1. Brief description

Chaozhou opera, also known as Chaozhou opera, Chaoyin opera, Chaodiao opera and Baizi opera, is mainly popular in Chaozhou dialect areas and is an ancient opera sung in Chaozhou dialect. Local opera types. Mainly distributed in eastern Guangdong, southern Fujian, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.

The formation and development of Teochew opera has a history of more than 430 years. It is a branch of Southern Opera in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. It gradually evolved from the Southern Opera in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. It absorbed the specialties of Ge Yang, Kun Opera, Pihuang and Bangzi Opera, combined with local folk arts, such as Chaozhou music, etc., and finally formed its own unique art form and style.

The language of Teochew opera did not use Teochew dialect from the beginning. It can be seen from the Ming Dynasty edition of "The Encyclopedia of Golden Flower Girls in Chaozhou Diao" that Chaozhou opera at this time was mainly sung in Chaozhou dialect, but the singing tunes and dialogues in some scenes were marked as "zhengyin" (i.e. "official accent"). This shows that in the process of the evolution of Teochew opera from Nan Opera, it may first use "official accent", and then gradually reduce the weight of "official accent", and finally become completely localized.

2. Development history

Chaoyin classes are popular in eastern Guangdong, southern Fujian, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia such as Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

Teochew opera is a local opera that was sung in Chaozhou dialect after Southern opera from the Song and Yuan Dynasties spread to the Chaoshan area in eastern Guangdong. It absorbed Chaozhou music and other Chaoshan folk arts. In the Ming Dynasty, Dai Jing recorded in Volume 18 "Customs" of "The First Draft of Guangdong General Chronicles": "Chaozhou customs mostly use local accents to perform dramas." In the early Qing Dynasty, Qu Dajun recorded in "Guangdong News": "Chaozhou people sing the north and south in local accents. The song is called Chaozhou Opera. "The copy of "Cai Bojie" sung in Chaozhou dialect was unearthed from a Ming tomb in Jieyang in 1958, and a Ming tomb unearthed from a Ming tomb in Fengtang Helong during the Chaozhou excavation in Shanxi in 1975. The Xuande manuscript "Liu Xibi's Story of the Golden Hairpin" is a cultural relic that proves that the Ming Dynasty's Chaozhou people performed operas in local accents.

3. Artistic Characteristics

1. Characters

Teochew opera has a complete range of roles, with Sheng, Dan, Jing and Chou each having their own roles, and the performance is delicate. The figures are vivid and the workmanship is both strict and standardized, full of freehand brushwork, and focuses on the use of skills. Among them, the performing arts of ugly behavior and Hua Dan are particularly rich, with unique styles and local colors.

From a performance perspective, among the characters in Teochew opera, Sheng, Dan and Chou have the most local characteristics. The Shengdan opera "Window Sweeping Party" is known as a typical representative of Chinese opera that uses song and dance to tell stories; Teochew opera clowns are divided into ten categories, among which Xiang Shan Chou's fan skill is famous in the north and south and is known throughout the world. In the old clown opera "Chai Fang Hui", the clown's ladder sliding skill is unique to Teochew opera and enjoys a high reputation in the opera industry.

Teochew opera has always implemented a child actor system in the past. Xiaosheng, Tsing Yi and Hua Dan were all performed by child actors. When these artists grew up, their voices changed and they were eliminated. This system seriously hindered the development of Teochew opera art. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the child actor system was abolished and reforms were carried out in all aspects, cultivating a large number of outstanding actors, giving the ancient art of Teochew opera a new luster.

2. Singing

Teochew opera uses real voices for singing, and the ancient musical notation "Er Si Pu" for singing and reciting, which has a rich charm. The singing style is a combined system of Qupai style and Banqiang style, which mainly combines Qupai style. It still retains the form of one singer singing together (helping the tune) and two or three people singing a song or the end of the song. The style is unique and the expression is very powerful. powerful.

The "gangsheng" phenomenon in early Teochew opera, that is, the phenomenon of "singing together" with all the voices in the backstage when the actors on stage sing the most exciting part, is very rare in other operas and is one of the characteristics of Teochew opera.

3. Music

Teochew opera music is a combination of tunes and songs, singing northern and southern songs, with beautiful tunes, light and graceful, and good at expressing emotions. After the middle of the Qing Dynasty, it absorbed Banqiang music and became more flexible and colorful. There are more than 200 traditional tunes and more than 1,000 pieces of music in Teochew opera, which are important materials for studying the tone of Chinese opera.

The accompaniment part retains a lot of ancient music from the Tang and Song Dynasties, and continuously absorbs Chaozhou gong and drum music, temple music, folk minor music, etc. The music has beautiful tunes and harmonious orchestral and percussion music. , good at expressing changes in emotions.

The accompaniment instruments of Teochew opera have been continuously developed and enriched with the development of the times and cultural exchanges. Before the 1920s, the only musical instruments were bamboo strings, suona, coconut trees and yueqin, with bamboo strings as the lead instrument. In the 1920s and 1930s, the bamboo string was replaced by the second string; the yueqin was replaced by the dulcimer, and the big flute and the small flute were also added.

Starting from the 1940s, Erhu, Pipa and Dahu were added. There are many Teochew opera tunes, and the formats are changeable. Commonly used formats include the second panel, the second panel slow, and the third panel slow.

According to different combinations of musical instruments, traditional repertoire is divided into big gong opera, small gong opera, and suluo opera. Daluo opera is the most distinctive and oldest, and is good at expressing low atmosphere, sadness and resentment. Small gong opera Light and airy, Su Luo has a solemn atmosphere.

4. Traditional repertoire and representative figures

Traditional Teochew opera repertoire can be divided into two categories. One is from the Southern Opera of the Song and Yuan Dynasties and the legendary dramas of the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, such as "The Story of Pipa", "The Story of the White Rabbit", "The Story of the Broken Kiln", "The Story of the Hosta", etc. These plays have elegant texts, simple music and meticulous workmanship; first, they are plays based on local folklore or local actual events, such as "The Story of the Lychee" , "Su Liu Niang", "Golden Flower Girl", "Longjing Ferry", etc. These plays have vivid stories, elegant and popular dramas, and are rich in local color.

Extant early Teochew opera scripts include the manuscript "The Story of Liu Xibi's Golden Hairpin" written in the 7th year of Xuande's reign (1432) in the Ming Dynasty. Teochew opera can also adapt to the needs of the times and produce some plays that are closely related to real life. For example, during the Anti-Japanese War, a large number of plays that reflected current events of the Anti-Japanese War appeared. The famous ones include "Records of Marco Polo Bridge" and "The Record of Han Fuju's Disaster", etc., which played an important role in inspiring the masses to join the anti-Japanese war. The war played a positive role.

The famous screenwriters of Teochew opera include Xie Yin, whose representative works include "Qin Fenglan", "Zhao Shaoqing", "The Killing of Relatives for Righteousness", etc.; there are also Wu Shiwu, Lin Xianyu, Hong Xun, Chen Mingzhen, etc., each of whom has a number of masterpieces handed down to the world. Famous artists include Li Deyi, Cai Longhan, Hong Miao, etc.

5. Current situation

Teochew opera is a vivid example of ancient Chinese opera surviving on the stage. It is one of the representatives of the outstanding cultural expressions of the Chinese nation and has profound historical significance and high status. aesthetic value. After 1990, Teochew opera was restricted by the market economy and impacted by various modern literary and artistic forms. Investments decreased, brain drain, and artistic level declined. The excellent traditional performing arts were on the verge of extinction. They were in a difficult development situation and were in urgent need of protection and development. support.