As early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yunnan had extraordinary magic and acrobatics. During the Nanzhao period, another large-scale song and dance "Nanzhao Sacred Music" appeared, and the "Wuhua Cuan Nong" in the Dali Kingdom was a combination of singing, dancing and acrobatics.
In the early Ming Dynasty, the founding general Mu Ying led tens of thousands of people to stay in Yunnan. In addition to farming, clearing wasteland, providing food, dredging rivers, and building water conservancy, he also brought Qin opera, Han opera, and Anhui opera Hui opera and other opera arts.
Later, when the war ceased and people lived and worked in peace and contentment, opera troupes became popular in Yunnan. They performed at festivals, temple fairs, harvest seasons or private gatherings. Wei Liangfu, a Ming Dynasty scholar, said in "Nanci Yinzheng":
There are several kinds of tunes, which vary greatly and are limited by the customs of various places. They include Kunshan, overseas, Yuyao, Hangzhou, Yiyang, Huizhou, and Jiangxi. , Fujian all use Yiyang tune. During the Yongle period, it was composed in both Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, and it was very popular among those who knew how to sing it.
During the reign of Zong Jingtai in the Ming Dynasty, Lan Mao, a commoner from Songming Dynasty in Yunnan Province, wrote the first legendary script in Yunnan theater circles since the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, "Xing Tian Feng Yue Tong Xuan Ji". This play has 20 folds. It is a play about cultivating immortality and enlightenment. It describes how a Taoist subdues the "six thieves" of eyes, ears, nose, mouth, heart and mind, eliminates the "green dragon and white tiger", and achieves the legend of ascending to heaven. story.
In the mid-Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, due to the development of commerce in Kunming, guild halls from other provinces and industry guild halls were generally established, and popular tunes and opera troupes from various places also followed. Every time there is a game to welcome the gods or a festive banquet, they perform their own local operas.
During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Kunming was already prospering in trade and gathering thousands of merchants. Business gangs from other provinces generally set up industry halls in Kunming, and the opera singing industry also built temples to worship the opera gods, such as Laolang Palace was built in 1701 during the Kangxi period.
According to the Laolang Palace Monument from the Kangxi and Qianlong Periods, the government notices and real estate deeds in 1788, the theater troupes that came to Yunnan at that time included the Shifu Troupe, the Changle Troupe, the Dazhan Troupe, and the Zuo Troupe. There are many folk professional theater troupes such as the small troupe, Guilin troupe, full promotion troupe, and Jinyu troupe, as well as two theater troupes in the Governor's Yamen, namely the inner troupe of Fu Da Ren Le Yuan and the inner troupe of Tan Da Ren Xi Yuan.
Whenever festivals, temple fairs or festive banquets are held, these theater troupes in Yunnan will set up stages to perform local operas. Some are for business, and some are gatherings for fellow villagers to celebrate. Many troupes have been performing for a long time because they are very popular with the audience. Stay here. During this period, 19 opera troupes came to Kunming. The types of operas included Kun Opera, Yiyang Opera, Qin Opera, Chu Opera, Hui Opera, etc. Gradually, new vocal operas were formed and became widely popular in Yunnan.
After a period of development in Kunming, Qin Opera formed a new style called Silk Opera. Silk tune can be divided into sweet and bitter tunes. The sweet tune is hearty and high-pitched, while the bitter tune is tragic and painful. They are respectively used to express two different emotions of joy and sorrow and anger in character creation. Such as the dessert accent in dramas such as "Going Down the Mountain by the Fire" and "Drilling a Hole to Send a Girl", and the bitter accent in dramas such as "Wutai Monk".
Sixiang tune has both passionate and high-pitched tunes, as well as sad and soft tunes. It is both hard and soft, and is suitable for expressing the complex emotions of various characters. Among them, "Spring and Autumn Matches", "Plum Blossoms Falling in the Snow", "Hua Tian Cuo" and "Brahma Palace" are very famous and are known as the four major silk string editions.
New vocal tunes include Xiangyang tune. Xiangyang tune comes from the Xianghe school of Han tune. Its tune is close to Xipi, with smooth and brisk tone, suitable for expressing pleasure, joy and passionate emotions. Dramas such as "Douzhiji", "Lingjiao Pei" and "Muhu Pass" all belong to Xiangyang dialect.
Later, seven Kunming opera troupes, including the Furu Troupe, the Shouhua Troupe, the Xiangtai Troupe, and the Fushou Troupe, entered Yunnan and erected a monument with "Eternal Qianqiu" as the forehead in Laolang Palace in Kunming. "Reconstruction of the Stele of Laolang Palace". Each theater troupe also donated money to build temples based on their income, and the theater troupes' performances once again flourished.
During the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, these theater troupes in Kunming tended to merge and reorganize. One day, He Changling, the then governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, was singing Pihuang in the government office, and on a whim he invited some famous local opera troupes to perform in the government office. At this time, the roles of these opera troupes in Kunming were divided into Xiaodan, Shengjiao, Hualian, Mo, Wai and other professions, and the pronunciation and tones of the singing and reciting characters had gradually become localized.
When these troupes performed on the same stage with Pi Huang, they had a lot of exchanges and formed Pi Huang's plays such as "Beating Drums and Scolding Cao" and "Burning Mianshan". Later, after being enriched by artists, Pihuang's repertoire became a repertoire that was combined with local pronunciation, accents and customs and was passed down. It also forms a Yunnan opera music that is mainly composed of Bangzi and Pihuang, and the three major systems of Silk string tune, Huqin tune and Xiangyang tune are integrated into a whole. The integration of Pihuang also marks the formation of Yunnan opera.
The structures of these three main vocal cavities of Yunnan opera are all variations of the plate type, including guide plate, machine head, one-line, two-stage, three-stage and rolling plates. In addition, each tune has its own unique flat singing tune, such as the silk string tune including Anqing tune, Ba'er tune, twenty-four bangbang, Feibangzi, etc., and the huqin tune including flat, bridge, plum blossom board, ginseng tune, etc.
It is precisely because Yunnan opera inherits and absorbs the artistic expertise of Hui opera, Han opera, Qin opera and other operas that it has a rich and solid foundation in the performance of Yunnan opera. At this time, the Yunnan opera's role structure and performance forms were relatively rigorous and complete. The raw roles included Xiaosheng, Xusheng, Hongsheng, Wusheng, Wenwu Laosheng, etc.; the Danxing roles included Huashan, Xiaodan, Guimendan, Qingyi, and Laodan. , shaking Dan, evil Dan, etc.; pure behaviors include singing with painted face, pretending to paint face, beating painted face, two handles, etc.; ugly behaviors include square scarf ugly, robe belt ugly, martial arts ugly, old ugly, clown, child ugly, etc.
As for the accompaniment instruments of Yunnan opera, the silk-stringed tune is dominated by the saw qin, which is a two-stringed string similar to the Qinqiang tune, while the Xiangyang tune and the huqin tune are dominated by the huqin. In addition, there are Nanhu, Yueqin, Sanxian, Sala, which is the big suona, Chicken Calling, which is the small suona, flute, etc. Percussion instruments include snare drums, bass drums, bang bangs, handles, large gongs, small gongs, cymbals, bells, cymbals, etc.
In the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, Yunnan opera centered on Kunming and developed to various states and counties. Seasonal amateur Yunnan opera performance organizations have been established in cities and rural areas where Han people live together in the Kunming area. Township troupes have appeared in places such as Niujiezhuang and Macun, and some have performed year-round. There are four Yunnan opera troupes in Kunming: Taihong Troupe, Fushou Troupe, Fusheng Troupe and Qingshou Troupe.
The Taihong class is located in Dongyue Temple. In the early years of Guangxu's reign in the Qing Dynasty, Li Shaobai was the foreman. Li Xixi, with his colorful face, was good at performing Guan Yu operas. He often contributed money to help poor artists. In the late Qing Dynasty, he even went to Beijing to sing for the royal family. He and Zheng Wenzhai went to Beijing and Shanghai to observe at their own expense. He was an innovator in Yunnan opera.
Later, the Taihong class was led by Li Caifang. Famous actors include Lei Simiaozi, Li Sanhualian, Luo Sigou, Liu Yunguang, etc. Due to its long-term operation, it has a large collection of famous actors and a complete range of businesses. Lei Simiaozi is Lei Zhenfeng, an old student of civil and martial arts, and an expert in martial arts. He is a herbal medicine doctor and his apprentices include Li Shaobai, Zhu Qishan, Liu Jinyu, etc.
The Fushou Class is located in Yaowang Temple. During the reign of Emperor Guangxu, Li Pinjin, the leading actress, was the foreman. Famous actors include Jiang Ting, Luo Shuanglin, He Guixu, Pan Qiaoyun, Li Ruilan, Zhou Shaolin, etc.
Fu was promoted to a class, and the class was located in Laolang Palace. In Guangxu, Huadan Ma Xiaoqi was the foreman. Famous actors include Wang Fuchen, Yang Kunshan, Wang Futing, Lu Zichen, Zhai Haiyun, etc. The birthday celebration class, which is located in Yongling Palace, was established in the middle of Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty. The leader is unknown, the scale is small, and there are few actors.
Some of these troupes were modified by Sichuan troupes, and sometimes they merged and dispersed. These troupes perform temple fair plays on Wannian platforms in temples and guild halls or on high platforms during festivals, which is a play to reward gods and fulfill wishes. During non-convention periods, they will also perform in temples, guild halls or on straw mats around rural grass terraces. They will have special people to collect the money and then let the audience enter the show. Sometimes, they will also sing for celebrations, birthdays, banquets, etc. of the government or wealthy families. In their spare time, they also play a cappella singing and aigu opera without makeup in teahouses in towns and rural areas.
Dian Opera