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Chinese Opera
Chinese opera has its origins over two thousand years ago,it has been developed into an extremely complex performing art which combines singing, music, dialogue, acrobatics, martial arts and pantomime.
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Chinese
Opera |
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Chinese
opera has its origins over two thousand years ago. Since its
start it has been developed into an extremely complex performing
art which combines singing, music, dialogue, acrobatics, martial
arts, and pantomime. Lovers of European opera
may be surprised to hear Chinese opera, as the two, on the
face of it, have very little in common, other than they may
both be said to be operas. |
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Lovers
of European opera may be surprised to hear Chinese opera, as
the two, on the face of it, have very little in common, other
than they may both be said to be operas. |
It is true to say
that to the western ear, Chinese opera often seems shrill
and 'noisy'. Shrill voices pierce the air, accompanied
by loud gongs, crashing cymbals, drums and stringed instruments.
The music is not intended to be melodic, as in the West,
but rather used as punctuation to the performance. The
art is not readily appreciated by western ears, but at
the same time it is a highly developed art form. Although
the sound of Chinese opera may seem very alien, in fact
the stories which the operas tell are very familiar: heroes
battle overwhelmingly powerful foes, good defends the world
against evil, lovers seek escape from domineering and disapproving
parents.
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| Another area in which Chinese
opera differs from European opera is in its appeal. Chinese
opera is an art of the people - enjoyed and appreciated
by people from right across the social spectrum. In a real
sense it is a folk art, comparable in many ways with Chinese
Circus. |
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During
the development of Chinese opera, there has always been a cross
fertilisation of styles and ideas between various local variations.
Although sharing a common ancestry, Chinese opera boasts over
360 various distinct forms - taking their names from their
places of origin. These forms are generally discernible by
their use of local dialects and distinct 'melodies'. Among
the best known forms are Jingju (Beijing Opera) and Yueju (Cantonese
Opera). |
Beijing
opera is considered by most to be the most refined. It uses
almost no scenery, but rather relies on props and costume.
It generally contains a fair amount of acrobatics and swordplay.
Beijing Opera can be traced back to 1790 when a troupe performed
for the Emperor's birthday. As such it is but an infant in
terms of Chinese opera tradition. However, it builds upon tradition
and is a highly refined style. Story lines are well known and
are usually taken from historical epics and romantic novels
of China 's past. |
| Cantonese opera is more
'popularist', and invariably contains a 'boy meets girl' plot.
Interestingly Cantonese opera also contains a high degree of
modern and foreign references. |
| One of the most intriguing of
Chinese operatic forms is the Chinese revolutionary opera
classics like The White-Haired Girl and Taking
Tiger Mountain By Strategy (pictured right). These
operas where developed as a means of spreading revolutionary
ideas and concepts among the masses - as already noted,
opera was and is an art form popular among the masses,
and the adaptation of revolutionary ideas into Chinese
operatic productions was, it has to be said, something
of a stroke of genius in lateral thinking! |
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In all
Chinese opera characters have painted faces and include warriors,
gods and demons, scholars, clowns and officials. Face painting
leans heavily on earlier forms of mask and make up. Facial
patterns rely on exaggeration and the symbolism of colour to
suggest a character's attributes and natures. The faces painted
become what the Chinese call 'a mirror of the soul'. Well versed
members of the audience will be able to tell instantly the
nature of a character on the stage by their face. |
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Although colours sometime represent
a physical attribute of a character, they are predominantly
used as indicators of a characters personality. Some of
the principle colours are listed below.
Red: loyalty, courage
Dark red: loyal, time-tested warrior
Pink: humour
Yellow: brutality
Gold and silver: supernatural (demons, Buddhas, spirits)
Green: chivalry
Blue: valour, resolution
Purple: wisdom, bravery, steadfastness
Black: loyalty, integrity
Powder white: cruelty, treachery
Off White: inflated, domineering
Grey: an old scoundrel |
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