Hunan Flower Drum Opera, also known as Hunan Opera, originated in Yiyang, Hunan, and later developed to Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui and other places. It is the general name for the local flower drum and lantern operas in Hunan. Due to different popular areas, there are Changsha Flower Drum Opera, Hengyang Flower Drum Opera, Shaoyang Flower Drum Opera, etc., each with its own different style. It developed from the folk songs of southern Hunan, and developed from the singing of once ugly to the singing of "three small". There are more than 400 traditional Huagu Opera repertoires and more than 300 music tunes from various places. According to its structure and musical style, it can be divided into four categories: Sichuan tune, Daluo tune, Paizi tune and minor tune, all of which are characterized by rough and hearty style and strong local color. The music is accompanied by small suonas and gongs and drums, and the tunes are lively and light, suitable for singing and dancing dramas. Famous actors include Liao Chunshan, Wang Yousheng, Zhang Shusheng, etc.
Introduction to Hunan Flower Drum Opera
Flower Drum Opera originated from folk songs and gradually developed into the primary form of Flower Drum Opera performed by a single ugly person. The "Liuyang County Chronicle" published in the 23rd year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty (1818) talked about the situation of playing dragon lanterns during the local Lantern Festival: "The ugly Dan opera is sung with children dressed up, and the golden drums are noisy, starting from the beginning of the tenth day of the year and ending at night." This shows that the flower drum opera once performed by Yichou, Dihuagu, had been formed in the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty at the latest. According to Yang Enshou's "Tan Yuan Diary" in the first year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1862), in the "Huagu Ci" (i.e. Flower Drum Opera) that Yang Enshou watched in Yongxing, Hunan, there were four roles: scholar, book boy, Liu Ying and Liu Ying maidservant, and The plot and performance are both more vivid, which shows that Huagu Opera at this time has not only developed into the "Three Xiao" (Xiaodan, clown, and niche) operas, but the performance form has also reached a certain scale. Judging from the tune and repertoire, in the early stage, folk tunes and brand tunes were used to sing and dance at the same time, such as "Fighting Birds", "Plate Flowers", "Sending Cousin off", "Reading the Face", etc. Later, "Da Luo Tune" and "Sichuan Tune" were introduced, and folklore-themed plays with strong storytelling gradually appeared. The main repertoires of Daluo tune include "Qingfeng Pavilion", "Lulin Hui", "Eight Hundred Miles of Dongting", "Snow Plum Goddess", etc. The main repertoires of Sichuan tune include "Liu Hai Playing with Toad", "Whip the Reed Flowers", "Zhang Guangda Shang" "Longevity", "Having a Son on the Road", etc. In this way, an artistically relatively complete local opera has been formed.
In the early days of Huagu Opera, only semi-professional troupes performed seasonal performances in rural areas, doing farming during the busy season and performing arts during the leisure time. Since Guangxu, this kind of troupe has developed rapidly. In Ningxiang and Hengyang counties alone, there are dozens of "suitcases" and nearly 200 artists. Actors are trained by following the teacher in a class, and there are also apprentices who teach their skills, which are called "teaching centers" or "teaching halls". Each performance lasts for tens of days, and three or four plays are taught. In the past, because Flower Drum Opera was often discriminated against and banned from performing, Flower Drum Opera troupes from all over the country used to perform popular local operas as a cover. This type of troupe was called "half stage troupe" or "half play and half tune" or "yin and yang troupe". After the founding of the People's Republic of China, professional theater troupes were established in various places and performed in urban theaters. According to statistics in 1981, there were 54 Huagu Drama Troupes in the province, and the Hunan Huagu Drama Theater was established. In 1957, the Hunan Provincial Opera School was established, with a Flower Drum Opera Department. Traditional repertoires There are more than 400 traditional repertoires of Huagu opera from various places, mainly reflecting folk life, mostly with themes of production labor, love between men and women, or family conflicts, with vivid language and strong local flavor. After 1949, the art of Huagu Opera developed greatly. It not only organized traditional operas such as "Liu Hai Chopping Woodcutter" and "Fighting Birds", but also created many other operas such as "Double Delivery of Food", "Sister-in-law is Busy", and "Three Mile Bay". Modern drama. "Playing the Gong", "Fixing the Pot", "On the Road", "Wild Duck Island", etc. have been made into films. Musical tunes There are about 300 musical tunes in Huagu Opera, which are basically a combination of tunes and tunes, supplemented by plate changes. According to different tune structures, music styles and expression techniques, they can be divided into four categories: Sichuan tunes. It is also called Zhenggong tune, that is, Xianzi tune, accompanied by datong and suona. The tune is composed of passing phrases and singing phrases, with rich changes in mode and melody. It is the main singing tune of Huagu Opera. Play the gong. Also known as gong tune, it has a structure of linked tunes and plates, combining "qiang" and "liu" (number of boards). It does not care about the strings. One person speaks and others help to harmonize. It is like a high tune. It is one of the main singing tunes of Huagu opera in Changsha, Yueyang and Changde.
Pai pai, including stage pai and gongs and drums, originates from the folk songs of southern Hunan. It is accompanied by small suona and gongs and drums. It is lively and brisk and suitable for singing and dancing dramas. It is one of the main singing styles of various schools in southern Hunan. minor key. There are folk song minors and silk string minors. Although the latter belongs to the minor tune system of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it has been localized. All forms of tunes are rough and hearty. Performance Characteristics The performance art of Huagu Opera is simple, bright and lively. The performance of clown, Xiaodan and Xiaosheng is still the most distinctive. The clown is exaggerated and funny, the Xiaodan is cheerful and lively, and the Xiaosheng is free and easy. He is rich in footwork and figure, and is good at using fans and hand towels. He has various routines to express rural life, such as rowing, carrying burdens, pounding buckets, chopping wood, blacksmithing, gunsmithing, grinding tofu, touching loaches, flying kites, and catching fish. Butterflies and more. In the later period, due to the development of the repertoire, the performing arts were also enriched. For example, some blanket skills and bar skills from brother operas were absorbed to enrich the martial arts performances. The division of labor in Huagu Opera has also become more detailed. Not only has it developed from the "Three Minors" to Sheng, Dan, Jing, and Chou, but there is also a more detailed division of labor among the "Three Minors". Taking Changsha Flower Drum Opera as an example, clowns are divided into those with pleated clothes, those with short bodies, those with official clothes, those with rags, and those with ugly breasts; Xiaodan is divided into Zhengdan, Erdan, Huadan, and boudoirdan; and Xiaosheng is divided into Zhengxiangsheng and romantic Xiaosheng. , Wu Xiaosheng, Lanbu Xiaosheng, Naishengzi, etc. In the long-term artistic practice, Flower Drum Opera in various places has some famous actors. Recently, there are He Dongbao (Chou) from Changsha, Liao Chunshan (Dan) from Xiangtan, Wang Yousheng (Lao Dan) from Shaoyang, Zhang Shusheng (Sheng) from Taoyuan, Yueyang's Yang Bocheng (Chou), Zhang Tingyu (Xiaosheng) from Hengyang, etc.
Changsha Flower Drum Opera uses Changsha Mandarin as the stage language and is the most influential type of Hunan Flower Drum Opera. It was developed from rural labor folk songs, folk tunes and local flower drums (including flower drums, ground flower drums and flower drum lanterns), and it has been more than 160 years ago.
Changsha Flower Drum Opera’s local flower drum stage has evolved from “Two Xiaos” (clown and Xiaodan) to “Three Xiaos” (two Xiaos plus niche), and then developed from “Three Xiaos” to a variety of roles. However, the "three small" performances are still an important feature of Changsha Flower Drum Opera.
There are a large number of short plays and excerpts in the traditional repertoire of Changsha Flower Drum Opera, which are the most distinctive and representative repertoires. Small plays include "pair play" and "three small plays". Most of the small operas are developed on the basis of folk songs, fishermen's songs, minor tunes, ground flower drums, bamboo lanterns, etc. Excerpts are often performed separately in the main opera, and they are the most popular plays in Changsha Huagu Opera. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, relying on the cooperation of veteran artists and literary and art workers, the traditional repertoire of Changsha Flower Drum Opera was excavated and adapted. Fifty scripts including "Liu Hai Chopping Woodcutter", "Lu Lin Hui", "Yin Yang Fan", "Nanzhuang Rent Collection", "Liu Hai Playing with Golden Toad" and other 50 scripts were focused on processing and sorting.
In music, it belongs to the "qupai coupling system". The method of coupling is to connect multiple tunes with the same tone according to the needs of shaping the image and the requirement of maintaining a unified and coordinated singing layout, so as to achieve the purpose of depicting characters, Show the purpose of the plot. However, in terms of expression techniques, it is supplemented by plate changes to make up for the shortcomings of the tune.
The tunes of Changsha Flower Drum Opera are divided into three categories: "Sichuan tune", "Darong tune" and "minor tune". The first two types are called "positive tunes" and have relatively fixed vocal formats and melodic characteristics; the latter type of tunes have large changes in melody, rhythm and mode, and basically maintain the original folk song structure. The interlude music of Changsha Flower Drum Opera comes from folk songs and classical tunes.
Changsha Flower Drum Opera developed the roles of Sheng, Dan, Jing and Chou based on the "Three Smalls". However, the clown, Xiaodan and Xiaosheng still represent the unique artistic style of this drama. Clowns are divided into ugly with folds, ugly with short body, ugly with official clothes, ugly with rags, ugly with milk, etc.
The accompaniment band of Changsha Flower Drum Opera is divided into civil and military scenes. There are big tubes and suonas in the literary field. The big tube is the main musical instrument, shaped like an erhu, and made of bamboo tubes and snakeskin. The sound is clear and rich, and is used to support the tune and maintain the tune during accompaniment. The suona is divided into large and small suona, which are mainly used for playing fill-ins. There are drums, big gongs (Su gongs), large notes (Han notes), small notes and small gongs in the martial arts field. The one that beats is "Kezi" (that is, the rectangular clapper).
Yueyang Flower Drum Opera is popular in Yueyang, Miluo, Linxiang and some towns in southern Hubei.
The "Baling County Chronicle" of the Jiaqing Dynasty in the Qing Dynasty records the prosperity of flower drum opera in rural areas around Baling.
In terms of music, the main tune of Yueyang Flower Drum Opera is called "qin tune". "Qinqiang" tunes include [Single Sentence], [Multiple Sentences], [Dream Tune], [Yin Tune], [Ai Tune], etc. Other folk tunes such as "Sifu Diao", "Acacia Diao", "Wu Kuo", "Ten Embroidery Diao", "Hui Men Diao", "Ten Cups of Wine", "Mei Hua Yin", etc. are often used in between. "Qinqiang" is obviously influenced by Han tune. Many repertoires of Yueyang Flower Drum Opera are also based on "qin tune", so when it was performed in southern and southeastern Hubei, because the music has the same origin and the language is similar, the masses easily accepted it and liked to watch it, so they called it "fiddle opera". ".
The main plays include "Missing My Husband", "Mending Back Jackets", "Lu Lin Ji", "Double Stealing Flowers", "Double Selling Wine", "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl", etc.
Changsha Flower Drum Opera is popular in Changsha, Xiangtan, Zhuzhou, Ningxiang, Liuyang, Pingjiang and other places. It is the most popular and influential type of Flower Drum Opera in Hunan. It became popular in these places as early as the middle of the Qing Dynasty and continues to be performed.
The main tune of Changsha Flower Drum Opera is "Sichuan Diao", which is used in most of the plays. Because the accompaniment is played with silk and bamboo instruments, the folk call it "Xianzi Tune". "Xianzi tune" is also influenced by Han Niaopihuang, and gradually approaches Banqiang music. There are also "First-Class", "Second-rate", "Third-rate", "Guoban", "Aizi", "Siqiang Aizi", "Yinqiang" and "Yinqiang". Shaoqiang) and the like, the main repertoires include "Pan Fu", "Pagoda Sacrifice", "Catching Butterflies", "Kite Flying", "Butterfly Lovers", "White Snake", "Garden Party", "Study Money", "Lulin Club" and so on.
Both the "qinqiang" and "Sichuan tune" strings are accompanied by string instruments such as Datong, and their pronunciation is deep and honest.
The second tone of Yueyang Flower Drum Opera and Changsha Flower Drum Opera is both called "Gong Tune". "Gong Qiang" is also called "Daluo Qiang", which means that gongs and drums are used to accompany the singing, regardless of the strings or the human voice. Before the liberation, Jingzhou Flower Drum Opera was also accompanied by gongs and drums, and the vocals were in harmony. It was only in the 1950s that the accompaniment of the theater was added. Whether it is Yueyang or Changsha Huagu Opera, based on local gong and drum music such as [Mupi Diao], [Muma Diao], [Jidian Diao], [Siliu Diao], and [Batong Brand], it has absorbed some elements of Han Niao Pi Huang. Banqiang music forms a combination of board structures such as [Guide Board], [Third-flow], [Express Board], and [Scatter Board].
The third tune of Yueyang Flower Drum Opera and Changsha Flower Drum Opera is called "minor tune", which is local folk music with strong local flavor. Such as folk song minor tunes [Cacha tune], [Wangniang tune], [Douban tune], [Sijiqing], [Lotus picking boat tune], [Xicaixin], etc. However, some gongs and drums of Han Dynasty are also used as interlude and interlude music, such as "Wannian Huan", "A Flower", "Flapping the Damp Moth", "Desheng Ling", "Liu Yaojin", "Next to the Dressing Table" wait.
Yueyang Flower Drum Opera and Changsha Flower Drum Opera became independent opera types. The earliest performances were the "Er Xiao" song and dance dramas with less plot, that is, once in a lifetime, and the "Three Xiao" songs and dances in which once in a lifetime, one is ugly. , mostly using local minor tunes, and later influenced by Han opera and other dramas, they performed plays with strong plot and many characters.
Due to the low degree of drama in minor tunes, it absorbed Han tune music that was adjacent to it and had similar language and pronunciation, forming the later "Qin tune" or "Sichuan tune" and some "Gong tunes". cavity". And in the long-term stage performance process, local music is integrated, following a relatively fixed vocal pattern with melodic characteristics. Flower Drum Opera calls this "positive tune". The formation of "main tune" makes up for the shortcomings of minor tunes and the shortcomings of the combination of tunes and tunes, so that Huagu Opera has the musical conditions to perform this opera.
As for Changde Flower Drum Opera, it is mainly popular in places such as Changde, Taoyuan, Hanshou, Linli, Dayong and Cili. It originated from folk "tea-picking lanterns" and "car lanterns" and entered the city in the late Qing Dynasty. During the Xuantong period, "Changsha Daily News" recorded a ban on "flower lantern obscene opera" in Changde. Because of this, the Huagu Opera Troupe was forced to co-perform with the Han Opera Troupe, and the co-performance was directly influenced by the Changde Han Opera. Before liberation, many Huagu opera artists learned Chinese opera and joined Han troupes. Their performances often included Huagu and Han opera "two under the pot". The locals called this troupe "two swing troupes". This situation continued until after liberation.
Changde's music is also "Sichuan tune", "Daluo tune" and "minor tune". The main plays include "Lin Ying Watching Flowers", "Jumping over the Pink Wall", "Picking Fungi", "Double Down the Mountain" and "The Death of Second Sister You" adapted after liberation. Newly edited modern drama "Mountain Village Veterinarian".
In addition to the vocal music, Hunan Flower Drum Opera also has many traditional plays adapted from Han opera. It is said that there are hundreds of them, such as "Song Jiang Killing Xi", "Plum Dragon Playing with Phoenix", "Guan Wang Temple Burning Incense" ", "Huaiyin Sends Off the Son", "Qingfeng Pavilion", "Catching Pan", etc.
After liberation, under the guidance of the party’s literary and artistic policy, Hunan Huagu Opera, with the joint efforts of old artists and new literary and art workers, excavated, sorted and adapted many traditional plays, among which Hunan Huagu Opera has a greater influence across the country. The big ones include "Liu Hai Chopping Woodcutter", "Liu Hai Playing with Golden Toad", etc.
"Liu Hai Chopping Woodcutter", played by Xiao Chong as Hu Xiuying, Zhao Juyun as Liu Hai, and Zhong Yichun as Liu's mother, is about the Luffa Well in Wuling, Changde Liu Hai, a young woodcutter in Liujia Village, went up the mountain to cut firewood every day, and then sold the firewood in exchange for salt and rice to serve his mother. There are nine fox sisters in Qianshan. The ninth sister Hu Xiuying admires Liu Hai's hard work and simplicity, so she stopped Liu Hai on the road and proposed marriage. When Liu Hai knew that Xiuying truly loved him, he agreed. So the two used willow trees as matchmakers. Shanzheng married and they both returned home. It turns out that Hu Xiuying, whom Liu Hai married, was a fox fairy who had practiced for more than 500 years and gained the body of a semi-immortal. She has a jewel that allows her to transform into a human body. There is also a Stone Arhat in the front mountain. He was originally a Blue Stone Golden Toad. He also practiced on the mountain and wanted to get a semi-immortal body. So while Liu Hai was shopping on Long Street, he sneaked to Liu's house and saw Hu Xiuying drawing water by the loofah well. Lead the crowd of stones to go up and steal the pearl. Hu Xiuying was outnumbered and was knocked down the well. Shi Luohan used a thousand-pound gate to slam down the gate. Hu Xiuying had abdominal cramps and was exhausted, so she had to spit out the orb from her mouth, but Shi Luohan snatched it away. Hu Xiuying lost her orb and her true identity was about to be revealed at dawn, so she told Liu Hai the truth when she returned home from shopping. After hearing this, Liu Hai rushed to Qianshan regardless of life and death, and with the help of God's ax, he regained the orb. The couple reunited and lived a happy life.
In the play, "Brother Liu Hai, let me show you how good I am... I will show you how good my sister is..." A duet between Hu Xiuying and Liu Hai was lively and cheerful, and the two got married and both returned home. The joyful mood is expressed in a funny and cute way. It is one of the most distinctive arias of Hunan Flower Drum Opera and has been sung for a long time.
In addition to the arrangement and adaptation of traditional plays, Hunan Huagu Opera pays special attention to the creation and performance of modern plays, which has a great influence in the province and the country. Only Hunan Provincial Huagu Theater statistics in 1965: "Among the 94 plays of different sizes, 69 were modern plays, such as "Three Mile Bay", "Playing the Gong", "Mending the Pot", "Double Delivery of Food", "Red Salesman", "Guo Liang leads troops to capture Guo Liang", "My Family", "Returning the Cow", "On the Road to Delivery", "Two Drawings", "Mountain Village Veterinarian", "Wild Duck Island", "Object", "Niu Duoxi" Among them, "Playing the Gong", "Fixing the Pot", "Two Drawings", "On the Road", "Wild Duck Island", etc. were made into color stage art films, and "Three Mile Bay" and "Object" Won the Creation Award for the 30th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China organized by the Ministry of Culture in 1979. ""Mending the Pot" starring Li Guyi as Liu Lanying, Peng Fuguang as Li Xiaocong, and Zhong Yichun as Aunt Liu is said to be the pig-raising expert Aunt Liu. There is an only daughter named Lanying. After graduating from high school, she returned to her hometown to participate in agricultural production and fell in love with her classmate Li Xiaocong. Li Xiaocong learned the skill of tinkering after graduating from high school. Aunt Liu heard that her daughter had fallen in love with a tinkerer and believed that tinkering was useless, so she objected to her falling in love with him. One day Aunt Liu accidentally broke the large iron pot for cooking. Lan Ying took this opportunity to call Xiao Cong to mend the pot. The two cleverly educated Aunt Liu and changed her old thinking.
Li Guyi, who played Liu Lanying, later changed his name to Li Guyi. He entered the vocal music hall from singing flower drum opera and became a famous soprano singer today.
Although Hunan Flower Drum Opera later developed into the roles of Sheng, Dan, Jing, and Chou, Xiaodan, Xiaosheng, and Clown still occupy the main positions. The performance is full of a rich flavor of life, and it also pays attention to constantly absorbing traditional Performance techniques, such as Yueyang Flower Drum Opera, directly borrow the traditional opera's robes, feathers, wings, fans, official clothes, hats, beards, handles, and performance techniques such as jumping, falling, turning, and beating from Baling Opera. It is used to create characters and express plots, so as to enrich the expressive power of Huagu drama.