Drama world

The Tang Dynasty was the stage of the formation of traditional Chinese opera, and there was no real traditional Chinese opera. However, due to the development of economy and the improvement of living standards, the prosperous literature and art in the Tang Dynasty laid a solid foundation for the maturity of later operas.

After the Middle Tang Dynasty, China's drama developed with each passing day, and the art of drama began to take shape gradually.

The maturity of poetic law and a large number of narrative poems in the Tang Dynasty almost played a decisive role in the development of China opera. At that time, the prosperity of music and dance provided an extremely warm singing and performance soil for the development of China traditional opera. Especially in the case of developed economy, the professional improvement and standardized training of Jiao Fang Pear Garden greatly improved the level of artists, accelerated the dramatic speed of singing and dancing, and there were many songs and dances to tell stories at that time.

Nowadays, we often play tricks on the music circle called "pear garden", which once had a great relationship with the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. According to "Records of Rites and Music in the New Tang Dynasty", "Xuanzong knew the melody and loved music, and chose 300 children of geisha in the left to teach in Liyuan. If the voice is wrong, the emperor will feel it and correct it. He is a disciple of the Emperor Liyuan. "

The "Pear Garden" established by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty in the court can be described as the first comprehensive "art college" integrating music, dance and opera in the history of China. In addition, in this art school, Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, personally served as the principal. Not only did he become the principal himself, but he also wrote for the pear garden himself. In this way, Saburo became the grandfather of Liyuan.

Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, had different opinions on governing the country, but he was indeed a generation leader in melody. It is said that he wrote the famous Colorful Feathers.

The establishment of the Liyuan brought up a large number of performing artists, which made the cultural development in the "Kaiyuan Shi Sheng" period reach an unprecedented height.

musical drama

Song and dance dramas originated in the Northern Qi Dynasty and developed in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. There are not only songs and dances, but also simple story lines and role-playing. As we can see, the musical at that time was already a comprehensive musical performance, and it had the embryonic form of China traditional opera.

There are three main musical works: Daimian, Tiaoyao Niang and Tiaotou. Among them, "Step on a Ballad Mother" is the most complete, but unfortunately the lyrics and music scores of these three musicals have been lost.

"Old Tang Shu Yue Ji" records: "The generation came from the Northern Qi Dynasty. Lan Ling, a warrior in the Northern Qi Dynasty, is respectful, brave and beautiful, and often wears a mask to face the enemy. I tried to attack the door of Jin Yong and Zhou, and I was brave in the three armed forces and strong in the people. To this end, I dance to effectively direct the assassination, which is called "the ensemble of the warrior Lan Ling". "

In the Tang Dynasty, Cui also recorded in Jiao Fangji: "The Northern Qi Dynasty was greatly encouraged. The soldier Lan Ling looks very respectful and courageous, and looks like a woman. He thought he was not enough to threaten the enemy, but he carved wood as a mask and chickened out. Because this drama is also a song. " Among them, "bedding face" means "bedding face".

"Jiao Fangji" records: "In the Northern Qi Dynasty, someone surnamed Su refused to be an official and claimed to be a doctor; Indulge in drinking and hitting his wife every time he gets drunk. A wife was very sad and complained to her neighbor. When people do this. Husband wears women's clothes and walks in to sing; Each stack, others chorus and cloud,' step on a rumor, come on! "Come on!" Because it steps and sings, it is called' stepping on rumors'; It is called injustice, so it is bitter. When my husband arrives, he will fight and think he is laughing. "As can be seen from this record," Stepping on a Ballad Mother "is actually a musical based on the true story of Beiqi, which is very ironic.

There is a record in the Book of the Old Tang Dynasty: "Dial the head" and go out to the western regions. The Hu people were eaten by wild animals, and his son begged the wild animals to kill them, so he danced like an elephant. "Through records, we can see that this is a folk song and dance program introduced to the Central Plains from the Western Regions in the Tang Dynasty, which tells the story of a Human who went up the mountain to find his father's body and fought with the tiger because his father was killed by a tiger.

As can be seen from the above records, in fact, for today's people, musical drama is a sign that China opera art has begun to mature and occupies an important position in the history of China opera music.

join the army

In the Tang Dynasty, in addition to the development of song and dance dramas, there was also the rise of legionary teleplay, and legionary teleplay was developed on the basis of excellent Nuo operas.

However, the origin of the military drama is still controversial. One said it was in the Eastern Han Dynasty and Emperor Wudi, and the other said it was in the post-Zhao period. Here, we quote the saying from the period of Five Hus and Sixteen Countries. In the period of Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, Zhao ordered an artist to dress up as a soldier because of the corruption of an official who joined the army, and another artist teased him from the side, so it became a form of performance. The teaser called it "joining the army" and the teaser called it "stork". Two feet made funny dialogues and performances, hence the name "joining the army". Joining the army and Canggu are the names of the characters in the play, which actually constitute a "business". China's traditional operas can be divided into roles and occupations, which started with joining the army at the earliest.

Thus, legionary teleplay actually developed from "funny", the main element of which is "funny", while China's funny has a long history, which is actually a very old folk art.

The earliest written record about "funny" that we can research is Sima Qian's Biography of Funny Artists in Historical Records. In historical records, funny artists are called "relieving worries". These people take it as their duty to entertain the king and relieve boredom for the king, which can be said to be the plaything of the ruler.

By the Tang Dynasty, the development of military drama had begun to take shape. Li Shangyin mentioned in "Poems of Pride": "I suddenly returned to school and joined the army, calling for storks." We can see that in the late Tang Dynasty, even children who played games knew how to imitate the drama of joining the army according to their roles.

The development and integration of song and dance drama and military drama has accelerated the mutual penetration between them, which indicates that a performance form integrating song and dance, acrobatics and performance is about to take shape, and also lays a good foundation for China opera.