1 Appreciation of the Opera "The White-Haired Girl"

The opera "The White-Haired Girl" is the first new opera with Chinese style created on the basis of the Yan'an New Yangko Movement. The script was collectively created by Yan'an Lu Xun Art Institute, written by He Jingzhi and Ding Yi, and composed by Ma Ke, Zhang Lu, Qu Wei, etc. The script was adapted and created based on the folk legend "The White-Haired Fairy". The theme is: the old society forced people to become ghosts, and the new society turns ghosts into people." The whole play is divided into five acts and sixteen scenes. The music of the play is created and developed using folk song materials and local opera tones, with a distinct national flavor. style and characteristics of the times. It inherits the tradition of Chinese national music, draws on the successful experience of Western opera forms and techniques, and creates a new path for Chinese national opera. It was premiered in April 1945 for the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party of China. Yan'an.

The opera version of "The White-Haired Girl" adopts the tunes of northern folk music, absorbs opera music, and draws on the creative experience of Western European operas. The author uses the cheerful tune of the Hebei folk song "The Story of Qingyang" to compose " The north wind blows, the snowflakes are floating" to express Xi'er's innocence and expectation; the deep and low-spirited Shanxi folk song "Pick the Wheat Root" is used to shape Yang Bailao's musical image; the Hebei folk song "Little Baicai" is used to express Xi'er's childhood in the Yellow River. The repressed emotions of the family when they were oppressed by Huang Mu; the use of high-pitched and exciting Shanxi Bangzi music to highlight Xi'er's unyielding mood and desire for revenge, etc. are all timeless melodies born from the soil of folk music. The rhythm is gentle, stretching, and the melody is friendly and moving. It creates a lively, simple and innocent image of Xi'er yearning for happiness, and also expresses her eagerness for her father's return. The rhythm of "Tie the Red Headband" is lively and joyful. The melody is smooth and beautiful. It perfectly matches the theme of "The North Wind Blowing" and fully expresses the hope and joy in Xi'er's heart. "The Sun Is Out" is broad, bright, exciting and full of hope, as radiant as the sun, exciting and powerful. Showing the power of the liberated people.

After continuous revision, "The White-Haired Girl" eventually became the most classic literary and artistic work in New China, first as an opera, and then as a ballet. It was made into a movie and adapted into a Peking Opera. The music part of the ballet was composed by Yan Jinxuan. The ballet version was re-created based on these artistic characteristics and foundation of the opera, combined with the characteristics of dance, and inherited some classic melodies from the opera version. It premiered at the Shanghai Spring Music Festival in 1965.

In 1997, the original composer Yan Jinxuan collaborated with another composer Meng Jinjin, and was invited by the China Symphony Orchestra to combine the wonderful music fragments from the ballet. , changed into a large-scale symphonic suite "White-Haired Girl Suite", which is divided into three parts: "Xi'er", "White-Haired Girl" and "Welcoming the Sun", which respectively correspond to the three main plots in the original play. The melodies have profound connotations. , but it sounds easy to understand.