Chapter 27 Section 2 Song and Yuan Zaju Music

Zaju, another program performed in Goulan, Washi, Song Dynasty, is the earliest mature form of traditional drama in Chinese history.Compared with western drama, traditional Chinese drama has its own development law and unique artistic style, which is mainly reflected in the comprehensive crystallization of various art forms such as singing and dancing, Sanyue, acrobatics, rap, and instrumental music.In traditional Chinese performing arts, the germination of dramatic factors has a long history. As early as the Song Dynasty, Sanle Baixi of various generations contained comprehensive dramatic performance factors.In the late Tang Dynasty, the name "Zaju" appeared, but the situation is unknown.However, it is speculated that it may refer to a small song and dance drama.By the time of the Northern Song Dynasty, the art of zaju began to mature and became a variety of art frequently performed by the court and folk Washi Goulan.In the Jin Dynasty, the same art form as Zaju was called "Yuanben".In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zaju prevailed in Lin'an with a new look and was called "Southern Opera".By the Yuan Dynasty, the northern Zaju and Jin Yuanben had further developed into Yuan Zaju.Yuan Zaju is also called "Yuan Qu".

The musical structure of Zaju in the Song and Jin Dynasties generally consists of three large sections.The first section is called "Yan Duan", which raps and performs the content of daily life; the second section is called "Zheng Zaju", which raps and performs the main storyline; Funny burlesque show.Before the official performance, an instrumental piece called "Qu Po" should be played, which is called "Qi Cai" by artists.This is equivalent to what modern people call "prelude" or "overture".Because Zaju has a very close relationship with singing and dancing, its music mainly comes from singing and dancing songs handed down from the previous generation, such as "Liu Yao", "Liangzhou", "Bo Mei" and so on in the Tang Dynasty.The titles and titles of some zaju plays in the Song Dynasty directly showed the inheritance of the music of the previous generation of song and dance music: for example, the so-called "Liuyao Cui Hu" and "Liuyao Yingying" used "Liuyao" Daqu music is used to act out the stories of "Cui Hu" and "Yingying"; "Four Monks in Liangzhou" is used to perform the story of "Four Monks" with Daqu music in "Liangzhou"; Zaju is to use the music of "Bo Mei" to act out the story of "Zheng Sheng meets the dragon girl".In addition, it also absorbed some rap music and general folk songs; the music of Jinyuanben mainly comes from the music of the Han nationality and ethnic minorities in the north.The accompaniment instruments of Song Zaju and Jin Yuanben mainly use drums, flutes and boards.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zaju popular in the south was called "Southern Opera", also known as "Wenzhou Zaju" and "Yongjia Zaju".Southern opera in the early days was relatively simple, but later it became more and more complicated. A play is divided into several performances, and each performance is called "chu" or "zhe".The early tunes were mainly folk songs. After entering the city, they absorbed a large number of singing tunes, Zhugong tunes, Song and Yuan Zaju tunes and folk songs. The singing tunes and music gradually matured, forming a unique local style, and developed and innovated in structure.For example, the choice of music is free, not limited by the traditional Gongdiao theory; there have been changes in the pattern (beat rhythm); there has been a new tune called "Jiqu" that combines phrases from different tunes; each play is no longer limited to one person Singing, but there are solo, duet, chorus and other singing forms. The description in "Nan Ci Xu Lu" about "Yongjia Zaju is popular, and it is also a village ditty. It has no palace tune and rarely rhythm. It only takes its abnormal farmers and city girls, and it is just easy to sing", which involves these music. feature.The singing and music of Nanxi Opera are generally called "Nanqu". It uses the pentatonic scale, the singing rhythm is slow, the words are few and the tunes are mellow, and the music is delicate, euphemistic and beautiful.So far, in the tunes of ancient operas such as Kunqu Opera, Gaoqiang Opera, and Liyuan Opera, there are still some leftover sounds of Nanqu Opera.In the early days, Nanxi Opera was a small song and dance drama that only used the board to control the rhythm without the accompaniment of other instruments. Later, it gradually added the accompaniment of drums, flutes and other instruments.After the Yuan Dynasty, the accompaniment of sheng wind instruments and stringed instruments was gradually added.

Zaju developed to the Yuan Dynasty and began to enter its heyday. Performances in the capital and local areas were very frequent. Playwrights came out in large numbers, famous works were abundant, music also developed greatly, and artistic achievements reached an unprecedented level. Therefore, people specifically call Zaju in this period. It is "Yuan Zaju".Among the writers of Yuan Zaju, the most famous are Guan Hanqing, Ma Zhiyuan, Zheng Guangzu, and Bai Pu, known as "Guan, Ma, Zheng, and Bai".Guan Hanqing's (Figure 27), "Single Knife Meeting", "Worshiping the Moon Pavilion", Ma Zhiyuan's, Wang Shifu's, etc., are all immortal works in the history of Chinese opera.

The script structure and music concept of Yuan Zaju are rigorous. A script is generally divided into four parts, forming a dramatic logic of "starting, inheriting, turning, and combining". or plot runs through.The singing and music are generally referred to as "Northern Songs", and most of the singing is sung by "Zhengmo" (male protagonist) and "Zhengdan" (female protagonist) listed as the protagonists in the play.The singing tune of each Zhexi opera is composed of a number of individual tunes, most of which are derived from singing and dancing operas, rap music, lyrics and folk songs.Compared with Nanxi Opera, the musical scale is composed of seven tones instead of pentatonic; the singing rhythm is tight, and the words are more tuned; the music is vigorous, hearty, and high-pitched.The accompaniment instruments are mainly drums, flutes and boards.

The different characteristics of southern and northern songs formed under the influence of natural conditions, cultural environment and people's character in different regions have always been valued by later famous songwriters.Wei Liangfu's "Qulu" said: "Northern tunes are mainly vigorous, while southern tunes are mainly round and round." Wang Jide's "Qulu" also said: "The North is Shenxiong, and the South is euphemistic." They are all affirmed, indicating that this conclusion has been recognized by most people.

Song and Yuan zaju performances gradually declined after the Ming Dynasty, but its achievements in singing music design have far-reaching influence.It highlights and develops the dramatic features of opera music, so that many types of operas in later generations still play an important artistic function in performances in accordance with similar laws in terms of music design.