The development history of Huangmei opera
Huangmei Opera is the main local opera in Anhui Province. Hubei, Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Taiwan Province and Hongkong all have professional or amateur Huangmei Opera performance groups, which are widely welcomed. Huangmei Opera, formerly known as "Huangmei Tune", is a folk opera formed in Huangmei in the neighboring areas of Anhui, Hubei and Jiangxi provinces in the late18th century. One of them gradually moved eastward to Anqing, Anhui Province, and combined with local folk art, sang and spoke in the local language, forming its own characteristics, known as "Huaiqiang" or "Huangmei Tune". This is the predecessor of Huangmei Opera today. The name "Huangmei Opera" was officially put forward for the first time in Susong County Annals (192 1) published in 0/0.
The development history of Huangmei Opera can be roughly divided into three stages:
The first stage, from Xianfeng period of Qing Dynasty to around the Revolution of 1911. Tea-picking tunes, Jiangxi tunes, Tongcheng tunes and Fengyang tunes, which originated and spread to Anhui, Hubei and Jiangxi, were influenced by local operas (Qingyang tunes and Huizhou tunes) and combined with folk arts such as Lianxiang, stilts and dry boats, and gradually formed some small operas. Further development, it absorbed the performance content and forms of folk art form "Luohanzhuang" and Qingyang tune and Huizhou tune, thus producing a complete story. There is also a transitional form from small play to this kind of play, which is called "string play" by old artists. The so-called "string play" is a group of small plays that are both independent and interrelated, some of which are "strung" by things and some are "strung" by people. The story of "cross-dressing" is richer than that of a small play, and the characters appear in it have also broken through three small areas: Clown, Xiao Dan and Xiao Sheng. Some old roles need to be played by Zheng Dan, Lao Sheng and Lao Ugly. This created conditions for the production of this play.
The second stage is from the Revolution of 1911 to 1949. At this stage, Huangmei Opera gradually moved towards professionalism, and stepped onto the urban stage from the rural grass-roots team. After Huangmei Opera entered Anqing, it was combined with Beijing Opera, and was influenced by Yue Opera, Yang Opera, Huai Opera and Pingju Opera from the north in Shanghai. Great changes have taken place in both content and form. A number of new plays have been directed and transplanted, including series such as Wen, Hong Bi Yuan, Gorgeous Garden and The Tale of Bees. In music, the traditional singing method has been reformed, which reduces the empty talk in the old cavity, makes it bright and smooth, and makes the audience easy to understand the singing content. Cancel the help and try to accompany Hu Qin. In terms of performance, it absorbed and integrated the procedural movements of Peking Opera and other brother operas, enriching the means of expression. Others, such as clothing, make-up, stage setting, etc., have also developed compared with rural areas.
The third stage is 1949. From 65438 to 0952, Huangmei Opera artists performed plays such as "Beating Pig Grass" and "Blue Bridge Club" in Shanghai. For decades, a large number of actors have been trained. Besides Yan Fengying, Wang Shaofang and other artists of the older generation have made outstanding achievements in the singing art of Huangmei Opera, Ma Lan, Han Zaifen and other young and middle-aged actors have also shown their heroic roles on stage, screen and TV screen, attracting the audience's attention. Yan Fengying and Wang Shaofang co-starred in A Match Made in Heaven, which was made into a movie twice and caused a sensation at home and abroad.
The Artistic Features of Anqing Huangmei Opera
In terms of repertoire, it is known as "36 major dramas, 72% off small dramas". The play mainly shows the people's dissatisfaction with class oppression, the disparity between the rich and the poor and their yearning for a free and beautiful life. For example, The Story of Buckwheat, Guan, Tian Xianpei, etc. Traditional Chinese operas mostly show the life segments of rural laborers, such as ordering barley, spinning cotton yarn and selling buckets.
After liberation, a number of traditional plays such as Fairy Descent, Ma Xu, Luo Afraid, Zhao, Mother's Tears, Three Searches for the State House have been adapted successively, and a number of dramas such as Cowherd and Weaver Girl, Historical Drama, Modern Drama and Spring Blossom have been created. Among them, Fairy Descent, Female Xu and Cowherd and Weaver Girl have been put on the screen one after another, which has had great influence at home and abroad. Yan Fengying, Wang Shaofang, Wu Qiong and Malan are famous actors in Huangmei Opera.
Huangmei opera mainly includes coloratura and pingtan. Coloratura mainly plays small plays, full of life and folk songs. The main lyrics in the original drama are often long descriptions and lyricism, with rich charm, such as flowing water.
2. Huangmei Opera in Hubei Province
The development of Huangmei Opera in Hubei today is closely related to a slogan put forward by the provincial party committee and government 18 years ago, that is, "Please bring Huangmei Opera back to your parents' home". Under the guidance of this slogan, Hubei Province has done a lot of work around revitalizing Huangmei Opera. Hubei Huangmei Opera Theatre was established; Some Huangmei opera actors were hired from Anqing, Anhui; Most Chu Opera and Han Opera Troupes in Huanggang have been changed into Huangmei Opera Troupe. Huanggang Art School was established to train reserve talents for Huangmei Opera. Two plays, Yu Laosi, Zhang Ernv and Yinsuo Complaint, which were created in Huanggang, have been performed in Beijing 14 times and have been well received by the audience. From 65438 to 0995, the large-scale modern drama "Unfinished Love" and costume drama "Double Down the Mountain" created by Hubei Huangmei Opera Theatre won excellent performance awards at the Second National Huangmei Opera Art Festival held in Anhui Province, and the leading actors Yang Jun and Zhang Hui won performance gold medals. Unfinished Love also won the Wenhua New Drama Award, the Wenhua Director Award and the Wenhua Music Creation Award in the 5th China Arts Festival.
In order to improve the overall artistic level of Huangmei Opera, Hubei Provincial Department of Culture and Huanggang Municipal Government decided to hold Huangmei Opera Art Festival every three years. After the promotion and tempering of the five arts festivals, excellent repertoires such as Winter Goes to Spring, Please Let Me Be Your Bride, Spring Comes to Jiangwan and Biography of Brother Chun have been created, and a number of young Huangmei opera stars such as Guo Huayang, Zhou Hongnian and Duan have been trained.