Putuxian Opera is one of the old opera styles in Fujian. Originally known as "Xinghua Opera", Putuxian Opera is popular in Putian and Xiangyou counties, which were known as Xinghua in ancient times, as well as in the Xinghua dialect areas in central and southern Fujian. Its troupe footprints throughout Fuzhou, Xiamen, Jinjiang, Longxi, Sanming and other cities and overseas Chinese settlements. According to the evidence, it was developed on the basis of the ancient "Hundred Operas".
Origin
Putuxian Opera has the longest history among the Chinese opera genres, originating from the Tang Dynasty, becoming popular in the Song Dynasty, and flourishing in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It has the oldest performance form, the richest repertoire, and one of the most distinctive features in performing arts. Formerly known as Xinghua opera. Popular in Fujian Province, Putian, Xianyou two counties and Hui'an, Fuqing, Yongtai and other neighboring counties of the Xinghua dialect area; because of the Song, Putian, Xianyou attached to the Xinghua army, Ming and Qing attached to the Xinghua House and named. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, it was renamed Putu Xian Opera.
History
Putuxian Opera has a long history. During the North and South Dynasties, a large number of people from the Central Plains moved south to Fujian Province, and the "Hundred Plays" of the Central Plains, which were prevalent at that time, were introduced to Putuxian, Fujian Province. And formed in the language, singing and performance of the rich local characteristics of the opera voice.
In the Tang Dynasty, Putian folk songs and dances were prevalent. According to legend, Tang Kaiyuan (713-741), Putian Jiangdong village beauty Jiang Cai frequency, was selected by the Tang Emperor into the palace, given Mei Fei Fei, highly favored (see the Dictionary of Chinese personal names "Jiang Cai frequency" article, "Tang and Song Legends Mei Fei biography"). His brother had accompanied into the Hajj, was named uncle of the state, and later returned to Putu, the Ming Emperor gave it a "Pearland", brought back for the feast, so the court workshop songs and dances spread Putian. Therefore, the music and dance of Putian music and song "set the elite of the ancient songs of the Tang Dynasty, stay the legacy of the Nishang Yuyi sound, the collection of the palace workshop, take the song of the villages and fields of the tune" of the beauty of the Tang Xiantong (860-873), the abbot of Xuansha Temple in Fuzhou, Zong a big title, "South trip to Putian, the county rows of a hundred plays to meet." (see Song Shamen Dawon compilation) (See Song Shamen Dao Yuan compiled "Jingde Chuanluan Deng Lu" Volume 18) Tang Dynasty "hundred plays", also known as "scattered music" is a "haiku song and dance miscellany" (see "The Old Tang Book. Music", colorful theater and dance performances.
In the Song Dynasty, Xinghua culture is more developed, many literati in and outside the official. Some of them are good at music and lyrics, good song and dance theater, more than one set of Jiale self-entertainment. Song Putian scribe Fang Meishu, is a "years to get bunch of repair and Qingyun nobleman feed to self-fertilization" of the schoolteacher, but also "to buy dozens of Kabuki", all day at home "blowing the sheng and drumming the piano, to entertain the guests" (see the Song Wang Mai, "Qu Xuan set", Volume XI, "Fang Meishu, Putyang epitaph"). Cai Jing's family, in the Song Dynasty, more prominent officials, in Beijing, often "family feasts Zhang Le", so that the family music actresses to perform miscellaneous plays for fun (see Song Zhou Hui "Qingbo Magazine"). Its hometown Xianyou Chiling children and nephews, every feast also make song will be singing and dancing, according to the investigation of Chiling is now popular "ten times", there is a "big music" and "small music" of the difference between the norms are rigorous. The musicians need to open the "cool umbrella" when playing, wearing a dress, is said to be the Song Dynasty official banquet music of the legacy, (see the Fujian Provincial Institute of Opera and Song Oil printing of the "Xiangyou County Opera Survey Data").
Artistic Features
The performance of Putuxian Opera is simple and elegant, and many of its movements are y influenced by puppetry. Putuxian Opera follows the old rules of Southern Opera, and there are only seven roles, namely, Sheng, Dan, Paste Sheng, Zedan, Pretty Makeup (Pure), End, and Ugly, which are commonly known as the "Seven Classes". The music tradition of Putu Xian Opera is deep and rich, and it still retains a lot of music from the Song and Yuan dynasties. The voice of Putu Xian Opera is mainly "Xinghua Cavity", which integrates and dissolves Putu Xian folk songs and slang, ten tones and eight music, Buddhist music, Song and Yuan lyrics and songs and dances, and is sung in dialect, which is a kind of voice with strong local colors and flavors.
Xinghua popular folk song and dance opera, absorbed the "Wu song", "Chu ballad" (see Song Lin Guangzhao "Ai Xuan set, leap month on the Yue Wang Terrace rhyme Jingliu Shixian sent poetry") and miscellaneous performances, and gradually formed both the story of the drama; but also a combination of singing, doing, reading, dancing and costumes and make-up, performed in the theater theater on the opera, known as the excellent opera. Song Dynasty, Xinghua folk theater performances in the formation of a variety of different, miscellaneous plays, puppet shows (puppetry), song and dance and acrobatics.
According to the Song Putian Liu Kezhuang to the home of Ren poetry records, at that time, Xinghua folk theater performances of the story: Chu Han Liu Honggou "Hongmen will", Xiang Yu defeated Gaixia "Farewell my concubine"; the rise and fall of the two Jin Dynasty "Eastern Jin Dynasty"; ancient myths of the "Kuafu chasing the sun", foreign tribute "Kunlun Nu offer treasures", and so on. The performance venues include the "theater shed" in the square and the "stage" in the temple. Accompanying instruments are mainly drums, gongs and flutes (i.e., wicker and bamboos). Performances are very popular, the so-called "draw hairpins off the city busy, most of the people in the theater", "empty alleys and no one all out to play", "the return of the girl looking for a fall" "shed empty crowd scattered feet desolate, yesterday people tend to be like a wall; children do not know the time has changed, and call into the city to see the new field" of the scene (see the Song Liu Kezhuang, "Mr. Houcun Dazhuanji," Volume 10, Volume 21, Volume 22, Volume 43).
According to the survey, the traditional repertoire of Putian Opera, the music, the line of footwork are closely related to the southern opera. The traditional repertoire of Putu Xian Opera has more than 5,000 plays, among which there are more than 80 plays that retain the original appearance of the Song and Yuan Southern Opera or the storyline is basically similar, and there are more than 50 plays with scripts passed down, such as "Meilian Saves His Mother", "Capture Wang Kui Alive", "Cai Bo Harmony", "Zhang Chia" (i.e., "Zhang Xie Scholar", "Zhu Wen", "Princess Le Chang", "Liu Wen Long", "Chen Guangrui", "Wang Xiang", "Guo Hua", "Cui Junrui", "Wang Shupeng", "Liu Zhi". Wang Shipeng", "Liu Zhiyuan", "Jiang Shilong", "Killing the Dog", "Pipa Tale", and so on. With the "South words Record" "Song and Yuan old" recorded South drama program is the same or basically similar.
Some of the songs of Putuxian Opera have the same names, rhythms, and word patterns as those of Tang and Song songs and Song lyrics. In particular, the [Prince Touring the Four Gates], which only exists in the early Southern Opera "Scholar Zhang Xie", is a commonly used song in Putuxian Opera. Putu Xian Opera still retains a lot of music from the Song and Yuan dynasties. There are more than 1,000 singing songs, which are known as "three hundred and six major themes and seven hundred and two minor themes". The voice is called "Xinghua Cavity", which is a synthesis of the dissolution of Putian folk songs and slang, Shifan eight music, Buddhist music, Tang and Song sound poetry, words and music, and big songs and dances, and is formed by singing in the Putian dialect, with deep local color and flavor. In the early days, the musical instruments of Putian Opera were very simple, just like the Song and Yuan Southern Opera, with only gongs, drums and flutes. The drums were big drums and the gongs were called sand gongs. The gongs and drums were used to regulate stage performances, and there were more than 300 kinds of gongs and drums with strict rules. The flute is called the flute pipe, and there are two kinds of flutes: the reed flute and the plum blossom flute. The reed flute, also known as the head pipe, comes from the ancient wicker bamboos and is the unique wind instrument of the Putu Xian Opera; the meihua, a suona, is also the main instrument of the Putu Xian Opera.
Roles
Originally, there were only seven actors in Putuxian Opera: Sheng, Dan, Paste Sheng and Paste Dan, and seven actors in the end of the makeup and clowns, so they were called "seven classes". At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the old Dan was added, so it was called "Eight Immortals." Putu Xian Opera in the late Qing Dynasty absorbed the branches of other types of theater, adding a number of roles, but "beautiful makeup" role is still retained in the Song Dynasty miscellaneous drama title.
Performance Characteristics
The performance of Putuxian Opera, according to the excavated data, it is a unique performing art formed on the basis of the Tang Hundred Opera Song and puppet show. Tang Xiantong years (860-870) Putuquan Lane, "Talks about the record," said: "After the Sui and Tang, Xinghua Hundred Opera Xingjian. In 954 A.D., Lianjiangli Zhi recorded: "On the birthday of Cai Taishi, a guest offered his skills to tie a boy's limbs with silk for a puppet show with a meat head." The performing art of Putu Xian Opera inherited the traditional performance of the ancient South Opera inherited from Mai Zi for more than a year, and the performances in the traditional repertoire of Putu Xian Opera, such as "Meilian", have maintained the comprehensive artistic appearance of the Song miscellaneous operas and puppet shows, and have been called the "living fossil" of the South Opera of Song and Yuan dynasties.
The script of Putuxian Opera Dabang Meilian, the song, the voice, the drum plate, the performance of the body, the action program and the stage of a table and two chairs, face, disguise, costumes and hats, as well as props and the puppet Meilian opera, etc. are exactly the same, and there is a close relationship, which is Putuxian Dabang Meilian Opera comprehensive relics of the puppet Meilian Opera.
The performance of Putuxian Opera Meilian play, there are "Meilian picking scripture", "three steps and a worship", "eighteen plucks" of Liu Sizhen, "toad worship" of Liu Jia. "Toad Worship" of Liu Jia, "Three Sections of Bending" of Gu Bisheng, "Gong Bisao" of the Deaf and Mute, and so on. From the protagonist to the supporting role, from the character image to the performance specifications, all use the human imitation puppet performance, and comprehensive composition of the song, drums and boards, the performance of the three combinations of standardization, passed down through the generations, successive.
The basic skills of Putu Xian Opera actors, known as the "puppet core", hand movements "no more than the eyebrows, no less than the navel" of the artistic specifications. Such as the raw corner of the "step", Dan corner of the "step", the net corner of the "pick step", "step", "step", "step", "step", "step", "step", "step", "step", "step", "step", "step", "step". The "seven-step slip" of the clown role, are to maintain the puppet image, when the actor wants to express the character's joy and sadness, hi with "leaping step", angry with "double shake step", sad with "double cover", music with "double body shoulder" are all expressed in the image of the performance of the feelings of unconcerned. So far, the basic skills of Putu Xian Opera actors are still inherited from the puppet show.
The artistic heritage of Putuxian opera people imitating the puppet acting method is also influenced by the Song and Yuan puppet theater. In "Double Whip Back to Two Mace", when Qin Shubao and Yuchigong are fighting each other fiercely, Qin holds a double mace and Yuchigong holds a single whip, utilizing the puppet's method of fighting, double-hitting, double-hooking, double-up, double-down, and the form of puppet performance, with the exact same movements and stances. Another example is "Su Wu and Li Ling" in which Su Wu holds a sectional staff and walks the old man's step, with the image of "three-section bend" and Li Ling's figure on the stage "looking at his hometown" as "foot drop", "rocking step", "tends to keep", "Kui Dou hanging", etc. The puppet performance is called "puppet" and "puppet". Called "puppet medium", to maintain the form and characteristics of human puppetry; and then "Lv Mengzheng counted eighteen Luohan", Lv Mengzheng and two monks with, imitating the image of the puppet, singing, reading and doing the same with the puppet acting skills, features that there is a harmonious and humorous performances, but also to maintain the art of human puppetry.
Status quo
Since the new century, due to various reasons, Putian Opera has suffered serious brain drain, lack of successors, the traditional performing arts are on the verge of being lost, and the face painting, costumes and music are being assimilated into foreign styles of opera and other art forms, and the uniqueness of the art is being weakened. This ancient opera is in a state of self-perpetuation and is in urgent need of effective measures to support and protect it. The famous playwrights of Putuxian Opera are Chen Renjian, Ke Rukuan, Jiang Yusong, etc., and the famous actors are Huang Wendi and Lin Dongzhi.
The State attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage, and on May 20, 2006, it was approved by the State Council to be included in the list of the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage.
On June 8, 2007, Fujian Provincial Puxian Opera Theatre was awarded the first Cultural Heritage Day Prize issued by the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China.