How did Qinghai Pingxian Opera come into being?

Pingxian Opera is a local opera in Qinghai, which was founded in 196 1. It is formed with the development of the art of sitting and singing, and has the structure of a collection of songs and cards. In artistic practice, the third-person narrative of Pingtan has changed into the self-expression of the role, and the tune of Pingtan is mainly composed of miscellaneous tunes in Pingtan Quyi music.

It inherits and develops the advantages of Pingxian Quyi music, and at the same time absorbs the tune elements of Quyi music such as Qinghai Yuexian, Xiao Xian and folk minor, and adds percussion instruments, thus forming a combination mode of Qupai combination and plate change in music structure.

As for the origin of Qinghai Pingxian, it is said that it was introduced from northern China between 1522- 1572. According to the old local artists, the earliest pingxian artist in Qinghai was called "Liang Shouwa", nicknamed "Liang Foye", and was born around 1850. Later, Li Hanqing and Chen Houzhai were very influential in Christianity and singing.

According to this calculation, this kind of music became popular from 1862 to 1874 at the latest. Most of his tracks are selected from classical novels and operas, such as History of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Legend of the White Snake, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, The West Chamber and so on.

Judging from the structure of Pingxian couplets and their forms of lyrics and songs, its sources are various. The common names of Pingxian Quzi are 1795, which records the collection of folk songs before the middle of Qing Dynasty, and 1828 Hua Guangsheng's Collection of Folk Songs in the Middle of Qing Dynasty Snow White's Legacy. 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 local folk arts in the mainland, Lanzhou Drum in Gansu and octagonal Drum in Beijing have great influence on Qinghai Pingxian. The musical aria of Lanzhou Guzi also belongs to the combination structure of Qupai, including Fu Qiangzi, Luojiang Powder, Yinniu Temple, Taiping Year and other tunes, which are very similar to those of Qinghai Pingxian, and even their combination structure is quite consistent.

Lanzhou drum generally consists of three parts: introduction, divertimento and ending, in which the introduction is the head of the drum; The end is the end of the drum. Qinghai Pingxian Qu also consists of three parts: introduction, divertimento and conclusion. Its accompaniment instruments are mainly three strings, and so are other instruments. And they all hit the moon with chopsticks, that is, porcelain plates more than 3 cm master the rhythm and pay attention to the singing of music.

Gansu people generally refer to Lanzhou drum and Xining fu as "good songs", which not only praise the elegance of ci and song, but also show their internal close relationship.

Shaanxi Pingxian Quzi and other related Quyi also have great influence on Qinghai Pingxian. From the book Fengxiang Folk Songs-Pingxian Quzi edited by Fengxiang County 1963 in Shaanxi Province, we can see that Fengxiang's Pingxian Opera has not formed the form of Quyi, but we can find that some of its tunes, lyrics and passages are different from Qinghai Pingxian, some of which belong to the same name, while others are different names.

For example, the "pointed flower" Qinghai flat string is called "cutting indigo flowers"; "Eight Banqu" is the same as "Eight Music" of Qinghai Pingxian. The tunes of The Birds of the Five Rings and Yu Meiren are the same as those of Yang Dianhua, Opening the Door and Blooming Plums in Pingxian County, Qinghai Province, and quite a few folk tunes in Qinghai are also very similar.

Judging from the historical 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 and inflow of immigrants from all over the country, the entry of troops, and the businessmen from Shanxi and Shaanxi coming to Qinghai to do business and settle down, many foreign folk songs, quyi and operas were brought to settle in Hehuang area of Qinghai, blending, evolving and developing with local folk arts.

For example, Qinghai Pingxian tunes, such as "Big Lotus" and "Taiping Tune", are basically the same in melody and structure as Shaanxi and Hu Mei in Qinghai, while "Shilidun" and "Yaya February Talk" are the same as Hu Mei in Qinghai, and they are also from Hu Mei in Shaanxi.

The 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, which may be related to the fact that all the residents of Zhangzi Lane in Nanjing were 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 charm, so the composition is more complicated.

The early experimental dramas of Pingxian in Qinghai include Qiu Jiang and Anti-Marriage between Britain and Taiwan. More than 20 modern plays, such as Qiu Jiang, Angry Tide of Blood, Wind and Thunder in Mountain Village and Biography of Xiangyang, have been adapted, created and transplanted. Representative works include Civet Cat for Prince, Monk Gadan, Mid-Autumn Moon and so on.