How to Appreciate Chinese Traditional Opera

The situation of opera in modern times, especially in the last 20 years, is quite puzzling and worrying. Can traditional opera achieve modern transformation? Is there any possibility of modernization? Some scholars hold this kind of doubt, and strongly oppose the modernization of opera, thinking that traditional opera, as a kind of classical culture, should maintain its classical artistic character, and that modernization is neither possible nor necessary for traditional opera, and some even think that traditional opera belongs to the feudal era that has gone away, and that it does not fit in with the modern life, and that it can't reflect the modern life at all, and that it is destined to become a kind of museum art. It is destined to become a kind of museum art. On the contrary, some scholars since the May Fourth did not oppose the modernization of opera, but they believed that the modernization of opera meant getting rid of the so-called traditional culture that represented the feudal ideology, learning from the advanced western theatre, and even requesting the replacement of opera with drama. Which of these two concepts is right or wrong?

The modernization of opera cannot sever the relationship with tradition

People are concerned about the significance of this issue is not only in the world of opera, tradition and modernity are inherent to a pair of different nationalities, different countries have encountered and faced in China, in the opera for the collision of tradition and modernity is the most concentrated and has a typical nature, and so people are particularly concerned about it, and it itself has an extremely complex. It is also extremely complex in itself. In fact, both of these views are diametrically opposed to tradition and modernity. One of the distinctive characteristics of Chinese thought and culture is its inclusiveness, adaptability, absorption and continuity, horizontally absorbing and incorporating, vertically advancing with the times and constantly developing. For example, the entry of Buddhism into China, Buddhism and Confucianism, Taoism, exclusion of compatibility and mutual penetration. From the perspective of the development of traditional opera, a history of opera is actually a history of how traditional opera has changed and transcended itself, how it has tried to adapt to the changes in people's aesthetic tastes and ways of appreciation, and how it has reformed and developed and metabolized itself continuously. It has always reflected the values, aesthetic choices and ways of expression of the times. From Yuanben to Miscellaneous Operas, from Southern Opera to Legends, from Yabu to Huabu, from Tan Xinpei to Mei Lanfang, the trajectory of traditional opera has been outlined to keep up with the times, and this is one of the fundamental reasons why it can realize the modern transformation.

Of course, the reality of the contemporary transformation is different from any previous reforms and changes in history, from the Middle Ages to the ancient times, each previous reform and change has its own complexity and arduousness, but the current change is a historical leap from the classical to the modern era, and the form of the society has gone from the feudal agrarian society and agriculture to the modern industrial society and industry, which is a rapid change and a rapid change, not any other change in history, but a change that is not the same as any other. It is a brand-new era of rapid change and rapid advancement that cannot be compared with any other era in history, and it is the age of science and technology, the age of information, and the age of network, and the speed, efficiency, and "equivalence" of modern development is something that the ancient times did not dare to dream of. Undoubtedly, the difficulty and complexity of this transition from tradition to modernity is unparalleled in any other era in history. In the social life of the day, people's way of thinking and appreciating, values and expressions have undergone radical changes, which led to a greater contradiction between the content of modern life, the way of appreciating and accepting, and the expression of traditional operas; how to solve this contradiction, how to realize this leap, traditional operas have already made their own gestures to seek changes. Such as the earliest Mei Lanfang's fashion plays, the model operas during the Cultural Revolution, a large number of modern operas created since the new period, and even more strikingly, after a long period of silence, the folk operas flourished again and became an important part of people's spiritual and cultural life. Although Mei Lanfang eventually gave up the fashion opera, the model opera was criticized for being too politically ideological, and the modern opera has lost a lot of the essential elements of traditional opera and is not quite satisfactory. However, we can see that opera has already taken the first step in the development and leap from tradition to modernity. The first step in this process should have started from the theater improvement movement in the May Fourth period. 1904-1905, Chen Duxiu published On Theater and Opera, one of the earliest calls for the improvement of theater. This important document, one of the earliest calls for theatrical improvement, kicked off the modernization of opera for nearly a century. This document basically represented the main viewpoints of many scholars about opera at that time, i.e., transforming opera from content to form and trying to make opera a tool for social improvement. We can clearly see from this that the reform of opera carried out by scholars in the May Fourth period was actually in line with the change of the whole Chinese society, in other words, it was a reform of traditional opera by pulling it into the realm of political ideology. In other words, the traditional opera was pulled into the realm of political ideology for reform. This in itself was detached from the connotation of opera as a traditional art. Therefore, when they used this "instrumentalist" standard to improve traditional opera, but found that opera was always inextricably linked with traditional culture, and could not achieve the propaganda effect of improving society as they expected, they demanded that opera deviate from the tradition and learn from and get closer to Western drama, and some scholars even simply advocated the abolition of traditional opera and the inclusion of Western drama in the reform. Some scholars even advocated the complete abolition of traditional opera and the transplantation of Western drama to create a new kind of drama to complete the modernization of Chinese drama. Mr. Zhang Geng, in his evaluation of this history, said, "The May Fourth Movement did not create a new culture for its own people, and therefore did not create a new drama." Inquiring into the reasons for this, he argued, "No culture can flourish and grow into a superior crystallization without receiving heritage, and drama is no exception." It is from this point of view, cut the relationship between tradition and opera, the modernization of opera can only be an empty word, which has become a contemporary academic **** knowledge.

Opera should not become "museum art"

As a traditional art of preservation, opera has its value, but opera should not just be "traditional", should not become "museum art" - museum art has its own value. As a kind of art with deep traditional deposits, the choice of opera in modern times is certainly not a single one, it should be diversified and multi-dimensional, according to the subject matter of the repertoire, the characteristics of the performance of the play, according to the local conditions, not generalized, and can be focused on the same aesthetic and entertainment functions, but undoubtedly to achieve the transformation of the modern era is the fundamental goal, not only is it a kind of artistic aesthetic modern requirements, but also embodies the traditional culture with the It is not only a modern demand for artistic aesthetics, but also a new fission between traditional culture and modern society and modern culture, and a new fissure of inheritance, integration and metabolism. Although there is a considerable barrier between traditional opera and modern culture, the practice in the 20th century tells us that the modern transformation of traditional opera is not unattainable. An important lesson is to respect the law of the development of opera art and the law of the market, and to do something but not to do it artificially. In the 20th century, there was a special passion for opera innovation, and people in different periods paid special attention to opera reform, but they were mostly affected by the social environment and the need for political change, and they could not change in the sense of real artistic development, so it was more of an active "human" for, not an active "for", in the "human" for, in the "human" for, in the "human" for, in the "human" for, in the "human" for, in the "human" for, in the "human for" for. Therefore, it was more of an active "human" action than an active "action", and was lost and destroyed in the "importance" and "emphasis". The experience provided by the "model theater" in terms of positive and negative, "to be" and "man-made" is very typical. The negative and "artificial" aspects are closely associated with the Cultural Revolution, so I will not repeat them here. But its positive, "active" and generally recognized by people is precisely the strength of its innovation and its modern aesthetic meaning, this effort and success comes from a clear rational and scientific thinking, gathering a group of professional teams who really understand opera, carrying out an all-round innovation exploration and practice polishing, actively This effort and success comes from a clear rational and scientific thought, gathering a group of professional teams who really know opera, carrying out an all-round innovation exploration and practical polishing, actively "having for", carrying out an unprecedented innovation in the art of performance, especially in music, and integrating symphony into the music of opera to form a collision of eastern and western music and culture, but "it occurs inside the movement of the music of opera, instead of being added to it, and it is an active choice instead of being passively accepted". It is an active choice, not a passive acceptance. Because it is not only a meaningful and positive collision between traditional opera music culture and Western music culture, but also a harmonization of the relatively closed opera art with the general pattern of modern Chinese culture, it has a value and significance that should not be underestimated." Zhang Geng emphasized that "the reform of opera has many experiences in music creation, and the experience of music creation in the 'Model Opera' is one of the more prominent ones, and it is probably not too much to say that it is the most prominent." The significance of its innovative strength and actual achievements for the modern transformation of opera is self-evident. The exploration of opera since the new period also has a variety of achievements, but from an artistic point of view the lack of overall deployment and organization, impatience and the pursuit of immediate short-term effect also restricts the development and innovation, according to the laws of art opera law to act on the arrival of an artistic era of cultural era, and the coordinated development of the economy and society so that we see the opportunity of the untimely arrival. The modern transformation of opera depends on the artistic and cultural atmosphere provided by the society, and it depends on the rational artistic thinking and pure art of the opera workers, to exclude all kinds of "artificial" factors, and to return to the essence of opera, to regard opera as opera, and not to intentionally make it loaded with more ethical responsibilities and cultural missions, and to "lighten the load" for opera. The "load" for the opera should be "lightened", so that the ancient opera can be revitalized. Over the years, the producers, creators, performers and viewers of opera have been acting in their own ways, difficult to aggregate, each with their own intentions, dividing and dissolving the aesthetic entertainment function, and the practice of opera has a completely different understanding of the standards of evaluation, artistic standards, aesthetic standards of the first and the second, subordinate to the non-artistic other factors, the real audience is set aside without regard. This phenomenon has become a vicious circle in contemporary times, if it does not attract the attention of the opera world, academia, the result can only be as some scholars fear: the modernization of opera has become a trap to bury the traditional opera.

The focus on and return to the folk is fundamental to the modern transformation of opera

How to get out of this trap, we believe that we need to re-conceptualize and rediscover the essence of traditional opera. In fact, traditional opera manifests itself in two forms, one belongs to the cultural form, which mainly exists in the folk, and thus can be called folk opera. This kind of folk opera has a simple, non-artistic tendency, this kind of simplicity and non-artistic tendency, expresses a kind of cultural participation and **** fusion, rather than purely artistic aesthetic chewing; the other belongs to the form of art, is the scholarly and literate people in the folk opera on the basis of the continuous enrichment of the means of its expression, so that it tends to be more elegant, and has a higher aesthetic nature and aesthetic value, the formation of the what we are now seeing The modernization of opera is often referred to as the modernization of opera. The modernization of opera, as we often call it, is more of the modernization of opera art. However, in the process of modernization of opera, people often focus their attention on the performance of modern themes and ideological contents of opera, while neglecting the essential characteristics of opera art as an art style. We believe that the modernization of opera art is not only about whether the themes of opera belong to modern life and whether the ideological content of opera is twisted and vivid and touching. In other words, on the one hand, modern life subjects are certainly one of the contents or even one of the important contents that should be expressed in modern opera art, but the ideology and spiritual life of contemporary people can also be reflected through ancient life subjects. Mr. Zhang Geng has a clear understanding of this, that the center of gravity of the modernization of opera is how to "express the modern life and modern consciousness by the aesthetic standard and way of Chinese people", and that "the spirit of the times of the author's time runs through the historical dramas". Therefore, "it is not necessary that only plays depicting contemporary life are worthy of being called modernized operas; historical dramas written by modern people can also be good modern operas". On the other hand, the ontology of opera art lies in its formal expression, that is, what makes opera art is its unique form of opera expression, that is to say, it is not what the contents of the ideas it expresses but how it expresses them. It is in this sense that Knopf-Bell believes that "beauty" is It is in this sense that Knopf-Bell's famous view that "beauty" is "meaningful form" explains the source of artistic beauty. Thus, the aesthetic value of opera art lies in its unique formal beauty that can be appreciated over and over again, which is the harmonious and organic unity of both form and content. As an ancient traditional art, the formal significance of opera in modern times is especially significant. The modern pursuit of opera art nowadays has made some attempts and efforts on the "beauty of form", but the strength is obviously insufficient and lacks systematicity, and more emphasis is placed on the reflection of modern life and modern consciousness, and even the content is confined to the scope of the main theme, while the form, the inheritance of the tradition of the art and the modernization and innovation should be taken seriously, but it is difficult to walk. However, it is difficult for the modernization of opera art to be carried out, which is the main dilemma of the modernization of opera art.

Undoubtedly, focusing on and returning to the folk is the fundamental way to get rid of this predicament and realize the modern transformation. There is a clear tendency for the development of opera to be elegant, but at the same time, it is also losing the soil on which it depends for its survival, and in that case, opera can only become a castle in the air, and become a flower in the mist of a few people's happiness. Opera is a kind of popular art, popular culture, its root, its pulse, its metabolism mechanism are in the folk, every time the development and prosperity of the art of opera, the folk have played an active and dynamic role, is the main body of reform and innovation, is the driving force of the development of the opera, is the transformation of the opera again and again and the old metabolism of the resource base, every innovation has a deep mass base. However, looking back at the contemporary trend of increasing disrespect and indifference to the folk, which not only makes the innovation of the artistic expression of opera to lose the power to draw on, but also undermines the cultural ecological chain of opera with a long history, so that the opera and the general public more and more segregated, which is one of the biggest shortcomings of the modernization of our opera, but also the academic community has to face up to the problem.

Of course, folk opera will not die out automatically because we ignore it, because it is closely related to folk life, and even it is a part of folk life, so its life is unending. Some learned people in the academic world have gradually recognized the value of folk opera, and people will find that some aspects of folk opera have gone farther and more steadily on the road of pursuing its modern transformation, and in some areas, it has even been integrated into people's modern spiritual and cultural life, becoming an indispensable part of their cultural life. We have every reason to believe that the rediscovery of folk music and the return of its essence will be of special significance to opera people in the 21st century, and will be a secret key to realizing the modern transformation of traditional opera and getting out of the predicament.

Taken from Baidu.com, thank you.