| How Is Kunqu Formed |
In the history of Chinese Drama, one of the major milestones was
the development of Kunqu opera. Kunqu combines a unique
blend of literary masterpiece with dramatic stage
theatrics. The arias sung by the performers while
accommodating with intricate gestures and body movements,
transmits a powerful emotional experience to the
audience. It in that rapport that makes Kunqu one of the
most prestigious form of Chinese drama and deeply
influence all the other forms of Chinese drama. |
Kunqu is more than just drama: it is a
combination of play, opera, ballet, poetry recital, and
musical recital. It also draws on earlier form of Chinese
theatrical performances: mime, farce, acrobatics, ballad
recital, and medley, some of which go back to the third
century B.C. or even earlier. It is first and foremost a
performing art. In the performance of Kunqu three media
work simultaneously and in harmony, words, music, and
dance. |
The name Kunqu refers to the musical element of the art form. It
is derived from the fact that one of the principal
regional music that went into the formation of Kunqu came
from the district of Kunshan (near Suzhou, in the modern
day providence of Jiangsu). Even though the music can be
traced into the fourteenth century, Kunqu was not
codified and standardized until the sixteenth century by
Wei Liangfu and his various collaborators. The early
composers combine the Kunshan music with three other
southern musical forms and the northern tunes from dram
of Yuan dynasty (1279-1368). The result was a set of
rules governing the rhyme, tone, pronunciation and
notation of the opera. Because of this standard, the
regional music was able to be spread throughout China by
the end of sixteenth century. The rules that were created
then, relatively unchanged, are brought to the audience
every time a modern day performance is staged. |
Instrumental music is an essential part
of Kunqu. Due to the fact that Chinese is a tonal
language, the arias already contain the melody and form
of the music. The instrumental accompaniment is chosen
from a repertoire of tunes and fitted to the arias. The
accompaniment is superimposed upon the words without
interfering with it to form each song.
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A normal Kunqu program would include various scenes from different
play, instead of one single play. There are many reasons
for this programming tradition. One reason is Chinese
theatergoers comes to a Kunqu program to see the
performance, not the play. The plot is usually familiar
to the audience or made available through prose summary.
This way, the theatergoers can concentrate on the
beautiful movement of the performers. Another reason is
that the complete play in most cases is very long in
length. In fact, some of the classical plays can take
several days to be staged in completion. This tradition
makes that Kunqu can be performed either in theaters or
in private places. Besides, all the scenes frequently
performed on stage are the most prestigious part of
Kunqu. All of these had kept Kunqu popular in China for
several centuries and survived until the present. |
