How to appreciate China traditional opera?

The situation of China traditional opera in modern times, especially in the past 20 years, is quite puzzling and worrying. Can China Traditional Opera Realize Modern Transformation? Is it possible to modernize? Some scholars are skeptical and strongly oppose the modernization of traditional Chinese opera. They believe that opera, as a classical culture, should maintain its classical artistic character. For China traditional opera, modernization is neither possible nor necessary. What's more, they think that China traditional opera belongs to that distant feudal era, which is incompatible with modern life and can't reflect modern life at all. It is destined to become a museum art. On the contrary, some scholars since the May 4th Movement have not opposed the modernization of traditional Chinese opera, but they think that the modernization of traditional Chinese opera is to get rid of the so-called traditional culture that represents feudal ideas, learn advanced western dramas, and even require drama to replace drama. Which of these two concepts is right and which is wrong?

The modernization of traditional Chinese opera is inseparable from tradition.

The significance of people's concern about this issue is not only in the field of traditional Chinese opera. Tradition and modernity are a natural pair, and different nations and countries will encounter and face them. In China, the collision between tradition and modernity is the most concentrated and typical, so people pay special attention to it and it is extremely complicated. In fact, these two views are diametrically opposed to tradition and modernity. A notable feature of China's ideological culture is inclusiveness, adaptability, absorption and continuity, which is eclectic in the horizontal direction and developing continuously in the vertical direction. For example, when Buddhism entered China, Buddhism and Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism were mutually exclusive. From the perspective of the development of traditional Chinese opera, a history of traditional Chinese opera is actually a history of how traditional Chinese opera changes itself, transcends itself, and strives to adapt to changes in people's aesthetic tastes and appreciation methods. It is also a history of reform, development and constant metabolism. It always reflects the values of the times, aesthetic choices and people's expressions. From courtyard to zaju, from Southern Opera to Legend, from Yabu to Flower Department, and from Tan Xinpei to Mei Lanfang, the traditional opera keeps pace with the times, which is a fundamental reason why it can realize modern transformation.

Of course, this transformation between reality and contemporary is different from any reform and change in history. From the Middle Ages to modern times, every reform and change has its complexity and arduousness. But this change is a historic leap from classical to modern, and the social form has moved from feudal agricultural civilization to modern industrial civilization. It is a new era that changes with each passing day, which is incomparable at any time in history. Undoubtedly, the strength, difficulty and complexity of this transformation from tradition to modernity are unprecedented at any time in history. In the social life at that time, people's way of thinking, appreciation, values and expressions have undergone earth-shaking changes, which led to greater contradictions between the content of modern life, the way of appreciation and acceptance and the forms of expression of traditional operas. How to solve this contradiction and realize this leap, traditional opera has made its own gesture of seeking change. For example, the earliest fashion drama edited by Mei Lanfang, the model drama during the Cultural Revolution, and a large number of modern dramas created since the new period. What's more striking is that after a long period of silence, folk operas have revived and become an important part of people's spiritual and cultural life. Although Mei Lanfang finally gave up fashion drama, the model drama was criticized for being too politicized and ideological, and modern drama lost the essential factors of traditional drama, which was not satisfactory. However, we can see that China traditional opera has taken the first step in its development, leaping from tradition to modernity. This process should begin with the drama improvement movement during the May 4th Movement. 1904- 1905, Chen Duxiu published On Chinese Opera. This important document, which calls for the improvement of drama for the first time, has opened the prelude to the modernization of drama for nearly a century. This document basically represents the main views of many scholars on opera at that time, that is, to transform opera from content to form in an attempt to make opera a tool for social improvement. From this, we can clearly see that the traditional opera reform carried out by scholars during the May 4th Movement was actually consistent with China's social reform, in other words, the traditional opera was brought into the political and ideological field for reform. This itself is divorced from the connotation of drama as a traditional art, so they use this "instrumental theory" standard to improve traditional drama, only to find that drama is always inextricably linked with traditional culture. When the expected publicity effect of improving society is not achieved, it is required that drama deviate from tradition and learn from and approach western drama. Some scholars even advocate abolishing traditional drama completely, transplanting western drama, creating a new drama, and completing the modernization of China's drama. In evaluating this period of history, Mr. Zhang Geng said: "The May 4th Movement did not create its own new national culture, so it did not create new dramas. When investigating the reasons, he thought: "No culture can prosper and develop without accepting inheritance, and it grows into a high-level crystallization, and drama is no exception. "It is from this point that the relationship between tradition and drama is separated, and the modernization of drama can only be empty talk, which has become the knowledge of contemporary academic circles.

China traditional opera should not become "museum art"

As the preservation of traditional art, traditional opera has its value, but it should not be just "tradition" or "museum art"-museum art has its value. As a traditional art and national art with profound accumulation, it should not be exiled and allowed to drift, marginalize or die out. As an art with profound traditional accumulation, the choice of drama in modern times is certainly not single, but should be diversified and multi-dimensional. According to the characteristics of thematic dramas and dramas, they can be adapted to local conditions, each with its own emphasis, and also have aesthetic and entertainment functions. But realizing modern transformation is undoubtedly its fundamental goal, which is not only the modern requirement of artistic aesthetics, but also a new fission of traditional culture, modern society and modern culture. There are considerable obstacles, but the practice of the 20th century tells us that the modern transformation of traditional Chinese opera is impossible. An important experience is to respect the law of the development of traditional Chinese opera art and the law of the market, and do something without affectation. In the 20th century, there was a special enthusiasm for the reform of China traditional opera. People in different periods pay special attention to the reform of traditional Chinese opera. However, due to the needs of social environment and political changes, they cannot change in the true sense of artistic development. Therefore, they are more active "people" than active "promising", and they are lost and destroyed in "emphasizing" and "being emphasized". The experience provided by "Model Opera" from positive and negative, "promising" and "artificial" is very typical. The negative side is closely related to the "Cultural Revolution" and is not superfluous. It is its innovative strength and its modern aesthetic significance that are generally regarded as positive and promising. This kind of effort and success stems from a clear rational and scientific thought, and has gathered a group of professional teams who really understand opera, carried out all-round innovative exploration and practical polishing, actively made "promising", made unprecedented innovations in artistic performances, especially music, and integrated symphonies into opera music, forming a musical culture of the East and the West. It is active choice, not passive acceptance. Because it is not only a meaningful positive collision between traditional opera music culture and western music culture, but also a coordination between the long-term relatively closed opera art and the overall pattern of modern China culture, it has value and significance that cannot be underestimated. "Zhang Geng stressed that" the reform of Chinese opera has a lot of experience in music creation, among which the experience of' model opera' music creation is more prominent, and it is probably not an exaggeration to say that it is the most prominent. The significance of its innovation and achievements to the modern transformation of China opera is self-evident. Since the new period, there have been many achievements in the exploration of traditional Chinese opera, but there is a lack of overall arrangement and organization from the artistic point of view. Impetuousness and the pursuit of short-term effects also restrict this development and innovation. Acting in accordance with the laws of art and drama will wait for the arrival of an art era and a cultural era, and the coordinated development of economy and society allows us to see this unexpected opportunity. The modern transformation of traditional Chinese opera depends on the artistic and cultural atmosphere provided by the society, the rational artistic thinking and pure artistic actions of opera workers, eliminating all kinds of "man-made" factors, rejoicing in returning to the essence of traditional Chinese opera, treating it as a traditional Chinese opera, and not deliberately making it bear more moral responsibilities and cultural missions, so as to "lighten the burden" on the traditional Chinese opera and make it full of vitality. Over the years, producers, creators, performers and audiences of Chinese opera have gone their separate ways, and it is difficult to get together, and each has its own plans. The divided and digested aesthetic entertainment function has completely different understanding and evaluation standards from the practice of China traditional opera. The artistic standards and aesthetic standards are in a secondary position, subject to other non-artistic factors, and the real audience is ignored. This phenomenon has become a vicious circle in contemporary times. If we don't get the attention of drama academic circles, the result can only be as some scholars worry: the modernization of drama has become a trap to bury traditional drama.

Paying attention to and returning to the folk is the basis of realizing the modern transformation of traditional Chinese opera.

How to get rid of this trap, we think it is necessary to re-recognize and rediscover the essence of traditional Chinese opera. In fact, there are two forms of traditional opera, one is cultural form, which mainly exists in the folk, so it can be called folk opera. This kind of folk opera has a simple and non-artistic tendency, expressing a kind of cultural participation and integration, rather than pure artistic aesthetic chewing; The other is the art form. On the basis of folk opera, the literati constantly enriched their means of expression, making it more elegant and with higher aesthetic value, forming the opera art we see now. However, in the process of opera modernization, people often focus on the expression of the modern theme and ideological content of opera, while ignoring the essential characteristics of opera art as an art style. We believe that the modernization of traditional Chinese opera art lies not only in whether the theme of traditional Chinese opera belongs to modern life, but also in whether the ideological content of traditional Chinese opera is tortuous, vivid and touching. In other words, on the one hand, the theme of modern life is of course one of the contents to be expressed by modern opera art, even one of the important contents, but the theme of ancient life can also reflect the ideological consciousness and spiritual life of contemporary people. Mr. Zhang Geng has a clear understanding of this, and thinks that the focus of the modernization of traditional Chinese opera is how to "express modern life and modern consciousness with China people's aesthetic standards and methods", while "historical dramas run through the author's spirit of the times at that time", so "only dramas describing contemporary life can be called modern dramas, and historical dramas written by modern people can become good modern dramas". On the other hand, the noumenon of traditional Chinese opera art lies in its form expression, that is, the reason why traditional Chinese opera art becomes traditional Chinese opera art lies in its unique form of expression, that is, not in what its ideological content is, but in how it expresses these ideological contents. It is in this sense that Kenev Bell's famous view that "beauty" is a "meaningful form" explains the source of artistic beauty. Therefore, the aesthetic value of traditional Chinese opera art lies in its unique and repeatable formal beauty, which is a harmonious and organic unity of form and content. As an ancient traditional art, drama is particularly important in modern form. At present, the modern pursuit of China's traditional opera art has made some attempts and efforts on "formal beauty", but it is obviously insufficient and lacks systematicness. It focuses more on reflecting modern life and modern consciousness, and even limits its content to the main theme, while the form and art that should be paid attention to are struggling between inheriting tradition and modernization, which is the main dilemma of the modernization of traditional Chinese opera art.

Undoubtedly, paying attention to and returning to the people is the basis for getting rid of this dilemma and realizing modern transformation. The development of traditional operas in China has an obvious trend of elegance, but at the same time it is losing the soil on which to live. In that case, Chinese opera can only be a castle in the air, watching flowers in the fog and making a few people happy. Opera is a popular art and culture. Its root, pulse and metabolic mechanism are all in people. Every time the art of traditional Chinese opera develops and prospers, the people have played a positive and dynamic role. It is the main body of reform and innovation, the driving force for the development of opera, and the resource pool for the transformation of opera and the metabolism of old and new. Every innovation has a deep mass base. On the other hand, there is a growing trend of disrespect and indifference to the people in contemporary times, which not only makes the innovation of artistic expressions of traditional Chinese opera lose the power of reference, but also destroys the long-standing ecological chain of traditional Chinese opera culture and alienates the traditional Chinese opera from the general public. This is the biggest flaw in the modernization of our traditional opera, and it is also a problem that academic circles have to face up to.

Of course, folk opera will never die automatically because of our neglect, because it is closely related to folk life, and even it is a part of folk life, so its life is endless. Some people of insight in academic circles have gradually realized the value of folk opera, and people will find that folk opera has gone further and more steadily in some aspects in the process of pursuing its modern transformation. In some areas, it has even been integrated into people's modern spiritual and cultural life and become an indispensable part of people's cultural life. We have every reason to believe that rediscovering the people and returning to the essence is of great significance to the opera people who have been fighting for it for 2 1 century, and will be a key to realize the modern transformation of traditional opera and get out of the predicament.

Excerpted from Baidu netizens, thank you.