How was the Beijing accent formed and popularized?

In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the Yiyangqiang came all the way north to Beijing, where it was combined with the local dialect to form the Jingqiang.

Beijing, as the capital of both the Yuan and Ming dynasties, has always been the cultural center of the country, and especially after the baptism of the Yuan opera, the opera flourished in Beijing and was sought after by almost everyone.

After the arrival of the Goyang class artists in Beijing, the residents of Beijing immediately fell in love with this singing style, and were y attracted by the rough and loud voice of the Yiyangqiang. Whenever they hear the roughness with a delicate, high-pitched with a twang of the Yiyang cavity, they can not help but stop, stop and listen.

In the face of this highly distinctive high-flown accent, artists in the Beijing opera world immediately realized that a new opportunity had arrived for the development of local opera in Beijing.

Beijing's opera artists, after the Eagle Yang opera entered Beijing, immediately brought their art to join the master, entered the Eagle Yang opera troupe, and learned from the Eagle Yang opera troupe. As soon as the local Beijing artists entered the Yiyangqiang troupe, they were immediately fascinated by the Yiyangqiang.

Specifically, they realized that the Yiyang Opera had a tradition of folk art creation that was "spontaneous" and "easy to sing". The Beijing artists immediately realized that the reason that had been restricting their development since the Yuan Dynasty was that they had been too rigid in their pursuit of the correct style of music. It was that they were too rigidly pursuing orthodox culture and ignoring folk culture.

Finally, after a period of study and integration, the local Beijing artists blended all the best essence of the Yiyangqiang, and combined it with the local singing style to form the unique Jingqiang, and in a very short period of time, it became popular all over the north and south of the Yangtze River.

On this day, Emperor Kangxi's teacher, Chen Tingjing, was traveling in a small costume to check on the people's situation. As he walked near the footbridge, he heard a burst of applause and shouts of approval erupt from far ahead.

Chen Tingjing brought his entourage to the crowd, where he saw a clown artist performing on the bleachers. This clown's gags and exaggerated and funny movements drew a burst of applause from the audience.

Chen Tingjing discovered a strange thing while enjoying the performance, which was that the clown's language was official, which could be understood by people no matter where they came from. That's why the performance was so hot, with applause coming from all over the world, from people everywhere.

Chen Tingjing was a famous minister of his generation who inherited Confucian orthodoxy and worried about the country and the people's livelihood. When he discovered this form of opera, which used the official language as a means of communication, he immediately realized that this form of opera would soon become the mainstream of the Liyuan community.

In order to help the growth of this new accent that could bring joy to the people of the whole country. Chen Tingjing announced himself in the bustling place of Tianqiao, and in front of the crowd, extended an invitation to the performing artists to perform in his royal residence.

The troupe master felt flattered to receive Chen Tingjing's invitation, and hastened to say that he would be sure to prepare meticulously and bring out the highest level of excellence in his performance.

At the day of the troupe's performance, Chen Tingjing invited his friends, and many court officials gathered at Chen Tingjing's home, ready to enjoy Chen Tingjing's highly praised opera, and even Emperor Kangxi himself was there to see it.

This night Chen Tingjing home drums and music in the sky, the sound of musical instruments lasted until the second half of the night before subsiding. Emperor Kangxi and all the court officials who watched the performance of the Beijing Opera troupe were full of praise for the Beijing Opera. After this performance, the Beijing Opera became the most popular singing style among the officials in Beijing.

The Beijing Opera was very popular during the Kangxi and Qianlong periods of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, there was a "South Kun, North Eagle", of which "North Eagle" refers to the Beijing accent.

According to the "Door Chronicle" records:

In the beginning of my dynasty, the people of all Shang Gao Cavity, extended to the Qianlong period, the six famous class, nine door rotation, said the most prosperous.

It can be seen that at that time Yiyang cavity in Beijing is extremely prevalent, and its footprints have spread throughout Guangdong, Hunan, Sichuan, Hubei, Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian and other provinces, becoming a very important type of theater.

Yiyangqiang belongs to the high-cavity category, and its vocal cadences are all characterized by a high pitch, but the Jingqiang is gentle and obvious. For example, "Memories of the Shadow Plum An" records that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Chen Yuanyuan sang the "Yan vulgar drama", which is like this:

Yan vulgar drama, ee mute and twittering tone, is out of the Chen Ji body mouth, such as the cloud out of the mountain peak, such as the pearl in the disk, people want to die.

The "twittering tones" and "like clouds coming out of the mountain, like pearls on a plate" are not the same as the "sound of the clouds" and "singing voice". This is a far cry from the "sounding clouds" and "loud and clear voice" styles, which are full of vigor. In addition, the description of the Beijing Opera also uses the words "ee-woo" and "ee-woo like words" many times, showing the low and soft character of the Beijing Opera.

The Beijing Opera is also different from other high operas in terms of the accompanying instruments, which are silk strings. When discussing Wang Deguan, a Peking opera singer at the end of the Qianlong period, the New Songs of Fading Colds says:

Wang Deguan was a small dancer in the Yixing Department. His appearance was comparable to that of Luo Rongguan's. His face was as round as an apricot. His face was as round as an apricot, and he had a charming demeanor. He has a round face like an apricot, and his voice is very charming.

It is very obvious that silk strings were used in the Peking opera accompaniment. Due to the use of silk strings, the singing voice was affected and changed. The "silk string babble" comes first, and the voice is "loud and clear" later, and the loudness of the voice is expressed by the word "also repeated", which gives the impression that the singing voice is not so high-pitched, and that it is not so high pitched. The "high" is not emphasized.

"New Songs for the Cold" "Qiu Yujuan" article Shiping Jushi said more specifically, said:

Yu to Beijing for several years, Ya love Kunqu opera, do not like chaotic bomb cavity, eulogizing mute ee-woo, about the Beijing cavity and so on.

Historical sources, there are also "work feet eeny-woo like words", "Yu Xiao Xi Juzi industry, the key to the House of Well" of the language. The phrase "咿唔如话" means that the voice is very low, like talking. The Beijing accent is accompanied by silk strings, and the singing is gentle and soft.

The Beijing Opera has a special gong named Tongluo, which is a kind of gong, and the Beijing Opera maintains the tradition of beating the gongs, according to the book "Yangzhou Paint Boat Records".

The Beijing Opera uses the Tongluo, not the Jinluo.

It can be seen that "gongs" are special gongs for the Beijing Opera to distinguish them from the accompaniment instruments used for beating the rhythm of other voices. This also shows the difference between the gongs used by the Beijing Opera and those used by the Yiyang Opera.

Additionally, the clowns of the Beijing opera had outstanding achievements, and the "Beijing clowns" were second to none in the flower section of the opera. According to the Yangzhou Boat Record,

Only the Beijing gags were in the official language, so the clowns were the most popular in the Beijing style.

The book also compared the local clowns with the Beijing clowns from the angle of audience demand, pointing out that the local clowns could not develop further because they could not communicate in the official language and were restricted by the country language. Pointed out:

My hometown local clowns ...... terminated in the sound of the countryside talk, to please the townspeople only, and ultimately can not pass the official language. Nearly this spring Taiwan hired Liu eight into the class, the class clown effect, the atmosphere gradually changed.

The artistic standard of Beijing clowns can be shown, the Beijing cavity has a large audience and has a wider influence, to a large extent, depends on the "official language" - the use of Beijing Bai, and, Beijing clowns on the later generations of opera has had a far-reaching impact, due to the other The first to work in Beijing dialect, the voice is soft and fragile.

The same period with the "Beijing accent", "Eagle's Nest" was also used in Beijing, and the two appeared side by side in the same historical material.