Relevant information of Yue Opera

Traditional Chinese opera is a kind of drama, which belongs to the category of drama in terms of artistic classification. But drama, pantomime, opera and ballet are also dramas. What's the difference between them? As we know, the above-mentioned various forms of drama can be roughly divided into two types: one is combined with music, such as opera and ballet, which can be called musical; One is that it is not combined with music, which is the most typical drama and can be called non-musical. Although modern drama often uses music to set off the atmosphere, it can not only enrich the expressive force of drama, but also won't change the basic characteristics of drama art, because drama is still drama with or without this kind of music. But for musicals, the situation is different, whether it is opera or ballet, once there is no music, they lose their meaning of existence. China traditional opera also belongs to this type of musical, but it is a China musical with national characteristics. It is inseparable from music, although it is obviously different from opera and ballet in expression form and artistic style.

How did this special art form of China Opera come into being? It is based on the combination of drama and music. The emergence of any art form does not come out of thin air. It always has a certain historical and traditional origin. The origin of China's traditional drama is the synthesis of three different art forms: ancient song and dance, rap and burlesque. This was originally an independent art form with its own performance. However, with the development of history, these three art forms gradually merged together, thus forming China traditional opera. Song and dance did not perform stories, but gradually joined the stories; Rap originally told stories as a third party, and later it was put on the stage to perform stories as a dramatist. At first, burlesque was performed by telling the truth and performing, and then gradually added elements of singing and dancing. As a result of this intersection, the traditional art form of Han nationality, which integrates singing, dancing, reciting and drama performance, has been formed, which is what we call drama today. This process of convergence is a process in which singing, dancing and rap performances are gradually dramatized, while drama performances are gradually cabaretized. Thus, at the beginning of the formation of China opera, drama and music were inseparable.

China opera has a history of more than 800 years. A history of China opera is also a history of the evolution of opera tune. The so-called tune refers to the tune group or tune system with strong local color, which is based on the Han folk songs in a certain area and adopted by China traditional operas. The two oldest operas in China, the Southern Opera in the Song Dynasty and the Zaju in the Yuan Dynasty, are all sung with songs. However, due to the different birthplaces, there are obvious differences in styles between southern songs and northern songs, forming two different parts of opera, namely, southern opera and northern opera. The further evolution of Nanqu is the appearance of the four major tunes of Nanqu in Ming Dynasty, namely Haiyan tune, Yu Yaoqiang tune, Yiyang tune and Kunshan tune. They have different styles and are the product of the combination of Nanqu and Han folk music. The competition and digestion of the four major tunes promoted the prosperity of Ming and Qing operas. Since then, the appearance of Bangzi and Pihuang has become two new traditional opera tunes. This new tune is the result of the development of Han folk music. They have produced many new operas one after another, which created a new situation in the development of China opera and influenced and promoted the emergence of many local operas in modern times. This history shows that every process of opera development is directly related to the development of opera music; The formation of every drama in history is always marked by the rise and change of a certain tune.

There are many operas in China, and there are more than 300 kinds today. Due to different dialects, various operas have different artistic styles. Whether it is Kunqu Opera, which is elegant as orchid, or Cantonese Opera, which is known as the southern red bean, there are also pastoral ancient paintings, high-pitched bangzi and euphemistic Cantonese Opera with different styles and elegance. What's the difference between the colors of this style? The first is music.

People often say that China opera is a comprehensive art. Because it contains literature, music, performance, art and other components. These elements have their own artistic characteristics, but when they enter opera, they are all directly or indirectly related to music.

As far as drama literature is concerned, its artistic structure and artistic method are different from drama only because it is related to the structure of drama music and adapts to it. Traditional Chinese opera literature needs lyrics, which is a literary form associated with music. Even the chanting of Chinese opera is different from the lines of drama, because besides the requirements of personality and action, it also requires musicality, which is pleasant to read and can be coordinated with music.

The structural forms of traditional Chinese opera scripts have undergone some evolution in history. Whether it is Yuan Zaju or Ming Legend, the structural form of the script is a split (or separated) form based on long and short sentences. This structural form has been used from the North-South Opera to today's Kunqu Opera and High-pitched Opera, but in the Qing Dynasty, since the appearance of Bangzi and Pi Huang, the structural form of the script has become a form based on seven words and ten sentences. Why is there such a change? This is also in line with the development of traditional Chinese opera music, because the structural form of traditional Chinese opera music has also undergone major changes, from the earlier "Qupai combination" to "plate change". The former is based on the complete music structure, and the ten-fold play must consist of several music cards to form a set of music; The structural basis of the latter is a pair of symmetrical upper and lower phrases, and an aria is a repeated change of the upper and lower phrases many times. The aria of a scene can have dozens or even more pairs of upper and lower phrases, or only one or two pairs of upper and lower phrases, or even no aria at all, but all consist of chanting. This shows that the changes in the form of traditional Chinese opera literature are closely related to traditional Chinese opera music.

Let's take a look at the performing arts of China traditional operas. Traditional Chinese opera performance should use a variety of artistic means, such as singing, reading, doing and playing, each of which is closely related to music. Singing is originally a means of musical expression, which goes without saying. Although chanting is not singing, it should be musical, and it should be cadenced in tone and rhythm, which can be coordinated with singing. As for doing work and fighting, they all belong to body movements, but the body movements on the opera stage are not direct imitations of life movements, but dance performances, which are powerful, exaggerated and full of rhythm. Therefore, this kind of body movement is closely combined with music and integrated into the rhythm of music. Traditional opera performances require actors to be familiar with gongs and drums, that is, the combination of various gongs and drums, and their body movements should be in tune with gongs and drums; Skillful actors, without the cooperation of gongs and drums, feel unable to move and their emotions cannot be exerted, which is the reason.

Singing, reading, doing and playing have their own characteristics. But how do they integrate and merge into a whole? Among these means, music is a link, which plays a unified and coordinated role through the rhythm of music. At the same time, in the process of drama, it is necessary to emphasize the stage rhythm. The various changes and developments of drama plots and emotions, as well as the ups and downs of drama contradictions, need to be reflected by the stage rhythm that is strong or weak, or open or relaxed. Not only should there be such changes between the fields of a play, but even in a certain performance or a certain aria, there should be various changes in rhythm and speed. All this is reflected and regulated by music, which unifies the rhythm of the whole play.

It is in this sense that we say that opera is a musical. Because opera music is an indispensable part of the whole opera art, it permeates and runs through all aspects of opera art.