The Interpretation Of The Artistic Characteristics And Historical Orientation Of Song-dance Drama

Song–dance drama rose in the Northern Qi Dynasty(A.D.550-577),developed in the Sui and Tang Dynasties(A.D.581-907),and declined in the Song and Yuan Dynasties(A.D.960-1368).It is a strongly comprehensive form of musical performance which has not only singing and dancing,vocal accompaniment and accompaniment,but also simple story plot and role dressing performance.Combined with the artistic characteristics of singing and dancing,burlesque and the ancient wrestling,the musical form is an important link among dance accompanied by music,acrobatics and traditional operas.The thesis coalesced with musicology,philology,archaeology,iconography and other research methods to arrange the historical origin of song–dance drama,and systematically discuss its artistic characteristics and influence.Song-dance drama is the embryo of the traditional opera.Especially,the analysis of its elements provides a reference for scholars to study the origin and development of opera in ancient history.This paper contains four chapters.The first chapter is an overview of song-dance drama.Firstly,the scope of its definition is elaborated;secondly,it describes the reference of song-dance drama from other artistries,and the inheritance of the musical and cultural tradition which has common origin and coexists with poetry,music and dance;finally,it elaborates its living environment from three aspects of politics,economy and culture,which shows that song-dance drama originated from the turbulent society and the entertainment of the ruling class.In the second chapter,the comparison between the Northern Qi Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty is made to grasp the development of song-dance drama.Taking the records of Song and Dance Opera and its representative works in the historical materials of the Tong Dian(describing the evolution of the regulations and institutions of the successive dynasties),the Jiao Fangji(describing singing and dancing training institution system and anecdotes of the Tang Dynasty),the Yuefu Miscellany(historical materials of Chinese music)and the Book of Tang as texts,and combining with image data,this paper analyses its performance content,form,artists and rulers’ attitudes towards it,especially the analysis of its abundant opera elements.The third chapter analyses the influence of song-dance drama on other art forms,and explores its inheritance and development.Through the previous chapters of the studyand analysis of song-dance drama,based on historical data,the author try to dig out the relationship between song-dance drama and Daqu of Tang Dynasty(a large-scale singing and dancing performance with multi-segment structure),military opera(a kind of Chinese opera in the Sixteem Kingdoms,A.D.304-439)and later Zaju of Song Dynasty(poetic drama),Yuan Ben of Jin Dynasty(a representative style of drama in Jin Dynasty,A.D.1115-1234),Nanxi opera(a kind of local classical opera in South China).The last chapter illustrates the influence of song-dance drama on Japan and Korean Peninsula.Although song-dance drama have gradually declined in China,they have merged into other countries and injected fresh vitality into the development of their music culture.