Introduction On Taiwanese Opera

Taiwanese opera first began in the form of a minor opera, but later evolved into grand opera after the gradual addition of various costumes and characters. It ...   IntroductionOnTaiwaneseOpera 　TaiwaneseoperaorKua-á-hìisTaiwanesefolkculture.ItisalsotheonlytypeofoperainexistencethatoriginatedfromTaiwan.Theword“Kua-á”inKua-á-hìhaveimplicationsofmountainfolksongorlittletune.Basedonhistoricalresearches,TaiwaneseOperaoriginatedoveracenturyagofromLangyangPlain,locatedwithinYilanCountynortheastofTaiwan.Taiwaneseoperafirstbeganintheformofaminoropera,butlaterevolvedintograndoperaafterthegradualadditionofvariouscostumesandcharacters.ItisanancientcostumeoperawhichinvolvedtheuseoftraditionalfolksongasbaseandadaptationoftheChinesetraditionaltheaterperformingmethod. TheevolutionofTaiwaneseOpera 　　TheevolutionoftheTaiwaneseOperawasasfollows:Lo-dehSao,OutdoorTaiwaneseOpera,IndoorTaiwaneseOpera,TaiwaneseOperaonRadio,TaiwaneseOperaonMovie,TaiwaneseOperaonTV,andTaiwaneseOperainTheatre. 　Lo-dehSao 　ThelocalTaiwaneseOperaalsocalledLo-dehSaowassimpleinpresentation.Therewasnocostume,noscript,andtheactorsdon’tputonmake-up.Itwasanimpromptuperformance.Also,theperformerswereallmale,becauseduringthetimeitwasthoughttobeimproperforwomentoappearinpublic.Presently,thereareonlyfewmasterperformerssuchasWangcongChenintheYilandistrictwhoarestillpassingdownthisculturalheritage. OutdoorTaiwaneseOpera 　Lo-dehSao,aftertheintroductionofCheGu,Sipingopera,tea-pickingopera,andLuantanopera,graduallyprogressedinto“Lao-kua-á”orOldTaiwaneseopera.ItgraduallyreplacedthebeiguanasthanksgivingperformanceforthegodsduringtemplefestivalsandbecameOutdoorTaiwaneseOpera. IndoorTaiwaneseOpera 　DuringtheJapaneseColonialperiod,manyChinesetheatregroupsperformedinTaiwan.ItwasduringthistimethattheTaiwaneseOperawasgreatlyinfluencedbythetechniquesofoperasetting,choreography,andtimingofgongsanddrumsoftheChineseperformancesandthestyleofLianbenopera.ThenewlyimprovedTaiwaneseoperabecamemoreinteresting.Smarttheatresmanagerswouldgrabthechanceandinviteoperagroupstoperformintheirtheatres.Theoperaswereahitandtheirperformanceslastedmonths.Itwasn’tuntiltheintroductionoftelevisionhadtheirfamebeguntoplummet. TaiwaneseOperaonRadio 　Duringthe1950’sTaiwan'smajorradiostationsbegantoinviteTaiwaneseoperagroupstorecordandbroadcasttheirperformancesonair.Laterthestationsestablishedtheirownoperagroup.Since,thebroadcastsweredependentontheaudioaspectoftheoperathemusicaspectoftheTaiwaneseoperaweremadeevenmoreinterestingandinvigorating. TaiwaneseOperaonMovie 　In1955,theDuMaBanTheatreGroupmadeitsfirstTaiwaneseoperamovieinhistory,the“SixWitsinWestChamber”.Howeveritdidn’tperformwellattheboxoffice.In1956,Cheng-sanChenfilmedthe“LoveAmongstWar”whichtriggeredawaveofTaiwaneseOperamovies.Operagroupseverywherejumpedinfortheride.Itwasuntil1965,thatthefilmingofTaiwaneseOperamovieslostitspopularity. TaiwaneseOperaonTV 　In1962,TaiwanTelevisionwasestablishedanditbroughtTaiwaneseoperatotheScreen.Firsttherewasthe“GoldenPhoenixTheatre”,followedbyLi-huaYangwhichwasahit!DuetotheMandarinpolicy,theTVstationcanonlybroadcast30minutesofTaiwaneseprogramperday.ThispolicyledtoanalterationinthesingingandmovementsoftheTaiwaneseopera.Infact,therewerealsooccurrencesofTaiwaneseoperasanginMandarin.ItwasadetrimentalblowtotheartofTaiwaneseopera. TaiwaneseOperainTheatre 　AftertheabolishmentofMartialLaw,thesenseofnationalconsciousnesselevated.Bylater1980’sTaiwaneseoperahadbecomethesymboloflocalculturalart.ApartfromastrongeremphasisonsingingtechniqueandchoreographyelementsofthewesternoperawerealsoincorporatedintothenewTaiwaneseopera.Thesettingsandcostumesoftheoperaweremoreexquisiteandglamorous.Infact,TaiwaneseoperagroupssuchasMingHwaYuanandHo-loTaiwaneseTroupewerewellacclaimedfortheirperformancesoversea. TherolesinTaiwaneseOpera 　　TherolesinTaiwaneseOperaweregreatlyinfluencedbyClassicChineseopera.Thefourbasicrolesweresheng(malecharacter),dan(femalecharacter),Jing(paintedfacecharacter),andchou(theclown).Theroleofshengcanbecategorizedintoxiaosheng,laosheng,andwusheng.Theroleofdancanbedividedintoxiaodan,kudan,andlaodan.TheroleofjingisspecifiedpaintedfacesuchasGuangong,CaoCao,orBaogong.Theroleofchouistheseasoningoftheoperaandthemalechouisalsocalledsanhuaandthefemaleiscalledsanbaorlaobo.Theroleofafemalechouwasusuallyplayedbyamalewhichmakestheoperaevenmoreinteresting. XiaoSheng “XiaoSheng”or“WenSheng”referstoayoungmaleroledressedinacharmingandgracefulmannerwhohastheabilitytosinglongnotes.AXiaoShengisusuallypairedwitha“xiaodan”(youngfemalerole)andtheyaredescribedas“thescholarandthebeauty”.Theaudiencesseethemassubjectsofadmiration. LaoSheng “LaoSheng”isamiddleagedmanwhowearsabeard.FinemovementandadeepsteadyvoicearetherequiredqualitiesofaLaoSheng. WuSheng A“WuSheng”isanexpertonperformingmartialskillsonstage.Heappearshandsome,vibrant,andstrong. XiaoDan A“XiaoDan”(youngfemalerole)musthaveabeautifulvoice,lovelyfeatures,andgracefulfigure.Shemustalsoappearpitifulwhichwouldleadtheaudiencetohavetheurgetocareforher. CaiDan A“CaiDan”isusuallythesaltoftheOpera.Thecharacterisusuallyasincere,generousandfunnyfolkladyorsomeoneofalowerstatusinsociety,suchasamatchmakerorMadam.Throughfunnyandinterestingperformancesthe“CaiDai”reflectedthethoughtsofthecommonpeople. HuaDan ThegreatestcharacteristicofaHuaDanischeerfulandswiftinmovement.Thecharacterwouldsingwhileholdingahandkerchief.Anadorablecharacterwhocansinganddance. Jing Itisalsocalled“Huamian”inTaiwaneseOpera.Inthepast,partoftheTaiwaneseOperaRepertoirederivedfromPekingoperaandLauntanopera,and“Huamian”inheritedtheoldappearanceofpaintedfaces.“Haumian”arehardlyseeninpresentTaiwaneseOperaRepertoire. Chou Thischaracterisfunnyandsillywhoisusuallyacommonnobody.Itisalsoanindispensablerolewhichbringsthedramaalive. TypesoftunesinTaiwaneseOpera 　TaiwaneseOperaisacombinationofTaiwaneseminortunes,theatricalmusic,andTaiwanesefolksong.Sometimes,forthepurposeofattractingaudiencessomeperformerswouldcreatenewtunesorevensingpopularAsianandwesternsongs.Themaintypesoftuneswereasfollows: Seven-wordtune 　Duetotheuniquestyleoftheseven-wordtune,often,scholarsstressthatTaiwaneseoperaistheonlynativeoperainTaiwan.ItisnotonlyasignificantrepresentationofTaiwaneseOperaitisalsoindispensable.Theseven-wordtuneorGezituneisfamousforitsuniquestructureoffourlinesinapieceandsevenwordsperline.NotonlydoesitpossessrichTaiwaneseculturalidentity,itisalsothemostusedtypeoftune.Infactittookupmostoftherepertoire.Ifanoperadoesn’thaveseven-wordtune,itcouldn’tbecalledTaiwaneseopera.Themusicoftheseven-wordtuneconsistedofmainlykezaixian(yehu)andpairedwithdatongxianortheflute. Cryingtune 　　Itisusuallyusedduringtragicscenes.Therearemanytypesofcryingtunessuchasthecommonlyseen“bigcryingtune”,“Menggacrying”,“Yilancrying”,and“Changhuacrying”.Also“Jiangxitune”and“Qionghuatune”werecategorizedasoneofthecryingtunes.Inextremelytragicscenescryingtuneswereappliedasasetwherethetuneiscarriedoncontinuouslyoneafteranotherlikeasuite.Theinstrumentsusedin“cryingtune”weremainlyconsistedofdatongxianordong-xiao. Narrativetune Commonlyknownas“ZaNianZai”.Duringperformancestheactorreadsoutloud.Itismostlyusedinoperawithlongnarrativesorcomplexstoryline. 　　Dumatune　　 　ItwasthemaintuneusedbytheFujian,Dumaoperatroupeduringits1948performanceinTaiwan.TheyhadmodifiedTaiwaneseoperabyusingZaNianZai,ZaSuiZaiandnarrativetuneasbasisoftheirnewoperawhichwaslovedbytheTaiwaneseaudiences.ItwascalledtheDumatunebytheTaiwaneseoperagroups.DuetoitspleasantandelegantmusicalqualitiesitbecamewidelyusedandbecameanimportanttuneinTaiwaneseopera.Thedumatuneisoftenusedinromanticornostalgicscenes.Furthermore,itisalsocommonlyusedduringlongnarrationandreplacedtheZaNianZai. MusicinTaiwaneseOpera 　ThemusicinTaiwaneseoperaiscategorizedintowenchangandwuchang.Theinstrumentsusedinwenchangcanplaymusicforsingingandthereforeisusedassingingmusic,interludeandaccompaniment.Ontheotherhand,theinstrumentsusedinwuchangcanonlymakerhythmsounds.However,itisextremelyimportant,becauseitiscrucialtothecreatingofthesceneatmosphere;aliftofhandorakickoffootcouldn’tdowithoutit.Thecooperationofthewenchangandwuchanggreatlyenhancedtheinfluenceoftheoperaonitsaudience. MakeupinTaiwaneseOpera 　ThemakeupofthefemaleroleinTaiwaneseOperaissimilartothatofPekingopera.Themakeupofthemaleroleismoresimplified,UnlikethevariouspaintedfaceofPekingopera,itisonlycomposedofafewsymbolicstrokes.Fortheexampleoftherolesofshenganddan,theyhavetohaveahandsomeappearance.Ontheotherhand,thejingandchouroleshaveexaggeratedbeardorblackmoletoaccentuatetheuniquecharacteroftheroles.Nowadays,Taiwaneseoperamakeupisclosetothemakeupofancientcostumemoviesortelevisionshows.Itisclosertoreality. TaiwaneseOperaCostumes 　　TheclothinginTaiwaneseOperacommonlycalledhangtao(costume)isthemainelementwhichidentifiestherolesfromtheirstatusandsexsuchasmaleorfemale,richorpoor,wenorwu,andyoungorold.Thecostumesarecategorizedintofivemajortypesandtheyareinformalandformalclothingfortheofficials,formalandinformalclothingforthecommonfolksandclothingforthemartialartcharacters. References Tseng,Y.Y.(1988).ThedevelopmentandchangesofTaiwaneseOpera.TaipeiCity:LinkingPublishing MinistryofEducationdigitallearningsite:https://isp.moe.edu.tw/ Wikipedia(http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/歌仔戲) Top