Yuanqu is a wonderful flower in the splendid cultural treasure house of the Chinese nation, which embodies its unique characteristics in ideological content and artistic achievements and has become three important milestones in the history of China literature.
The Yuan Dynasty was the heyday of Yuanqu. Generally speaking, Yuan Zaju and Sanqu are collectively called Yuanqu, and both of them use Beiqu as the singing form. Sanqu is the main body of literature in Yuan Dynasty. However, the achievements and influence of Yuan Zaju far exceeded that of Sanqu, so some people called Yuan Zaju "Yuan Qu" or "Yuan Qu".
Although there is a fixed framework, it is not rigid. Interlaced characters are allowed in the fixed frame, and sentences can be added to some qupai. In terms of rhyme, it is allowed to be flat and even, which is more flexible than quatrains and Song poems in metrical poems. Therefore, readers can find that two songs with the same "Qupai" sometimes have different words, which is the reason (the one with the least words in the same Qupai is the standard frame). Yuanqu is also called Yu Jihe Yuefu.
Yuanqu is another literary prosperity after Tang poetry and Song poetry, and it has its unique charm: on the one hand, Yuanqu inherits the beauty and gracefulness of poetry; On the one hand, in the Yuan Dynasty, the soldiers and soldiers were placed in the position of "eight prostitutes, nine men and ten beggars", and the political monopoly and social darkness made Song Yuan radiate extremely dazzling fighting brilliance and reveal rebellious feelings; Sharp-edged pointed at the drawbacks of society, denounced the society that "not reading is the highest, illiteracy is the best, and people who are not sensible are bragging", and pointed at the world trend that "everyone is embarrassed to live, and no one can see the money". The works describing love in Yuan Qu are also more inflammatory and bold than the poems of past dynasties. All these are enough to keep the artistic charm of Yuanqu forever.
The rise of Yuanqu has a far-reaching influence and outstanding contribution to the development of China's national poetry and cultural prosperity. As soon as Yuanqu appeared, just like other artistic flowers, it immediately showed great vitality. It is not only a convenient tool for literati to express their feelings, but also provides a brand-new art form to reflect the social life of the Yuan Dynasty.
The creation of Yuan Qu includes two styles: one is Sanqu, including Xiao Ling, Dai Qu and Ju Qu; Secondly, Wen Qu, which consists of several episodes, is a kind of zaju specially performed on the stage, which is a mixture of Bai Bin and Ke Fan. "Sanqu" is opposite to "drama". Drama is a script used for performance, writing lyrics, explanations and actions of various roles; Sanqu is only used as the lyrics of oratorio. In form, Sanqu is similar to Ci, but in language, Ci should be elegant and implicit, and Sanqu should be popular and lively. In terms of meter, words are more rigorous, while Sanqu is more free. Sanqu can be divided into "Xiao Ling" and "San Tao". Xiao Ling, also known as Ye Er, has a short system and is usually just an independent tune (a few contain two or three tunes). Three peaches are composed of many songs, and it is required to always use a rhyme. Qupai of Sanqu also has various names, such as Daodaoling, Chuidi, Happy Spring, Alpine Sheep, Hong Xiuxie and so on. Most of these names are vulgar, which also shows that Sanqu is closer to folk songs than Ci. With its profound reality, extensive theme, popular language, vivid form, fresh style, vivid description and changeable skills, Yuanqu radiated dazzling brilliance in China ancient literary garden.
There are complicated reasons for the rise and development of Yuanqu. First of all, the social reality of the first generation is the foundation of the rise of Yuanqu. The vast territory, prosperous urban economy, grand theater, active book club and all-weather audience laid the foundation for the rise of Yuanqu. Secondly, the exchange and integration of the cultures of all ethnic groups in the Yuan Dynasty promoted the formation of Yuan Qu. Thirdly, Yuanqu is the inherent law of poetry itself and the inevitable result of the inheritance and development of literary tradition.
The development of Yuanqu can be divided into three periods.
Early stage: from the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty to the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty. During this period, Yuanqu has just entered the poetry world from folk slang, with distinctive characteristics of popularization and colloquialism, bold and straightforward, simple and natural. Most of the authors are northerners, among whom Guan Hanqing, Ma Zhiyuan, Wang Shifu, Wang Xiaojun, Bai Pu and others have the highest achievements. For example, Guan Hanqing's zaju vividly depicts the world, with wonderful songs, changeable styles, vivid and profound poems, crystal-clear beauty and gorgeous and bitter sets. Ma Zhiyuan's creation has a wide range of themes, lofty artistic conception, vivid images, beautiful language and harmonious phonology. He is known as the first master of Yuan Sanqu, "the first person of Qu Yuan" and "the father of Qiu Si".
Mid-term: from Yuan Shizu to the first year to Yuan Shundi, and then to the first year. During this period, the creation of Yuanqu began to make a comprehensive transition to knowledge and specialization, and Sanqu became the main genre of poetry. Important writers include Zheng Guangzu, Sue, George, etc.
The last period: from Yuan Chengzong to mindfulness, to the end of Yuan Dynasty. At this time, Sanqu writers were specialized in composing music. They pay attention to metrical rhetoric, deliberately strive for work in art, and advocate grace, exquisiteness, elegance and beauty. Representative writers are Zhang, Xu Zaisi and so on.
In a word, Yuanqu, as a "literature of one generation", has rich and diverse themes, broad creative vision, vivid life, full and touching characters, and easy-to-understand language, which is an indispensable and valuable heritage in China's ancient cultural treasure house.
The four masters of Yuan Opera: Guan Hanqing, Ma Zhiyuan, Wang Shifu and Bai Pu.
Three elements of Yuanqu: singing (lyrics), subject (action) and dialogue.
The rise of Yuanqu represented the highest achievement of literature in this period. As far as it is concerned, it is because Yuanqu established and perfected the system form. Flexion system is embodied in the following six aspects:
1. Gongdiao: Gongdiao refers to the mode of ancient music in China. Quhe Gongdiao originated from Yan Yue in Sui and Tang Dynasties. There are five palaces and four tones commonly used in North and South music, commonly known as Nine Palaces or South Nine Palaces, including Gong Zheng, Lv Zhong Palace, Lu Nan Palace, Lv Xian Palace, Huangzhong Palace (Five Palaces), Broad-faced Tone, Double Tone, Upgraded Tone and Yuediao Tone (four tones). The number of opera episodes and Sanqu episodes in Yuan Qu is connected by two different tunes in the same palace tune.
2. Qupai: commonly known as "Quzi", it is the general name of various tunes, each with a proper name, such as Dianjiang Lip and Shanpo Sheep. There were 335 Qupai in North China in Yuan Dynasty, and each Qupai had a certain tune and singing method. At the same time, it also stipulates the number of words, syntax, level and so on. Accordingly, you can fill in new lyrics. Most of the lyrics come from the folk, and some of them are developed from the lyrics. So the name of the lyrics is the same as the lyrics, but the content is not exactly the same. There are also music cards specially designed for performances, but most of them only have tunes without lyrics.
3. Rhyme: In terms of rhyme, Yuanqu strictly abides by the requirements of the nineteen parts of Zhongyuan Rhyme, which are divided into flat, upper and lower. Rhyme has the following characteristics: level tone, not avoiding heavy rhyme, one rhyme to the end, borrowing rhyme, dark rhyme, redundant rhyme and lack of rhyme.
4. Flat: Qu is more strict in using words than poetry, paying special attention to the flat of the last sentence of each sentence.
5, antithesis: the antithesis of songs requires more freedom, which can be flat and even, that is, flat and even. There are thirteen dual forms in Qu, such as "two-character pair", "head-tail pair" and "line pair", which have many characteristics in language use and word order combination, mainly as follows: there are work pairs and wide pairs, but the phenomenon of wide pairs is more common; Self-righteous in the sentence; Intricate pairs or inverted sentences, such as "loyal ministers are not afraid of death, and fear of death means disloyalty to them"; Say yes in the common saying.
6. Links: The most significant difference between songs and words is whether there are links, songs with links and words without links. The so-called "interlude" refers to the words added beyond the number of words required by the melody. Not limited by melodies such as phonemes, parallelism and sentence patterns, lines are generally used at the beginning of sentences.
There are more than 220 writers of Yuan Qu, and more than 4,500 works (collections and parts) have been handed down to this day, including more than 3,800 poems (including singers), more than 470 collections and more than 60 zaju (books)/kloc-0. Among many writers, Yuan Haowen, who made a pioneering contribution to the formation of Yuan Qu, was born at the time of the war in Jin and Yuan Dynasties, and was a superstar in the poetic circles of Jin and Yuan Dynasties. His works are clean and handsome, which has played an enlightening, guiding and standardizing role in Yuan Qu creation.