What are the characteristics of Puxian Opera?

abstract

Puxian Opera is one of the ancient operas in Fujian. Puxian Opera, formerly known as Xinghua Opera, is popular in Putian, Xianyou and Xinghua dialect areas in south-central Fujian. Its troupe has traveled all over Fuzhou, Xiamen, Jinjiang, Longxi, Sanming and other cities and overseas Chinese settlements. According to textual research, it was developed and formed on the basis of ancient "hundred operas"

origin

Puxian Opera is the oldest opera in China, which originated in the Tang Dynasty, became in the Song Dynasty and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. With the oldest performance form and the richest repertoire, it is one of the most distinctive operas in the performing arts. Formerly known as Xinghua Opera. It is popular in Xinghua dialect area of Putian and Xianyou counties in Fujian Province and neighboring counties such as Hui 'an, Fuqing and Yongtai. The Song Dynasty was named after Putian and Xianyou, and the Ming and Qing Dynasties were named after Xinghua. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), it was renamed Puxian Opera.

history

Puxian Opera has a long history. Before the Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, a large number of people in the Central Plains moved to Fujian, and the popular "Hundred Dramas" in the Central Plains were also introduced to Puxian, Fujian. And formed a strong local characteristics in the expression of language, aria and opera tune.

In the Tang Dynasty, Puxian folk songs and dances prevailed. According to legend, Jiang Caipin, a beautiful woman from Jiangdong Village in Putian, was chosen by the Tang Dynasty to enter the palace, and was given a title, which made her very popular (see "Jiang Caipin" and "Legend of Tang and Song Dynasties" in China Personal Names Dictionary). His younger brother once accompanied him on a pilgrimage and was named the prince's uncle. Later, he traveled to and from Puxian County, and Ming Chengzu gave him a "pear garden" and brought it back for a banquet. So the palace teaching workshop spread Pu Xian with songs and dances. Therefore, Puxian music and dance has the reputation of "gathering the elites of the ancient Tang Dynasty, leaving their clothes and feathers behind, gathering the workshops in the palace and taking the songs of Shan Ye". Tang Xiantong (860-873), the abbot of Xuansha Temple in Fuzhou, has a big topic, "Traveling south to Putian and welcoming hundreds of operas in the county." (See the Record of Jingde Dengchuan edited by Samoan Daodao in Song Dynasty, Volume 18) The "Hundred Dramas" in Tang Dynasty, also known as "Three Music", is a kind of "Nuo Opera, Song and Dance Acrobatics" (see Old Tang Book). Music records), with colorful variety and song and dance performances.

In the Song Dynasty, Xinghua culture was developed, and many scholars mentioned officials living abroad. Some of them are good at melodious lyrics, others are good at singing and dancing zaju, and they have fun in music. Uncle Putian Scholar in the Song Dynasty was a scholar who was trained at the age of ten and endowed by the nobles in Qingyun. He also bought dozens of geisha and played the piano at home all day (see Song Qu, Volume 11, Epitaph of Uncle Puyang). Cai Jing's family, with many officials and dignitaries in the Song Dynasty, often held a "Zhang Le family banquet" in Beijing, which made Le Jia have the spirit to entertain zaju (see Qing Bo Magazine in the Song Dynasty). His sons and nephews in his hometown, Xianyou Chiling, also engage in singing and dancing during banquets. According to the survey, the popular "Fan Shi" in Lin Chi-ling today can be divided into "Daqu" and "Xiaoqu", and it has strict norms. Musicians wear parasols and dresses when playing, which is said to be the legacy of the official banquet in the Song Dynasty (see the mimeographed Survey Data of Xianyou County Opera by Fujian Opera Research Institute).

Artistic feature

The performance of Puxian Opera is simple and elegant, and many actions are deeply influenced by puppet shows. The business of Puxian Opera follows the old rules of Nanxi Opera. Originally, there were only seven roles, such as life, Dan, sticking to life, Ze Dan, beauty (net) and final ugliness, commonly known as "seven sub-classes". Puxian Opera has a profound musical tradition and rich vocals. Up to now, there are still a lot of southern opera music in Song and Yuan Dynasties. The vocal cavity of Puxian Opera is mainly "apricot blossom cavity", which is a kind of vocal cavity with strong local color and flavor. It is composed of Puxian folk songs, ten tones and eight tones, Buddhist music, Song and Yuan lyrics, Daqu songs and dances and so on.

Xinghua folk popular songs and dances absorbed Wu Ge, Songs of the South (see Song's "Mourning, Poems from Yue Wang Tai Yun") and zaju performances, and gradually formed the existing opera stories; There are also operas that combine singing, doing, reading, dancing, dressing and makeup, and perform in the theater shed, which are called excellent operas. During the Song Dynasty, Xinghua's outstanding folk operas were performed in various forms, including zaju, puppet show, singing and dancing, acrobatics and so on.

According to the poems of Liu Kezhuang Zhiren in Putian, Song Dynasty, the stories of Xinghua folk excellent drama performance at that time were: "Hongmen Club" in Liuxia, Chu Han, and "Farewell My Concubine" in Xiang Yu's defeat; The rise and fall of the Jin Dynasty's "East Jin and West Capital": the ancient myth that "Kuafu is getting better every day", and the foreign tributes of "Kunlun slaves offering treasures" and so on. The performance venues include the "theater shed" in the square and the "stage" in the temple. Accompaniment instruments are mainly drums, gongs and flutes (namely gongs and flutes). During the performance, people were very popular. There were so-called "the whole city was busy smoking, most people were in the theater", "no one came out of the empty lane", "the wandering girl came back to look for autumn" and "the shed was deserted, and people seemed to block the wall yesterday; Children somehow called each other into the market to see new sights "(see Liu Kezhuang's Complete Works of Mr. Houcun, Volume 10, Volume 21, Volume 22 and Volume 43).

According to the investigation and study, the traditional repertoire, music qupai and genre of Puxian Opera are closely related to Nanxi Opera. There are more than 5,000 kinds of traditional operas in Puxian Opera, among which there are more than 80 kinds of operas with similar original appearance or storyline, and there are more than 50 kinds of scripts circulating, such as Saving Mother by Mulian, Capturing Wang Kui alive, Cai and Zhang Qia (that is, Zhang Xiezhuangyuan, Zhu Wen, Princess Lechang and Liu). It is the same as or basically similar to the South Opera repertoire recorded in Narrative of Nanci and Old Articles of Song and Yuan Dynasties.

Some qupai in Puxian Opera have the same names, phonology and word forms as Daqu and Song Ci in Tang and Song Dynasties. In particular, Prince You Simen, who only existed in the early South Opera Zhang Xie's champion, is a common qupai in Puxian Opera. Up to now, Puxian Opera still retains many musical heritages of Southern Opera in Song and Yuan Dynasties. There are more than 0/000 ballads/kloc, which are called "360 big questions and 720 small questions". The vocal cavity is called "Xinghua cavity", which is composed of Puxian folk songs, folk songs, ten songs, Buddhist music, Tang and Song vocal poems, lyrics, Daqu songs and dances. Singing in Puxian dialect has a strong local color and flavor. The musical instruments in the early stage of Puxian Opera were very simple, with only gongs, drums and flutes like Song, Yuan and South China Opera. Drums use drums, and gongs are called sand gongs. Gongs and drums are used to control stage performances. There are more than 300 kinds of gongs and drums, and the rules are strict. A flute is called a flute tube. There are two kinds of flutes: reed flute and plum blossom. Reed flute, also known as head pipe, is a unique playing instrument in Puxian Opera. The suona plum blossom is also the main musical instrument of Puxian Opera.

Character; function

Puxian Opera was originally called "seven sub-categories" because it has only seven colors: raw, raw, sticky, beautiful and ugly. Lao Dan was added at the end of the Qing Dynasty, so Puxian Opera, known as the "son of the Eight Immortals", absorbed branches of other operas after the end of the Qing Dynasty and added many roles, but the title of "Beauty" still retained the title of Zaju in the Song Dynasty.

operating characteristic

According to the excavated data, the performance of Puxian Opera is a unique performing art developed on the basis of the puppet shows in Tang, Song and Qing Dynasties. During the reign of Emperor Xiantong of Tang Dynasty (860-870), "A Talk on Puquan Lane" contained: "After Sui and Tang Dynasties, Xinghua was full of drama." In 954 AD, Lianjiang Lizhi recorded: "Master Cai's birthday was celebrated, and excellent people presented their skills. The guests took silk limbs as puppet shows." The performing art of Puxian Opera inherits the traditional performance of ancient southern opera left over by wheat for more than two years. The performances in Puxian Opera "Mulian" and other traditional plays have maintained the comprehensive artistic characteristics of Song Zaju and Puppet Opera, and are called "living fossils" of Southern Opera in Song and Yuan Dynasties.

The script, qupai, vocal cavity, drum board, performers and action procedures of Puxian Opera in greenhouse are exactly the same as those of a table, two chairs, masks, costumes, hats and props on the stage, and are closely related to the Puppet Manglian Opera, which is the remains of the Puppet Manglian Opera in greenhouse.

The performances in the Mulian Opera of Puxian Opera include Eye Selection, Luo Bu's Three Steps and One Worship, Liu Sizhen's Eighteen Paintings, Liu Jia's Toad Worship, the ancient Three Bends, and the deaf-mute Man with a Back and a Woman. From the protagonist to the supporting role, from the characters to the performance specifications, people are used to imitating puppet performances and synthesizing them.

The basic skills of Puxian Opera actors have always been called "puppet core", and their hand movements are not high Yu Mei, which is lower than navel. For example, the "lifting step" of the angle, the "stepping step" of the angle, the "picking step" of the clear angle and the "seven-step sliding" of the clown all maintain the puppet image. When an actor wants to express the joys and sorrows of the characters, up to now, the basic skill of Puxian opera actors is still to inherit the performance characteristics of puppet shows.

The artistic inheritance of Puxian performers' imitation of puppet shows was also influenced by puppet shows in Song and Yuan Dynasties. When Qin and Weichi Gong fought fiercely in The Return of Two Maces, Qin held two maces, commanded a single whip, and used a puppet style. Doubles, double hook, Shuang Sheng, double drop and puppet show are exactly the same in form, action and figure. Another example is "Su Wu and Li Ling", in which Su Wu walks with the old man with a baton. He and Li Ling made "stopping", "shaking", "rushing to protect" and "fighting" on the stage in the form of "three bends". They are all called "puppet agents" to keep the form and characteristics of people playing puppets; Another example is "Lv Mengzheng Counts Eighteen Arhats", in which Lv Mengzheng imitates the puppet image with two monks, singing and doing the same as the puppet acting skills, with the characteristics of performing harmonious humor and the art of keeping people to perform puppet shows.

condition

Since the beginning of the new century, due to various reasons, there has been a serious brain drain in Puxian Opera, and there are few successors. Traditional performing arts are on the verge of extinction. Facebook, costumes and musical voices are being assimilated by foreign operas and other art forms, and the uniqueness of art is weakening. Puxian Opera, an ancient drama, is in a state of self-destruction, and effective measures are urgently needed to support and protect it. Famous playwrights of Puxian Opera are Chen, Ke Rukuan, and famous actors are Lin Dongzhi.

The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20th, 2006, it was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. On June 8, 2007, Fujian Puxian Opera Theatre won the first Cultural Heritage Day Award from the Ministry of Culture.