BRIEF HISTORY OF CHINESE THEATER --> |
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PEKING OPERA
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The Special Features of Beijing Opera (From Taiwan.gov)
"The Beijing Opera that we see today embodies a comprehensive, disciplined performance “architecture” that has evolved over time through the accumulation of experience by countless performers; this applies not only to the acting style but also to the literary quality of the scripts, the arias, the accompanying music, the percussion, the make-up and the symbolic facial decoration. Beijing Opera is very much a performing art, and an art form that has strict rules as to what is and is not acceptable. Over the years, Beijing Opera has exerted a pronounced influence on other regional opera styles, and has in fact become the yardstick by which other forms of opera measure themselves. Some people have suggested that Beijing Opera’s performance style has become fossilized, but in fact nothing could be further from the truth. Beijing Opera still offers considerable room for experimentation and development, for example by integrating modern dramatic techniques; the potential for innovation in areas such as singing style and musical tempo is enormous. Recently, many Beijing Opera performers have begun to break away from tradition, creating innovative new forms of Beijing Opera that are much appreciated by audiences." |
Music
VOCAL MUSIC (changqiang)
- Chinese opera singing is divided into metrical and versified styles.
- The main singing style in Peking opera is metrical, with lyrics similar to lüshi poetry, each line consisting of seven, 10 or more characters, and the final characters of most lines rhyming with each other.
- The main musical styles of Peking opera are xipi and erhuang. Xipi features high-pitched, lively tunes, while erhuang features steady, deep tunes.
- Each style has various kinds of meter, which are called banshi, which express different feelings and meet the needs of the different plots of different plays.
- The many instruments used in Peking opera fall into two main categories: wind (flute, horn) and string (fiddle, manodlin) AND percussion (drum, bamboo clappers, cymbals.)
- The Peking opera orchestra is generally called changmian, which originally meant "facing the stage."
- There is an orchestra to accompany: acrobatic fighting, singing, military, etc.