A most wonderful passage of China opera and exquisite facial makeup.

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 is the difference between them? As we know, the above 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 drama; One is that it is not combined with music, which is the most typical drama and can be called non-musical drama. Although modern drama often uses music to enhance the atmosphere, it can not only enrich the expressive force of drama, but also does not change the basic characteristics of drama art. Because with or without this kind of music, drama is still a drama. But for musical drama, the situation is different, whether it is opera or ballet, once there is no music, they will lose their meaning of existence. Traditional Chinese opera also belongs to this type of musical drama, but it is a Chinese musical drama with national characteristics. It can't live without music, although it is obviously different from opera and ballet in expression form and artistic style.

how did this particular 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 operas is the synthesis of three different artistic forms, namely, ancient song and dance, rap and burlesque. This was originally an independent art form with its own performances. However, with the development of history, these three art forms gradually merged together, thus forming traditional Chinese opera. Song and dance did not perform the story originally, but later it was gradually added to the story; Rap originally told the story as a third party, but later it was put on the stage to perform the story as a dramatist; The burlesque was originally performed by telling the truth and acting, and later it was gradually added with the elements of singing and dancing. As a result of this convergence, an art form integrating singing, dancing, chanting and drama performance has been formed, which is what we now call traditional Chinese opera. This convergence process is a process in which the performances of singing, dancing and rap are gradually dramatized, while the theatrical performances are gradually cabareted. Thus, at the beginning of the formation of China opera, drama and music were inseparable.

China opera has a history of more than 8 years. A history of China opera is also a history of the evolution of opera tune. The so-called tune cavity refers to the tune group, or tune system, which is adopted for traditional Chinese opera and based on folk songs in a certain area and has strong local color. The two oldest operas in China, the Southern Opera in the Song Dynasty and the Zaju in the Yuan Dynasty, are all sung by songs. However, due to the different regions where they originated, there are obvious differences in styles between the songs in the south and the songs in the north, which forms two different opera voices, namely, the Southern Opera and the 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, which are the product of the combination of Nanqu and local folk music after the spread of Nanqu was expanded. The competition and digestion of the four major tunes promoted the prosperity of the operas in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Bangzi and Pihuang, which appeared after this, rose as two new opera tunes. This new vocal cavity is the result of the development of folk music, and they have produced many new operas one after another, which has created a new situation for 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 now more than 3 operas. Due to different dialects in different places, various operas have different artistic styles. Whether it's Kunqu Opera, which is elegant as a orchid, or Cantonese Opera, which is known as the southern red bean, as well as the pastoral Huagu Opera, the high-pitched bangzi and the low-pitched euphemistic Yue Opera, they are all different and graceful in style. What's the difference in color 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. Each of these elements has its own artistic characteristics, but when they enter the opera, they are all directly or indirectly related to music.

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

The structural forms of traditional Chinese opera scripts have experienced some changes in history. Whether it's a drama in the Yuan Dynasty or a legend in the Ming Dynasty, the structural form of the script is a split (or separated) form based on the qupai of long and short sentences. This structural form has been adopted from the beginning of Nanbei Opera to today's Kunqu Opera and Gaoqiang Opera, but in the Qing Dynasty, since the appearance of Bangzi and Pi Huang, the structural form of the script has become a sub-field form based on the upper and lower sentences of seven or ten words. 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 a major change, from the earlier "combination of qupai" to "plate change". The former is based on a complete musical structure, and a ten-fold play must consist of several musical cards to form a set of music; The structural basis of the latter is a pair of symmetrical upper and lower phrases, and a aria is the repeated changes of the upper and lower phrases for many times. The aria of a scene can have dozens or more pairs of upper and lower phrases, or only one or two pairs of upper and lower phrases, or even no singing at all, but all composed 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 look at the performing arts of traditional Chinese opera. Traditional Chinese opera performance should use various artistic means, such as singing, reading, doing and playing, each of which has an inseparable relationship with music. Singing is originally a means of music performance, which goes without saying. Although chanting is not singing, it should be musical, requiring it to have cadence and cadence 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 strong, exaggerated and full of rhythm. Therefore, this kind of body movement is closely combined with music and melts into the rhythm of music. Traditional opera performances require actors to be familiar with the gongs and drums, that is, the combination of various gongs and drums, and their body movements should be in tune with the gongs and drums; Skilled actors feel unable to move without the cooperation of gongs and drums, and their emotions cannot be exerted, which is why.

The four means of singing, reading, doing and playing have different characteristics. But how are they integrated and integrated 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, the stage rhythm should be emphasized in the progress of the drama, and the various changes and developments of the plot and emotions of the drama, as well as the ups and downs of the 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 fields in a play, but even in a certain performance or a certain aria, there must 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 traditional Chinese opera is a musical drama. Because opera music is an indispensable component of the whole opera art, it permeates and runs through all aspects of opera art.