Beijing Opera/Peking Opera
Peking opera was born when the 'Four Great Anhui Troupes' brought Anhui opera in 1790 to Beijing, for the eightieth birthday of the Qianlong Emperor on 25 September. It was originally staged for the court and only made available to the public later. In 1828, several famous Hubei troupes arrived in Beijing and performed jointly with Anhui troupes. The combination gradually formed Peking opera's melodies. Peking opera is generally regarded as having fully formed by 1845.
Peking opera was able to absorb, adopt, and merge the music, dance, art, and other qualities of theatre forms that came before it, particularly Kunqu's and Han opera. Its development led to it having reduced vocal requirements, less complicated melodies, additional acrobatic/martial arts sequences, and an abundant repertoire. This led Peking opera to attracting more and more audiences and, consequently, performers as well.
Today, Peking Opera can be regarded as the quintessence of Chinese arts.
Peking opera was able to absorb, adopt, and merge the music, dance, art, and other qualities of theatre forms that came before it, particularly Kunqu's and Han opera. Its development led to it having reduced vocal requirements, less complicated melodies, additional acrobatic/martial arts sequences, and an abundant repertoire. This led Peking opera to attracting more and more audiences and, consequently, performers as well.
Today, Peking Opera can be regarded as the quintessence of Chinese arts.
Roles
Sheng
1.Laosheng – older male 2.Xiaosheng – young male 3.Wusheng – warriors male |
Dan
1.Qing yi - demure and dignified young female 2.Hua dan - lively and cheerful young females 3.Hua shan - combined roles of qing yi and hua dan 4.Wu dan - female martial artist 5.Lao dan - old female characters |
Jing
1.Zheng jing - singers 2.Jiazi - humorous or cunning characters 3.Wujing - acrobats |
Chou
1.Wen chou - merchants and jailers 2.Wu chou - militants |
Four Means of Artistic Representation
Peking Opera has "chang" (singing), "nian" (dialogue), "zuo" (acting), and "da" (martial arts) as its basic performing forms.
"Chang" is mainly performed in the tunes of "xipi" (use for expressing emotions that are generally quick, fluent and light, like happiness, agitation, and excitement) and "erhuang" (stable and strong and is generally used to express a thinking mood, and deep, sorrowful feelings).
"Nian" is mainly done in the tones of "yun bai" (a constrained and poetic voice )and "jing bai" (a natural voice).
"Zuo" means the body movements (dancing and acting) of the actor or actress.
"Da" is the martial art with acrobatic actions.
"Chang" is mainly performed in the tunes of "xipi" (use for expressing emotions that are generally quick, fluent and light, like happiness, agitation, and excitement) and "erhuang" (stable and strong and is generally used to express a thinking mood, and deep, sorrowful feelings).
"Nian" is mainly done in the tones of "yun bai" (a constrained and poetic voice )and "jing bai" (a natural voice).
"Zuo" means the body movements (dancing and acting) of the actor or actress.
"Da" is the martial art with acrobatic actions.
A showcase of singing, dialogue, and acting.
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The martial arts aspect of Peking Opera.
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Music
The music of Peking opera is that of the "plate and cavity style". Its melody with harmonious rhythms is graceful and pleasing to the ears.
The melody may be classified into two groups: "Xipi" and "Erhuang"---guiding pattern, original pattern, slow pattern, quick pattern, desultory pattern being their chief patterns. The performance is accompanied by a tune played on wind instruments, percussion instruments and stringed instruments, the chief musical instruments being jinghu (a two-stringed bowed instrument with a high register), and yueqin (a four-stringed plucked instrument with a full-moon-shaped sound box).
The melody may be classified into two groups: "Xipi" and "Erhuang"---guiding pattern, original pattern, slow pattern, quick pattern, desultory pattern being their chief patterns. The performance is accompanied by a tune played on wind instruments, percussion instruments and stringed instruments, the chief musical instruments being jinghu (a two-stringed bowed instrument with a high register), and yueqin (a four-stringed plucked instrument with a full-moon-shaped sound box).
Jinghu instrument
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Yueqin instrument
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A sample of Peking Opera music.
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Reportoire
The repertoire of Peking opera includes nearly 1,400 works. The plays are mostly taken from historical novels or traditional stories about civil, political and military struggles.
Two traditional methods have existed since Peking opera first appeared in China:
Plays have also been categorized into the following:
In order to attract a wider range of audience, Peking Opera has taken the liberty of adapting Western works as well such as Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "King Lear".
Two traditional methods have existed since Peking opera first appeared in China:
- Civil plays - focus on the relationships between characters, and feature personal, domestic, and romantic situations.
- Martial plays - greater emphasis on action and combat skill.
Plays have also been categorized into the following:
- Chuantongxi - traditional plays that were in performance before 1949.
- Xinbian de lishixi - historical plays written after 1949.
- Xiandaixi - contemporary plays
In order to attract a wider range of audience, Peking Opera has taken the liberty of adapting Western works as well such as Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "King Lear".