Yuan Zaju has a complete and rigorous structural system.
First, "four folds and one wedge" is the most common script structure form of Yuan Zaju, which is combined into one volume. Each script usually consists of 40% discount, and sometimes a wedge is added to tell a complete story. A few works also have a 50% discount, and some use two wedges. Usually, a book is a drama, and several dramas with long plots can be written into multiple books, such as Wang Shifu's The West Chamber, five of which are 7. 1 discount, and six of which are Yang Jingxian and Journey to the West are 7.4% discount, and each drama is still 6% discount. This is very much like a series or a series of later generations. A play is limited to the hero (ending) or heroine (heroine) singing alone, and other supporting actors can only tell the truth and can't sing. The lead singer of the hero is called eschatological drama, and the lead singer of the heroine is called Danben drama.
The so-called "folding" is equivalent to what we call "law". The first is the natural section of the plot of the script (also called the natural section of the whole drama), which can be a scene (fixed scene) or include multiple scenes; In addition, it is a unit of drama music organization. 40% discount is the beginning, development, climax and end, and each discount consists of a set of strict procedures. In order to illustrate the plot or run through the clues, Yuan Zaju often adds a short independent play at the beginning or break of the whole drama, which is called "wedge". Arranged before the first folding is called an open wedge; What is placed between folds is called a wedge. The original meaning of wedge is to wedge a small piece of wood at the tenon joint of wood to fill the gap. In Yuan Zaju, it plays the role of sewing thread or connecting the preceding with the following. The form of 60% discount for a book is not immutable, such as 50% discount for Orphan of Zhao, 60% discount for Swing, 50% discount for The West Chamber, 60% discount for The Journey to the West and 40% discount for Yang Jingxian. In addition, at the beginning or end of the script, there is a kind of "correcting the name", that is, two to four sentences are used to express the outline of the plot and determine the name of the script. For example, the title of "Dou E Yuan" is two sentences: "Insist on a fair and honest visit to France and feel the injustice of Dou E".
Secondly, in terms of musical tunes, Yuan Zaju is based on northern music, so it is also called "Northern Zaju", which is a combination form of northern songs. Each fold uses a divertimento, and each divertimento is generally composed of several songs in the same palace tune. The divertimento is stacked once, the first stack is generally used, the second stack uses the southern rhythm, the third stack uses the clock rhythm, and the fourth stack uses the double tone. A few scripts are folded, and some use other palace tunes. There are dozens of qupai in each palace tune. The lyrics are filled in according to the qupai, and every qupai in a fold has the same rhyme, so it is not allowed to change rhyme. Sometimes borrowing one or several tunes from other palace tunes is called borrowing the palace.
Thirdly, the roles of zaju are divided into Dan, Mei, Jing and Za. Dan includes Zheng Dan, Waidan, Xiao Dan, Dadan, Lao Dan and Chadan. Zheng Dan: Singing the heroine. A foreign actress or a little actress of a foreign actress. The end includes positive end, small end, blunt end and secondary end. Zhengmo is the main actor in singing, while Waimo and Auxiliary Mo are the secondary actors. Chongmo is a debut actor. Are all low-status comedy characters. Za is an actor outside the above three categories. There are Gu (an official), Jia (an emperor), Bohr (an old woman), Lyle (a page) and An (a scholar).
Fourth, the lead singer Yuan Zaju is generally led by the lead singer or men and women. The lead singer's role is either ending or ending, and the lead singer is called Dan Ben, such as Dou E's lead singer. The final lead singer is called the final version, such as Autumn Color in Han Palace and the lead singer of Emperor Han Yuan. Generally speaking, it is a universal law that a person sings the leading role of a play to the end. But there are also several scripts, and the characters have changed with the development of the plot. For example, in Earning Express, Sean appeared at the end of the first discount, and Express appeared at the end of the second, third and fourth discounts. This led to the transformation of the lead singer.
5. In later plays, Bai Bin was also called Dao Bai or Bai Bai. There are two interpretations of Yuan Zaju by predecessors: Xu Wei's "Narration of South Ci": "Singing is the main thing, and white is the guest, so it is called easy to understand." Shan Yu's "Ju Po Cong Hua": "The Northern Song Dynasty was all a guest, all white. Two people say "guest" to each other, and one says "white." The latter explanation may be more accurate from the perspective of exegetics. It is what the actors say outside the lyrics, including the dialogues and monologues of the characters, which are composed of vernacular and some rhymes, also known as rhyme and white. Dialogue is similar to drama dialogue, and monologues are narrative in nature, which plays an important role in the development of plots and the shaping of characters.
6. Jack, also known as Ke Fan, Jack and Anta, refers to actions other than singing and singing in Yuan Zaju, and is a term to express characters' actions and expressions. Generally speaking, the "festival" in the scripts of Yuan Zaju has four meanings. First, the general movements of the characters, such as the first fold of Autumn in the Palace of Han Dynasty, in which Wang Qiang greets Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty; second, the expression of the characters; while the first fold of Mao Yanshou Plan means "Do I want to do something?"; third, it means martial arts; fourth fold is in Xiangyang Guild Hall, Gao Wenxiu, and "Four Will Close Combat"; fourth fold refers to the song and dance movements interspersed in the play. "Wu Tongyu" is a double Yuhuan dance, and "Zheng Dan is dancing" sometimes indicates the stage effect in the play. "Autumn in the Palace of Han Dynasty" "Wild geese call others".
1. Classification of Zhu Quan's Taihe Yin Zhengpu He divided Yuan Zaju into twelve sections: "One section is immortal; Second, seclusion and happiness (also called Linquan Chou He); Third, wearing a robe (also known as the monarch and minister drama); Fourth, loyal subjects and martyrs; Fifth, filial piety and honesty; Six days, swearing; Seventh, chasing the minister soliton; Eight-day cymbals are used to catch sticks (also known as off-shoulder play); Nine, wind, flowers, snow; Ten joys and sorrows; On the 11th, fireworks and gunpowder (also known as Hua Dan Zaju); Twelve, the face of ghosts and gods (that is, the play of gods and buddhas). The points are too fine, and there are even overlapping parts.
2. Generally, it is divided into tragedy and comedy in genre; From the subject matter, it can be divided into case-solving drama, historical drama, love drama, social drama and divine drama. Four tragedies: the injustice, the rain, the loneliness of Zhao, and the autumn of Han Palace. Four love dramas: Romance of the West Chamber, Wall on Horse, Moon Pavilion and Ghost Story.
Characteristics of Yuan Zaju
(1) As far as its musical style is concerned, the previous generation of composers agreed that it has a strong style. The formation of this musical style is closely related to the following factors of melody composition. Seven-tone jumping up and down, more than four degrees, has its usual characteristic tone, forming a ups and downs of melody characteristics. This is related to the tone and intonation of northern languages. The rhyme of drama words is based on the northern pronunciation, which is divided into three tones (flat, rising and falling), each tone is folded into a set, and all the tunes used rhyme. Its rhythm is concise and compact, and it has the effect of "relaxing muscles". Flexible use of interlining between sentences; The floor is often used at the end of a sentence to enhance the dynamic potential of singing.
In addition, the combination of words and songs with more words and fewer cavities is easy to highlight the feelings of words. Because of the comprehensive application of these factors, it has formed its singing characteristics of quick success and instant benefit, frustration and frustration. Its plate type is relatively free, the number of plates is not fixed, and the position of the lower plate is not fixed. There are three kinds of beats: loose board, one board at a time and one board with three eyes, which are relatively faster than Nanqu.
(2) Music structure-Qupai and Qupai collection (sets). Generally, Yuan Zaju is composed of four folds and one wedge, with each fold 1 divertimento, and a play has four divertimento, so as to reflect the consistency of music structure and drama structure. Its musical structure is complex and rigorous, and there are basically three forms of qupai in the main part: the tangled form of different qupai; The winding form of interactive connection between two kinds of qupai and the repeated change form of the same qupai. These forms are allowed to be flexible when specifically pressing the cavity.
(3) The use of Gongdiao. In Yuan Dynasty, Yan Nan Zhi 'an's "On Singing" has seventeen palace songs. Later, Zhou Deqing said that the Gongdiao was "two out of ten". At present, there are only five palaces and four tones in Yuan Dynasty, namely Gong Zheng, Lv Zhong Palace, Lu Nan Palace, Lv Xian Palace, Huangzhong Palace, Dashidiao, Shuangdiao, Upgraded and Yuediao. A play of Yuan Zaju is 60% off, and each play uses a Gong tune (the wedge is the same as the front and back folds). Judging from the existing score of Beiqu Opera, the significance of the classification of Gongdiao is not in the aspect of raising the tone. The category of sets of numbers is really called Gongdiao. This classification of "Gongdiao" still has the property of adjusting the similar and approximate ranges of similar music, or indicates that there are some characteristic ranges in similar music, so it can provide convenience for creating new tunes or using original music cards and for actual singing. New techniques such as borrowing Gongdiao and breaking Gongdiao norms have also enriched and expanded the expressive power of Qupai.
(4) The form and art of singing. Yuan Zaju is influenced by various palace tunes. The main characters are the lead singers, and the main characters or events are described with relatively concentrated aria. In addition to the lead singer, other roles are generally only Bai Bin. In this way, on the one hand, of course, we can give full play to the role of singing art in traditional Chinese opera and improve the singing level of the lead singer; On the other hand, the minor roles are not brought into full play in singing, which also limits the emotional communication with the main roles. So later scripts also arranged some vocals for minor roles.
Brief introduction of yuan zaju
The formation of Yuan Zaju is the result of the development of various performing arts in the history of China, and it is also the product of the times. Yuan Zaju is also called North Zaju, North Qu and Yuan Qu. Under the direct influence of Jin Heqiang, Yuan Zaju is a complete drama form which combines various performing arts forms. He also created mature literary scripts on the basis of scripts, lyrics and aria literature since the Tang and Song Dynasties. This can be said to be a qualitative change compared with the drama of joining the army or the drama of the Song Dynasty, which is mainly funny and ridiculous. As a mature drama, Yuan Zaju not only enriched the stories that have been sung in traditional folk songs for a long time, but also widely reflected the social reality at that time, and became one of the popular literary forms.
The process of Jin destroying the Northern Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty was also the process of the northern people's resistance to the Jurchen nobles and Mongolian nobles. The people's hard struggle against national oppression and class oppression needs to be expressed in a combative and mass literary form; By this time, various factors that constitute the art of traditional Chinese opera have been brewing for a long time and integrated. In this way, Yuan Zaju greatly expanded the theme and content on the basis of Jin and all kinds of Gongdiao rap, and opened a brilliant page in the history of China opera. In the case of great changes in the meta-society, scholars also have differences. Especially in the early Yuan Dynasty, ethnic contradictions and class contradictions were very acute, and the imperial examination system was not restored, which greatly reduced the career of middle and lower-class literati and led to their decline. Except for a few bureaucrats who were attached to the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty, most of the literati and the broad masses of the people were also brutally persecuted, so they had a close relationship with the masses. Some scholars and folk artists formed a book club. On the one hand, they learn the achievements of folk art, and at the same time contribute their talents to the creation of zaju. The organization of the book club and the cooperation between folk artists and literati have promoted the prosperity of Yuan Zaju. The development of urban economy in Song, Jin and Yuan Dynasties prepared rich material conditions for the prosperity of zaju. Adapt to the banquet of the ruling class and the cultural requirements of the general public. At the same time, traditional Chinese opera activities are often carried out in rural areas, and the existing theatres and murals in southern Shanxi are a good proof (Note: Yuan theatres are widespread in southern Shanxi, and eight Yuan theatres have been preliminarily identified in Xiangfen, Linfen, Hongdong, Xinjiang and Yicheng in southern Shanxi. There is also a mural in the Ming Wang Ying Temple in Zhao Hong County, Shanxi Province, which is performed by Yuan Dynasty zaju, and the title on the account is "Dou Xiu comes to show"). Festivals and temple fairs are performance days in rural areas, and some famous actors often go to various places to perform. In this way, China traditional opera has maintained close contact with the broad masses of the people in the development process.
In addition, the Yuan Dynasty had a vast territory and developed transportation, which strengthened the ties between international and domestic ethnic groups. Cultural exchanges between ethnic groups, especially the spread of northern folk music, also played a certain role in the prosperity of zaju. The opera art of the Yuan Dynasty is called Yuan Zaju. The "singing", "cloud" and "reasoning" of Yuan Zaju are its artistic expression means. Among them, the "subject" is mainly work, including expression, dance and martial arts. Among them, dance is intrusive, such as the fourth discount of "Tie Guai Li Du Huangjin Couple": "You can watch the Eight Immortals dance once (singing and dancing in the Eight Immortals)." In addition, the folk dance team "Village Dengaku" is used in Liu Xuande Drunk Up the Yellow Crane Tower, and the running bamboo horse is used in Chasing Han Xin. This intrusive dance in Yuan Zaju also includes An Lushan's "Hu Xuan" dance and Yang Guifei's "Nishang" dance in Tang Qiuyu. Martial arts in Yuan Zaju also contains many dance factors, such as various instrumental dances, duet, somersault, flying flags, walking on stilts and so on. Other plays, such as Xiao Weichi's "doing the tune" and Maling Road's "fighting in formation", are a kind of formation dance. Other works in Yuan Zaju have gradually evolved into stylized dance movements to express the modality of characters, such as "Zheng Dan as the master of shame" and "Zheng Dan as the master of sorrow" in Moon Pavilion. At that time, the zaju artists also gave names to some technical dance movements, such as "flying the red flag", "dragging the white" and "walking on stilts".
The religious dances in ancient China were mainly witchcraft, Taoism and Buddhism. Witchcraft and Taoism are inherent religions in China. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, Buddhism introduced from India flourished and lasted for a long time from the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties. Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty, etc. , the temple Buddha "advocates music for fun"; Jingle Temple in Luoyang, Northern Wei Dynasty, with female music, "singing around the beam and dancing around the sleeve"; During the Southern Dynasties, Liang Wudi made "kindness" and "joy", which was called "positive joy" and publicized Buddhism. One of the ten pieces of music in the Tang Dynasty, Xiliang Music, contains the Buddhist music of Hetian, and a group of bodhisattvas in the court of the Song Dynasty presented fragrant flowers in the team dance, all of which were music and dances to promote Buddhism. The Yuan Dynasty mainly believed in witchcraft and Buddhism, and the court team dance in the Yuan Dynasty was full of religious superstitions. In the Yuan Dynasty, the court dance team was divided into four teams, namely, the King of Music team on New Year's Day, the Shouxing team on Tianshou Festival, the ritual and music band on Zhaohui, which preached Buddhism, and the Yili team. Each team is divided into 10 teams. In the King of Music 10 team, the leading team is a band with two women's groups, one playing the song of willow in Changchun, and the other performing the characteristic danhua dance. 10 team, there are also women inspired by flowers, and the rest are men's teams dancing and playing ghosts. There is also a dance dressed as a photo of donkey kong in Debate Team. In addition, there are Bao Gai Dance, Sun Moon Fan Dance, Loutai Dance, Umbrella Cover Dance and Golden Wing Peng Dance, all of which are religious dances. The most famous Buddhist ode dance in Yuan Dynasty was Yuan Shundi's "Sixteen Magic Dance", which was called Buddhist ode dance. It's actually very interesting. Only eunuchs who have received secret training are allowed to watch while performing in the palace, and folk performances are strictly prohibited.
The spread of Yuan Zaju
The playwrights at the end of Yuan Dynasty recorded in Zhong Sicheng's Ghost Record were written in the first year of Zhishun, and most of them also lived in the south. It can be seen that zaju eventually developed into a national drama. After the Southern Song Dynasty perished and the Yuan Dynasty unified the whole country, zaju began to move southward. From Yuan Shizu to the twenty-seventh year of the Yuan Dynasty, that is, about 1 1 year after the death of the Song Dynasty.
The existing Yuan Zaju collections and anthologies are as follows:
① Yuan published 30 kinds of ancient and modern zaju.
(2) The Legend of Yuan Xian was revised by Li Mingxian.
(3) Ancient Famous Zaju, edited and published by Ming, Chen and the suburbs. Some of them are works of Ming people.
(4) the ancient and modern drama selection, Ming interest machine editor. There are some works in the early Ming Dynasty.
⑤ Selected Zaju of Yuan Dynasty compiled by the ancient songs of Ming Dynasty. Some of them are works of Ming people.
⑥ Zang Mao compiled Yuan Qu Xuan in Ming Dynasty. A few of them are works of Ming people.
⑦ Mai Wangguan Ancient and Modern School Zaju written by Zhao and others in Ming Dynasty. Some of them are works of Ming people.
(8) Selected Works of Ancient and Modern Famous Plays edited by Meng Chengshun in Ming Dynasty (including Liu Zhiji and Juanjiang Ji). Some of them are works of Ming people.
The more important modern publications are:
(1)1941There are 144 kinds of Wang Jilie orphan dramas published by Shanghai Commercial Press. The so-called "orphan" refers to the works of Yuan and Ming Dynasties that rarely spread outside the Selected Songs of Yuan Dynasty.
(2) 1953, the first episode of "Ancient Opera Series" published by Ancient Books Publishing House and the four later episodes have photocopies of Yuan Zaju. Some of them are not included in Yuan Qu Xuan, and some of them are different from Yuan Qu Xuan.
③ 1959, Zhonghua Book Company published Yuan Qu Xuan compiled by Sui Shusen, which included 62 kinds of Yuan Zaju except Yuan Qu Xuan.