Hunan Flower Drum Opera is a general term for flower drum and lantern operas of various places in Hunan, including Changsha Flower Drum Opera, Changde Flower Drum Opera, Yueyang Flower Drum Opera, Hengyang Flower Drum Opera, Zuling Flower Drum Opera, and Flower Drum Lanterns of Qiyang and Dong'an areas.
Hunan Flower Drum Opera was developed on the basis of local mountain songs, ditties and folk songs and dances. Flower Drum Opera, which is sung by a clown, was formed in the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty at the latest. In the early stage, it was a small opera that sang folk songs and danced while singing, such as "Playing Bird", "Plate Flower", "Look at the Face" and so on. It was only after the introduction of the "gong cavity" and the "Sichuan tune" that plays with strong folklore themes appeared.
The traditional repertoire of flower-drum operas in Hunan is more than 400, mainly reflecting folk life, such as production and labor, love between men and women, and family conflicts. The Changsha Flower Drum Opera, Liu Hai Chopping Woodcutter, depicts a woodcutter, Liu Hai, who meets a fox fairy, Hu Xiuying. Hu Xiuying is in love with Liu Hai and is willing to marry him, but Liu realizes that his family is poor and refuses to allow him to do so. Hu confessed again and again, and was willing to stay in poverty, so they became husband and wife.
The Flower Drum Opera has 300 tunes, which can be divided into four categories: (1) Chuan Tune, or Gong Tune; (2) Gong Cavity; (3) Pai Zi, which originated from the folk songs of southern Hunan; and (4) Xiao Tune, which is a localized version of the Ming and Qing tunes. The musical structure is mainly based on the combination of songs, supplemented by plate changes.
The Chuan tune is the main voice of Hunan Flower Drum Opera. In the Hunan dialect, the passage (interlude) of the singing is called Chuanzi or Stringzi, meaning that the passage is used to string together the singing phrases. The Chuan tune consists of passing phrases and singing phrases, and is closely related to Hunan folk songs.
Example 106 Liu Hai Chopping Woodcutter [Double Calling Tune]
The gong-playing tune is divided into gong-playing tune and gong-playing loose tune. The traditional gong cavity is not accompanied by stringed instruments, one person sings, the crowd helps the cavity, the cavity of the sentence is interspersed with gongs and drums, similar to the big opera in the high cavity, the structure is the basic form of the gong cavity:
Cai Kunshan plowing the field [wood tone]
Changtze River Flower Drum Opera
Julichu notation
Report of the song and dance type of opera compared to the rap type of opera, the dance type of opera is closer to the dance and lack of dramatic elements, music, music and dance, and the dance type of opera, the dance type of opera. lack of dramatic elements, and musically closer to folk songs.
V. Rap Opera - Yueju Opera