What is the history of the development of Kunqu Opera?

Kunqu opera has a long history, and it represents the ancient Chinese opera voice and genre. Its repertoire is rich and colorful, the singing is graceful and soft, and the performances are full of singing and dancing.

Kunqu opera is a local opera popular in southern Jiangsu (Nankun), Beijing, Hebei (Beikun) and other places in China, and is sung in Kunqu dialect. "Kun dialect" is also called Kunqu opera and Kunshan dialect. Kun dialect (Kunqu opera), or as opposed to Beiqu, is called Nanqu and Nanzi.

It was originally in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, a popular opera tone, at that time the southern opera "tour" had flowed through the Kunshan region of Jiangsu, and the local voice and ** converged. Later, it was improved by the singing of Kunshan vocalist Gu Jian, and also promoted the formation and development of "Kunshan dialect". During the Jiajing and Longqing periods of the Ming Dynasty, Wei Liangfu and others who lived in Taicang Wharf in Jiangsu Province carried out a fusion and innovation of the Kun dialect, mainly singing legendary scripts, and using flute, sheng, flute, pipa and other accompaniments.

At first, it was only in Wuzhong, and then gradually spread to various places to make the Kun dialect particularly prosperous, and became the main opera voice cavity from the Ming Dynasty to the middle of the Qing Dynasty. Later, the Kun dialect had an important impact on the formation and development of other dramas.

Kun (cavity) opera, in the form of a couplet style, was initially limited to the Suzhou area, and only expanded to the south of the Yangtze River and the north of the Qiantang River in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. At the end of Wanli, Kunqu opera flowed into Beijing. It can be seen that the birthplace of Kunqu Opera, an ancient cultural heritage, should be Kunshan, and Suzhou was only a "transit station" for its centralized dissemination at that time.

The performance form of Kunqu Opera is beautiful and moving, and the repertoire is well-known. Over the past few hundred years, Kunqu opera has been inherited and developed with beautiful and beautiful songs (lyrics) such as "Drunken Flower Shade", "Gu Mei Wine", "Simenzi", "Folding Order", "Pink Butterfly" and "Water Dragon Yin", and has also been absorbed and used as a reference by other operas. For example, in the Peking Opera industry, the actors pay attention to "singing, reading, doing, fighting (dancing) are all connected, and the civil, military and Kun are unstoppable".

Among them, "Kun" is Kunqu Opera. For example, in Peking Opera, the martial arts opera "Pick the Pulley" and "Fa Zidu", the Danjiao Opera "Dream in the Garden" and "The Story of the Horse Seller", the Wudan Opera "Blocking the Horse" and "Hujiazhuang" are all Kunqu Opera, and Guan Yu sings "Blowing Cavity" in the Hongjing Opera "Ancient City Meeting" is also Kunqu Opera, and all the "Monkey Opera" belonging to Sun Wukong is basically singing Kunqu Opera.

It is not difficult to see that Kunqu Opera, which is famous as the "ancestor of a hundred operas" and is listed as the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage; It is dedicated to the audience with its profound, gorgeous and elegant artistic style. It is also a natural performance with the composition of the songs connected by the cards and the emotions of the characters, and it is loved by people.

Kunqu opera was created more than 600 years ago, and Wei Liangfu reformed the songs of the empty mountain dialect, combining the Haiyan dialect, the Yuyao dialect, and the Yiyang dialect to create Kunqu Opera.

More than 600 years ago, it was founded by Gu Jiancao, a native of Kunshan, and then during the Ming Dynasty, the famous reformer Wei Liangfu reformed the Kunshan dialect, and then formed a new sound cavity, which was particularly popular. This tone is very delicate.

The development is very long, and it first appeared in the late 16th century, and in this work it also combines a lot of modern elements, but also improves the original tone, and there are also many excellent Kunqu opera performance artists, and then it gives people a very delicate feeling, but also very elegant.

Kunqu opera originated more than 600 years ago, and the tone of Kunqu opera is particularly beautiful, and it also pays great attention to the control of sound, and the history of formation is also very long.

The heyday of Kunqu opera was the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty.

At first, the Kunshan dialect was just a folk song and a small song. Its distribution area was initially limited to Suzhou, and in the Wanli period, it expanded to the south of the Yangtze River and the north of the Qiantang River with Suzhou as the center, and also flowed into Beijing in the last years of Wanli. In this way, the Kunshan dialect became the most influential vocal cavity opera from the middle of the Ming Dynasty to the middle of the Qing Dynasty.

Kunqu opera is the most influential vocal opera in the middle of the Ming Dynasty to the middle of the Qing Dynasty, many of which are developed on the basis of Kunqu opera, known as "the ancestor of a hundred operas, the master of a hundred operas", and has the nickname of "the mother of Chinese opera". Immediately, the Wuxi Kunqu Opera Society played a role in the prosperity and promotion of Kunqu Opera.

Introduction

Kunqu Opera is the most complete performance system in the history of Chinese opera, with a deep foundation and rich heritage, which is the result of the high development of Chinese Han culture and art, and occupies an important position in the history of Chinese literature, opera, history and dance. The performance of Kunqu Opera also has its own unique system and style, and its biggest feature is strong lyricism, delicate movements, and the combination of singing and dancing is ingenious and harmonious. In terms of language, the drama was originally divided into southern and northern songs

Nankun is dominated by Suzhou vernacular, and Beikun is dominated by Dadu Yunbai and Jingbai.

With its gorgeous singing, elegant recitation, delicate performances, elegant dancing, and perfect stage setting, it can be said that it has reached the highest level in all aspects of opera performance. Because of this, many local operas, such as Jin Opera, Pu Opera, Hunan Opera, Sichuan Opera, Gan Opera, Gui Opera, Yue Opera, Min Opera, etc., have been nurtured and nourished by Kunqu Opera in many aspects.

Kunqu OperaOriginated fromSuzhou, JiangsuKunshan.

Kunqu opera originated more than 600 years ago and was created by Gu Jian, a native of Kunshan. to Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty.

During the year, Wei Liangfu, an outstanding Kunqu opera master and reformer, carried out bold reforms in the Kunshan cavity, absorbing the characteristics of the Yuyao cavity, Yiyang cavity and Haiyan cavity that were popular at that time, forming a new sound cavity, which was widely popular.

Because this tone is soft and glutinous, delicate, it is like the glutinous rice dumplings made of water-ground flour eaten by Jiangnan people.

Hence the interesting name "Water Mill Tune", which is today's Kunqu Opera.

Kunqu opera is a new form of drama that emerged in the Ming Dynasty of China, and from the late 16th century, it gradually occupied a central position in the theater world, becoming the most important form of drama for more than 200 years. Kunqu opera has gone through a long process from its origin to its formal formation.

According to the information that can be seen, it is about Guangzong in the Southern Song Dynasty.

During the emperor's period, a kind of local opera in Yongjia, Zhejiang rose rapidly, and it was mainly sung by southern folk **, so it was called southern opera.

Southern opera retains many characteristics of folk art, is not subject to any rules and regulations, and the performance is free and lively, with great randomness. In the process of development, Southern Opera has gradually absorbed a variety of mature traditional forms since the Tang and Song dynasties, and has gradually become rich and meticulous. However, due to the lack of the participation of the upper echelons of intellectuals, it has not been able to overcome its own congenital or acquired defects for a while, so that it has been hovering at a not very high level for a long time.