Mei Lanfang’s life introduction
(1) Life
Mei Lanfang (1894-1961), whose real name is Lan, also known as Heming, nickname The skirt and group are named Wanhua and Huanhua, respectively signed by the owner of Yuxuan, whose stage name is Lanfang and whose ancestral home is Taizhou, Jiangsu. He was born on September 20, the 20th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (October 22, 1894), into a Liyuan family in Litieguai Xiejie, Beijing. He died of illness in Beijing on August 8, 1961, at the age of 68. He is an outstanding modern Peking Opera performing artist in my country and a respected social activist. He devoted his whole life to the artistic cause of his motherland, made outstanding contributions to the development of his motherland's opera art and international cultural exchanges, and became a cultural celebrity well-known at home and abroad.
(2) The childhood of studying hard
Liyuan Family: Mei Lanfang’s grandfather, Mei Qiaoling,
was a famous Peking Opera actor in the 19th century. She is also good at Tsing Yi Hua Dan, and is listed as one of the "Thirteen Wonders of Tongguang". His father, Mei Zhufen, was also a versatile Peking Opera actor. Unfortunately, he died young. Uncle Mei Yutian is an outstanding Peking Opera instrumentalist, known as "Six Scenes Transparent" (that is, all instruments can be picked up to accompany Tan Xinpei in all scenes), and he has been accompanying Tan Xinpei for a long time. The artistic influence he received since childhood laid the foundation for Mei Lanfang's pioneering development in Peking Opera art.
Mei Lanfang’s childhood life was quite difficult. His parents died young and he relied on his uncle's income as an accompanist to support himself. He started studying art at the age of 8 and performed on stage at the age of 11. During this period, in addition to learning Qingyi opera, he also learned Huadan opera, martial arts, Kunqu opera, etc. At the same time, he also watched plays and carefully compared and pondered the artistic essence of previous artists.
In addition to acting and practicing martial arts, he has a wide range of hobbies, especially raising pigeons, flowers, calligraphy and painting, and these hobbies played a great role in improving his performing arts. When he was young, Mei Lanfang's eyes were slightly short-sighted, and sometimes he would shed tears in the wind, and his eyes could not move quickly. Therefore, every evening at dusk, he would let pigeons fly in the sky and let his eyes move with the pigeons to seriously exercise his eyesight. Over time, the eyes become flexible, clear and expressive.
He believes that the costume colors, makeup, facial makeup, and stage installations of Peking Opera are closely related to art, and it is best to be able to paint them by yourself. From 1913 to 1914, he went to Shanghai to perform twice. He formed a lifelong friendship with the old painter Wu Changshuo, and thus began his painting life. Please ask Wang Mengbai to teach painting first. Later, he learned to paint Buddhist statues from Chen Shizeng and Yao Mangfu, and learned to paint grass insects, pine plums, etc. from Qi Baishi and Tang Dingzhi.
Mei Lanfang’s contribution to film art is also praised. As early as 1920, the silent stage documentaries "Spring Fragrance in School" and "The Goddess Scattered Flowers" were filmed.
(3) Learn from others and establish the Mei School
When Mei Lanfang was 20 years old, he was already a well-known Peking Opera actor in Beijing and Shanghai.
In November 1913, Mei Lanfang and Wang Fengqing were invited to perform in Shanghai for the first time. One or two copies of "Hong Ni Guan" were staged, setting a precedent for one person to play two different professions, different appearances, and different acting methods in the same play. "Gun Mu Tianwang" caused a sensation in Shanghai.
In the autumn and winter of 1914, Mei Lanfang was invited to perform in Shanghai again, adding plays such as "The Drunken Concubine". The performance lasted for 45 days, and the venues were full and the event was unprecedented. He was elected as the "King of the Actor World" with more than 220,000 votes.
The two performances in Shanghai were an important key to Mei Lanfang’s development in drama throughout his life. His position in the art world was clearly cemented.
After Mei Lanfang returned to Beijing, he began to create "A Wisp of Ma" and other new fashion plays that opposed feudal arranged marriages and exposed the darkness of officialdom, which played a significant role in promoting the innovation and development of Peking Opera art. .
Soon, he tried to rehearse new costume plays, such as "Daiyu Buried Flowers", etc., which portrayed the images of women pursuing freedom and happiness, created new women's costumes and appearances, and enriched Peking Opera. Stage costumes. These new costume dramas based on literature are loved by the audience.
From April 1915 to September 1916, Mei Lanfang choreographed and performed 11 new plays, and also compiled and staged many traditional plays, such as "Universal Frontier", "Mulan", "Kao" Red》etc.
In 1921, he wrote "Farewell My Concubine", which depicts the image of Yu Concubine who is kind, knowledgeable, emotional and unyielding. This play later became one of the outstanding ones in Mei Pai's repertoire.
He combined the culmination of Peking Opera's dan role art, combined the performance characteristics of Tsing Yi, Hua Dan, and Daoma Dan to create his own unique performance form and singing style - Mei School. Later, she was known as one of the "Four Famous Dancing Dangers" of Peking Opera.