Appreciation of Chinese Opera Literature Characteristics of Chinese Opera Literature and the Objective Basis of Appreciation
1. Chinese Opera Literature refers to the use of lyrics, narration, scientific introduction and other means, through a certain structural form , a literary form that describes plots, develops conflicts, depicts characters, expresses emotions, and expresses themes. It mainly includes Southern Operas of Song and Yuan Dynasties, Zajus of Yuan Dynasty and legends of Ming and Qing Dynasties.
2. The connection and difference between Chinese opera literature and Western drama literature.
1. The origins of the two are different
Western drama originated from carols dedicated to the god of wine in rural areas, while the origin of Chinese drama is much more complicated. From its forms and methods, it includes "singing, It can be seen from the "reading, doing and fighting" that it may have origins and relationships with primitive singing and dancing, ancient elites and ancient horn plays.
It is very meaningful to examine the differences between Chinese and Western dramas from the source, because we found a result: many differences between Chinese and Western dramas are formally rooted in their respective sources and different traditional cultures (ethical cultures). ——Original sin culture) formed under the influence of the same influence. In terms of dramatic color
Western drama originated from the Dionysian ceremony, so it has a strong religious color and many tragic genes; although the origin of Chinese opera is related to religious rituals, the activities of actors and actresses are not equal to performances. But it is meant to entertain people, so it has a rich worldly color and many comedic genes. In terms of the choice of themes
In Western dramas, because the concept of God is strong, many plots are more or less related to God. Basically, it is a kind of national religion.
The dramatization of behavior; Chinese opera is basically a folk entertainment activity that uses historical stories and folk stories to entertain and educate, so it is essentially a dramatization of national ethical concepts and psychology. In terms of the tone of the theme
Western drama is influenced by the "original sin consciousness" and always has a strong and persistent questioning spirit about life and the universe. Therefore, the theme of Western drama is basically a kind of human nature. Sensitivity to the sufferings of life and concern for the destiny of mankind within the scope of socialist spirit. Based on this, some people commented that Western drama has "broad and profound philosophical awareness". Marx once pointed out that the protagonist in the play "Prometheus Bound" is "the most noble martyr in the history of human philosophy." Chinese opera is deeply influenced by ethical concepts, so its basic theme is to promote "loyalty, filial piety, justice," and its purpose is to "benefit the morals."
So, referring to the "philosophical consciousness" on the theme of Western drama, the "political and religious consciousness" of Chinese opera is actually too strong.
This is what we should pay attention to when grasping the theme of Chinese opera.
Perhaps we can better explain the problem by comparing Chinese and Western dramas with the same love theme. We found that Western plays with love themes, such as "Romeo and Juliet" and "The Merchant of Venice", reveal the theme of how human beings face "love". —reason (reason, social consciousness)” relationship. Plays about love in Chinese operas,
such as "The Romance of the West Chamber" and "The Horse on the Wall", reveal the theme of how to deal with "love-propriety (ethical norms)"
< p>Relationship, and ultimately it must be implemented on the basis of "emotion starts with etiquette", and "emotion" is included and balanced with "emotion",leading it to the conversion of "ritual" way. Although Cui Yingying and Zhang Sheng, Pei Shaojun and Li Qianjin have already privately married, they can only get social "courtesy" after the male protagonist is named on the gold medal list and then marries a matchmaker.
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's approval. The plot structure is very interesting
Western drama theorists (such as Hegel) believe that the essence of drama is "conflict" and it begins and ends suddenly in a highly concentrated time and space, quickly initiating various aspects of contradiction. Contradictions make sorrow and joy distinct, and bring them together into a ball for a head-on confrontation, quickly rushing to the climax. Once the climax is over, it quickly ends or is cut off at the point where you want to stop. The famous "Three Unities" principle is the concentrated expression of conflict in three aspects: time, space, and story.
Chinese opera theory does not talk about "conflict" in the plot structure, but only talks about "closed points" (important situations, important scenes) and "dense stitches", "gray snake threads", "threads piercing through". beads".
Yang Jiang once said: "my country's traditional drama structure does not conform to Aristotle's so-called dramatic structure (i.e., conflict structure)...it is closer to what he called epic structure (i.e., narrative structure) ." Her words brilliantly pointed out that Chinese opera is too close to narrative literature such as epics and novels, and is similar in plot structure. That is to say, it is free to switch according to the sequence of time and space, starting (introduction, setting poem) and slowing down (finale scene, farewell scene, title correction). The conflict is not focused on the front, but the actions of each aspect of the conflict are explained separately, and the conflict is dispersed into Some focal points (forming "Guan Mu") interweave sorrow and joy, mix bitterness and joy, and ingeniously combine the opposites to complement each other, interspersing the drama. The climax is reached only after full accumulation of momentum, and there is no rush to "stop the evil" after the climax. This makes the plot structure appear slow and long, with ups and downs, twists and turns, like a thread threading through beads, and beads shining brightly.
To sum up, the structure of Chinese opera is mostly an open chain-like narrative structure, making it one of the gradual arts; although a few of the structures of Western drama are narrative, Most of them are closed, mass-like conflict structures, reflecting the style of mutation art.
This characteristic of Chinese opera also gives it the following aesthetic characteristics, which are also the focus that cannot be ignored when we appreciate them. Legendary
The narrative structure of Chinese opera allows writers a lot of time and space to carry out realistic and calm narratives, and at the same time, they can also use surreal imagination, bold exaggeration, and rich metaphors , puns, symbols and other romantic techniques make Chinese opera different from Western drama which advocates realism and is full of legend, that is, the pursuit of novelty in plot events. This can be seen from the fact that ancient opera is also known as "Legend". Ancient opera theorists also unanimously advocated "no legend without legend" and "no legend without legend" (Li Yu). "The pursuit of novelty and novelty in drama is twice as much as that of poetry and ancient prose." Lyricity
The loose and long narrative structure of Chinese opera allows it to be interspersed with long and beautiful lyrical passages, which vividly express the emotional world of the characters. This allows classical opera to pursue "novelty" while also pursuing "novelty". Especially "sincere". Beautiful artistic conception
When Chinese classical operas express "true feelings", they often use poetry and lyrics to express emotions through scenery and scenery, making the music and lyrics rich in artistic conception. Therefore, Wang Guowei commented: "The best thing about Yuan opera is not its ideological structure, but its articles (note: Quwen). The beauty of its articles can be summed up in one sentence: it is just artistic conception." ("Examination of Yuan Dynasty Opera·Articles on Yuan Opera") Sharp Contrast
Laozi: "Being and non-being complement each other, difficulty and ease complement each other, long and short complement each other, high and low are leaning against each other, sounds and voices are harmonious, and front and rear complement each other. Sui." Ancient Chinese dramatists also knew this principle well. When they dealt with the relationship between various plots and paragraphs, they mostly organized the plot according to this dialectical principle to make sadness and joy, pain and joy, separation and union. Mixed and mixed, they match each other, and their opposites complement each other. It is in this sharp contrast that the plot is advanced and the character's character and destiny are highlighted.
For example, "The Story of Pipa" always contrasts Cai Bojie and Zhao Wuniang to complete the plot. In "The Palace of Eternal Life", there is also sadness hidden in the music, and sadness and music complement each other. The two are also different in character creation
The use of dramatic language, especially action-rich character language, to depict the characters' personalities is the most common feature between Chinese classical opera literature and Western dramatic literature. Observe the laws of art.
However, Chinese opera has also accepted poetry's method of dealing with situational relationships, incorporating poetry into music, and focusing on using the description of objective scenery to reflect and highlight the spiritual world of the characters in the play.
In addition, Chinese dramatists seem to use contrasting techniques to highlight characters more consciously than Western playwrights. For example, the matchmaker and Cui Yingying, and the old lady; Du Liniang and Chunxiang; Dou E and Granny Cai, etc. are everywhere.
This reminds us that when appreciating the characterization in classical operas, we should examine it from multiple angles. In addition to understanding the external personality of the characters, we should also focus on exploring the inner world of the characters.
Third, we should also make it clear that perceptual appreciation must be guided and based on rational thinking.
Li Yu of the Qing Dynasty comprehensively and systematically discussed the creation and performance of Chinese opera in "Xian Qing Ou Ji". People call him the master of Chinese classical opera theory. Zhou Deqing, who was born in the Yuan Dynasty before, wrote "Central Plains Rhythm", which is a classic in terms of music and rhythm; and later Wang Guowei's "A Study of Song and Yuan Operas" is an authority on the history of opera and opera aesthetics. Therefore, we must take the above three as the theoretical reference system and basis when appreciating opera, and of course it is not limited to the above three.
2. Tasting of “Drama”
The focus of tasting should be: “new” and “authentic”. "New" refers to the tendency of Chinese opera to pursue novelty in romance; "truth" refers to the issue of artistic authenticity. These are two sides of the same coin. Li Yu touched on this point in "Get Out of the Convention" and "Avoid Absurdity". He said: "The ancients called the script a 'legend' because the story was very strange and was passed down without anyone seeing it. Hence the name. It can be seen that If it is not strange, it is also called strange. If these plots have already been seen in the theater, then thousands of people will see them, and tens of thousands of people will see them. There is no need to tell them. "So, "It's hard to break away from the stereotypes, and it's difficult to fill in the words." It means that the pursuit of novelty is the top priority of legendary housework.
But pursuing the novelty of plot events does not mean showing off novelty through absurd and weird content. Li Yu put forward his own correct opinion against the biased view put forward by the authors of the popular dramas about gods, demons and ghosts at that time that "everything common in daily life has been done by predecessors". He said: "There are not many strange things in the world, but there are many ordinary things. Physical things are easy to be extinguished, but human feelings are difficult to extinguish. A king, a minister, a father and a son, a day of loyalty, filial piety, justice, and the nature of things. The more they appear, the more strange they are. They are all the same as those of the predecessors." What has not been done is left for future generations, and the future generations will be better than their predecessors. "It means that people should pursue it in daily life matters related to the people, as well as in general human nature. Strange and interesting things.
Moreover, in "Examination of Falsehood and Reality", he talked about the issue of artistic fiction, believing that "legends are unrealistic and most of them are allegorical." He used bold imaginative exaggerations, metaphors, symbols, and The romantic spirit and romantic techniques of describing the ideal picture with strong and unrestrained passion are affirmed.
Li Yu’s insights remind us that when appreciating the “play” of classical opera, we should pay attention to the following two points:
First, the novelty of love affairs is based on real life. On this basis, romantic imagination and fictional exaggeration are indistinguishable from the daily life and general temperament of ordinary people.
Second, the core of "new" contains the content of "true", that is, the truest and most profound human nature and human feelings. Without true nature and true feelings, there would be no "new", and there would be no "play".
Furthermore, the principle and spirit of romanticism itself is to reflect reality through the depiction of ideal life scenes, and to express human aesthetic ideals and the author's own aesthetic judgment. Therefore, when analyzing the artistic achievements of the romantic techniques of "Three Vows" and "Avenging the Wrong Soul" in "The Injustice of Dou E", when discussing the romantic story of death due to love and life due to love in "The Peony Pavilion" When creating artistic effects, we should specifically implement two standards: Ideological aspects: see whether these romantic and legendary events conform to the life logic and emotional logic of true love in real life; whether they reflect the universal requirements of human nature and the essential laws of historical movement; Does it contain the writer's correct attitude towards life and tendency towards progress? In terms of artistry: see whether these romantic techniques make the characters' personalities more vivid, their psychological portrayal more realistic, and their emotional expression more moving; whether they are used appropriately and novelly; whether they deepen the theme and bring us a natural and Strongly affecting and shocking.
3. The Taste of "Qu"
Wang Guowei defined the concept of "opera" for the first time in "A Study of the Origins of Opera". He said: "The person who performs opera refers to the evolution of music and dance. Story", correctly pointed out that Chinese classical opera is basically a kind of song and dance drama. Therefore, when talking about the taste of "qu", it is of course inseparable from its beauty of music and diction.
1. Beauty of Music
First of all, we should have some basic knowledge about the regulation of "qu". Chinese opera pays attention to "six determinations": determining the tone, the music, the sentence, the characters, the tone, and the rhyme. That is to say, a certain tune should belong to a certain palace tune, the number of sentences of a certain tune, the number of words in each sentence, the tone of each word, and whether the last word of each sentence needs to rhyme are all clearly specified in the music score. Understanding some knowledge about music composition will help us appreciate whether the voice of the music is loud, the rhyme is harmonious, and the characters are sonorous.
Secondly, because opera pays attention to phonology, in addition to making the words rhyme and the words are correct and melodious, it is more important to use phonology as an artistic method to write emotional objects, so as to convey emotions through sounds and express both emotions and sounds. Therefore, when we taste "qu", we should pay attention to taste the mood from the tune.
In fact, people have already noticed this aspect. Now I will talk about people’s understanding of the key aspects of Gong Tiao, Pai Tiao and rhyme. Gong Diao
Zhi'an of the Yuan Dynasty summarized the singing characteristics of seventeen types of Gong Diao in his "Singing Theory": "Xianlu Diao sings fresh and far-reaching, Nanlu Gong sings lament sadness, and Zhonggong Diao sings High and low, make money quickly, Huangzhong Palace sings about wealth and entanglement, Zhenggong sings about melancholy and majesty, Dao Palace sings about elegance and quietness, Big Stone sings about romance, Small Stone sings about charm, Gaoping sings about ripples of things, Banshe sings about picking up pits, and Zhizhi sings about urgency. The admonishment is empty and resting, the Shangjiao singing is sad and graceful, the double-tone singing is vigorous and exciting, the high-pitched singing is sad and resentful, the horn-tuning singing is sob and melodious, the palace tune is elegant and heavy, and the Yue-tone singing is written with sneer."
Zhi'an's statement was adopted by later generations. Card tune
The content of card tune is also consistent with certain emotional content. For example, "Zi Zi Shuang" is only used for clowns, because its sentence rhythm adopts the 27-sentence pattern, which gives people a funny feeling. In "Pipa Ji", it is used to describe the smooth talk of the matchmaker: "I am very charming when I am a matchmaker, talking and laughing. Talking is like a knife, and the wave disappears!" It is also used in "The Palace of Eternal Life" to write about the self-mockery of the ugly palace maid. : "I have been a fairy since I was a child, and I have a beautiful face. I am the first in the palace maiden team to sweep the palace." It makes people laugh.
There is also "Taotao Ling". Because the original meaning of "Taotao" is to talk a lot, its sentences often use repeated words, double tones, and heavy sentences, which naturally form complex sounds to promote rhythm, which is very suitable for expressing worries, worries, and emotions. Anger, sadness, fear and other complex emotions. For example, in "Farewell at the Changting Pavilion" in "The Romance of the West Chamber", it was used to successfully convey the story of Yingying's distraught and confused mood on the way to Changting. Rhyme of words
It is a common phenomenon to use rhyme of words to convey emotions. Playwrights often use rhyme to express the emotions and character of characters.
Wang Jide's "Lü" marks the 19 rhyme parts listed in "Central Plains Rhythm" as rhyme characteristics and emotional qualities: "...to the extent that each rhyme is a sound, it is also different. Such as Dong Zhong The Hong, Jiang Yang, Jilai, Xiao Hao's sound, the harmony of Ge Ge and Jia Ma, the most beautiful rhymes are Han Shan, Huan Huan, Xiantian Ya, Yu Qing's Qing, Youhou's You, Qi Wei. It is weak, the fish mold is mixed, the real text is slow, the use of car cover is mixed with the sound, and secondly, the branches and thoughts are languid, which makes people uncomfortable to listen to. It is not a word, and it is not suitable for the tone if it is closed, so don’t use it too much."
The following is an example to illustrate.
For example, the so-called "Youhou Zhiyou" means that Youhou Yun is suitable for expressing depression and deep suffering. Therefore, in "The Injustice of Dou E", Dou E laments the sorrow of her life experience; in "Chenzhou Rice", when Bao Zheng recalls the turmoil of his official career; in "The Legend of Pipa", when Zhao Wuniang recalls the appearance of her parents-in-law; in "The Palace of Eternal Life", the ghost of the imperial concubine expresses This rhyme is always used when feeling thoughtful.
Another example is "Gengqing Zhiqing", which is mostly used to express artistic conceptions and styles such as beauty, freshness, purity, coldness and desolation. For example, "burning incense" in "The Romance of the West Chamber" uses this rhyme to describe the quiet night scene, and "The Legend of Pipa" also uses this rhyme when Zhao Wuniang sends her husband to take the exam. As for the five rhymes of "Hanshan, Huanhuan, Xiantian, Jianxian, Lianxian", they were combined into "Yanqianzhe" in the "Thirteen Rhymes" in modern times, and they were mostly used to express deep, dull and desolate emotions. The third chapter of "The Injustice of Dou E" (an excerpt from a high school textbook) uses this rut ??to express the protagonist's grief-stricken emotions, coupled with the deep rhyme of "prefaced ruts", it sounds poignant, moving, and internally destructive.
2 Natural Beauty
When people talk about the natural beauty of literary language, they often describe it as "hibiscus emerges from clear water, and the natural beauty removes the carvings", but there is no consensus on the interpretation. I think it should be understood from two aspects. First, it is simple and natural, in line with nature; second, it is exquisite, spiritual and interesting. Although the former tends to be "authentic" and the latter tends to be "spirited", in fact the two are inseparable. People talk a lot about the former. For example, opera language not only pays attention to the rhythm and the beauty of phonology, but also requires "uprightness" and "true character". The so-called "uprightness" means that the opera language is required to conform to the character's identity and personality; the so-called "true character" requires the opera language to be simple and natural. Because Guan Hanqing's opera voice has these characteristics, it has always been praised by people, saying that his opera is a representative of the "Essence School".
As for the latter, people often ignore it. In fact, if it is not lively and interesting and lacks artistic appeal, it cannot be called "natural beauty". Therefore, I was very impressed by Li Yu’s theory of “intellectual interest” and “cutting-edge novelty”. He believes that the music and lyrics must be "intelligent and interesting" and the lyrics should be "cutting-edge". Regarding "wittiness", he said: "The word wit is indispensable for lyricists. Machine represents the spirit of legend, and interest represents the style of legend. Without these two things, it will be like a clay figure and earth horse, with form but no life. . "Ji" means that Ciqu is "connected by blood", and "Qu" refers to "the spirit of learning without moral principles". Regarding "sharp and new", he said: "The same thing, if it is said in a sharp and new way, it will make people look up and down, and it will be as if they have never heard of it; if it is said in an honest way, it will make people lazy and discouraged, and it will be as if it is not necessary to hear it. . If there are sharp novels in the essays, if there are sharp sentences in the sentences, then they will be listed on the desk. If you don’t look at them, you will be done. If you look at them, you will be unable to stop. If you don’t listen to them, you will be disappointed. If you listen, you will want to return. No. Beauty is enough to move people, and the word "jingxin" is the beauty in the text. "It can be seen that "wittiness" and "jingxin" both refer to an aesthetic requirement, which requires that the opera language be clever and interesting. It is exuberant, detached but not pedantic, ethereal but not solid, which makes people get strong edification from it.
I think the reason why Zhu Quan called Wang Shifu's poems such as "Beauty among the Flowers" (Zhu Quan's "Taihe Zhengyin Pu"), and the reason why Li Zhi commented on ""Worship the Moon" and "West Chamber", is because of chemical industry; "Pipa" is also a painter" ("Miscellaneous Theory"). Wang Jide said that "the workmanship of "Pipa Ji" can be pointed out, and "West Chamber" is full of work... The beauty of "Pipa" is based on emotion and reason. The beauty of "The West Wing" is due to its spirit and rhyme; "Pipa" is due to its grandeur; "West Wing" is due to its "hua", all for the same reason, that is, Wang Shifu's dramatic language is simple yet innovative, and naturally full of wit.
3 The beauty of artistic conception
It was Wang Guowei who clearly used the category of "artistic conception" to discuss the highest aesthetic standards and aesthetic realm of Chinese classical opera.
He also talked about the connotation of artistic conception in detail from three aspects: "What is artistic conception? Describing feelings is refreshing, describing scenes is in people's ears and eyes, and describing things is as if they are spoken." It means that there is The artistic conception is that the emotions are sincere and moving, the scenery is vivid and real, the events and language are real and friendly, that is, the word "true" is the spirit that runs through the lines. I think he put forward the above three requirements after taking into account the similarities and different characteristics of Chinese opera and poetry. The first and second aspects are based on the similarities between opera and poetry. Because Chinese opera has fully inherited the artistic tradition of poetry, integrating poetry into music, telling situations and blending scenes, so compared with Western European dramas, which emphasize realism and reproduce life, there is an obvious poetic tendency, and it is essentially a poetic drama. . The third aspect is to "narrate things as they are spoken", which is to take into account that Chinese opera uses lyrics, lyrics, scripts and other means together, and "narrates in the lyrics, and the lyrics are all in the form of endorsements" (Wang Guowei's " "Music of the Song Dynasty"), which is proposed by using science and narrative to depict the characteristics of characters.
However, Wang Guowei did not provide a satisfactory explanation of how "story telling" is connected with "artistic conception", which also shows that it is useful to use "artistic conception" to explain the aesthetic standards of Chinese opera. It's reasonable, but also unsatisfactory. Therefore, when we talk about the artistic conception of opera below, we will mainly focus on the lyrics.
The lyrics can be divided into "scenery language" and "love language". Because the opera itself does not have a set design, the "scenery" is objectively meant to show the environment in which the characters live. However, since "scenery language" and "love language" are intertwined, objective scenery that has nothing to do with the characters' emotions is not included in the opera. Therefore, "scenery language" is also "love language", even if it is all "love language" "Scenery language", scenery must also be the image incarnation of emotion.
Therefore, the scene contains emotions, and the scene is seen according to the situation, which forms the artistic feature of Chinese opera that blends scenes.
In addition to the blending of scenes, there are also some Chinese operas that "use happy scenes to write sadness" or "use sad scenes to write happiness" and "double the sadness and joy" (Wang Fuzhi's "Jiang Zhai Poetry Talk") . "The Garden" in "The Peony Pavilion" is a successful example of "composing sadness with a happy scene"; the most successful example of "composing happiness with a sad scene" is "Naozhai" in "The Romance of the West Chamber".
What we discussed above is that because opera uses poetry as part of the music, it has a strong lyricism, and it is very similar to poetry in the way the scenes are reflected. Let's talk about their specific differences in lyrical methods:
First of all, the "emotion" and "scenery" of drama poetry and their relationship are different from poetry.
1. "Love": ① The love in drama and poetry does not refer to the author's own love in poetry works. Because the song and prose are "endorsement style", this love refers to the feelings between the characters in the play. Affection.
② The "emotion" in drama poetry is by no means limited to the emotional psychology of the characters in the drama, but also covers the character traits and mental outlook of the characters in the drama. For example, in "The West Chamber", Zhang Sheng praised the Yellow River. The majestic "scenery" throughout the text not only conveyed Zhang Sheng's ambitions and ambitions, but also conveyed his broad-minded character. Therefore, people say "borrowing the Yellow River to express happiness". Better than Zhang Sheng's quality."
2. "Scene": The "scene" in drama poems may be fragments of scenery, but they are often connected and develop into a whole "scene", that is, it becomes a scene that expresses the changes in thoughts, feelings and character development of the characters. The "situation" of the process has become a "situation" including the era, society and the specific living environment of the people in the play. For example, the "Farewell at the Long Pavilion" in "The West Chamber" and the "Visiting in the Garden" in "The Peony Pavilion" both place the characters' activities in the scenery, and the "scenery" becomes the overall "scenery".
3. The result of the relationship between "emotion" and "scenery": "emotion" and "scenery" in opera are the same structure as a certain situation. Emotion changes with the situation, and the situation changes with the situation. For example, "Farewell at the Long Pavilion" in "The West Chamber" sets up three specific situations: "on the way to", "during the farewell banquet" and "on the way back". As a result, the lyricism of characters in drama poems is often carried out in specific situations and dramatic conflicts.
Secondly, dramatic poetry therefore has a different lyrical purpose from poetry. The lyricism of dramatic poetry is combined with the personality of the characters.
In the fusion of poetry and drama, the lyricism of drama is not only combined with personality portrayal, but also takes personality portrayal as the leading purpose. For example, in "The Legend of Pipa" and "Moon Appreciation in the Mid-Autumn Festival", the lyricism of the characters is aimed at portraying the character's personality and psychology. Therefore, Li Yu commented: "In the same month, the Niu family has the month of Niu family, and the month of Bojie has the month of Bozhe. The month mentioned is the heart. The month mentioned by Niu can be moved to Bojie. , can the word "month" mentioned by Bo Zhe be changed to "Niu"?
Moreover. In opera, not only the lyricism of the lyrics must be combined with the personality of the characters, but Bin Bai also has this requirement. The lyricism of dramatic poetry is combined with drama.
Drama solves the ingenious combination of lyricism and drama in dramatic situations and conflicts. It not only expresses the thoughts and feelings of the people in the play, but also promotes the development of dramatic conflicts, giving lyricism a sense of drama. ization results. Both the lyrics and the lyrics require this kind of result.
Four pieces of music and white music complement each other
The emphasis on music and neglect of white music is a cliched opinion of many literati who have left the stage since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In fact, binbai plays an extremely important role in opera:
1. Binbai is the means of narrative and the link between the music and the text. In operas, guest verses are often placed at important plot points, because "if the narrative is to be told, the guest verses cannot be eye-catching" (Yang Enshou's "Ci Yu Cong Hua"). If the guest verses are removed, no matter how good the text is, it will become a disconnected pearl. It’s hard to make a play.
2. Binbai is a means of characterizing characters.
For example, the kind character of the heroine in the third episode of "The Injustice of Dou E" is shown in her dialogue with the judge on the way to the execution ground. The personalities of the teachers, maids, and ladies in the "Peony Pavilion" and the "Bidding School" are also vividly established by Bin Bai.
3. The funny dialogue in opera, that is, science, can adjust the atmosphere of the drama and increase the magical effect of the performance. Li Yu therefore compared it to "ginseng soup for watching a movie", which has a refreshing effect. For example, Chunxiang's scientific remarks in "The Peony Pavilion" and "The Girl's School" made the teacher embarrassed and made people laugh.
Moreover, generally speaking, qus are mostly used for lyrical purposes, and bais are mostly used for narratives. Emotions and events are indistinguishable. Stories are allegorical in feelings, emotions are embedded in things. Qubai and Bai are complementary to each other. The spirit, the wonderful music complements the beautiful white music to make the mood even more emotional. Therefore, when appreciating the language of opera, we must fully appreciate the overall taste, so that we can truly appreciate the various styles and infinite scenery in the work.
4. Analysis of characters in opera literature.
This is the starting point of appreciation of opera literature. We should pay attention to analyzing from multiple angles: Look at the personality characteristics of the character (three-dimensional, multi-faceted, multi-layered personality, but there is one dominant personality). Look at whether the characteristics of the characters are vivid and rich (round characters), that is, whether the author displays these characteristics from multiple angles and levels, such as through the description of the environment, the expression of the character's language, the highlighting through the description of details, the reinforcement through dramatic actions, and the contrast between the characters. Prominence and so on. It depends on which aspect the author is good at expressing the character's personality, such as whether he focuses on psychological portrayal or action display.
Looking at the typicality of an image means looking at whether the personalities of the image are vivid and vivid, and whether the personality naturally reflects and fully summarizes the profound social and historical content. To look at the social significance of an image, we must not only look at whether the author's attitude and tendency permeated in the image are correct, but also look at what other objective meanings the image itself contains, because "the image is greater than the theme" and "the image is greater than the thought." , we cannot stick to the author’s knowledge.