History of Qinghai Flat String Opera

On the origin of the opera Qinghai Pingxian, it is said that it was introduced from the northern part of China during the Jiajing and Longqing years (1522-1572) of the Ming Dynasty. According to the introduction of the local veteran artists, the earliest known Qinghai flat string artist is called Liang Shouwa, nicknamed Liang Foji, born around 1850. Later, there were Li Hanqing, Chen Houzhai (both born around 1890) in the teaching of apprenticeship and singing are quite influential. According to this estimation, this genre was popularized during the Tongzhi period (1862-1874) of the Qing Dynasty at the latest. Most of its repertoire is taken from classical novels and operas such as The Chronicle of the Warring States in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, The Legend of the White Snake, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Water Margin, and The Story of the Western Chamber. Judging from the structure of the flat-string couplet and the composition of its words and tunes, it can be seen that its origins come from a variety of sources. The names of the flat-string tunes are mostly found in the Nishang Renewal Records published in the 60th year of the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1795) of the Qing Dynasty, and the White Snow Remaining Tones published in the 8th year of the Daoguang period (1828). Most of its tunes and melodies are the same as those of the popular songs of Beijing and Tianjin, while some of them are similar to those of the popular songs of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

In the mainland, the local music, the Qinghai flat-string influence on the greater varieties of music, when counting the "Lanzhou drums" in Gansu and Beijing's "octagonal drums". "The music of Lanzhou Drums also belongs to the structure of the song set, in which there is like to give the cavity, Luo Jiang complains of silver Nuosi, Taiping Nian and other tunes, which are very similar to the eponymous tunes in Qinghai Pingxian, and even their set structure is quite consistent. Lanzhou drums are generally by the introduction (drums head), set of songs, the end (drums tail) three parts, the Qinghai flat string composition is also by the introduction (before the fork), set of songs, the end (after the fork) three parts, it is accompanied by the three strings of the instrument are based on the three strings, the other instruments are also the same, and chopsticks to strike the moon (more than four inches of ceramic disk) to master the rhythm, focus on the music of the cantata. Long people generally also called Lanzhou's drums and Xining's give all the best sound for the music world, which is not only praise for the words, the song's beautiful and elegant, but also explains the close inherent commitment to their association.

The flat-stringed tunes and other related tunes of Shaanxi Province also had a great influence on the Qinghai flat-stringed tunes. From the book "Fengxiang Folk Songs--Pingxian Quzi" compiled and printed by the Cultural Hall of Fengxiang County, Shaanxi Province in 1963, it can be seen that although the Pingxian operas of Fengxiang did not form a form of quartet, some of the tunes, chants, and musical compositions and the Qinghai Pingxian can be compared, and it can be found that some of them belonged to the same name, while some of them belonged to the same quartet, for example, "Tip-Tip Flower For example, "Sharp Flower" (called "Cutting Indigo Flower" by the Qinghai flat string), "Eight Boards" (the same song as "Eight Spectrums" by the Qinghai flat string), "Five Mornings Bird" (the same song as the Qinghai flat string), "Eight Birds" (the same song as the Qinghai flat string), "Bird of Five Nights", "Yu Beauty" (the same tune as "Yang Dot Flower", "Big Open Door" of Qinghai Pingxian), "Big Open Plum", "Yang Dot Flower", "Big Open Door", "Big Open Plum" of Qinghai Pingxian, and "Big Open Plum" of Qinghai Pingxian, "Daikaimei") and so on. There are also a number of folk tunes that are very similar to those of Qinghai. In terms of the history of population change, according to the "Feng's Genealogy" of Xiachuankou, Minhe County, Qinghai Province, "During the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, we moved to Huangshi from Fengxiang and Baoji counties in Shaanxi Province." From this point of view, from the Ming Dynasty until the Qing Dynasty, with the inflow of migrants from all over the country and the army's entry, as well as Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places of merchants to Qinghai for business settlement, etc., but also brought a lot of foreign folk songs, songs, operas in the Huangshui area of Qinghai Province home, began and local folk art intermingled with each other and the derivation, development. Such as the Qinghai flat string of the "big lotus", "Taiping tune" and other songs, with Shaanxi, Qinghai Meidu in the same name in the melody and structure of the same tune is basically the same, "Ten Mile Dun", The "Ten Mile Dun" and "Tooth and Nail Moon" are the same as the "East Tune" and "Gang Tune" of the Qinghai Meidu (the Qinghai Meidu is also derived from the Shaanxi Meidu). The flat-stringed tunes such as "Yang Dot Flower", "Reverse Oar", "Jasmine Flower" and "Daffodil Flower" are similar to the southern tunes in terms of melody, mode and name, In melody, mode and name, and some of the southern folk songs are similar to similar, and some even sing the content of the lyrics are exactly the same. This may be related to the legendary Nanjing bloom purple lane residents all sent to Xining, Qinghai. In short, the musical singing of the Qinghai flat-stringed quintet has a southern accent, as well as northern tunes, the characteristics of Qinghai, as well as Gansu and Shaanxi flavors, the composition is more complex.

After the founding of the new China, the relevant departments of Qinghai Pingxian attached great importance to, from 1951 onwards, the relevant departments have organized to collect and organize its music tunes, and monographs published. 1954, Qinghai Provincial National Song and Dance Drama Troupe rehearsed the tunes of the "Autumn River", "Terrace" and other small plays. 1958 first half of the year, the Qin Opera Troupe of Huangzhong County, Qinghai Province, also tried to Pingxian on the stage, rehearsed by the Qin opera actors, the stage, the stage, the Qin Opera Troupe. Stage, by the Qinqiang actors rehearsed a large-scale traditional drama "Zhao's Orphan", staged in Huangzhong, Xining, Lanzhou. In the second half of the same year, the qinghai provincial government and the provincial cultural administrative leadership departments to make "the flat string sitting and singing on the stage, the development of local theater" decision, and in xining city drama school set up a "flat string class", in october of the same year since the successive enrollment of students More than forty, draw flat string artists, opera form training and rehearsal teachers, new literature and art workers nearly twenty, into the sitting singing flat string opera on stage experimental research work.

In July 1959, the first flat-string opera "Hundred Days' Edge", "Autumn River" and "Edge in the Closet" rehearsed by the young trainees of Xining Opera Competition Flat-string Class were brought to the stage in a pictorial style, and met with the general audience in Xining City, which was warmly welcomed and highly praised by all walks of life and the masses. The Qinghai Daily and Xining Daily successively published many articles and photos, such as "Special Flowers" and "New Flowers Open and Add Color, Qinghai Flat String on Stage", enthusiastically praising the official birth of Qinghai Flat String Opera, a local drama. On the National Day of the same year, the play was performed again. Since then, in the research and reform, teaching and rehearsal performances of the traditional plays such as "Marriage", "Fighting Road", "Kite Mistake", "Nunnery Recognition of the Mother", "Dreams in the Garden", etc.; modern theater plays such as "Little Two Mouths Quarrel", "Little Red Heart" (large-scale), "Gathering Sheaves of Wheat", "The Carpenter Welcomes the Kisses", and so on. Among them, "A Dream in the Garden" was filmed by Qinghai Film Studio in 1960 as a stage art movie. In order to strengthen their practice, the trainees also often went to the countryside, factories, mines and troops to perform in various places, and were generally warmly welcomed by the audience. From the sixties, the province's local drama Pingxin opera on the stage, Qinghai theater circles on its form and development of great concern, Pingxin opera research has become a new art research topics. The scope of research includes repertoire, music and dialogues, etc., with the study of voice cavity as the core. Professional and amateur theater theory theorists have written many articles, such as: "grasp the repertoire development repertoire of the flat-stringed", "the flat-stringed recitation of which language is good", etc., "Guangming Daily" also published an evaluation of the flat-stringed opera.

The teachers and students of the Pingxin class, in the period of nearly two years before and after, were basically at a stage of groping and exploring the art: basically, they kept the form of the quartet set in terms of the music singing, but broke the original method of the original sit-singing quartet in the structure (i.e., the front fork - set of quartets - the back fork), and gradually changed to the development of the plot and the characters' feelings from the need to choose the suitable singing and music. The design of the song and the combination of the songs. The original "bitter sound" and "flower sound" of the Pingxian opera have been researched and innovated, and the "flower sound" of the Pingxian opera has been enriched and developed, and the "flower sound" of the Pingxian opera has been strengthened. "In terms of recitation, due to the influence of the national standardization of language at that time, the opera began to speak Mandarin, but soon found that it was not in harmony with the style of the performance, so it switched to "Xining official language". For the more important characters in the traditional theater, they were slightly more accentuated with rhyme; in terms of percussion instruments, they tried to use the percussion instruments of the Qin Opera, and also the percussion instruments of the Peking Opera.

On March 1, 1961, on the basis of the original Xining Opera Flat String Class, after the adjustment and enrichment of personnel, especially to strengthen the research and development and choreography strength, the official establishment of the "Qinghai Provincial Flat String Experimental Troupe". The troupe was founded on the following principles: First, to continuously develop and improve the Pingxian Opera, the local opera of Qinghai Province. Second, to walk on two legs: to rehearse both modern and traditional plays. Third, in the city audience service at the same time, facing the rural areas, for the vast rural audience in Qinghai.

Under the guidance of this policy, from March 1961 to the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1966, the troupe created, adapted and transplanted modern plays such as "Sea of Blood", "Little Sisters of the Prairie Heroes", "Wind and Thunder of the Mountain Village", "Half a Mouthful of Taro", "One Hundred Pounds of Oats", "The Counter", "Xiangyangchuan", "Bountiful Harvest", and "The Counter of the Red Flower". Xiangyangchuan", "After the Harvest", "By the Jinsha River", etc. Nearly twenty plays; modern and traditional plays include "Ma Wuguo and Ga Doumei", "The Jade Hairpin", "Xiang Luopa", "Fan Jiang Guan", "Wang Zhaojun", "The Broken Bridge", "Civet Cat for the Prince" (I, II, III), "Catch the Sedan Chair", "The Waterfight", "Theft of the Grass", etc. More than thirty plays are staged. Every year in Xining, the eastern counties and factories, mines, troops, rural performances, by the majority of the audience's warm welcome and praise, at the same time, the troupe also often invite comrades in the literary world and love of flat-stringed opera audience to convene a symposium to carry out academic discussions to seek advice on the development of the play. Qinghai Daily" and "Qinghai Lake" monthly magazine has also published "try to talk about the development of the flat-stringed opera", "can make the people of Qinghai addicted to good" and other articles more than ten, on the development of flat-stringed opera has played a good role in promoting.

Because the troupe has accumulated a considerable number of plays, and opera is an art form that expresses its complex and sharp dramatic conflicts and portraits characters mainly through music and singing, for this reason, from the rehearsal of the "Civet Cat for Prince" in 1962, in the aspect of music and singing, it boldly breaks through the structure of the song set, draws on, creates, and develops the introduction boards, quick boards, loose boards, and other boards and stringed board heads, The music of "Pingxian Opera" boldly breaks through the structure of the quartet, drawing on and creating and developing plate styles such as introduction plate, quick plate, loose plate, and string plate head, percussion, line string, etc., and at the same time, retaining the essence of all kinds of tunes in the original Pingxian, so that the structure of the Pingxian Opera has gone up to the path of synthesis supplemented by plate changes. In addition, it also absorbed some of the singing and songs of Qinghai Meidu and Xianxiao, and combined them, and absorbed the suona of Qinghai folk music, enriching itself and its expressive power, and adding difficult requirements in recitation, performance and physical training.

In 1966, after the beginning of the "Cultural Revolution", the business activities of the Troupe were basically at a standstill, and by the end of 1970, the Troupe was disbanded, and all the actors and actresses were transferred to other professions. 1975, each local theater transplanted the "Revolutionary Model Opera", which was held in Beijing, and was followed by the "Revolutionary Model Opera", which was held in Beijing. In 1975, various local opera types transplanted "Revolutionary Model Operas" and held performances in Beijing, Qinghai Province temporarily organized "Xining City Amateur String Opera Group", borrowed more than fifty business personnel from twenty-five units (including part of the former Flat String Opera Troupe), and transplanted and rehearsed "Painfully Speaking Revolutionary Family History", "Asking for Bitterness in the Mountains", and "Love Is Like the Sea", and then went to Beijing in July of the same year. In July of the same year, the troupe went to Beijing to participate in a performance, which was well received. Among them, the "deep mountain ask bitter" at the end of September was again selected to Beijing to participate in the capital national day garden activities. After returning to Ningbo, the troupe in Xining, Huangzhong, Datong Mutual and other places for a number of sympathy performances, in late October of the same year, "Xining City Amateur Flat String Theatre Group", announced the dissolution, before and after the last eight months.

Because of the success of the Pingxian opera performance in Beijing, at the request of the masses, in May 1976 and formally set up the "Xining City Pingxian Troupe", the original provincial Pingxian Troupe of professionals only a few people to participate. One after another rehearsed "March 3", "village veterinarian", "with sweet **** bitter" and other flat string modern theater, in Xining, Huangzhong, Minhe, Ledu and other places for the performance. Soon, because the troupe's guiding ideology is not clear, and the development of the flat-stringed opera produced a divergence of views, and finally in the summer of 1977 was changed to "Xining City, the local literary troupe", and later changed to "Xining Opera Troupe". "Xining City Pingxian Troupe" before and after **** existed for one year. Up to this point, the budding of the Qinghai Pingxian on the theater has been three ups and three downs, through all the ups and downs, which makes the Pingxian opera in the development of the arts and the cultivation of talent, have suffered a great loss.

After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the former Qinghai Pingxian Experimental Drama Troupe was restored in 1979 with the support of the Ministry of Culture and the leaders of the Qinghai Provincial departments at all levels, marking the revival of Qinghai Pingxian Opera. In October 1979, the Qinghai Provincial Department of Culture resumed the preparatory group for the "Provincial Flat String Experimental Troupe", and most of the original staff returned to the troupe; in addition, more than twenty students were recruited for training with the troupe. After more than half a year of business training and resumption of rehearsals, in August 1980, in Xining, staged a large-scale traditional drama "fake son-in-law multiplied by the dragon", by the arts and culture and the audience's warm welcome.