Collecting Classic Stories of Famous Opera Masters

Classical Stories of Famous Opera Artists and Their Artistry

Peking Opera master Mei Lanfang wrestled a pot to learn his art

Mei Lanfang was famous for portraying all kinds of women on the stage, for which he had devoted his life and soul. At first, he felt that the expression of a woman's surprise was not ideal, and despite his many attempts and experiments, he was unable to express the woman's sudden surprise properly.

One day, he returned home, saw his wife is concentrating on organizing the clothes, suddenly thought, if the cold unawares issued a loud noise, she is bound to be surprised, a woman surprised by the attitude is not naturally show it? So, he casually copied the side of an orchid pot, hard to the ground a fall. "Bam" a loud bang, his wife was frightened and exclaimed: "Ouch!" Throw the clothes in the hands of a long way, half a long time to speak.

In this moment, Mei Lanfang accurately captured his wife's look, action. Accordingly, he repeatedly pondered and practiced the woman's expression of shock and movement, which was appropriately and skillfully integrated into his performance, and the character was portrayed more vividly.

Peking Opera master Cheng Yanqiu signed a "contract of sale"

The family's decline and lack of food and clothing traumatized the young Cheng Yanqiu's mind. He was very understanding, not very talkative, and could understand his mother's difficulties. Because he was poor, he attended private school for only one year.

Mother was afraid that her son, who was too young to bear the pain of studying theater, would discuss the idea with her son. Cheng Yanqiu was both understanding and stubborn, and knew that he was not from a pear school family, so it was fortunate that he was accepted as a student, and his family would have one less person to eat. As for suffering, he wasn't afraid, saying, "If people can stand it, I can stand it too." In addition, he watched many famous actor's good opera when he was a child, from the heart of the eyes like, also really want to go to learn the opera.

One day, mother and son put on clean clothes, money to play a gift of bushels, followed by the flower face neighbors from Tianqiao through the Hufangqiao to Mule City, Wei Dye Hutong Rong Diexian's home - this is for Cheng Yanqiu to find the master of the opera.

Rong Diexian is singing flower girl, knife horse Dan, in the late Qing Dynasty Mr. Lu Huayun Changchun class sit science art, and the deceased soon to be "live Guan Gong" Li Hongchun is the same teacher and brother. At this time, Rong Diexian twenty-something, is a class singing, but also with a few disciples. He saw Cheng Yanqiu, looked up and down for a while, felt that the appearance is good, is a billet singing opera, said: "This child is not bad, I accept, let his family to make a 'document' it."

Mother drew a pledge on the "instrument" as if it were a contract of sale, and urged her son with tears in her eyes: "Be filial to your master and your mother, and learn the opera well, and remember to be careful in what you say, and don't take advantage of other people, especially when it comes to money, and even more so." Yanqiu nodded as he listened, his mother held back her tears and twisted her head away.

Peking Opera master Xun Huisheng was sold to the opera troupe to learn the opera in his childhood

Xun Huisheng was displaced with his parents in Tianjin in his early childhood, due to life's constraints, he was sold to Tianjin Xiaotaohong clapper class to learn the opera, and then sold to the Hebei clapper florid Pang Tianqi, an old artist as the hands of the apprentice.1910 Xun Huisheng with his master in Beijing, which gave him access to some of the famous artists of the opera.1913 Xun Huisheng due to his voice, the voice is choked, by singing clappers, and the voice is not the same. In 1917, Xun Huisheng was formally released from the master at the age of seventeen, and began to specialize in Peking Opera in the following year, and performed with Mei Lanfang and Cheng Jixian for the first time.

The queen of Yu opera, Chang Xiangyu, learned the art the hard way

Born in the fall of 1923 to a poor family in Gong County, Henan Province, Chang Xiangyu's father was a famous local Yu opera performer, but later, because of voice problems, she worked as an odd-jobber in a theater troupe. In 1932, her father took her to the stage at the age of 9 so she wouldn't become a child bride.

Defined by her father as a "bitter insect that must be beaten," she was often beaten to the point of breaking her flesh. In order for Xiangyu to accumulate stage experience, her father let her participate in a variety of performances at a young age, playing all kinds of roles: small student, martial arts student, clown ...... In this way, at the age of 12, Xiangyu has become famous, in her own words: "At that time, I had a price, and I could earn 8 yuan a month. "

Chang Xiangyu originally sang the western Yu tune, and then in the performance of the gradual integration of the Yu Dong, Xiangfu tunes, and absorbed some of the singing of the Qu Opera, the drop, Shanxi Bangkok, Hebei Bangkok, Beijing Opera, etc., a new accent, become a major genre in the Yu Opera, known as "Queen of the Yu Opera".

Vietnamese Opera star Lu Ruiying went through a rough patch, "three exams" origin

Lu Ruiying childhood from the arts, so far there have been forty years of stage career. She was born in Shanghai in 1932. The evil old society caused her family's misfortune, forcing her to lose her parents as a child and become an orphan. When she was eight years old, she was sold twice, and later landed in a family named Lu. Her adoptive father was a small businessman who ran a countryside business, and her adoptive mother was also a child bride from a bitter background. Due to the difficulties of life, Lv Ruiying only studied for half a year, and at the age of nine, together with her older sister Huiying, they were sent to learn the art of opera. Their master was Gai Yuetang, a veteran of Yueju Opera. Because Lv Ruiying was smart, witty, good ear, accurate, plus she was diligent and studious, and therefore y appreciated by the teacher.

According to Lu Ruiying's bright and sweet voice and graceful and dignified appearance, the master wanted her to learn the role of the younger student at first, and let her sister Huiying, who was relatively thin, sing the role of the dan; however, later on, considering that Huiying's voice was sandy and not suitable for singing the dan, he changed the role to that of the younger sister, and the younger sister to sing the dan, which was the same as that of the younger sister. "String red stage", many students heard the opening gong did not dare to go on the stage, some hard by the teacher lifted the curtains out of the. But the sisters are small and bold, no burden on the mind, plus usually practiced and familiar, so the two of them, "eighteen send-off" performed very entertaining. From then on, the two sisters were formally admitted into the troupe and began to learn and perform. During this period, Lu Ruiying learned a lot of plays such as Wujiapo, Meilongzhen, Yulianhuan, and Surrendering to the Army and Farewell to the Kiln. In order to practice solid basic skills, she got up early in the morning and practiced martial arts, hung her voice, and practiced taking the top with the support of the temple's corridor pillar. She put up the worship mat and practiced flying legs. Like grabbing the back, small flip, inverted pouncing tiger and many other martial arts moves, she has meticulously learned, practiced.

Lu Ruiying grew up with a stubborn character, with a sharp determination to forge ahead. After entering the class to learn opera, her foster mother had more than once said to her: "to learn well, learn not (not) good and then sell off (off) Nong (you)!" These words irritated Lu Ruiying greatly and left a deep trauma in her young mind. She felt humiliated and pressurized, and had to fight for it. She was determined to learn a good skill, so that she could stand on her own feet and support her family. In order to learn the skills, she not only learns both martial arts, and everywhere more than others to grow a set of heart, always pay attention to see, pay attention to hear, learn by heart, and remember with great effort. As the "Jade Lotus ring" in the "white Saihua sacrifice husband" that section of the three on the incense, is that she divided into several times a section of a section to learn to steal the pick.

Lv Ruiying was eleven years old when her adoptive father died, and the burden of the family fell on the sisters. From then on, the mother and daughter followed the troupe to perform in the Hangzhou-Jiaxing-Huzhou area. During her career as a performer in the grass-roots and waterway troupes for several years, she experienced the hardships and sorrows of the artists in the old society. At that time, although she and her sister Huiying has served as the main character of the troupe, but the treatment is very low, in addition to the family meals, only a little bit of soap each month, straw paper money. Sometimes the waterway class boat sailed out, there is no place to perform, a day on a meal, her foster mother had to go ashore to the countryside to beg for food, begged after the end of the boat back to the family to share the hunger. In those years, she had to wear a cotton jacket for four seasons - to protect herself from the cold winds in winter, and to make a jacket in spring; after two or three years of wear, there was not much cotton left, and the jacket was mended into a single shirt, which was then converted into a short-sleeved summer coat, and the short coat was so torn that it could not be patched again, and it was then sewn into shoe insoles. In those years, they often had to stay up all night singing "two red", sleeping in broken temples and ancestral halls, thatched huts, the quilt on the floor is often so damp that water can seep out. Months without bathing is common. As a result, almost all the sisters in the troupe had either sores on their hands and feet or eye diseases. Once, Lu Ruiying suffered from "red eye" for ten months in a row, not only had no money for treatment, but also insisted on staying up all night every day to perform. Hands and feet with sores and pus on the stage to fight, the pain of the wound, but also not allowed to frown or grunt. Another time, she suffered from malaria for several months, every day playing a "pendulum" fever. But even with such a high fever, she still had to grit her teeth and put on makeup every day in order to make a living! It is in such a difficult environment, Lu Ruiying honed upward unyielding will, honed a tough skills.

At the age of fourteen, Lu Ruiying returned to Shanghai, where she participated in several small troupes and performed in small theaters on the fringes of the city, and in 1947, she joined the Yunhua Yueju Opera Troupe, where she served as a three- or four-shouldered flower girl. As she studied hard, her skills improved day by day. Once, when Qi Ya Xian, the head and shoulders flower girl, lost her voice, she memorized the play overnight and took up the role. From then on, this hairy girl gradually made a name for herself in Shanghai, and in 1949, she was transferred to the Dongshan Yue Art Society. Fan Ruijuan, Zhang Guifeng and other older sisters talked about her experience, and all said they could not forget her first arrival of the timid sitting in the corner of the quiet and dignified, simple and lovely image, although it was said that she was still small, the performance of the "Splitting the Mountain to Save the Mother," she played Wang Guiying pounced on Fan Ruijuan played Liu Yanchang, the two were half a head apart, but this intelligent, inward-looking, not much to say to the little girl, with her However, this intelligent, inward-looking, little girl, with her good acting temperament and meticulous diligence, won the trust of the older sisters. She soon rose from three shoulders to two shoulders, and gradually expanding the influence of people in the audience. Won the reputation. During this period, in addition to stage performances, she also frequently went to the radio station to sing, what the audience ordered what opera, she sang what opera. Yuan Xuefen, Yin Guifang, Fan Ruijuan, Fu Quanxiang, Xu Yulan, Qi Yaxian and many other genres, she learned to sing. This has laid a solid foundation for her to enrich her singing skills.

From this, Lu Ruiying from learning the art to the stage, from the novice to the emerging, it is one step at a time from the stage "roll" out. Therefore, some people say that she is the "three exams origin", this is very reasonable.

Wang Binbin, a great master of tin opera, had no choice but to learn the art of survival

Wang Binbin's family was poor when he was a child, and both his parents were in poor health, so his aunt brought him to Shanghai, and when he was 11 years old, he spent a few dollars to pay his respects to a gentleman. Since then, he has had a lifelong relationship with the art of Xiqu Opera.

Wang Binbin's teacher at that time was Zhu Zhongming, a native of Suzhou, who was a Tangliao artist of the Shanghai Xianshi Company (a private troupe), and Wang Binbin studied with him for six years. During these years of study, he had to learn to sing, read, do and play everything, and the teacher was very strict, and would pick up his "weapon" and beat people if he was not satisfied. In the old society, the only way for artists to get ahead is to suffer, and Wang Binbin y understands this, and puts this into practice every day.

Then, no matter how cold or hot, Wang Binbin daily to the lake or open space shouting voice. With unremitting efforts, Wang Binbin in six years time to develop a solid basic skills, but also this opened his brilliant acting career.

Personal experience of the golden age of tin opera Wang Binbin 19-year-old red Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai have a strong influence. At that time, wherever he acted, the fans followed him.

The era, the tin opera is also known as the beach spring, the form taken is still basically the curtain tableau, when a play can be like today's serials, a singing ten days and half a month, there is no fixed tableau, the director and the actor said that the play, the actor has to rely on their own play to play the play, sometimes the actor sings sing on the stage to sing to the tears, the generation, even if there is no book, but also the same! The first time I saw the movie, I was in the middle of it, and I was in the middle of it, and I was in the middle of it.

The golden age of tin opera has been extended to the liberation of the two or three decades, until the early 1980s, the tin opera market is still quite prosperous.

Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre's leading flower Wang Jin six years of learning the hard way

In the fall of 1982, after a summer of rigorous examinations, Wang Jin was admitted to the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre students class, and her enrollment *** there are 40 children about 11 years old, the study of kunqu opera is a difficult and lengthy process of physical strength, will and soul of the sharpening and exercise. At that time, the learning conditions were very difficult, 15 girls living in a large room, layers of bunk beds occupy almost all the space in the dormitory, and it is in this small and confined dormitory, Wang Jin lived for six years. In addition to the harsh living conditions, learning kunqu was a much bigger challenge for the children, who had no idea what kunqu was all about. When I was young, I only knew Peking Opera in the Children's Palace, but I had never heard of Kunqu. It was from the moment they entered the Beikun Theater Cadet Class that the intense, busy six-year life of learning the art of opera began. They practiced morning work at six o'clock every day, learned leg work and body training in the morning, learned handle work in the afternoon, and studied culture in the evening. At that time, there was no double holiday, they studied six days a week, and they could only go home on Sundays. At the beginning of the study when they were 15 girls sitting around a long table, by Li Qianying teacher, Shen Shihua teacher, respectively, led everyone to shoot tunes, that's how they spent two years to shoot tunes, learn the body, practicing carpet work, legs, handles, etc. for the future of learning theater to lay a solid foundation. In the third year, she began to study the Kunqu opera, and the opening play she studied was "Journey to the West" - "The Fat Aunt Learns Her Tongue" taught by Ms. Li Qianying, and then she went on to study the flower girl plays such as "Sins of the Sea" - "Si Fan" and "Going Down the Mountain", "The Peony Pavilion" - "Chunxiang", "Hairpin and Chuanzhu" and "Meeting and Cursing", etc. She also studied the "Sins of the Sea" - "Sifan" and "Down the Mountain".

In her fourth year of study, just as Wang Jin was moving step by step towards her goal of becoming an outstanding flower girl actress, she encountered a hurdle in her opera performance career - the period of voice change. If she couldn't get through it successfully, she would probably be forced to give up her career as a flower girl. Generally speaking, a girl's voice change is less obvious and short-lived. But she is different, she said that at that time to speak are "split" sound, the voice is always mute, then a teacher proposed to ask her to switch to learn the old Dan, the late Mr. Liu Zhengxiang heard about this matter to find the class teacher and said: "you are not misleading the children? She which point like singing old Dan's, can not say that the child in the period of voice change to change carelessly." It was only after Mr. Liu's words that Wang Jin continued to study in the Hua Dan group. She said that it was painful to think about it now. At that time, she hoped every day that her voice would get better as soon as possible, and she doubled her efforts to study. Her efforts were not in vain, and at the end of the semester her voice was fine, and she reported to the leaders of the Cultural Affairs Bureau on the repertoire she had studied in the current school year. In the fifth and sixth years, she and Mr. Zhang Yumeng studied the Qingyi repertoire of "Qingzuka Jie-Zhaojun out of the plug", "Fisherman's Delight-Stabbing the Beam", "Rouge Mountain-Infatuated with Dreams", etc. In 1988, Wang Jin graduated with honors, and waved goodbye to the unforgettable time of pain and happiness.

Wang Pansheng, the founder of the Wang School of Shanghai Opera, learned his art without any intention of planting a willow to become a shade

People always think that the famous actors who created their own schools of art, even if they weren't geniuses, were smart and talented. In fact, it is not, created the Shanghai Opera Wang school of art Wang Pan sound when learning the art of not only do not show, and give a person the feeling of mute, do what is slow, not the kind of cleverness at all. After a few months of study, one day Mr. Wang wanted to test him and let him sing a few lines at random. Who knows he turned red, squirming for half a day, not even a line sung. Mr. sighed and said, "Forget it". He put away the huqin, do not ask Wang Pansheng sing, and has not taught this student a line of opera. Troupe a zither Mr. look in the eye, said I'm sort of dead he learned not to come out of the mountains, to come out of the mountains unless the Republic of China 88 years (i.e., 50 years later). At that time, not to mention others, even the good-tempered Mr. also lost confidence in him. Other students intend to three years, Wang Pan sound learning theater for six years, did not learn out. He can only play small roles, run the dragon set, even more than he entered the mountain door after a few brothers also stride, one by one, more than him.

In fact, Wang Pansheng is not a stupid child, he did not open his mouth, he has his own ideas. In the past, there were two major series of Shen Qu Xiao Sheng, Shi Pai and Wen Pai, and his husband, Chen Xiushan, was a descendant of Shi Pai. He sang in a high-pitched, clear voice, completely in the Shi School style. Wang Pan-sheng is not very fond of such a singing style, he followed his husband for a long time in the Wenbin Theater Troupe, Wenbin Theater Troupe is led by the famous Shenqu artist Shao Wenbin's troupe, he sang under the elegant and soft style of Shao Wenbin, pay attention to the flavor. Wang Pansheng ears and eyes, from the heart like this style of singing, will secretly learn, they continue to fumble, slowly sang a little flavor, even Shin Wenbin also said good, sometimes also point him a few lines. Really have the intention to plant flowers can not be, no intention to plant a willow into a shade, the young Wang Pansheng did not learn their own Mr. skills, but went the other way, he later founded the Wang School of singing is obviously with Shao Wenbin, Shin Wenbin's Wen School of singing in the same lineage. Shin Wenbin became the second master of Wang Pansheng who did not hold a ceremony to pay homage to his master.