The Idea And Practice Of "Returning To The Traditon"

The full version of "The Palace of Eternal Youth" produced by the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troup was staged at the Shanghai Lyceum Theater in 2007. It was the first time that the Kunqu opera classic was performed in "full version" over 300 years. The Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troup and producer TangSiFU classified the original work into four books including "The Pledg", "The Dance of The Rianbow and Feathery Garments", "The Mutiny at Mawei "and "The Lovers' Reunion", and the four-book version were played on four nights. The opera followed the principle of "focus on the original singing" and was accompanied and adopted the way of the big unison accompaniment. Instead of "innovative style" of singing commonly used by the troupe in musical practice before.Starting with the musical practice of "returning to the tradition "used by the performance, through fieldwork and version analysis of the four-book version of "The Palace of Eternal Youth", the author finds that the phenomenon of "returning to the tradition" phenomenon is comprehensive. Firstly, the "non-traditional "factor in name of "tradition"; Secondly, the diversification of "tradition"; Thirdly, the highlight of the historical meaning of "full version" performance during marketing. Therefore, the author considers that "returning to the tradition" is actually building a new style of "Traditional Kunqu Opera" in name of returning. As it turned out, the new style of "traditional Kunqu opera" was accepted, and The Shanghai KunQu Opera Troup got its eagerly-wanted recovery. The premier performance got am achievement of 5 rounds with 20 scenes. From the trial performance of the first and second book in Jan,2006, to the essence version showed on Nov,2010, the opera has been performed by 78 scenes in recent four yeas and box office earnings reached RMB2,700,000. The troupe's condition has changed a lot, from the former downturn, limited support by government and recession of market to the current recovery, strongly support by government and market turning better.Citing "the Research Mode of Music?People and Culture" of professor LuoQin, the author analyses the success of the four-book version of "The Palace of Eternal Youth" by "returning to the tradition "and concludes the reasons as follows:with the economy develops, Shanghai gradually grows into an international city, which triggers a demand of "tradition" by the government and society in such historical background. And under the particular city environment of Shanghai, a troupe which is eager to get recovery, a government/country which want to reconstruct cultural image, and new audiences who pursue cultural identity and traditional life prop up the musical society introduce by The four-book version of "The Palace of Eternal Youth", at the same time,the successful bid of The world cultural heritage brings a good opportunity:the creation idea of "Not Peculiarly New,Not Conservatively Old", diversified forms of art practice and the key person- Tang Sifu make up the particular mechanism of the success of the four-book version of "The Palace of Eternal Youth"How did the creative concept of "Not Peculiarly New,Not Conservatively Old", and the image of "Traditional Kunqu Opera "which were modeled by the pluralistically artistic practice, identify the significance of "The Palace of Eternal Youth" to the audiences and the nation, through fieldwork, the author was enlightened by "The Appropriation of Tradition" of Rice and "The Invention of Tradition" of Eric Hobsbawm, and drew a conclusion:Actually, success of the four-book version of "The Palace of Eternal Youth" was attributable to, under the background of globalization and modernization, modern humans's imagination and demand to Kunqu opera which representative of Chinese "Traditional Culture" and "Authenticity"...