Chapter 25 Section 7 Song-and-dance drama - the germination of Zaju

In the third year of Taihe (829 A.D.) of Emperor Wenzong of Tang Dynasty, Nanzhao State (now Dali, Yunnan), the local government in the southwest, sent troops to attack "Xishu" (now western Sichuan) under the jurisdiction of the Tang Dynasty, and pushed the army all the way to Guoxia, Chengdu.Afterwards, it was said in the capital that the Nanzhao army "drove and plundered more than 50,000 people, and all their musical tricks were exhausted" when they entered Shu.In the following year, Li Deyu, a Tang official who took over as Xichuan Jiedu envoy, was ordered to conduct an investigation. Later, he mentioned in a memorial to the emperor: Among the looted personnel, there were indeed "musical skills" and "two drama husbands". People" (Tang Li Deyu's "Li Wenrao Collected Works" Volume 1 and 2).This is the earliest historical record of "zaju" that we know so far.

The emergence of the word "zaju" shows that the Chinese opera art "zaju", which was mature in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, had begun to sprout in the Tang Dynasty.However, at that time, it had not completely become independent from the form of singing and dancing, and was in the stage of singing and dancing dramas of "singing and dancing" plus "story" in the transition from singing and dancing to drama. Among the small singing and dancing dramas in the Tang Dynasty, the most representative ones are "Singing and Dance Drama" and "Joining the Army Drama".

The earliest record of "singing and dancing opera" and its related programs can be found in "Tong Dian" written by Du You in the 17th year of Zhenyuan (801 AD): "Singing and dancing opera includes "Da Mian", "Tu Tou", "Treading "Yao Niang", "Ku Lei Zi" and other plays, Xuanzong put the Jiaofang in the ban to punish them because of their unrighteous voice." That is to say, the song and dance drama at that time belonged to the type of folk song and dance, so Tang Xuanzong listed it as " "San Yue" is rehearsed by Jiaofang artists. Of the several song and dance dramas mentioned in "Tong Dian", "Da Mian" and "Ta Yao Niang" are the most representative.

"Da Mian" was also composed as "Dai Mian" and "Lanling King Entering the Battle".According to the records of "Samurai Ballads Together, It's the Song of Lanling King Entering the Battle", it can be seen that this song and dance expresses the story of the Northern Qi Lanling King Changgong entering the battle and defeating the enemy.Legend has it that King Lanling has delicate features and looks a bit like a woman. In order to make himself appear majestic and majestic, he wears a mask every time he goes to war.Therefore, this song and dance has the titles of "Da Mian" and "Dai Mian"; artists also wear masks when they perform.Later, "Lanling King's Entrance Song" spread eastward to Japan, and the Japanese "Dance and Music Picture" painted a picture of dancing postures, and the inscription: "Lanling King, the quasi-dance of the Tang Dynasty, dances alone."

"Ta Yao Niang", also known as "Ta Yao Niang" and "Talking Rong Niang".According to the "Yuefu Miscellaneous Records" quoted in "Taiping Yulan", it can be seen that this song and dance expresses such a story: At the end of the Sui Dynasty, there was a man named Su who called himself "Langzhong". At home, they beat their wives.His wife was beautiful and good at singing, so she sang songs, shook (danced) her body, and sang her grievances to people.This song and dance drama was accompanied by orchestral instruments at that time. "Because of the description of the appearance of his husband and wife, the wife complained sadly, and every time she shook her body, it was called 'Ta Yao Niang'." According to Chang Feiyue's poem "Ode to Rong Niang" The description that the songs should be in unison, and the sentiment should be taught in whispers" shows that the singing of this song and dance opera sometimes adopts the singing form of "one leader and all in harmony", which is very similar to the accompaniment singing method of some high-pitched operas today.

"Joining the Army", also known as "Nong Joining the Army", appeared in the Tang Dynasty.Literally speaking, "nong" means "teasing", that is, joking and mocking; "joining the army" was an official title at that time, and in this song and dance performance, it represented a main character who was "teasing". There are many theories about the origin of the name of the military play, one of which is that a man named Zhou Yan joined the army and because of a crime of corruption, his superior called Chanyou (artist) to play him to make fun of this crime. Behavior.Because the main character teased in this performance is "Joining the Army", people call it "Joining the Army" or "Joining the Army".

The drama of joining the army is closely related to singing and dancing, and there are singing, dancing and musical instrument accompaniment during the performance.In Tang Xueneng's "Wu Ji" poem, there is a sentence "the daughter plays the string pipe and joins the army".Tang Fan's (shushu)'s "Yunxi Youyi" recorded the poet Yuan Zhen's (zhen clinic)'s contacts with the military artists, which clearly shows this point: when Yuan Zhen went to the east of Zhejiang, he met the female artist Liu Caichun and his family to perform. The team, Liu Caichun, "is good at playing Lu Junjun, and her singing voice is so clear." Yuan Zhen was very moved after watching her performance, so he presented a poem with "the words are elegant and elegant, and the manners are low and charming; there is even more annoying heartbreak." , the choice of lyrics can sing the song of watching husband" to praise her performance and singing.It is also said that Liu Caichun's singing has the artistic effect of "Caichun sings the same song, and all the ladies are swaying [er]".

The budding of Chinese zaju—the emergence of small song and dance dramas in the Tang Dynasty made preparations for the rise of mature drama "zaju" in the Song and Yuan dynasties. We can still find this transition from story-based song and dance to mature drama today. Some facts, such as the transition from the northern "Errentai" and "Errenzhuan" of modern song and dance genres to mature dramas;