As for the artistic ontology of opera, the academic discussion seems to be insufficient so far. Mr. Zhang Geng once explained this with the theory of "dramatic poetry" and believed that "Chinese operas are poems written by poets"; compared with "lyrical or narrative 'sanqu' used for a cappella singing", opera is "drama" Poetry" is "poetry performed on the stage". (1) As soon as this theory came out, it had a wide influence and was almost finalized. This laid the foundation for several major academic projects in the study of Chinese opera art after the founding of the People's Republic of China. (2) It has become a guiding viewpoint since the 1950s and 1960s, especially in the new era of opera creation (choreography) and opera reform practice.
There is no doubt that the theory of "dramatic poetry" affirms the close relationship between opera and the artistic tradition of Chinese classical poetry, reveals the "poetic" nature of opera, the characteristics of lyrical and freehand brushwork, and the impact of "poetic flavor" on choreography. Pursuing various aspects has its own unique theoretical value and practical significance. However, as a transplantation and transformation of Western theoretical discourse, it basically takes literature as the frame of reference, which is not only insufficient to represent the essence of drama as a comprehensive stage art, but is also inevitably influenced by Western "dramatic poetry" theory and is different from Chinese The actual situation of the opera is not very consistent.
"Drama poetry" in the Western literary tradition has at least two levels of theoretical connotation: first, as a stylistic norm, and second, as an aesthetic principle. The former belongs to the category of art morphology, and the latter belongs to the category of art ontology. The two are both related to each other and different from each other. In the sense of stylistic norms, drama, as a type of poetry, is juxtaposed with lyric poetry and narrative poetry (epic), imitating life in the form of speaking style. From Aristotle's "Poetics" to Belinsky's "On the Classification of Poetry," this concept is in the same vein and is generally recognized by Westerners. In terms of aesthetic principles, Western aestheticians have quite different understandings of "dramatic poetry". Starting from the constituent principles of his speculative philosophy system, Hegel believed that dramatic poetry embodies the unity of the subjectivity of lyric poetry and the objectivity of narrative poetry, and that dramatic poetry has different aesthetic qualities of tragedy, comedy, and drama. (3) Swiss scholars Emil and Stagel focused on the differences between dramatic style, lyrical style and narrative style, and believed that lyrical style can be classified as "memory", and narrative style can be classified as "presentation", while Dramatic style can be classified as "tense". (4) American scholar Susan Lange strives to break away from the barriers of literature and attributes drama to a "pure poetic art". She believes that the highest essence of dramatic poetic art is to create a model of "illusion of destiny"; Tragedy and comedy embody two different rhythms and patterns of life: tragedy is a typical example of bad luck, and its form is closed, ultimate, and passionate; while comedy is a typical example of luck, which is accidental, episodic, and ethical. . (5)
Obviously, the "dramatic poetry" theory of Chinese opera has not been able to make a specific review of the absorption and reference of Western dramatic poetry theory at these two levels. Western theories of drama and poetry are at odds with each other. In the sense of stylistic norms, although there is a saying in China that "poems are used as lyrics, and words are used as music", music, as a "remnant of words", has not experienced the evolution and differentiation of Western-style poetic styles. The genre of music is not that it is in the same vein as poetry, but rather that it is different from poetry that "expresses aspirations" and "conveys the way", and has a different taste from elegance to vulgarity. Since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the operas in Goulan Washili, especially the Huabu that flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, are no different from the dominant Shen Yun poetry at the same time. Although the participation of literati also had a tendency to become more refined during this period, the way in which they conveyed feelings and emotions was still very different from the way poems chant about objects and emotions. At the level of aesthetic principles, opera cannot be generally classified as "the unity of subjectivity of lyric poetry and objectivity of narrative poetry" (Hegel), or "tense" style (Stagel) or some kind of "union of subjectivity of lyric poetry and objectivity of narrative poetry" (Hegel) "Fate Illusion" model (Susan Lange), and there is no strict aesthetic qualitative distinction between tragedy and comedy. Opera naturally has its own aesthetic characteristics, but as Mr. Zhang Geng pointed out, the so-called "freehand brushwork" characteristics and the pursuit of "artistic conception" are the generality of Chinese poetics rather than the individuality of opera. Using "dramatic poetry" to explain the aesthetic characteristics of opera is not only insufficient to clarify, but will cause a certain degree of estrangement and even misunderstanding. It was in his discussion of "dramatic poetry" that Hegel asserted that there was no developed drama in China, only the germ of drama. (6) However, Susan Lange concluded from the artistic treatment of Chinese opera a "poetry" that transcends specific dramatic actions. (7) Although they are both derived from "drama poetry", they have different conclusions. Why? Dramatic poetry theory itself is difficult to answer. Therefore, the theory of "dramatic poetry" in Chinese opera is a "misreading" of Western dramatic poetry theory. Although it has been intentionally or unintentionally eliminated, it is difficult to fundamentally bridge the gap between "dramatic poetry" and opera.