Brief introduction of yue opera

In China Opera Garden, Yue Opera is a wonderful flower blooming in the south of the Yangtze River. Her delicate performance, euphemistic singing and elegant style are intoxicating. Although Yue Opera was born less than a hundred years ago, it is the third largest opera in China after Beijing Opera and Bangzi, and it is also the most popular and popular opera in Zhejiang Province.

Yue Opera originated in the rural areas of Shengzhou, Zhejiang Province. At the earliest time, poor farmers begged for alms in order to make a living by singing folk songs and selling books along the street. Later, the songbooks entered the halls of towns, teahouses and large families, and finally turned to stage performances, which marked the birth of Yue Opera.

After the 1920s, Yue Opera went out of the mountainous areas in eastern Zhejiang and entered Ningbo, Hangzhou, Shanghai and other cities. With the continuous innovation of folk artists, Yue Opera has formed a brand-new and unique musical style, which is loved and accepted by the audience. In Shanghai at that time, Yue Opera was all the rage.

Since the 1940s, the sisters of Yue Opera, represented by Yuan Xuefen, have made bold innovations and set up a new banner of Yue Opera in order to resist Japan and save the nation and revitalize China. The Yue Opera Sister Xianglin, adapted from Lu Xun's novel Blessing, has made a breakthrough in the performance theme of Yue Opera. In order to raise funds for the self-built benefit performance of the theater "Love between Mountains and Rivers", we collected "Ten Sisters of Yue Opera" and wrote a brilliant page in the history of Yue Opera.

After the founding of New China, Yue Opera has embarked on the road of all-round prosperity and development, with various schools and celebrities. Excellent plays such as Butterfly Lovers, Romance of the West Chamber, Dream of Red Mansions, and The Tale of Jade Hairpins. Constantly emerging, it was also made into a movie and released nationwide.

Since the 1980s, the rising stars of Yue Opera have emerged constantly, with "Little Hundred Flowers" represented by Mao, and many outstanding plays such as Five Women's Birthday and Han Gong Complain. This marks the arrival of another modern Yue Opera.

The Origin of Yue Opera

Yue Opera originated in Shengxian County, Zhejiang Province. It is located in the south of Shaoxing, with towering Siming Mountain in the east, steep Taibai Mountain in the west, mythical Tianmu Mountain in the south and towering mountains in the north. A clear stream flows through the mountains into the Cao 'e River. Sheng county, known as Shan county in ancient times, has a long history, rich folk literature and art, beautiful scenery and a long-standing reputation in the mountains and rivers of southeast China. The ancients called it "the beauty of mountains and rivers, the wonder of pictures." Outstanding poets such as Xie Lingyun, Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai Juyi, Wang Wei, Lu You, Su Shi, Wang Anshi, Ouyang Xiu, Tang Xianzu and Yuan Mei. Everyone traveled here naked and left poems about the moxibustion population. Folk music such as Watching the Cattle Folk Song, San Fan Shi Er Lang and Rocking Boat are popular in Shengxian area, and large-scale instrumental music such as Yuanmen, Fan Shi and Hydrangea are popular, such as Bulong, grass dragon, stilts, impermanence, lion dance, dragon boat rowing, crane dance, jade bottle dance, meridian turning and worship. Buddhist songs such as Mulian Opera, Jiang Mengban and Xuanjuan, which are composed of Anhui Opera and local Taoist schools, are also very common. These artistic forms rooted in the masses are colorful and fertile ground for the emergence of Yue Opera.

The predecessor of Yue Opera is the "singing book on the ground". This is a kind of rap that local people like to listen to. This kind of rap was originally created by folk artist Jin. Jin is a native of Matang Village, Xixiang County, Sheng County. He used to be a farmer. /kloc-one day in 0/852, he sang several news stories on the threshing floor in Tiantou, and the end of each sentence was accompanied by the voice of {four workers and one foot} as a contrast. This singing method is somewhat similar to the Buddhist song Xuanjuan. Every time one or two sentences are sung, the Buddhist name "There is no Buddha in the south and no Amitabha in the south" is announced. But the content of chanting is what we see and hear in our daily life, and it has nothing to do with Buddhism. We can't announce the Buddha's name because of delay, so we used {four works and one foot}. The masses thought that the tune was concise, smooth and elastic, and they learned from Jin in succession. Many people even seriously worshipped him as a teacher. Some disciples of Jinjiao will become famous book singers in the future. This kind of music is called {four gongs singing book tune}. Singing books is a form of farmers' self-entertainment. After work, the songbook is used for entertainment, which is called "Tiantou Songbook". /kloc-around 0/860, self-entertainment began to change. Why? It turned out that the Qing Dynasty stepped up its efforts to suppress the Taiping Rebellion, which further aggravated the land tax and made the life of farmers more difficult. In order to make a living, poor and bankrupt farmers began to sell books as a means to make up for their economic difficulties. At that time, I went out alone, at the gate, with a dry food bag on my left shoulder and a long tobacco bag in my hand, knocking on the threshold as a companion. Sing along Beijing time and beg for rice cakes and zongzi. From autumn harvest to sowing in Qingming the next year, it is the slack season. Farmers who can sing books go out one after another and gradually flow from the county seat into the nearby areas of Dongyang, Yiwu and Tonglu.

The content of the song is a short paragraph, mostly auspicious words, which are called "colored words" locally. For example, when I arrived at the door of a shop, I sang, "The boss of southern goods made a fortune, and gold and silver treasures rolled in." One is a short story in rural life, such as "Silkworm Girl", which is an interesting story about two sisters raising silkworms, and "Embroidered Pocket", which is about the love between Mei Duojiao and Zhao Wenbiao. Later, the book singer lost his pipe bag and accompanied him with a ruler made of bamboo and a tattoo drum made of bamboo. From a solo, two partners were developed. The lead singer took the ruler and called the upper file, and helped the singer take the tattoo drum and called the lower file. This period is called "singing books along the door". "Singing books along the door" is mainly in rural areas. A few years later, folk artists gradually entered the town teahouse and made a good contract with it, so they had a relatively stable singing place. At this time, the singing form of "singing books along the door" developed into "singing books on the ground" also changed accordingly: there is a table in front of the lead singer, and some simple actions are done by hand when rapping, and the people who help the voice are beside the table, equipped with ruler and drum, and equipped with tail cavity. Because the audience has become urban residents, and not just a family, if the content of singing is still some popular jokes, it will not meet the requirements of the audience, so some big books reflecting ancient life have been added, including the love story of talented women and beautiful women, and the story of the emperor dealing with the military, commonly known as "martial arts books." At that time, there was a saying that "documents went to the grange and martial arts books went to the teahouse". The singing is long and high, dull and monotonous. Artists seek new tunes in practice.

On September 18, artist Jin sang a book in Huluqiao Teahouse in Yuhang County. Besides singing books, he has to repair shoes. Once, when he was mending shoes, he heard the artist of "Huzhou Three Jumps" singing, and the tunes were more soothing and the voices were more flexible, so he listened patiently and secretly learned, and absorbed the advantages of "Huzhou Three Jumps" into the tune of {Four Workers Singing Books}, and some voices used "chanting to scare people", so it was called {chanting to scare people}. Because this tune absorbs the elements of "Huzhou Three Jumps", artists also call it "Lake Tune". This kind of music is more flexible, adaptable and expressive when singing a long bibliography. Artists in Shengxian county are divided into two factions, the North and the South, with Tongxi as the boundary. Although their ancestors were all Jin, their singing styles were different. In practice, it has also developed into {poison scares the south} and {poison scares the north}. {Southern Tune} is rough and passionate, lively, with many ups and downs in melody, and the bibliography is mostly turned out from folk stories and folk operas, such as Wuji Ji and Guihua Pavilion. {Northern Tune} is euphemistic and soothing, paying attention to accurate pronunciation and changing mouth shape. Plates and tunes absorb many advantages and are rich and diverse, while tracks are mainly compiled by "passing books" such as Pearl Tower, Seven Beautiful Pictures and Sleeping Bubbles. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the form of singing developed again: when singing, the lead singer first patted wood and recited a poem; Singing books is not only accompanied by body movements, but also distinguishes birth, Dan, clean, tail and ugly sounds according to the identity of the characters in the story. In addition to vocals, backup singers will also insert short dialogues; "Three springboard" has also been added to the position game. At this time, it is called "desk book" or "desk book". From "singing books at the top of the field" to "singing books along the door", "singing books on the ground" and "walking on the stage", the tunes are gradually enriched, the performance components are increased, and the drama color is increasingly strong, which prepares the conditions for the birth of Yue Opera. 1906 The day before Tomb-Sweeping Day, a group of southern artists from Shengxian county sang books in a teahouse near Laping village in Ganxian county. The local people said, "You can make a figure with five-color sounds. Why don't you perform on stage! " The artists promised to have a try. The masses set up an open-air stage with rice barrels and door panels on the grain drying field in Waping Village, and offered to lend them bamboo skirts and women's powder to let the children "dress up with water". On the first day, the performers of "Ten Pieces" and "Nifeng Fancha" were rich Matsui and Li Shiquan; The next day, I performed "Lai Marriage" and "Embroidered Pocket", and added Yuan, Gao, Li Maozheng and Jin. The news soon reached the northern artists who sang books in Yuhang. There are nine people in four classes, living in a family named Chen. Ma Chaoshui, the youngest, offered to try acting and was slapped by Master. However, the Chen family also advised them to perform, and other artists were interested, so they assigned roles and performed a series of plays, and performed Princess Pearl.

At that time, almost all book singers were half farmers and half artists. When Tomb-Sweeping Day arrived, everyone rushed home from other places to farm. Qian, Gao, who once performed in Laping Village, Gan County, returned to his hometown of Dongwang Village, Sheng County to talk about foreign performances. The local people think it's fresh and let them perform in their own villages. On the third night of March in Tomb-Sweeping Day, everyone set up a platform in front of Xiangtang in Dongwang Village and borrowed clothes from the villagers. A newly married daughter-in-law also took out her wedding dress. Seven artists, including Qian, Gao, Yuan, Yao Maozeng, Ni Shengbiao and He Youxing, performed ten "First Double Golden Flowers". After the performance on the first day, the people were in high spirits and asked to perform the next day. "Sages can act on their own!" News spread like wildfire. On the second day of the performance, many people from surrounding villages rushed to Dongwang Village to watch. Incense is often crowded with people. Then, the neighboring Dongshan Village and Shenjia Village invited them to take action. After playing for two days, Dongwang Village asked them to come back to the village to play again. However, at this moment, there was a storm warning.

It turns out that Dongwang Village is only three or four miles away from Ganlin Town. Ganlin Town, also known as the "Second Gate", is a big town in Shengxian County. There is a big bully in the town, called Wan, who is a man and holds the arms of a landlord. He has eighteen "empty-handed" people, all vicious hooligans, who are bullying around here. He heard that some people in Dongwang Village actually started their own actions, and they didn't post gifts for themselves in advance, threatening to show Dongwang Village a little. Everyone knows that this guy is ruthless, and what consequences fish will bring to Dongwang Village. However, the people in Dongwang Village were not intimidated. They said indignantly, "What crime did you commit in acting?" Will artists perform when they return to Dongwang Village from Shencun? Play as usual. However, the threat to Bawan cannot be taken lightly. At this time, a man named Haifa Li stood in Dongwang Village. Haifa Li is a learned man, who often travels between Shaoxing and Hangzhou, associates with people from the League and Guangfu Association, accepts the idea of "equal land system" put forward by Sun Yat-sen, has a sense of justice, and can be regarded as an enlightened gentry. Wan and others called him "black leader" behind his back, but when they saw that he was connected with the government above, they had to be afraid of him. Haifa Li was on a business trip and didn't see the first performance of the incense hall; But when he got home, he listened to his daughter's detailed information about the performance, and heard that the bully of the "Second Gate" was coming, so he discussed with the villagers and made preparations. The people in the village hated Wan for a short time, and they all said that they would fight Wan this time. Before the performance that night, he took the import and export of Dongwang Village to the county for a lawsuit except the rest. Wan sent a man to Dongwang Village in advance to scout the situation and pretend to be selling pancakes. Seeing that Dongwangzhai was ready, the spy hurried back to report. Wan had to give up. The performance of Xiangtang in Dongwang Village has started again. Although the atmosphere is a little tense, the audience's mood is very warm. In order to distinguish it from "Shaoxing Big Class", it is suggested that this kind of drama be called "Little Brother Class". Because the accompaniment was only a ruler and a drum, it sounded "loyal", so people later called it "loyal". 1March 3, 906, Tomb-Sweeping Day became the birth day of Yue Opera. Although a storm has passed, the bad luck suffered by "Little Brother Board" since its birth has not ended. New blows and struggles have not stopped.

As soon as the seedlings of "Deduban" broke through the ground, they were hit by frost and snow, which almost broke the sky. However, rooted in the people and welcomed by the masses, it still grew tenaciously despite being destroyed. Since the performance of Dongshan Wangcun, book singers have appeared one after another. Then, many classes were set up in the north and south banks of Shanxi and Shengxian County to train "Du Ban" actors. In the second year, he entered the county seat, and then gradually developed to Xinchang, Zhuji, Shaoxing, Shangyu and Dongyang. Performances include Lai Wedding, Pearl Tower, Wu Jin Ji, Golden Dragon Map, Double Golden Flowers, Girl Jinfeng Grinding Tofu Brain, Picking Tea and Embroidering Pockets. 19 10, Qian Heyu's troupe entered Hangzhou for the first time and performed at Gongshuqiao Ronghua Theater. During this period, they are all actors. A young man asked: Why are all the actors in Yue Opera at the beginning? In fact, the reason is very simple: at that time, "Xiaoqu class" had just evolved from rap form to drama form. The first generation of "Xiaoquban" actors were almost all book singers. After they become actors, sometimes they still have to sell books for a living. At that time, feudal ideas were still very strong, and women could not go out and show their faces casually, let alone sell books and act.

Male artists performed in Shaoxing and Hangjiahu and were oppressed. The government and financiers looked down upon, refused to recognize "Xiaoquban", labeled it as "erotic drama" and were not allowed to perform. 19 13, artists such as Ma Chaoshui, Fei Caitang and Qiu Shuigen organized the class of Awakening Society to perform Double Golden Flowers and Golden Seal in Beitoucao, Zhuji County. The director of the local police station led the police to arrest people, burn clothes, and let the singer Song Xianqing parade in the streets of Zhuji County. What an insult! The masses are very sympathetic to these artists. They saw it in their eyes and were dissatisfied, so they spontaneously organized to smash the police station. Ma Chaoshui and others fled to the countryside, so they had to still sing books for a living. Later, they performed in Deng Xin County and Yuhang County, and were put into prison successively. 19 16, they performed in a small village opposite Sanjie Town, Sheng County, and were arrested again by the police. When the police chief questioned him, he said, "What didn't you do? Why do you want to be a "Xiao Song class"? Ma Chaoshui replied: "Acting is to persuade people to do good. Be a good person, not a bad person. There are three kinds of advice in the world: one is to persuade hard, use the king's method, fight against bad things, and lock them up and kill them; Second, he is good at persuading people to do good; The third is to persuade flowers to be good and bad on the stage, to distinguish between good and evil, to make bad people famous all over the world, and to make good people immortal. "Hearing this, the public security bureau chief was tongue-tied and furious, and wanted to take him to the county seat. Ma Chaoshui's remarks show that artists dare to despise the king's law and have a sense of justice. They don't just act for fun, but have the desire to persuade people to do good, punish evil and promote good. As for what is good and what is evil, their views may still be hazy, but they are limited by historical conditions and cannot be harsh on artists. The experience of being arrested, locked up and insulted like Ma Chaoshui is by no means isolated and individual. But what is commendable is that they did not give in because of persecution and attack, but persisted under extremely difficult conditions and struggled for the greater development of the "small opera troupe"

After the birth of Xiao Bangban, he has been active in Zhejiang for ten years, that is, a few years after the Revolution of 1911. Some people in Shaoxing and Shengxian went to Shangdi to do business and wanted to introduce "Little Brother Class" to Shanghai. Artists certainly want to go to a big city like Shanghai to open up the situation. 19 17 in April (that is, in the sixth year of the Republic of China), the first batch of artists arrived in Shanghai for the first time after being introduced by Yang Shaoqing, the boss of Meihe in Xinchang County. They gathered at Yuan Shengmu's home in Shangbixi Village, Shengxian County, led by a man named Xiao, gave a brief introduction to Ningbo, and then took a boat to Shanghai to perform on the new stage of Shiliupu Wharf. There are about 20 actors, including Yuan Shengmu, Jin Rongshui, Yu Cunxi and Fei Caitang. Zheng Xiaohuo was appointed as the director (equivalent to the stage supervisor of the director now), and Yu Chuanhao was responsible for the transfer (internal and external liaison). Shiliupu, located on the edge of the old city of Shanghai, is a distribution center for waterway transportation, which is relatively prosperous. However, the "new stage" for the performance of "Xiaogeban" at that time was not the "new stage" for the famous Peking Opera actors Xia Yuerun and Xia Yueshan to perform new dramas before and after the Revolution of 1911, but a hut with only 200 or 300 seats. The first performance was "Jasper Belt", in which Yuan Shengmu played Wang Bao, Yuan Kaishan, Lu Qinglian and Xie Dapao. Subsequently, seven beautiful pictures, white jade belt, lost golden hairpin, seven-star sword, dragon fan and other plays were performed. He smiled and thought it was too simple and rough. Because when artists go to Shanghai, they still keep the style of performing in the countryside, without string accompaniment, and only use rulers and drums to make monotonous sounds; In places where music accompaniment is needed for drinking and going through the scene, we should blow out tunes such as "plum blossom" from people's mouths; When performing martial arts, there are no gongs and drums, but the idea of using a big drum to beat gongs and drums by hand is borrowed, rather than using a drumstick, which is a little farther than knocking tables by hand instead of beating gongs and drums in rural areas. In addition, the audience is not used to singing "to surprise". As for body movements, they can't compare with Beijing Opera and Shaoxing taipan. After two months of this performance, the audience became less and less, so the team had to break up and the actors returned to Zhejiang. When the audience talked about this kind of drama, they called it "Dedu Opera" or "Dedu Class", which was somewhat contemptuous at first.

"Deduban" entered Shanghai for the first time and ended in failure. However, artists are not discouraged. 19 18, artists from two classes entered Shanghai for the second time and performed at the Jin Huayuan Theatre at Guanyin Pavilion Pier. Class one is Wei, Ma Ashun and Zhang from Northland, singing "Poisoning and Scaring the North"; Class One is from Nanxiang, Wang Yongchun, Yu and Ma Chaoshui, singing "Poisoning to Scare the South". Nanxiang artists quickly integrated into the North Class. However, still can't open the situation. Therefore, "Dedu Class" had to perform with Shaoxing Taiban, with Taiban in the front and Dedu Class in the back. I played for a long time and had to go back to my hometown. However, when performing with Shaoxing taipan, the artists of "Dedu Class" learned a lot.

19 19, introduced by bosses such as, Yu and Zhou Kuicheng, "Deduban" entered Shanghai for the third time and performed at the Huaxing Theater in Gongyili, Xinjiang Road, Haining Road. Actors include Bai Yumei, Wang Yongchun, Ma Chaoshui and Fei Caitang. By this time, the actors had paid great attention to learning from Peking Opera and Shaoxing Big Class. They realize that they have no family background and skills, so they are eager to learn and absorb the strengths of others. During the performance, they also learned the opening movements of Beijing Opera and used percussion music. However, it failed this time. Why? Because although they dare to absorb, they are not good at melting and will only copy what others have learned. The result is just like the Peking Opera here and the Shaoxing taipan there, but its own characteristics are not distinct. So it is still not recognized by the audience. After three failures, the artists are still not discouraged. Before Bai Yumei left Shanghai, he took the hand of a fellow villager who often came to the theatre and said, "We must try our best to gain a foothold in Shanghai!" /kloc-in 0/920, more than 40 artists, including Wang Yongchun, Wei, Ma Chaoshui, Zhang, etc., entered Shanghai for the fourth time and performed in Tianbao Lixing No.1 Theater on Haining Road. This time it finally started. Why did you win the recognition of the audience this time? The main reason is to bring your own repertoire. The first play is The Jade Hairpin, the second is The Pipa, and the third is The Mourning History of Liang Zhu. Then I asked Youlong to compile Meng Lijun and Chen Shumou to compile Maitreya. These plays are ups and downs, fascinating and exciting, and they are quickly welcomed by the audience.

Of course, there is another reason, that is, shortly after the May 4th Movement, a new anti-feudal trend of thought was in the ascendant. Although these plays, especially butterfly lovers, Yu Pin Ji and Pipa Ji, are inevitably mixed with many dross, they all show the miserable experiences and unfortunate fate of women under the feudal system to varying degrees, and meet the anti-feudal requirements of the audience, especially women. Wang Yongchun, Bai Yumei and so on. These "old drama bones" have been processed to make the plot and language more vivid and rich, thus winning the audience. After the troupe entered Shanghai for the fourth time, its business was booming. Zhou Lingzhi, the boss, joined hands with Guan Zhiyu to turn Huaxing Theatre into a "stage to promote the Song Dynasty". Zhou Lingzhi, a native of Kaiyuan, Shengxian County, recruited three violinists from his hometown, including Zhou Shaotang, Zhou Xiaocan and Wednesday, and joined six actors, namely Wei, Ma Chaoshui and Zhang, to form a group to reform music and jointly study singing and score. They think that the male singer who plays Xiao Dan is always not elegant, so they plan to sing in a low voice instead of in a high voice. However, apart from the Mei Wei duo, no other singers can learn. When they sang Errenzhuan, they added a banhu, playing the tunes of "1" and "5", which was called [Zhenggongqiang] in Shaoxing taipan, or [Zhengdiao] for short. "Zhengdiao" has become a sign that "Deduban" music has entered the pro-tune stage. Later, it was further developed, and the word was changed to the door, which was introduced in front; Changed to oratorio and door; In 192 1 year, everyone thought that Hu's voice was too loud and thick, so he switched to Pinghu, and even the voice was accompanied.

This is much more literary than before. A "barrel" (also called "diamond push stone") was added to the instrument. The band is still composed of three people, one with a small gong, one with Pinghu and Suona, and one with a barrel and drum. Gongdiao and banjo have also been enriched, with the addition of "Huanyang Tune", "Clear Board", "Inverted Board" and "Allegro" absorbed from Shaoxing Taipan. This year, "Deduban" was renamed as "Shaoxing Literary Opera" and began to gain a foothold in Shanghai. 1923, Huang Chujiu, the owner of Great World, signed contracts with Wang Yongchun, Yu Chuanhai and Ma Chaoshui to invite them to perform. In Shanghai's largest entertainment venue "Great World", there are various theatrical performances. After Shaoxing Literary Opera came in, it not only increased the opportunity to learn from other operas, but also improved and expanded its influence in the competition. As an independent drama, Shaoxing Wen Wei Po has been recognized by the Shanghai audience. Being recognized by the Shanghai audience does not mean that it will be smooth sailing from some places. As a new kind of drama, "Shaoxing Literary Opera" is still looked down upon by those who pretend to be orthodox, and has long been regarded as something that cannot be elegant. Artists still haven't got rid of the status of being insulted and persecuted. Bao brokers and hooligans arrested Wang Yongchun and Ma Chaoshui on more than one occasion, extorted a sum of money and released them. When warlords Sun and Lushui Yongxiang went to war, they also arrested more than 30 actors in the cloud and sent them to the battlefield instead of the cloud. Although the environment is difficult, the male artists hold their breath. In terms of art, some actors in by going up one flight of stairs, such as He Wang Yongchun, Wei Hezhang, Ma Chaoshui and Tong, have gradually formed their own unique styles. The men's class entered Shanghai four times, which opened up a situation for Yue Opera in Shanghai. This achievement is indelible.

Characteristics of Yue Opera

The aria of the school of Yue Opera consists of two parts: tune and singing. In the organization of melody, each school has its own unique techniques, and forms its own basic style through the changes of melody, rhythm and rigid eyes. In particular, the beginning tone, falling tone, drawling between sentences, ending of sentences, and the repeatedly changing melody and idiomatic sounds are the core and key to embody the artistic characteristics of various schools of singing. In singing methods, most of them focus on lyrics, aria, singing feelings and other aspects to show their unique personality, and form different charm beauty through the changes of voice, timbre and embellishment. Some nuances, including many special singing forms that are difficult to contain and record in detail, can better reflect the different colors of various schools.