After the introduction of opera into China, it was combined with excellent traditional culture and gradually formed opera art with Chinese characteristics. With the development of the times, Chinese opera has shown a thriving situation. At the 5th China Opera Festival held in May this year, 21 outstanding opera works created and performed by 24 units across the country were displayed in a concentrated manner, attracting more than 1,6 audiences to enter the theater, with a total of more than <> million online broadcasts. This grand occasion shows that Chinese opera is on the road of high-quality development.
1. Enter the public and penetrate into the hearts of the people
For a long time, Chinese opera has adhered to the road of nationalization, given full play to the advantages of its own national art forms, combined national singing styles, cultural traditions, living customs with opera art, and created opera works with the expression forms, aesthetic standards, artistic tastes, etc. of national music, realizing the localization of opera. The rehearsal of the national opera "The Party's Daughter" follows the original creation in terms of musical performance, incorporating a large number of musical elements of traditional Chinese opera, and innovatively combining opera culture, folk songs and Western opera. For example, the musical elements drawn from Jiangxi local folk songs and Shanxi Pu opera make the theme song "Rhododendron Flower" in the play have both the high-pitched high-pitched of Western opera arias and the softness of our national melodies, and the singing is simple and very dramatic.
The nationalization of Chinese opera is also reflected in its ability to truly record the labor practice of the people, vividly reflect the voice of the people, let the people understand and understand, and with the advancement of the plot and the rendering of music, it is the same joy, sorrow and emotion with the characters in the play, so that opera art can connect with the aesthetic taste of the public and better meet the spiritual and cultural needs of the people. For example, the original national opera "Mountains and Seas" adapted from the hit TV series of the same name brilliantly reproduces the immigration history of the people of Xihaigu, Ningxia, represented by Yongquan Village in the 20s of the 90th century, who relocated to Yongning County and built an economic development zone from scratch. Among them, the most popular local music in Xihaigu, Ningxia, where the story takes place, is "Hua'er", so the play uses "Hua'er" as the main musical material to express the musical image of local villagers, and adds exciting accompaniment music to the chorus to express the labor of land reclamation, and writes a people's epic of self-improvement in art form.
2. Integrate east and west, deep roots
The nationalization of opera has greatly enriched the expression of this art, and made it increasingly reflect Chinese characteristics and style.
Because it originated from the West, the story construction, work style, melodic characteristics, singing methods, singing language, dance movements, etc. of opera have a strong Western cultural color, in order to be widely accepted by Chinese audiences, it is necessary to pay attention to learning the advantages of Western opera art while learning from the excellent traditional Chinese culture, especially the artistic characteristics of traditional opera. For example, the musical style and composition techniques of the opera "The Wild" reflect the fusion of traditional Chinese aesthetics and Western modern aesthetics. The creators use highly Western operatic singing forms - arias, narrative tunes, solo singing, duets, etc. in their vocal performances, while adding elements such as traditional Chinese ancient poetry chanting and Peking Opera rhyme. The play has not only won many awards in China, but also been widely praised in Europe.
The flourishing Chinese culture also played a leading role in opera creation. In recent years, Chinese opera has absorbed nutrients from the excellent traditional Chinese culture, red culture, socialist construction practice and other resources, and created a number of works with rich themes and exquisite skills, including "King Chuzhuang", "Xi Shi" and "Orphan of Zhao" with historical themes, "Fang Zhimin", "The Party's Daughter" and "One Heart Knot" with revolutionary cultural themes, "Female Teacher in Mountain Villages", "Farewell to Kangqiao" and "Looking forward to Your Return" with realistic themes. These opera works reflect the voice of the people, respond to the needs of the times, show Chinese characteristics, and have high artistic value, so that opera art can take root, germinate, blossom and bear fruit in China.
3. Suitable for all ages, elegant and customary
According to the "2021 National Performance Market Annual Report" released by the China Performance Industry Association, the main consumption of the performance market in 2021 is young people aged 18 to 39, who account for 76% of ticket users. The total number of major performances in the country is 18,97, this data covers drama, musicals, children's drama, opera, dance, concerts, concerts and music festivals, crosstalk, talk shows and other major art categories, of which the proportion of opera performances is still very low, in the vigorous development of opera creation, the opera performance market needs to be further cultivated and expanded.
To prosper and develop the art of opera, we must pay attention to market guidance. In order to make opera fly more into the homes of ordinary people, we must pay attention to the appreciation of elegance and customs. In terms of market positioning, it is aimed at the broadest masses of the people, so that everyone can be educated in the enjoyment of opera; Formulate support policies, reduce the burden on opera performance groups, improve the treatment of cast members, appropriately reduce performance ticket prices, and let more people be influenced by art. It is gratifying that in recent years, the National Arts Fund has funded a large number of excellent plays, including many masterpieces of opera.
After the national opera "Yimeng Mountain", which expresses the story of the people's war of resistance in the old district, was staged in 2019, the audience was moved to tears everywhere. While winning industry awards, the play also attracted a group of young audiences in online performances. At the beginning of creation, the main creators have targeted to absorb the elements of folk opera, folk songs and modern popular songs such as "Yimeng Mountain Minor", "Driving Ox Mountain", "Fengyang Song", "My Hometown Yimeng Mountain" and "Who Doesn't Say My Hometown is Good", these melodies are well known to the people, and they are organically integrated into the opera music by the creators, so that the audience who enter the theater to enjoy the opera feel familiar and amiable.
Opera art needs to focus on young people. Opera communication should focus on nurturing the audience, and let the younger generation contact, accept and love opera through activities such as "elegant art into school". In terms of performance form, some operas add pop, rock and other musical styles to the music, so that the stage design and character modeling are more in line with modern aesthetics; Some operas are used together with music, dance and theater. These explorations provide ample space for opera to be exhibited and are more conducive to the reception of young audiences.
The development of Chinese opera is the proper meaning of promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture, continuously enhancing the cohesion of the Chinese nation and the influence of Chinese culture, and is also the need for the prosperity and development of advanced socialist culture and the comprehensive construction of a modern socialist country. It is believed that with the efforts of the vast number of artists, Chinese opera will surely move steadily and far-reaching on the road of development that integrates social and economic benefits.
(Author: Zhao Sitong, Associate Professor, School of Arts, Beijing Union University) (Source: Guangming Daily)