What are the subtle differences in singing between Beijing Opera and Kunqu Opera? !

Kunqu opera belongs to vocal music, with sentences as the unit, and belongs to the title of Qupai. It can be called the lost Yu Yaoqiang, Haiyan and Yiyang tune. Beijing opera belongs to the later banqiang music, which is based on words and belongs to poetic style. Poetic praise style comes from Shi Pin and Yue Fu, which belongs to the poetic style in literature. In terms of meter, there are basic tones, indefinite sentences and definite characters, mainly five-character, seven-character and miscellaneous characters. For example, the "Xipi" in Peking Opera is mainly composed of seven words and nine words; "Huang Er" is mainly composed of nine words, eleven words and miscellaneous words, which is why some excellent Beijing opera aria all sound the same. The classification of "Xipi" and "Huang Er" has resulted in this feature of Peking Opera. It should be noted that other local operas popular in China, such as Pingxi Opera and Luozi Opera, are all topics of poetry and songs. They only talk about the flat tone of words, but the title of Qupai is much more complicated. There are not only four tones in words, but also five tones in music, as explained below. In terms of rhyme, poetry praise can use poetic rhyme, such as horizontal rhyme; In addition, due to the late appearance of poetic praise, rhyme can also be used, such as "Zhongyuan rhyme", or "Thirteen Streets" and "Thirteen Streets" widely used in Beijing Opera.

Qupai style comes from music words and Quzi words, which belong to Ci and Qupai in literature, and its unit is Ci and Qupai. In terms of beat, music has a fixed beat, a fixed sentence, a fixed word in the sentence and a fixed sound in the word, which is extremely strict. There are four sentences and six sentences, four of which are called "Xiaoling" and six are called "Yin" and "Jin". "Slow" is eight sentences, and it is repeated on this basis. Words are usually repeated twice, some three or four times; The repetition of songs is uncertain, or there is no repetition.

The definition of each sentence is very strict, and individual differences will be marked as "one more"; But Qu developed and allowed to add "interlining". However, due to the characteristics of many reserved words in Nanqu, there is a saying that "lines are not as good as three", while there is no such restriction in Beiqu, and sometimes the number of lines even exceeds the original words stipulated by Qupai. But for the convenience of printing, the current version of the lyrics will not indicate which is the original word and which is the lining word. The distinction between big and small characters seems to have been seen before. It may have been turned over when the master studied the version of ancient books, but it has not been seen in some newly printed regular scripts.

In terms of rhyme, Qupai uses rhyme and rhymes. In practical application, the gap between rhyme and rhyme is not too big, but Kunqu can't use thirteen rhymes. There is a simple reason. Thirteen rhymes appeared after Kunqu opera, and the basic formula of Kunqu opera will not change because of this. It still uses traditional rhyme. There are many details about the rhyme of Kunqu Opera. If you are interested, you can refer to Mr. Wang Shoutai's Kunqu Rhyme, which explains the rhymes of Nanqu and Beiqu in detail.

Kunqu Opera has the value of a living fossil because it retains the creative and singing characteristics of China's traditional Qupai style, and it is the only living thing preserved in the study of China's classical operas. When I was in Tianjin, I visited an amateur Kunqu club. Most of its members have retired, and several professional teachers have also retired from the troupe. I remember a teacher said that she used to sing Peking Opera in Tsing Yi, but she couldn't stop when she came across Kunqu Opera. I think Kunqu opera really has a unique charm that people can't stop. I hope this baby will be passed on to our generation and continue to ignite brilliance.

Another thing to say is that the development of Beijing opera can not be separated from Kunqu opera. Huang Er's vocals in Beijing Opera originated from Kunqu Opera, and many Beijing Opera vocals are original Kunqu Opera.