Chapter 9 "White Fur" Preface

"White Fur" Preface -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ From the zaju of the Yuan Dynasty to the legend of the Ming Dynasty, the biggest difference is that the zaju is limited to 40 percent, while the legend can be 50 or 60 times long.This difference stems from the different sources of the two operas.Zaju in the Yuan Dynasty was performed every day in Goulan, and the performance time was limited, and the time for spectators was limited, so the 40% discount limit became a recognized need at that time.Besides, there is only one character sung in Zaju, and the rest of the characters just talk and don't sing, because the protagonist is the most difficult to sing, so each play should not be too long.Every play must have a beginning and an end, and it can form a segment by itself.In case there is a story that is too long, it can be divided into several volumes, and each volume is limited to 40% off (for example, if it is five volumes, it is six volumes, and each volume is 40% off).This four-fold restriction invisibly stipulated the form and nature of Yuan Dynasty Zaju.Among the more than one hundred Yuan operas now, none of them have heavy and complicated themes.Such simplicity is not the shortcoming of Yuanqu, but their strength.We only see the simplicity on the surface, but we don't know that there is a huge tailoring method behind it: there must be some drastic cuts, and then we can have the simple and simple four-fold structure.Therefore, the four-fold Yuanqu is very economical in terms of literary technology.

The legends of the Ming Dynasty were not bound by such folds.The legend comes from Nanxi Opera, and the earliest form of Nanxi Opera seems to be a kind of drum lyrics, which is sung but not performed.Lu Fangweng, a poet in the 12th century, once said in a poem: "In Zhaojiazhuang, the ancient willow in the setting sun, the blind old man who bears the drum is working in the field."Who cares about right and wrong behind the scenes?Mancun heard about Cai Zhonglang. (This is the ancient version "Virgin of Zhao") The libretto of drum lyrics can be very long, just as the libretto of "Zhu Gong Tiao" in the north can be very long.Nanxi opera was originally composed of libretto, but it was probably influenced by northern zaju later. The libretto plus performances became Nanxi opera.Nanxi opera first appeared in the countryside, so there is no time limit for spectators.The characters in Nanxi opera can be sung by everyone, not limited to one protagonist singing to the end solo, so it doesn’t matter if the play is too long, because the historical background of each kind is different, so the earliest masterpiece of Nanxi opera——Pipa Ji—is a 42-play long play.The legends created by literati in the Ming and Qing dynasties were all long plays that completely broke the four-fold restriction of Yuan opera.If we try to compare Yuan Qu's "Killing a Dog and Persuading My Husband" to the later "Slaying a Dog"; The legends that have been created are the least economical in literary technique.

There are only four folds in each volume of Yuanqu, so it is very particular about the organizational structure; if one fold is deleted, it will not be a thing. Southern operas and legends are too lengthy, procrastinated, and lacking in tailoring, so many scenes can be completely deleted without hindering the plot of the drama.Take the first volume of "Pipa Ji" as an example.At the end of the first mate, the opening scene, the second Gaotang congratulations, the third Niu's slaves, the fourth forced test, the fifth farewell, the sixth prime minister's goddaughter, the seventh talented person's debut, the eighth literary field selection,—— If these eight episodes were in the hands of the dramatists of the Yuan Dynasty, they could be deleted completely, and at most they can be finished in a few sentences in a paragraph.Among the forty-two episodes of "Pipa Ji", the most exciting parts are "eating chaff", "blessing hair", "describing Rong"... four or five scenes.

Is it not only "Pipa Ji"?All Ming and Qing legends are like this. ,,, "A Handful of Snow", how many scenes can be passed down to this day?The rest of it has long been erased by time, leaving it only for experts to read, and ordinary theatergoers never feel sorry for it. Xu Wenchang, a famous scholar in the Ming Dynasty, once criticized Shao Wenming's "Sachet of Sachets", saying that he "takes the current literature as the southern song".In fact, this sentence can be used to criticize all legends.The legends of the Ming and Qing dynasties were all written by stereotyped literati in stereotyped style.At the beginning of the sub-final of each part, using a piece of music to summarize the whole story is "breaking the title".After the second play, all the characters in the trick are brought out one by one, which is "inheriting the title".The following story begins, that is "starting the talk".From then on, one man and one woman, one loyal and one sycophant, all of them are taken care of, the red ones go in and the green ones go out, that's stereotyped text.The final reunion is the "big knot".

These stereotyped literati completely do not understand the art of drama and the needs of the stage. (It wasn't until Ruan Dacheng in the late Ming Dynasty and Li Yu's school in the early Qing Dynasty that they understood the art of the stage a little bit.) Among them, the best people can only pay attention to music and singing, and the rest are only suitable for stereotyped writing. In the atmosphere of legend, I can't bear it, I can't help it, I also learn to fill in a few lines, make a few four-six sentences, and use stereotyped stereotypes to write operas, thus producing countless legendary operas that can never be fully acted!

Because most of these legends can be deleted and have no singing value, so in the late Ming Dynasty, there were excerpts of legends. Each legend only selects one or two of the most exciting ones. Four or five out.The anthology of legends we know includes "Laifeng Museum Selected Ancient and Modern Legends", also known as "The Most Entertaining Love", and "Drunken Love", there are more selections.This kind of anthology has the coexistence of music and spoken words, which is different from those that only include music scores. It can be said that it is a precedent for "Zi Bai Qiu". "Most Entertainment" was compiled in the fourth year of Shunzhi (1647), and less than forty kinds were selected. "Zi Bai Qiu" was compiled in the middle of Qianlong, and it has twelve episodes and forty-eight volumes, which can be regarded as the largest collection of excerpts from legends.

"Bai Baiqiu" has been the most popular and reprinted the most in the past hundred or so years, which shows that this excerpt can indeed meet certain needs in society.As we have said above, there are many legends that are really not worth reading in full. It is enough to read only the most exciting ones. For example, the play of Lu Zhishen beating the mountain gate drunk, the meaning and words are very beautiful.We have not seen the full version of "Tiger Bag Bullet", but we can affirm that Shanmen is the most exciting one of "Tiger Bag Bullet", and this one has been preserved in "Bai Baiqiu" until now, it is "Tiger Bag Bullet" It is a pity that the entire book is lost forever.Another example is "Si Fan", which is said to be a part of "Nie Hai Ji"; some people say that "Nie Hai Ji" originally only had two "Si Fan" and "Xia Shan"; in fact, "Si Fan" is indeed a good article. As a one-act play, "Down the Mountain" is already a continuation of the dog's tail, and whether there is a full version of "Nie Hai Ji" is not a problem.

The great function of this kind of excerpt is equivalent to revising the articles for those legendary authors.Anyone who deletes and edits articles for people will inevitably bring some subjective prejudice.When selecting operas, some people will focus on the music of the songs, some may focus on the rhetoric, and some may focus on the plot.But the editor of "Bai Bai Qiu" seems to have a lot of stage experience, and his selections are probably the result of years of elimination on the stage, so his choices are generally good.For example, in "A Handful of Snow", he chose to send cups, search for cups, change prisons, kill on behalf of others, interrogate the head, stab the soup, letter from the side, and round the cup. We read these eight chapters—in fact, we can delete them Sending cups, killing on behalf of others, and sending letters to the side—that's enough to know the most exciting parts of "A Handful of Snow".For two hundred years, those who have played "A Handful of Snow" on the stage have never been judged or stabbed twice. This also shows that anyone with stage experience can know that in this legend, the drama has the strongest meaning. These two out.If the story of Mo Huaigu was in the hands of a dramatist in the Yuan Dynasty, it could probably be written as a four-fold drama. Its structure is roughly as follows:

The wedge is slightly like a cup The first discount The second discount head The third fold thorn soup Fourth folding cup circle From this point of view, Li Wenyu's "Legend of a Handful of Snow" was deleted by the editor of "Bai Baiqiu", and it has almost become a wonderful four-fold drama! In the past one hundred or so decades, most people who love to read music probably appreciate the essence of the legendary masterpieces of the Ming and Qing dynasties from this "Bai Bai Qiu".Mr. Zhao Wanli once said to me: "There is "Zi Bai Qiu" in Ming and Qing operas, just as there are short stories in Ming Dynasty. With it, the essence of "San Yan" and "Er Pai" have been preserved. With "Bai Baiqiu", the essence of the operas of the Ming and Qing dynasties has also been preserved." This is very fair.A piece of "Sixty Kinds of Music", with so many pages, is not affordable for ordinary music readers, nor is it interesting for them to read.What's more, "Sixty Kinds of Songs" collects all legends before Chongzhen, and there is no such large collection of masterpieces in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties as "Sixty Kinds of Songs". The excerpts of "Zi Bai Qiu" range from "Pipa" and "West Chamber" to the middle of the Qing Dynasty. The range is wide and the selection is roughly reasonable. One of the most powerful excerpts of opera.

The above is a general discussion of the nature of "Zi Bai Qiu".I would now like to point out a few special strengths of this anthology. First, the operas collected in "Zi Bai Qiu" are all the scripts that were popular on the stage at that time, and they are all scripts revised by experts in rehearsal and singing.The biggest modification is in Kobai's aspect. "Zui Bai Qiu" was compiled by Suzhou people. Suzhou is the center of Kunqu Opera, so the opera texts here are the revised versions that were popular in Suzhou troupes at that time. Among them, "Kefan" and "Daobai" have bold revisions. Most of the blunt words have been changed to Suzhou dialect, and Kefan is often more detailed.For example, the epilogue of "Water Margin" in "Sixty Kinds of Songs" is all official Chinese, while the epilogue of Zhang Wenyuan in the "Front Lure" and "Later Lure" of "Water Margin" in "Zi Bai Qiu" is all Suzhou Words are much more vivid.Another example is "The Story of the Righteous Hero" in "Sixty Kinds of Songs", all of which are in official Chinese, while the opera uncles, brothers, curtain-pickers, and clothes-making in "Bai Baiqiu" are all spoken by Wuhan University and Ximenqing. It is Suzhou dialect, so it is much more vivid.There are also many obscene words in these Wu dialects, but those places can also express the atmosphere on the stage back then.Roughly speaking, those who changed to call Su Bai are "ugly" and "deputy", they are all villains or ridiculous people in the play. Tang Baixi in "A Handful of Snow" said that Su Bai made people think he was more hateful, and Wu Dalang in "The Righteous Hero" said that Su Bai made people think he was more ridiculous and pitiful.Such a bold use of Suzhou dialect to change the old version of Mandarin is the most noteworthy thing about the stage atmosphere at that time.If there is no anthology like "Zi Bai Qiu" preserved so meticulously, if we only read the old Mandarin version, we will not know the humor of the Wu dialect spoken on the stage at that time.The humor of this modified Kebai (not limited to Suzhou dialect) can be seen everywhere in "Zi Bai Qiu"; if you use the old version for proofreading, the beauty of this modified version can be revealed.For example, after the "End" of Minghua (Chapter 26), the old version is followed by four lines of ending poems, and it is over.The ending poems are all Tang poems, which are the most interesting and stupid things. After the "end" of the "Bai Bai Qiu" book, the ending poem was deleted, and such an epilogue was added,——Liu Mengmei said to the beauty in the painting: Ah, there is wind here, please sit inside, little lady.Miss please, Xiaosheng will follow. - How dare? ——The little lady is a guest, so how dare the young man be arrogant? ——Miss please. ——If that's the case, let's go in parallel. (Down)

Isn't this how smart actors boldly altered Tang Ruoshi's masterpiece based on their experience in acting? Second, although most of the tunes collected in "Zi Bai Qiu" are Kunqiang "elegant" tunes, many of them are "vulgar" tunes that were popular at that time, such as the so-called "Pangzi tune".In the past three or four hundred years, the literati and bureaucrats have all focused on Kunqiang, and the folk songs of various places have been ignored and despised, so the materials of the folk songs are kept at least, which is a great pity in the history of literature.Talented scholars in Suzhou, such as Feng Youlong, can only appreciate popular folk songs such as folk songs, Tongcheng songs, and hanging branches. So far, literary historians are very grateful for his great achievements in preserving the historical materials of popular songs. The editor of "Zi Bai Qiu" was also very appreciative of the popular folk operas at that time, so there are many operas in Yiyang tune, Bangzi tune, and Luantan tune in these twelve episodes, so that we can examine what the folk operas before Qianlong were. look.This is a great contribution of "Bai Bai Qiu", and we have to commend him in particular.In this anthology, besides Kunqu, Bangzi tune is the most; the eleventh episode of "Zui Baiqiu" is almost all Bangzi tune, and there are also Bangzi tune, Xiqin tune, Gao tune, Luantan tune, etc. in each episode.We checked these materials to know the popular vulgar operas in modern times, such as "Selling Rouge", "Beating the Noodle Tank", "Playing the Flower Drum", "Visiting Relatives and Scolding", "Time Moved to the Store", "You Long Xi Feng", In those days, they were all "Pangziqiang".From this, we also know that there are more solemn operas in these vulgar operas, such as "Li Chenglong Borrows His Wife" in Luantan, which appeared four times.But most of them are hilarious jokes, and the most readable ones are watching the lantern and making trouble with the lantern, both in bangzi accent. People who read "Zi Bai Qiu" must know that these vulgar operas are important historical materials in the history of modern Chinese opera. It took a lot of effort for Ms. Wang Xieru to punctuate "Adorned with White Fur".I am ashamed that I couldn't use all the good versions of operas available in Peking to proofread this book for her.I hope that this excerpt, which has been popular for more than a hundred years, is still worthy of appreciation by most readers in this period when historical materials of opera are relatively easy to come by. May 15, 1937 Preface to Selected Works of Hu Shi