Introduction of Cantonese Opera

Guangdong Cantonese Opera is fresh and soft, and it is an important member of China Quyi family. Singing in Cantonese is popular in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macao and other Cantonese areas, and spread to Southeast Asia, North America and other areas where overseas Chinese in Guangdong live together.

Cantonese opera originated from the cantata of Cantonese opera. During the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, there was an eight-tone class engaged in singing Cantonese opera. They use the scripts and tunes of Cantonese opera, and sing different colors in Cantonese opera's "Studio Mandarin". Later, blind female artists who sang in the streets and lanes appeared. They were called "You Ji" and "Shi Niang". Each of them should master the singing with different foot colors, and one person can sing with multiple foot colors, which has made a new development in singing skills than the "eight-tone class". This kind of singing has been popular for more than 60 years, and it is called "Jenny period" in the history of Cantonese opera. Their main songs are "Eight Famous Songs" such as Priscilla's Meeting Wife, Daiyu's Burying Flowers and Abandoning Chu to Han.

After the Republic of China, discerning women gradually appeared on the teahouse stage to sing Cantonese songs, and people called them "female actors". They changed "Opera Studio Mandarin" into Guangzhou dialect, and changed falsetto into real voice, and divided it into three singing methods: loud voice, flat voice (this is male voice) and split voice (this is female voice). Cantonese opera entered its heyday, which is called "female singer period" in history.

Over the past century, Cantonese opera has kept pace with the times. It is good at absorption, integration, enrichment and innovation, which broadens the field of vocal music. For example, Bangzi and Spring in Cantonese Opera, Dragon Boat, Nanyin, Cantonese Opera, Muyu Song and even Cantonese Opera (including miscellaneous tunes or instrumental music) are all used for lyrics. Besides Gao Hu and dulcimer, the accompaniment also includes saxophone, violin and electronic organ. Cantonese opera is born out of Cantonese opera, and has a very close relationship with it, which is mutual absorption, mutual integration, mutual promotion and mutual development, so Cantonese opera and Cantonese opera are basically in the same tune.

The formation of Cantonese Opera has roughly gone through the following stages:

Eight-tone class (182 1- 1886) stage, in the early stage, instrumental music was the main performance, and Guangdong Waijiang class (opera) sang, and then gradually sang Cantonese opera.

"Teacher Niang" stage (1862— 19 17)

"Teacher Niang" is a blind girl. From an early age, he was trained as a professional artist by a "Tangkou" who specially adopted blind girls to learn Cantonese opera performance and singing skills, and was invited to sing and sing at home to make a living. In the early years of the Republic of China, "Shi Niang" began to sing in the Quyi teahouse opened by the teahouse, creating a performance form of "one chair and two chairs".

In the stage of "female diva" (1918-1938), non-blind female artists called female divas gradually replaced "teacher niang", from sitting to standing singing, from "one person with many angles" and "one person with many voices" to "divertimento" with multi-segment storyline. The stage of "female actress" is the heyday in the history of Cantonese opera. During this period, Guangdong music scene was full of talented people, with various schools, and famous artists and songs emerged constantly.

After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), under the guidance of the literary policy of "letting a hundred flowers blossom and bringing forth the new", Cantonese opera became more prosperous. The people's government set up a professional folk artists' troupe, and made great efforts to reform and innovate on the basis of inheriting the tradition, so that Cantonese opera developed from a single standing singing to solo, chorus, rap, performance singing, group singing and other forms. Cultivate a large number of new forces and create a number of excellent Quyi works that reflect the new life and praise the new society. During the Cultural Revolution, Cantonese opera was in a slump. After the downfall of the Gang of Four, Cantonese opera gradually recovered. The government has taken measures such as prospering creation, cultivating successors, and vigorously promoting mass Cantonese opera singing activities, so that Cantonese opera has entered a new stage of development since the 1980s.

Cantonese opera is musical, pays attention to singing, and doesn't read the watch for a long time. The performance basically belongs to the category of opera oratorio. The basic vocals of Cantonese opera are Bangzi and Huanger. Some people also sing Qupai and Xiaoqu; It also absorbs other kinds of songs in Cantonese dialect areas, such as dragon boat, wooden fish, southern sound, Cantonese and so on. And used instrumental music (mainly Cantonese music) and songs to sing the lyrics. From the period of "ten niangs" to the period of "actresses", Cantonese opera has undergone some major reforms: for example, singing in Cantonese instead of "Opera House Mandarin"; Change the original singing with falsetto into singing with real voice; The vocals of the original ten lines of Cantonese Opera can be divided into three categories: big throat (also known as left withdrawal and overbearing, belonging to male voice), flat throat (male voice) and sub-throat (female voice). Accompaniment instruments have also developed from the initial big pieces (Yuehu, dulcimer, pipa and flute) to the soft and hard bow instrument group and China (folk music) western music group. The hard bow combination with Erxian, violin (Guangdong characteristic instrument), yueqin and short throat as the main instruments is mostly used to accompany the singing of big throat; The soft bow combination with Yuehu, dulcimer, pipa, flute and long throat as the main musical instruments is mostly used for accompaniment of flat throat and sub-throat singing. There are also bands with coconut trees, Dong Xiao and Qin Qin as the main instruments, which are used to accompany Nanyin and other vocals, as well as Chinese and Western mixed-voice bands with western instruments as the main instruments. The form of accompaniment is eclectic.

Cantonese opera has a group of outstanding talents in each period. There were Yue Ying, Chinese and English, Cui Yan, Fu Lan, Fang Qun and Mel in the period of "Teacher Niang". There were many famous actresses in the period of "Female Musicians", and the representative figures were Xiong, Si Xiaoping, Xu, Zhang Yueer and He. During this period, a number of famous musicians and songwriters emerged, such as Lv Wencheng, He and He, who were called the "Four Heavenly Kings" of music. Composers: Wang Xinfan, Wu, Zeng Pusheng, Chen,. During the period of People's Republic of China (PRC), there were many talents in Cantonese opera, among which famous actors were Guan Chumei, Huang Peiying, He, Bai Yanzai, Tan, He Zishuang, He (a blind artist), Chen and Lai Tianya. Famous musicians include Liang Qiu, Han Fang, Zhu Hai, Chen Pingjia, Su Wenbing, Qu Qing and Li Haoming. Famous composers include Cai Yanfen, Lu Feng, Liu Hannai and Pan Bangzhen. After the 1980s, a number of outstanding actors and musicians appeared one after another.

Most of the early tracks of Cantonese opera came from the "Ban Ben" of Cantonese opera. By the time of "Shi Niang", Cantonese opera began to accumulate its own unique tracks. Among them, eight are the most representative: The Wife's Meeting of Priscilla, Distinguishing Legends and Explaining Demons, Daiyu Burying Flowers, Son of Kuro, Abandoning Chu to Han, Lu Becoming a Monk, Commending He Wenxiu and Scholar in the Snow. During the "Actress" period, famous actors all had their own first works, such as Xiong's Yue Wumu Banshi, Song Wu's Noisy Lion Building and The Night War. The little star sang "Romantic Dream" and "Where is the Partner" in a flat voice; Xu's "Long Pavilion Folds Willow" and "Dream of Red Mansions"; Qiongxian Zhang's Swallow House and A Farewell to Qiu Jiang. During the period of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, there were many songs about War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, such as Hate Locking Five Yangcheng, Public Enemy of Mankind, Faithful Soul with Blood by Xu, When Will Blood Be Paid, Flaming Chicken, Killing the Enemy to Comfort the Soul, etc. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, there are countless pieces of music: historical works include debates, Zhou Yu's writing watches, selling horses, Mu's conducting, Mulan's camping trip, Cai Moon Hee's returning to Han, and Peacock's flying southeast. Modern theme tracks include Sunny Days in Heqing, A Bullwhip, Husband Zhu Hu Zhong, Two Springs Reflecting the Moon, Shepherd, Misty Rain in Shuangqiao, Xiangxue in Luogang, jathyapple in Goose Pond, Xiao Chun in East Lake, Dan Xin in Zhuhai, Rising Sun in Hongling and Xiangxue, etc., which sing eight scenic spots in Yangcheng.