classification, their number varies from approximately 100 to 360. They differ
mainly in their dialects and in music and in their accompanying orchestras.
Differences can also be found in their repertoire, character categories,
costuming and make-up conventions etc.
Kunqu
came first, and then the Peking opera attained the status of a “national
style”. Although kunqu was
originally a southern opera style and Peking opera at the beginning a
predominantly northern style, they both gradually spread around the country.
Local
operas, however, bear characteristics of the dialects and melodies of certain
provinces, and although they can occasionally be seen elsewhere as well, they
are mainly performed in the areas where they were created and developed. In
this connection only a handful of regional styles can be discussed.
Bangzi Opera or the Clapper Opera
Bangzi opera
(bangzi qiang, pang-tzû ch’iang)
or the clapper opera was
probably created in Central China, in the border area between the provinces of
Shaanxi (Shen-shi) and Shanxi (Shan-shi). It is mentioned for the first time in
literary sources in the 16th century. It seems possible that in the
beginning it was a style performed only in a very small area, but it spread in
the 17th century to North and South China as well.
As
has been discussed before, Chinese is a tonal language and thus, when it is
sung, its relationship with the accompanying music is symbiotic. The tones,
according to whether they are level, ascending, or first descending and then
ascending, or descending in pitch, affect the actual meaning of the word. In
some Chinese operas, the text is usually written for stock melodies that
already exist. In the clapper opera,
however, the text is written first and then the music is composed to suit the
text.
A
dominant instrument in the orchestra accompanying the clapper opera is the bangzi
(pang-tzû) clapper, a small, rectangular plate made of date palm, which
is beaten with a wooden stick. The orchestra also includes string and plucked
instruments. The most important melody instrument is a wooden banhu (pan-hu) violin. The vocal
technique is regarded as more mellow and natural than the singing in the Peking
opera. The costumes of the clapper
opera, similarly as in the Peking opera, are based on Ming-period
dresses.
The
clapper opera is still widely performed today, particularly in North China,
where several local variants of it have evolved. The most famous clapper opera
actor ever was Wei Changsheng (Wei Ch’ang-sheng), who became a star actor in
Peking in the late 1770s and early 1780s, just before the Peking opera was
born. He was a celebrated impersonator of female roles, and was later also able
to include amazing acrobatics in his performances.
Yue opera, All-Female Opera
Yue opera
(Yüeh-chü) or Shaoxing opera
(Shao-hsing-chü) is the most recent form of the regional opera styles in
China. In fact, because of its great popularity around China, it could almost
be regarded as a kind of national style today. It originates from the
indigenous music theatre tradition of a small locality called Shaoxing
(Shao-hsing), near Shanghai, in the early 20th century. Its local
folk melodies were accompanied by a simple ban (pan) clapper.
In
1916 a troupe led by an actor called Wang Jinshui (Wang Chin-shui) started to
perform this type of theatre for the many Shaoxing people living in Shanghai.
Its orchestra was gradually expanded to include plucked instruments and later
even other kinds of instruments, although the melodies performed still
originated from the Shaoxing region.
The
performances were successful, but it was only in 1923 that yue opera began to take on its
dominant characteristics. It was then that female singer-actresses started to
be trained. From 1929 onwards all-female troupes appeared in Shanghai, and the
novelty that operas were performed by all-female casts was an instant and
long-lasting success, and it is still the trademark of the yue opera. This practice is due to
the fact that mixed groups, including both male and female actors, were
forbidden during the Qing (Ch’ing) dynasty (1644–1911), and it was only in 1930
that actresses could finally appear on the Peking opera stage.
The
stories staged as yue operas
are mostly romantic love stories. Acrobatics and fighting scenes were rarely
included in them in older times. Today male actors may also play some of the
roles of elderly men, while the young men’s roles are generally preformed by
actresses. Fighting scenes and acrobatics are now also sometimes adopted from
the Peking opera practices. On the modern yue stage sets with sugary-sweet painted backdrops are often
used, and the costuming tends to represent a kind of semi-historical fantasy
style in pastel colours.
Well-known
stories performed in the yue
style include Liang Shanbo and Zhu
Yingtai (Liang Shan-po yü Chu Ying-t’ai) or The Butterfly Lovers. It is a kind of Romeo and Julia story
about young love, which cannot find fulfilment. An early movie based on a yue version of this story was the
first opera film produced in China. Other romances often seen on the yue stage include The Dream of the Red Chamber (Honglou meng,
Hung-lou meng) and The Romance
of the Western Chamber (Xixiang ji, Shi-hsiang chi).
Canton Opera
The western term “Canton opera” refers to an opera style typical of the region of
the southern coastal city of Guangdong, also called Canton. The Chinese name of
this style is, when written in Latin script, the same as the name of the
all-female yue opera, i.e. yueju (Yüeh-chü). In Chinese, these
names are, however, written differently. To avoid confusion, only the name
“Canton opera” is used here.
Canton
opera was taking shape in the 17th century when the kunqu and an older form of the
southern nanxi theatre (Yiyang qiang, I-yang ch’iang) merged
together, while some of the melodies were adapted from Cantonese folk music. A
crucial impetus was received when an actor exiled from Peking, called Zhang Wu
(Chang Wu), founded a guild for actors near Canton. It is still regarded as a
kind of shrine of the Canton opera. Canton opera was further enriched by a
musical style called pihuang.
By
the end of the Qing dynasty (1644–1944) the Canton opera, a style of a
cosmopolitan commercial centre, received even more external influences. New
plays were written and the costuming was partly modernised. One reason for
these many innovations may be the fact that, in a big, international city like
Canton, opera was forced to struggle for its survival with new forms of
entertainment, including movies. In this competition Canton opera’s strategy
was to assimilate the new trends. New stories, both Chinese and western, were
adapted to the opera stage. Realistic stage sets, lighting effects and modern
costumes were common, and the orchestra was expanded with western instruments,
such as violins, guitars and even saxophones.
Canton
is the city in China that had the earliest contacts with the western world. It
was also the place from where many Chinese immigrants moved to other parts of
the world, to Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Thus it is
no wonder that Canton was also greatly influenced from outside China. According
to one estimation, some one thousand new Canton operas were created during the
early 20th century. Their stories were based on older plays,
traditional Chinese literature, western literature, and on movies, both Chinese
and western.
Chuan Opera, the Style of Sichuan
The
origins of the Sichuan Opera or
Chuan Opera (Chuanju, Ch’uan-chü) can be traced
to a Ming-period (1368–1644) combination of two different traditions. They were
the Ming-period yiyang and the
local musical tradition. Later, the pihuang
musical system was also added to this style, which evolved into an independent
opera style at the beginning of the 20th century.
What
is exceptional in the history of Chinese opera is that even at the beginning of
the 20th century, when actors in China were regarded as low-class
citizens, the training of the chuan
actors also included general education and, furthermore, physical punishment of
the students was forbidden. These early attitudes may be reflected even today
in the sophisticated artistry of chuan
acting.
The
vocal technique of chuan opera
sounds more natural, compared, for example, with the singing in Peking Opera.
The acting style is also less stylised. The role of the painted face characters
is different than it is in Peking Opera and only a few, if any, acrobatic
fighting scenes are included in the chuan
operas.
A
unique speciality of the chuan
opera is the use of thin silken masks, which can be changed in front of the
audience in the blink of an eye with the aid of hidden threads and strings.
When several layers of such masks are used one on top of the other, the actor
can change his face and identity just by turning his head. The effect is indeed
magical. This technique is often employed in the ghost operas, so popular in
the chuan tradition. How
exactly this intricate mask technique functions is still a well-guarded secret
of the chuan professionals
today.
Nuo Opera
The
old forms of shamanistic mask theatre performed in remote villages and rural
areas compose their own archaic group among the styles of Chinese opera. One of
them is called nuo opera (Nuoxi, No-hsi). It is still
performed in faraway villages in the province of Anhui. During the Chinese New
Year celebrations the villagers take their robust masks out of the trunks and
perform mask plays in order to drive away evil spirits. Nuo performances combine singing, dialogue, dance, and a simple
musical accompaniment.
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