The Historical Development and Basic Features of Huangmei Opera

People's Daily: Huangmei Opera originated from the unique opera singing "Huaiqiang", which was sung in Huangmei season in Anqing, Anhui Province, and had nothing to do with place names.

Huangmei Opera originated in Anqing City, Anhui Province. Yan Fengying, a master of Huangmei Opera, was born in Anqing, Anhui. Huangmei Opera has nothing to do with Huangmei County in Hubei Province. Moreover, Huangmei Opera has always been sung in the local dialect of Anqing City, Anhui Province, which originated from the tea-picking songs in the local Huangmei season in Anqing. Huangmei Opera actors are mostly from Anhui. But there are great differences between Hubei dialect and Anhui dialect. Hubei Province only uses the fictitious origin history of Huangmei County to compete for the cultural heritage of Huangmei Opera, which is not well known in Hubei. Anyone who has been to Anqing knows that Anqing people speak euphemistically and sing Huangmei Opera is the most authentic. Huangmei Opera culture is deeply rooted in the blood and cells of Anqing people.

Huangmei Opera is a popular local opera in Anhui Province, and it is also an important cultural card. It has been 200 years since it was conceived, formed, developed and expanded. However, there have been different views on the origin of this important local opera. Recently, Anhui experts put forward a new view that Huangmei Opera originated in Anqing area through field investigation and data research. This theory overturns the traditional view that Huangmei Opera originated in Huangmei County, Hubei Province.

2015165438+10. With the support of Anhui provincial and municipal propaganda departments, Anqing Huangmei Opera Theatre took the origin and development of Huangmei Opera as an academic topic, and hired many experts and scholars who have been engaged in the art research of Huangmei Opera for many years to conduct an all-round and multi-angle investigation and study on the origin of Huangmei Opera. From February, 20 15 to June, 20 16, through seven months of field investigation, the folk songs, seasonal tunes, drum books, lantern operas, Buddhist music, Qingyang tunes, high-pitched tunes and Tan Emphasis in five provinces of Anhui, Hubei, Jiangxi, Jiangsu and Shaanxi were investigated and recorded.

Wang Qiugui, a researcher of Huangmei Opera in Anhui Province who participated in the survey, said that the language of Huangmei Opera is based on Anqing dialect and the vocal cavity is based on Anqing folk songs. Many folk songs absorbed by Huangmei Opera had been popular in Anqing before the birth of Huangmei Opera. An important discovery of this field investigation is that there are many immigrants from Anqing counties in southern Shaanxi thousands of miles away. They have long lost contact with their hometown, and it was not until recent years that each family began to seek their ancestors one after another. Although thousands of miles apart, they still speak Anqing dialect and sing folk songs brought from their hometown more than 200 years ago, many of which have become the voice of Huangmei Opera. For example, Sister Song at Twelve o'clock by Shangnan is exactly the same in music and lyrics as Sister Exploration by Anqing. In addition, Shang Nan's derailed song has obvious correspondence with Anqing's Yu Meilang, Shang Nan's My Sister's Mind is Hard to Guess and Anqing's Embracing a Sophora Tree to Find Lang Lai. Wang Qiugui said that this shows that the tune of Huangmei Opera is not foreign, but originated in Anqing.

According to the members of the research group, through investigation, they found that 95% of the music of Huangmei Opera originated from the folk songs, Huagu Opera, Daoqing, Tanci, Gaoqiang, Huizhou Tune, etc., which had been circulating in Anqing, a folk opera center at that time, which also proved that Huangmei Opera originated in Anqing.

In addition, through the investigation of the relationship between Anqing dialect and Huangmei opera music, the research group also found that there are obvious differences between Anqing dialect and Hubei Huangmei opera dialect, which are directly reflected in singing. In the report, the research group believes that Anqing dialect is characterized by flat pronunciation and few sudden jumps, which determines that the ripple shape of Huangmei opera singing is relatively smooth. Huangmei Opera praised by the audience is easy to understand, easy to learn and easy to sing, which has a causal relationship with Anqing dialect.

Previously, it was generally believed that Huangmei Opera was brought to Anqing by flood refugees in Huangmei County, Hubei Province in the late Qing Dynasty. Hubei tea-picking tunes sung by the victims were integrated with Anqing folk tunes and other opera forms to form Huangmei Opera. However, Anhui opera researchers have not found the process and events of Hubei tea-picking tune spreading in Anqing after consulting all the existing literature and history materials and field investigations. According to the investigation report, Anhui scholars believe that Anqing, which is located in the lower reaches, was also a part of Wang Yang when Huangmei County, Hubei Province was flooded. It is impossible for refugees to enter Anqing through counties in Anhui basin, so it is speculated that the road map of spreading tea-picking music along the way by victims cannot be established.

Some experts also pointed out that there is still a lack of documentary evidence to prove the origin of Huangmei Opera. The earliest record of Huangmei Opera that can be found in this survey is a report in Shanghai Shenbao on June 1879+00 14, which proves that before June 1879, there was "Huangmei Tune" in Jixian Pass at the north gate of Anqing every year. Liao Ben, an expert in China opera history, said that the lack of documentary records is a common problem faced by local operas, so he suggested expanding the scope of literature retrieval in the next step.

Chen Aijun, member of the Standing Committee of Anqing Municipal Committee and Minister of Propaganda, said that Huangmei Opera is a cultural card of Anhui Province. Understanding the origin of Huangmei Opera is of great significance for better studying the law of the birth and development of local operas and better inheriting and carrying forward this national artistic treasure.

There is a new theory about the origin of Huangmei Opera-it originated in Anqing area.