The Musical Style And Singing Analysis Of The Opera "White-haired Girl"

The opera “While-haired Girl” is the foundation work of the Chinese opera.As a landmark work,it was composed in 1942 and premiered in in April 1945 when the 7th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in Yan’an.The aria by the character Xi’er,“Hatred like mountains and sea”,is one of the very representative and meaningful ones.This paper will give a detailed analysis in several aspects of this aria including its musical structure,its singing techniques and its singing emotional expressions.The goal is to understand and grasp the musical style and singing techniques in a more accurate way,so that I can express the charm of the opera in my future study and performance.The paper consists of an introduction section and four chapters.The introduction section explains why the author chooses this topic along with its purpose and meaning.The main body is composed of two big sections.The first section uses two chapters to illustrate the history of Chinese operas,the context of the story “White-haired Girl”,how this opera has developed from a folk tale to a landmark work,and finally the introduction of the musical style of this opera.The first chapter is the history of Chinese opera’s development and the context in which the opera was created and developed.The second chapter is about the building of the main character Xi’er and the opera’s learning and involvement with Chinese traditional opera and northern Chinese folk songs.The second section has one chapter analyzing the singing methodology and emotional performance of the aria “Hatred like mountains and sea”,including the musical structure,singing techniques and emotional expressions.