Qing Dynasty Beijing Theatrical Circles, Flowers, Elegant Rise And Fall Of Study

In the history of traditional Chinese operas, the literary history of traditional operas and the performing history of traditional operas are too inseparable parts. If we see the literary history of traditional opera as static, one-dimensional history in the sense of literature of traditional operas, the performing history of traditional operas should be dynamic, three-dimensional one in the sense of art. If we take the literature of traditional operas as the soil, the basis, as so called "the librettos, are the foundation of operas", the performance of traditional operas is like the flower flourished in the soil. These two are closely related. However, for a long period of time, there has been existing a tendency that the literary history of traditional operas has been taken as the focus in the research field of the history of traditional Chinese operas, and in concrete practice the research has concentrated on the famous works of several famous literary scholars, while the history and achievement of performance through which the librettos are put onto stage have been ignored to great extent, generally speaking, which is undoubtedly unfair as a type of research tendency. Therefore, the present paper is trying to outline the history of traditional operas from the point of view of performance.Speaking of performance of traditional operas, it's certain that Qing Dynasty is representative, among which the performing activities of traditional operas in Beijing theatrical circles are especially prosperous, and information about which is also the most abundant. At that time, there emerged many different hinds of melodies, various societies and troupes of traditional operas and famous actors or actresses of traditional operas, consequently, the present paper focuses on elaborating the performing activities and regulations of Qing Dynasty in Beijing theatrical circles.As for performing of traditional operas, "singing" is an indispensable part, in so called "singing, recitation, acting and acrobatics", "singing" ranks the first, and the actor or actress who sings well is the pillar of the troupe. As a result, taking about performance of traditional operas is closely related with the comprehension and interpretation of "singing". In ancient librettos of traditional operas, discussions about "singing" went far beyond discussions about "recitation", "acting" and "acrobatics", furthermore, since a long time ago, "traditional operas" has been used to refer to our national plays, and the reason is that "singing" is very important not only in the performance of traditional operas but also in the literature of traditional operas (which is at least held by ancient people.).From the respect of literary history of traditional operas, the way to distinguish different types of traditional operas is the difference in literary systems, that is, whether it is a poetic drama, or a legend. From the point of view of performing history of traditional operas, to distinguish different kinks of traditional operas is to differentiate melodies of "singing", and a certain kind of melody often represents a certain traditional opera. Basically there were four major types of melodies in Qing Dynasty, they are Kun Melody, Gao Melody (one of which branches is Yi Melody, and Yi Melody is usually called "Jing Melody" in Beijing), Qin Melody (Bangzi), and Pihuang Melody. Hence the performing history of traditional operas in Qing Dynasty is mainly the history of these four melodies performed on stage.All of the above melodies have specific addresses according to their different features of sound and feelings they express, Kun Melody is usually called "Ya", while the other melodies, mainly including Gao, Qin and Pihuang melodies, are named "Hua". The performing history of traditional operas in Qing Dynasty is also the history of the prosperity and decline of "Hua" and "Ya", that's why the present paper is entitled "A research of the prosperity and decline of 'Hua' and 'Ya' in Beijing theatrical circles in Qing Dynasty."On basis o...