“The north wind blows, the snowflakes flutter, the snowflakes flutter, and the year comes.” This is a melody that is very familiar to Chinese people. Hearing it, the scene of Xier wearing a red jacket singing in a snowy night will appear in his mind. . “The White Haired Girl”, born in 1945, is the pioneering work of my country’s national opera. Over the past 70 years, this opera has been repeated several times, and the actors of Xi’er have been passed down to the fourth generation. Four generations of people including Wang Kun, Meng Yu, Guo Lanying, Li Yuanhua, Peng Liyuan, Wan Shanhong, and Lei Jia have shaped this classic. Role. Recently, Li Yuanhua, Wan Shanhong, and Lei Jia three Xi’er accepted an exclusive interview with reporters to tell the story of the inheritance of “White Haired Girl”.
74-year-old Li Yuanhua recalled the story of starring in “The White-haired Girl”.Photo by our reporter Fang Fei
The first new opera combines opera and opera expression techniques
On May 2, 1942, Mao Zedong published “Speech at the Yan’an Literary and Art Forum” in Yan’an, proposing that art should be integrated with the masses of workers, peasants and soldiers. Subsequently, under the leadership of Zhou Yang, artists He Jingzhi and Ding Yi from Yan’an Lu Xun Academy of Arts wrote, and the music was composed by Marco, Zhang Lu, Qu Wei, Huanzhi, Xiang Yu, Chen Zi, Liu Chi, etc., based on the Jinchaji Border Area ” The folk tale “White Haired Fairy Girl” began to create the opera “White Haired Girl”.
In April 1945, “White-haired Girl” was performed in Yan’an. It tells the story of Xi’er, the daughter of the tenant Yang Bailao. After being abused by the landlord bully Huang Shiren, she fled into the mountains and became a “white-haired girl”. She was rescued by the Eighth Route Army and redressed her grievances. The story reflects the theme of “the old society turns people into ghosts, and the new society turns ghosts into people”. Once the play was premiered, it was immediately loved by the common people and the officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army. The heads of the Central Committee including Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, and Chen Yi also watched the performance as the audience.
“White Haired Girl” adopts the tunes of northern Chinese folk music, absorbs the music and expression techniques of opera, and also draws on the creative experience of Western operas, becoming China’s first new opera. For decades, “White Haired Girl” has been passed down to the fourth generation. The singers Wang Kun and Meng Yu who starred in “The White-haired Girl” in Yan’an are the first generation Xi’er. For Guo Lanying, the industry has different opinions. Some people think that the singer Guo Lanying, who appeared on Xi’er for the first time in 1948, is the second generation of Xi’er, but some people think that the singers who played Xi’er during the base area and the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China belong to the first generation. In 1977, when the Chinese Opera and Dance Theater rehearsed “The White Haired Girl”, the newly launched singer Li Yuanhua was the second generation of Xi’er. In the mid-1980s, singers such as Peng Liyuan and Wan Shanhong came on stage as the third generation of Xier. In 2015, the Ministry of Culture organized a re-release of the opera “White Haired Girl”, and launched the fourth generation Xier, young singer Lei Jia.
Wan Shanhong starred in the “White Haired Girl” stills.
Li Yuanhua: “Campus” debuted on stage in ten days
In 1977, the Chinese Opera and Dance Theater decided to re-arrange the national opera “The White Haired Girl”, which had been dusted for many years. Guo Lanying was nearly 50 years old at that time and there was no new “Xie Er” successor. So everyone thought of Li Yuanhua, who performed Peking Opera in Shanghai. .
Li Yuanhua, 74 years old this year, remembers clearly that she came to Beijing from Shanghai on January 17, 1977. She learned Kunqu opera and Peking opera since she was a child, and has performed traditional Peking opera and revolutionary modern dramas such as “Ode to Longjiang”. “I am very excited to receive this task. I like singing and have studied vocal music. I also like “White Haired Girl”. “But what she didn’t expect was that it would take less than ten days from reporting to Beijing to performing on stage.
“Fortunately, there is the recording of Teacher Guo Lanying. I hold the tape recorder all day and hear it from morning to night.” Li Yuanhua said that her success on stage should be most thanks to the guidance of the older generation of artists. “When I first arrived at the theater, I couldn’t arrange my dormitory. The team leader had two small rooms, so he arranged me in one of them. As soon as I arrived, Teacher Guo Lanying came to see me and continued to encourage me. Rehearse. During the period, the actors and staff of the same group came to give me food and food, not only to give me artistic guidance, but also to take care of my life.”
Li Yuanhua said that she can find the feeling of opera so quickly, thanks to the foundation of Peking opera. “The national opera draws on the advantages of a lot of traditional opera. The performance of “White Hair Girl” is dance-like, and the singing is national and folk, and it has the characteristics of banqiang style.” The gongs and drums in the play have been performed for 18 years in Peking Opera. She has a natural sense of intimacy, and Li Yuanhua soon entered the state of Xi’er.
“I’m very lucky. “The White Haired Girl” allowed me to enter the door of opera art and gave me a new platform.” Li Yuanhua said, this play also has enlightening significance for contemporary people. “Why can Xi’er survive in an inhuman environment? It’s because when she was a child, Uncle Zhao told her that the Red Army could lead us to live a good life. Brother Chun is waiting for you.” Li Yuanhua said with emotion, it was the Red Army and the Party that gave Xi’er hope in life. “There are always difficulties in life, but as long as you are upright and have faith, you will definitely be able to go on.”
Lei Jia starred in the “White Haired Girl” stills.
Wan Shanhong: Integrating Western Singing into National Opera
1985 was the 40th anniversary of the birth of “White-haired Girl” in Yan’an. That year, singer Wan Shanhong took over the baton of “Xi’er”.
“The White Haired Girl” performed by Wang Kun during the Luyi period in Yan’an is in a very authentic and natural state. Teacher Guo Lanying has incorporated a lot of opera performance techniques, from hands, eyes, body, steps to singing design. “Wan Shanhong said, in her generation, it is mainly inheritance.
Wan Shanhong was admitted to the Chinese Opera and Dance Theater at the age of 18 and took a national opera class. He had to get up at 6 o’clock in the morning and practice early gong like an opera student. He also had to learn lines, performances, and shapes. He also accepted national vocal music and bel canto. Training. Before Xi’er’s actors were officially announced in the theater, Wan Shanhong was assigned the role of Huang Shiren’s mother. Later, she was formally selected to play Xi’er. “Whether it is Huang Mu or Xi’er, Teacher Guo Lanying gave me a lot. guide.”
By the mid-1980s, a new generation of singers had also made new breakthroughs on the basis of inheritance. “At this time, national vocal music has already matured. In the days of Teacher Guo, everyone would still argue about which is national and which is Western. At this point, we will learn both national and Western bel candies.” Wan Shanhong naturally The western atmosphere and resonance method are integrated into the singing of Banqiang body, which sounds more rounded and more powerful.
The adjustment of singing must of course be based on the development of Xier’s characters. “Xi’er in the first scene is a young girl, and she shouldn’t be too mature in her demeanor and image. Although I am taller, but with better feet, I can act like a little girl.” Wan Shanhong also worked hard to ponder Guo Lanying’s singing and learn from her. The pronunciation, “She will also teach us how to’sing in white’. The voice is forward, and singing close to children’s songs is like a simple girl.” Waiting for the Huang family’s “Black Tiger Hall” and even “Hate is a mountain and hatred is the sea” In part, Wan Shanhong’s voice will become “wider,” and she will sing dramatic and explosive fragments full of tension.
Lei Jia: “The White Haired Girl” made me grow up completely
In November 2015, the “White Haired Girl” premiered by the Ministry of Culture, which lasted two years and organized a re-rehearsal. “Xi Er” was played by young singer Lei Jia. Looking back on this experience, Lei Jia said that “The White Haired Girl” gave her a “reborn” growth in both art and spiritual realm.
Lei Jia recalled that during the reruns, many old artists came to guide the crew, including Guo Lanying, who was in her 80s. “Xi’er kneels in a lot of scenes. At that time, Teacher Guo demonstrated that he would kneel directly on the ground. The awe for art hit my heart.” said Lei Jia, the third-generation Xi’er actor Peng Liyuan She also has high demands on her, “Even if it is an eight-hour rehearsal, Teacher Peng is always on the spot to guide us young people. The senior artists have all taught us that we have to absorb and learn like a sponge. After entering the state, we don’t feel the hard work anymore, and no matter how hard it is, it’s worth it.”
Over the years, “The White Haired Girl” has been polished and improved countless times. In the 2015 edition, the well-known composer Guan Xia added a melody to a line of “I am a human” in the previous play, which became Xi’er’s new song. Lei Jia recalled that the screenwriter He Jingzhi once told her that the reason Xi’er could persist in surviving was because she still had the belief that “I am a human”. “Now that I have added this chant, it highlights Xi’er’s right to be a human being and also fulfills He Jingzhi’s wish.” Lei Jia said.
“The old society forced people into ghosts, and the new society turned ghosts into people. This is a particularly important theme of “The White Haired Girl”.” Lei Jia said, Xi’er is a girl who has been persecuted in the old society. The Eighth Route Army and the Communist Party rescued her from the mountains and turned her into a “human”. After intensive rehearsal and polishing, the “White Haired Girl” premiered in Yan’an in 2015. An old Red Army who had watched the original version looked at Lei Jia and said, “It’s still that Xier!” The stone in Lei Jia’s heart finally fell. land.
Today, six years have passed since the rehearsal of “White Haired Girl”, but Lei Jia still remembers the rehearsal and tour performances that year. She still remembered that when she went to Yan’an to gather the scene with the crew, she saw a sentence in Lu Yi: “Mom, please hand me over to the motherland.” At that moment, she was greatly moved, “The conditions in Yan’an were so difficult, but there were Mao Dun, A large number of artists such as Ding Ling and He Jingzhi are here because their ideals have never ceased. Such ideals and beliefs are of great help to us whether it is for us to interpret our roles or to be human beings.”
(Original title: Li Yuanhua, Wan Shanhong, and Lei Jia tell about China’s first new opera)
Source: Beijing Daily reporter Han Xuan
Process editor: u010
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