A brief introduction to the development history of Ming and Qing operas.

Flower Department in Qing Dynasty: refers to all kinds of local operas except Kunshan Opera, which is also called "chaotic drama" because of its mixed meanings. Although it is not valued by literati, it is welcomed by the lower audience, and it is still popular in rural mountainous areas and small towns, and has gradually formed its own unique singing and script system. During the reign of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, the forces of these popular local operas began to grow and develop, forming a prosperous situation of various local operas. Among them, the most influential and widespread ones are: First, the high-pitched tune evolved from Yiyang tune. Yiyang dialect has the advantages of "misusing local dialects" and "obeying local customs" from the beginning, so it is not bound by local dialects and dialects and is popular everywhere. In the process of spreading, it combined with local accents and local tunes to produce some new tunes with local characteristics. However, these newly generated vocal cavities have maintained the characteristics of Yiyang's "one person sings the harmony of all people", and the cavity is high. Therefore, in the Qing Dynasty, these opera tunes evolved from Yiyang were collectively called high notes. Second, Bangzi Opera Bangzi Opera, also known as Shaanxi Opera, was first formed in Shanxi and Shaanxi and developed on the basis of folk operas. As early as the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the tunes of Shaanxi Bangzi Opera appeared. For example, The Legend of Zhong Bolian in the Wanli Period of the Ming Dynasty adopted the tune of "Two Masters in Western Qin Dynasty". In Li Tiaoyuan's Yucun Opera, it is also recorded that "the ditty sung by the mountain today is called Western Music, which is different from the ancient times and is also said because of its folk customs". In addition, there is a play "Out of the Castle" in Zhuanqiu, in which the tune "Western Tune" is also used. It can be said that this "western tune" is the embryonic form of Bangzi opera. By the Kangxi period, Bangzi tune had begun to take shape and became a new opera tune. On the one hand, it is popular in Shanxi and Shaanxi. For example, according to Yan Changming's Biography of Qin Yun Picking English, during the Qianlong period, many bangzi troupes gathered in Xi 'an, Shaanxi. On the other hand, Bangzi opera has also spread to other places. According to Qin Sheng's Biography of Picking up Britain, Yangzhou Pictures and other books, during the Qianlong period, Bangzi Opera had spread to Beijing, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou. Moreover, after Shanshan Bangzi Opera spread all over the country, it gradually combined with the local accent and evolved into Bangzi Opera with local characteristics. For example, The Biography of Qin Yun Picking up English said: Although the pronunciation of Qin dialect spread to Yan, Jing, Qi, Jin and Zhongzhou, it gradually changed, but only those who were close to the local area changed little. Therefore, a variety of styles of Bangzi singing systems have been formed, such as Zhou Pu Bangzi, Zhonglu Bangzi, Beilu Bangzi and Shangdang Bangzi in Shanxi, Tongzhou Bangzi, Zhonglu Qinqiang in Shaanxi, West Road Qinqiang and Lu Nan Qinqiang in Henan, and so on. Thirdly, Pi Huangqiang Pi Huangqiang is a traditional opera vocal cavity which is a combination of Xipi and Huanger. Xipi tune is a new tune produced by combining local local tune after Shaanxi Bangzi tune spread to Xiangyang, Hubei, so it is also called Xiangyang tune. The so-called "Xipi" is a tune from Shaanxi. Because some troupes in Hubei called it "Pi", the tune was first formed in Anhui. For example, Li Dou's Record of Yangzhou Paintings in Qing Dynasty recorded that Anqing had a Er Quan. During the Daoguang period, Hubei Opera Troupe, which mainly sang Xipi, and Huizhou Opera Troupe, which mainly sang Huang Er, went to Beijing at the same time and performed on the same stage. When Xipi and Huanger merged, they formed a new tune, namely Pi Huangqiang. Fourthly, Liu Ziqiang Liu Ziqiang, which originated in Shandong, is a collection of local popular folk tunes. The so-called Liu Zi means minor or ditty. As early as the Kangxi period, Pu Songling, the author of Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, used the tunes of his hometown to compose operas, such as the drama Xiang Jealous Mantra, which used Xijiangyue, goat, Biao Pao, Xi Wa, Huang, Xiang six niang, Yin Niu Si, Ya Ya and so on. Although some of these folk ditties have the same title as the songs of North and South, their singing methods and usage are different, and there is no strict melody law like the legendary couplets. For example, most of the songs used in the play "The Curse of Jealousy" are incomplete. Some plays only use two or three kinds of minor, and each minor uses four or five to seven or eight songs in succession. In order to avoid heavy and dull singing, it is also divided into tight board and soft board to adjust the rhythm. The rise of Huabu Zhu Qiang Opera is related to its mass and popularity. Judging from the repertoire, Huabu Opera is mostly performed by the lower classes, or historical stories or folklore, such as the historical stories of Three Kingdoms, Water Margin and Yang Jiajiang. Moreover, through these dramas, the wishes and demands of the working people are also expressed in twists and turns, so they are welcomed by the working people. In terms of artistic form, Zhu Qiang Opera in Chinatown has lively and intense singing, few words and easy lyrics, which are in line with the appreciation level and artistic taste of the lower working people. Therefore, the working people regard these native local operas as their best form of entertainment. "Flower Field Tan Xu" once said: In February and August, foreign villages took turns singing, and farmers and fishermen gathered for a long time. This shows that Chinatown drama has a deep mass base, which is also the main driving force for the rise and development of Chinatown drama. The rise of Huabu Opera has replaced the dominant position of Kunshan Opera in the music scene, which has made an important change in China opera art since the appearance of Southern Opera in Song, Yuan and Southern Dynasties, that is, the original couplets have become banqiang, thus ending the legendary era in the history of China opera and starting a new period of random opera, making China opera art more colorful.

In the early Ming Dynasty, during the decline of the Northern Opera, the Southern Opera developed rapidly and absorbed some excellent elements of the Northern Opera, which gradually evolved into a legendary stage, thus creating a new period dominated by legends in the history of China opera. Legendary system is developed on the basis of Southern Opera, which maintains some original basic systems and rules of Southern Opera, and at the same time has new development and perfection. This is mainly reflected in the following points: first, the script is divided and added. Although there are paragraphs in the Southern Opera, the numbers are not clearly indicated in the script. Legends are partially published, and each one has a purpose. The Southern Opera is long. If it is not separated, it will be inconvenient to read and quote. Therefore, the separation of legends is a physical progress. In addition, due to the appearance, the original title of Nan Opera has lost its popular role. According to legend, these four titles were moved to the end of the first scene and became the last poem recited by the lieutenant after the opening. Second, the combination of North and South songs is widely used. In the later works of Southern Opera, although there are some combinations of songs from the North and the South, as shown in the figure, it is not very common, and it is a special exception. There are not many forms of combination of songs from the South and the North, which are relatively simple. In legends, the combination of northern and southern songs is not only widely used, but almost all legendary works have the combination of northern and southern songs, and the combination forms are also diverse, such as one south and one north, which are used alternately, and there are also mixed north and south, that is, in a set of songs, half of them use southern songs and half use northern songs, or first south and then north, or first north and south are also quoted in a play. In addition, when playwrights use this form, they all start from the needs of the plot, that is, they highlight the contrast of characters with the differences in sound and emotion between the north and the south tunes, and strengthen the intensification of drama conflicts, so as to achieve the harmony and unity of the plot and tunes. Third, the widespread use of songs. The so-called music collection is to select a different tune from the same palace tune or similar palace tune to form a new tune. Each song collection is suitable for students to express their feelings with fine songs or with coarse and fine songs. Legends are mostly written by literati, who like to express their feelings through drama, so the number of long-set fine songs increases, and the original fine songs are not enough, so they use more sets. However, if the collection is used too much, it will be inconvenient to move, even if it moves, it will make the audience sleepy. Therefore, the increase of legendary anthology is also its disadvantage, and it is also one of the reasons for its later decline. Fourth, the music law is stricter. In Southern Opera, some tunes, such as Fu Ma Lang, Four Sides Quiet, Guang Guang Zha and Wu Xiaosi, can be used as clean and unpleasant tunes, and sometimes students can sing them. But in legend, these tunes can only be used as clean and ugly songs, and they can't be combined, let alone sung by students. Fifth, the foot color system has developed greatly. There were only seven basic foot colors in Southern Opera in Song and Yuan Dynasties, and several new foot colors were differentiated from these seven basic foot colors in Ming and Qing Dynasties. For example, Wang Jide's Complementary Color of Qulv said: "Today's southern operas (that is, legends) have a positive life, a near life (or a small life), a positive life, a near life, an old life, an outer end, a clean, ugly (that is, a middle purity) and a clown (that is, a small purity). * * * Twelve people, or eleven people, different from ancient times. " Dou's Record of Yangzhou Painting Boat also said: "The pear garden is the foreman. Below the deputy: old students, ordinary students, outsiders, big faces, two faces and three faces, and another person named' miscellaneous'. This' twelve feet in the rivers and lakes'. " It can be seen that the legendary foot color has increased by five compared with the southern opera. Legend has it that it rose in the early Ming Dynasty and declined in the middle Qing Dynasty. In the development process of more than 350 years, it has roughly experienced three stages: the first stage: the early Ming Dynasty. This is the stage when the Southern Opera gradually evolved into a legend, so the system and performance form are not perfect. Moreover, the ruler's interference in the content of the legend also affected the development of the legend. After the establishment of the Ming dynasty, the rulers of the Ming dynasty took corresponding measures in culture in order to consolidate their dominant position. On the one hand, they strictly prohibited those operas that damaged the image of the Empress Dowager and endangered the feudal rule; on the other hand, they encouraged opera writers to write those operas (Da Ming Law Prohibits Moving Zaju), in an attempt to publicize feudal moral concepts with operas to consolidate the feudal rule. For example, Zhu Yuanzhang read Gao Zecheng's Pipa Story and enjoyed it very much. Due to the advocacy of feudal rulers, many legendary works promoting feudal traditional morality appeared in the music scene in this period. Most of these works were written by feudal literati. For example, Qiu Jun's "Five Lun Quan Bei Ji" and Shao Can's "Xiangnang Ji" are the representatives of this kind of works. The second stage: from the middle of Ming Dynasty to the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty. This is the golden age of legendary development. During this period, there were three peaks of legendary creation. The first climax was during Jiajing period, when Wei Liangfu reformed Kunshan Opera through Liang Chenyu's legendary "Huansha Ji" and put it on the stage. Many scholars also write legends and writers and works appear in large numbers. Moreover, during this period, the rule of the Ming dynasty began to appear crisis, and internal and external troubles continued. This social reality has also attracted the attention of legendary writers, and their legendary works reflect the social reality at that time to varying degrees. In this way, in terms of the legendary theme and content, the countercurrent of "taking today's prose as the Southern Song Dynasty" and promoting feudal morality since the early Ming Dynasty was initially reversed, and legendary works with realistic contents such as Sword, Feng Ming and Huansha appeared. Secondly, the legendary creation climax marked by Tang Xianzu's "four dreams" in Wanli period. During the Wanli period, the urban economy developed greatly, and some cities along the southeast coast began to sprout capitalist relations of production. The development of urban economy provides rich material conditions and a huge audience for the prosperity of traditional Chinese opera. At the same time, due to the emergence of budding capitalist relations of production, a new anti-feudal trend of thought appeared in the superstructure of feudal society. Wang Xue, who advocates that "the people should use the way of daily use", is the representative of this new left-wing trend of thought. The emergence of this new trend of thought also provides new content for legendary creation. Therefore, the legendary creation in this period has the following characteristics: First, a large number of legendary writers and works have emerged, such as Qu Pin written by Ming Lu Tiancheng, which says, "Spreading legends is not far away. On the banks of the river, the wind is boiling, and between Wu and gradually, the wind is lingering. " Second, there have been many works with anti-feudal content. The Peony Pavilion by Tang Xianzu is an outstanding representative of this kind of works. Through the love story between Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei, it reveals the spiritual destruction of young men and women by feudal ethics, and conveys the good wishes of young men and women under the oppression of feudal ethics to break through the shackles of feudal ethics and strive for individual liberation and marital autonomy. For example, Gao Lian's Hosta also created two feudal rebellions, Chen Miaochang and Pan Zhengbi.