Research On Chinese-Traditional-Opera Records Made In Shanghai During The Republic Of China

At the end of the 19 th century, Hua Bu(a collection of local operas in different regions, excluding Kunqu Opera) represented by Peking Opera, overwhelmingly won Ya Bu(Kunqu Opera) both in the court and folk, and soon became popular nationwide. People were scrambling to learn and sing Hua Bu at that time. Moreover, the voice of people could be recorded and spread in mass by the means of Edison’s wax cylinder phonograph. In 1903, Reigeisberg, the sound recording engineer of British Gramophone Co., set foot on China and made massive recordings of Chinese opera in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Furthermore, the combination of foreign scientific technologies and Chinese opera had significantly changed the performance form, manners of appreciation, profession norms, etc. In addition to “Chinese opera on the stage” and “Chinese opera in the script”, “Chinese opera in Disc” strongly arose as the third showcase for Chinese Opera(quoted from Rong Shicheng), which made Chinese opera appear in a different style during the 20 th century.As is known to all, the prosperity of Chinese opera during the Republic of China was closely related to the prosperity of disc recording technology and disc industry. Most of the previous researches on Chinese opera focus on the filing and retrieval of relevant scripts. Few scholars choose the phonograph and recording industry as their research subjects. So this paper will serve as a supplement to this academic area. Moreover, the recording industry originated in Shanghai as well as became prevalent there. No matter where performers came from, if they wanted to gain the popularity, they had to perform in Shanghai. Making a record was not only an effective proof of their skills, but also the way to expand their popularity and fame. Some unknown operas like Yueju Opera and Huju Opera, which originated from the countryside, grew and glowed in this metropolis. The Wu dialect, which could be heard in the field, was now spread across Shanghai with the help of recordings and radio waves. Kunqu Opera, though not as popular as it was in the past, still kept itself alive thanks to the recordings of Yu Family and Chuan generation. What’s more, people who left their hometown Guangdong to work outside and overseas also gained some comfort in recorded Cantonese music. In a word, the relation between the development of Chinese opera and that of the recording industry is a key point in this paper.At the end of the last century, Mr. Wu Xiaoru absorbed the quintessence of the textual research studied by his teacher Yu Pingbo, and applied some relevant research methods into the study of the school of Peking Opera and Peking Opera recordings. Mr. Wu also wrote some theses that exerted a considerable influence on the academic circle, such as The Bibliology of Recordings and The Textual Criticism of Recordings. In those theses, the origin of the research method could trace back to the Qian-Jia school in the Qing Dynasty. Based on the latest research results, the author of this paper conducts a textual research on the recordings of some famous Peking Opera artists such as Tan Xinpei, Yu Shuyan, Mei Lanfang, which will serve as a connecting link between the previous researches and the future ones.This paper will be separated in the following parts:In the introduction part, the author demonstrates in an all-round perspective of research origin, previous researches, new points, key points and difficulties, and then reveals several key points of the paper via the overview of “basic information about Chinese opera recordings in Shanghai during the Republic of China”.Chapter 1: The development of Chinese opera recordings in Shanghai during the Republic of China. The author mainly discusses the following 3 aspects: the import of phonograph and the formation of recording industry in Shanghai, the basic condition of Chinese opera recordings and the production of them during the Republic of China, the development of radio industry and the spread of Chinese opera recordings during the Republic of China. From the invention of phonograph to the prevalence of radio, Chinese opera recordings became popular at a fast speed, which allowed common people in cosmopolitans to easily enjoy operas performed by famous opera artists. The recording industry had developed for decades, and some record companies represented by US and European multinational companies such as EMI, RCA Victor, Beka, etc., had formed at a large scale, tried their best to employ the talents and took up the Chinese market. In this chapter, the key point is to figure out how these international companies grew and took up the Chinese market with the completion of localization reform and operation, and how to rely on local resources and network of acquaintances, successfully inviting the first class artists to record their wonderful voices, thus forming a virtuous circle, broadening the album sales, and building a complete sales network. These experiences are quite meaningful to the prosperity and internationalization of Chinese culture industry in today’s globalization.Chapter 2 & 3: The study of Peking Opera recording, which will be discussed in two parts. In the 1st part, the author first introduces the overview of classic Peking Opera recordings during the Republic of China, including the formation of its style, relevant statistics and its value. Next the author mentions Xiao Sheng(the young man’s role) and Hua Dan(female role) in Chinese opera and emphatically analyzes some famous performers’ recordings. Xiao Sheng includes Tan Xinpei, Yu Shuyan, Yan Jupeng, Xi Xiaobo and Han Shenxian, who are all the representative personages of Peking Opera. This paper minutely analyzes the classic recordings from the pioneer artist Tan Xinpei’s to the epitome artist Yan Jupeng’s, and focuses on their singing origins, their style and school, and their influence on later generations. Han Shenxian is a famous amateur opera artist with Tan’s performing style, and the research of his recordings is the highlight in this paper. Hua Dan includes Cheng Yanqiu with a gloomy performing style, and Xun Huisheng with a lively performing style. Since the author takes the same way to study their recordings as in the study of Xiao Sheng, there are not many details of Hua Dan in this chapter. In the 2nd part, the author selects Mei Lanfang’s and Zhou Xinfang’s recordings as his research subjects. These two masters both belong to the school of Peking Opera featured by Shanghai style. The author aims to reveal their unique personality and inclusive art style in recording processes, singing features and art influence.Chapter 4: Overview of recordings of Yueju Opera in Shanghai during the Republic of China. The author gives a brief introduction of recordings of Yueju Opera as well as discusses the art features and recordings of some famous performers such as Yuan Xuefen. The author focuses on the following two points. One is figuring out when the first recording of Yueju Opera emerged and whose voice was recorded in it, which will mend the stereotypical errors in the past. The other is, analyzing chronologically the singing features of some famous Yueju Opera performers such as Yuan Xuefen, Qi Yaxian, Yin Guifang, Wang Wenjuan and Xu Yulan as well as the recordings of Yueju Opera during the Republic of China. Since the author was once a music major, he compares Xu Yulan’s famous work, It’s My Fault, recorded in the Republic of China to that recorded in the 1980 s to showcase the artists’ creativity and the progress in the recording technology.Chapter 5: Overview of recordings of Huju opera, Kunqu Opera and Cantonese Opera during the Republic of China. The author collects some relevant information from Shanghai Huju Opera House, Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe and China Record Shanghai Co.. Besides, the research findings of Zhang Hongtao, the folk expert on traditional opera recordings, also the author me a lot. After the rearrangement of the two catalogues by himself, the author puts “the Kunqu Opera recordings catalogue before 1949” and “the Cantonese Opera recordings catalogue before 1949” at the end of the paper as an appendix. These materials are very rare, some of which are recently updated and have great effectiveness and research values.Chapter 6: Strategies of protection, collection and classification of Chinese opera recordings in Shanghai during the Republic of China- taking China Record Shanghai Co.as an example. Through several field investigations, the author gives us a picture of the recovery project of classic recordings in China Record Shanghai Co., including the overview of collection, the process of recovery and document filing. At last, the author also puts forward some opinions and suggestions on the present study on classic recordings in Shanghai during the Republic of China.