Historical Evolution of Pingxian Opera in Qinghai Province

Qinghai Pingxian is a kind of folk art, and its origin was introduced from northern China during Jiajing and Qin Long periods of Ming Dynasty (1522- 1572). According to old local artists, the earliest known pingxian artist in Qinghai is Liang Shouwa, nicknamed Liang Foye, who was born around 1850. Later, Li Hanqing and Chen Houzhai (born around 1890) had great influence on Christians and singing. According to this calculation, this kind of music became popular at the latest in Tongzhi period of Qing Dynasty (1862- 1874). Most of his tracks are selected from classical novels and operas such as Legend of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Legend of the White Snake, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin and The West Chamber. Judging from the structure of Pingxian couplets and their forms of lyrics and songs, its sources are various. The names of Pingxian tunes are mostly found in The Continuation of Nishang, published in the 60th year of Qing Qianlong (1795), and Snow White, published in the 8th year of Daoguang (1828). Most of its melodies are the same as those in Beijing and Tianjin, and some are similar to those in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Among the mainland local folk arts, the Lanzhou Drum in Gansu and the octagonal Drum in Beijing have a great influence on Qinghai Pingxian. The musical singing of "Lanzhou Guzi" also belongs to the combination structure of Qupai. Among them, some tunes such as Ci Diao, Luo Jiang Fenyin Xin Silk and Taiping Year are very similar to the tunes of the same name in Pingxian County, Qinghai Province, and even their combination structure is quite consistent. Lanzhou drum generally consists of introduction (drum head), divertimento and ending (drum tail). Qinghai Pingxian is also composed of introduction (front fork), divertimento and ending (back fork). Its accompaniment instruments are mainly three-stringed, and so are other instruments. They all use chopsticks to beat the moon (four-inch porcelain dish) to master the rhythm and pay attention to music singing. People in Longshang, also known as drums in Lanzhou and gifts from Xining, are all good songs, which not only praise the beauty and elegance of songs, but also show their close internal relationship.

Shaanxi Pingxian Quzi and other related Quyi also have great influence on Qinghai Pingxian. From the book Fengxiang Folk Songs-Pingxian Quzi published by Fengxiang Cultural Center in Shaanxi Province 1963, we can see that Fengxiang's Pingxian Opera did not form the form of Quyi, but by comparing some of its tunes, lyrics and music fragments with Qinghai Pingxian, we can find that some of them belong to the same name, and some of them belong to the same name, such as "Pointed Flowers" (Qinghai Pingxian is called "Pingxian"). Judging from the history of population changes, according to the Feng Family Tree in Xiachuankou, Minhe County, Qinghai Province, "Daming moved from Fengxiang and Baoji counties in Shaanxi during the Hongwu period." From this point of view, from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, with the migration of immigrants from all over the country and the entry of troops, as well as businessmen from Shanxi and Shaanxi came to Qinghai to do business and settle down, many foreign folk songs, folk arts and operas were brought to Hehuang area of Qinghai to settle down, and began to blend with local folk art and evolve. For example, Qinghai Pingxian tunes, such as Big Lotus and Taiping Tune, are basically the same in melody and structure as Shaanxi and Qinghai Hu Mei, while Shilidun and Yaya February Talk are the same as those of Qinghai Hu Mei (Qinghai Hu Mei is also from Shaanxi Hu Mei). Flat-string tunes such as Yang, Inverted Paddle, Jasmine and Narcissus are similar to some southern folk songs in melody, mode and name, and some even have the same lyrics. This may be related to the legendary residents of Zhanzi Lane in Nanjing being sent to Xining, Qinghai. In a word, the music singing of Pingxian Quyi in Qinghai has both southern accent and northern accent, and has Qinghai characteristics and Gansu-Shaanxi flavor, so the composition is more complicated.

After the founding of New China, the relevant departments attached great importance to Pingxian County in Qinghai Province. Since 195 1, relevant departments have organized forces to collect and sort out their music tunes and published monographs. 1954 Qinghai National Song and Dance Troupe tried to rehearse Qiu Jiang, Loudaihui and other plays. 1958 In the first half of the year, the Shaanxi Opera Troupe in Huangzhong County, Qinghai Province also tried to put Pingxian on the stage, and the Shaanxi Opera actors rehearsed a large-scale traditional play "The Orphan of Zhao", which was staged in Huangzhong, Xining and Lanzhou. In the second half of the same year, the Qinghai provincial government and the provincial cultural administrative department made a decision to "put Pingxian Quyi on the stage and develop it into a local drama" and opened Pingxian class in Xining Drama School. Since June, 5438+the same year 10, more than 40 students have been recruited, and nearly 20 Pingxian artists, traditional Chinese opera body training rehearsal teachers and new literary and art workers have been transferred to the experimental research work of Pingxian Quyi on the stage.

On July, 1959, the first Pingxian Opera, Hundred Days' Fate, Qiu Jiang's Fate in the Cabinet, rehearsed by students of Xining Pingxian Opera Troupe, was put on the stage as the finishing touch, and met with the audience in Xining, which was warmly welcomed and praised by all walks of life and the masses. Qinghai Daily and Xining Daily have successively published many articles and stills, such as "Flowers in Special Release" and "New Flowers Adding Splendid, Qinghai Pingxian Stage", and warmly praised the formal birth of Qinghai Pingxian Opera, a local drama in Qinghai. On the National Day of the same year, the Pingxian Opera was staged again. Since then, while studying reform, traditional dramas, such as marriage, road fighting, kite flying mistakes, mother's admission in an ancestral temple, dreams in the garden, etc. Modern operas include Little Couple Quarrel, Little Red Heart (large), Gleaning Wheat, Carpenter's Wedding and so on. Among them, Dream in the Garden was filmed by Qinghai Film Studio on 1960. In order to strengthen practical training, students often perform in rural areas, factories, mines and military units, which are generally warmly welcomed by the audience. Since the 1960s, the local drama Pingxian Opera in Qinghai has been put on the stage, and Qinghai drama circles have paid great attention to its formation and development, so the research on Pingxian Opera has become a new artistic research topic. The research scope includes drama, music, dialogue and other projects, especially the study of vocal cavity. Professional and amateur drama theorists have written many discussion articles, such as "Mastering and Developing Pingxian Plays" and "What language is good for Pingxian chanting". Guangming Daily has also published an evaluation article on Pingxian's drama.

In the last two years, the teachers and students of Pingxian class are basically in the stage of artistic exploration and discussion: in music singing, they basically maintain the form of a set of sound cards, but in structure, they break the original sitting and singing combination (that is, the front fork-the set of songs-the back fork), but gradually change to choose the appropriate voice and sound cards for design combination from the needs of plot development and characters' feelings. This paper studies and innovates the musical vocals of "Bitter Tone" and "Hua Yin" with different emotions and timbres in Pingxian Quyi, which enriches and develops the "Hua Yin" vocals of Pingxian opera and enhances its expressive force. In chanting, influenced by the standardization of the national language at that time, Mandarin was spoken at first, but it was soon found that it was not in harmony with the performance style, so it was changed to "Xining Mandarin". The high-ranking figures in traditional drama are slightly exempt from customs and rhyme; As for percussion instruments, I have tried to use percussion instruments of Shaanxi Opera and Beijing Opera.

March 196 1, 1, on the basis of the original Pingxian opera class in Xining, Qinghai Pingxian Experimental Troupe was formally established through the adjustment and enrichment of personnel, especially the strengthening of creative research and choreography. The guidelines for the establishment of the troupe are as follows: 1. Constantly develop and improve the local opera in Qinghai-Pingxian Opera. Second, walking on two legs: rehearsing both modern dramas and traditional dramas. Three, while serving the urban audience, facing the countryside and serving the vast rural audience in Qinghai.

Under the guidance of this policy, from March of 196 1 year to the Cultural Revolution of 1966, the troupe created, adapted, transplanted and rehearsed Blood Waves, Little Sisters of Prairie Heroes, Thunderstorm in Mountain Village, Half Mouth Potato, etc. Modern and traditional dramas include Sister Marco, The Jade Hairpin, The Belly, Fan Jiangguan, Wang Zhaojun, Broken Bridge, Civet Cat for Prince (Episodes 1, 2, 3), Catching the Flower Sedan and 3. Performed in Xining, eastern counties, factories, mines, troops and rural areas, and was warmly welcomed and praised by the audience. At the same time, the troupe often invites relevant comrades in the literary and art circles and audiences who like to comment on the piano to hold symposiums, conduct academic discussions and solicit opinions on the development of operas. Qinghai Daily and Qinghai Lake also published more than ten articles, such as On the Development of Pingxian Opera, The Addicted Qinghai People are Really Good, which played a very good role in promoting the development of Pingxian Opera.

Because the troupe has performed a considerable number of repertoires, and the traditional Chinese opera is an art form that mainly expresses its complicated and sharp dramatic conflicts and portrays characters with musical vocals, when 1962 rehearsed "Civet cats for princes", it boldly broke through the combination structure of qupai in musical vocals, and borrowed, created and developed some forms such as guide board, allegro, scattered board, stringed board and percussion music. In addition, some vocals and qupai from Hu Mei, Xiao Xian and other places in Qinghai have been absorbed and mixed, and the folk suona brand in Qinghai has been absorbed, which has enriched itself and expressive force, and also increased the difficulty requirements in singing, performance and physical training.

From 1966, after the Cultural Revolution, the business activities of Pingxian Troupe were basically at a standstill. By the end of 1970, the troupe was dissolved and all the cast members were diverted. 1975, various local operas transplanted "revolutionary model operas" and held performances in Beijing. Qinghai Province temporarily organized Xining Amateur String Opera Troupe, and borrowed more than 50 professionals from 25 units (including some members of the original Pingxian Opera Troupe) to transplant and rehearse three passbook plays: Talking about the Revolutionary History, Seeking Suffering in the Deep Mountains and Deep in the Ocean. Among them, "Deep Mountain Asks for Pain" was once again selected for the National Day Garden in Beijing at the end of September. After returning to Ning, the troupe performed many condolence performances in Xining, Huangzhong and Datong Huzhu. In late June of the same year, "Xining Amateur Pingxian Troupe" was dissolved for 8 months.

Due to the success of Pingxian Opera in Beijing, Xining Pingxian Opera Troupe was formally established in May 1976 at the request of the masses, and only a few professionals from the original Pingxian Opera Troupe participated. He has rehearsed modern Pingxian operas such as March 3rd, Village Veterinary, Sweet and Bitter, and performed in Xining, Huangzhong, Minhe and Ledu. Soon, due to the unclear guiding ideology of the troupe, there were differences on the development of Pingxian Opera, and finally it was changed to "Xining Local Art Troupe" in the summer of 1977, and later changed to "Xining Theatre Company". * * * existed for a year before and after Xining Pingxian Opera Troupe. At this point, Qinghai Pingxian Opera, which is in its infancy, has experienced three ups and downs, causing great losses in artistic development and talent training.

After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, with the instructions of the Ministry of Culture and the support of leaders at all levels in Qinghai Province, 1979 restored the original "Qinghai Pingxian Experimental Troupe", which marked the rebirth of Qinghai Pingxian Opera, the only emerging local drama in the Han area of Qinghai. 1979 10, Qinghai Provincial Department of Culture resumed the preparatory group of "Provincial Pingxian Experimental Troupe", most of the original staff returned to the group, and more than 20 students were recruited for training with the group. After more than half a year's practice and rehearsal, the large-scale traditional drama "Lapras, False Husband" was staged in Xining on August 1980, which was warmly welcomed by the literary and art circles and the audience.