The lotus leaves in the blue sky are extraordinarily beautiful, and the splendid Baiyangdian scenery is also more vivid due to the story of the Yanling team passed down from generation to generation. On the evening of August 23, under the guidance of the Propaganda Department of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Hebei Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, the national opera “Ganling Team” produced by the Hebei Provincial Art Center was staged at the Hebei Provincial Art Center. As the opening work of the Wenhua Awards music, dance and acrobatics category, the national opera “Goan Ling Team” not only amazed the audience, but also officially opened the 13th China Arts Festival hosted by Hebei Province. curtain.
Photo courtesy of Hebei Provincial Art Center
The national opera “Squadron of Yanling” lasts for nearly 2 hours. It is divided into four scenes and tells the story of the strange soldiers of Yanling, known as the “Water Flying General”. It vividly reproduces the heroic battle scenes of the people of Baiyangdian under the leadership of the Yanling team in the national war of resistance and defending the family and the country, and wrote a national hymn that the sons and daughters of Yanzhao can sing and cry.
1. The fusion of audio and video creates an audio-visual feast
Wagner once said: “Opera is a drama unfolded with music”. The success of an opera requires not only the blessing of an excellent script, but also the music that fits the development of the story. The two complement each other and are indispensable. Most of the national opera music in modern China is dominated by Western symphony bands. How to use Western bands to tell Chinese stories well is a test of the composer’s skill. The national opera “Goan Ling Team” reflects the excellent intentions of the production team in both the script creation and the musical fit.
The prelude is the opening music of an opera, which plays a key role in setting the scene and revealing the theme of the whole play. The prelude music of “Yanling Team” is mainly played by a symphony orchestra. The timpani and brass instrument groups play a majestic melody at the beginning, which kicks off the battle like a charging horn, and also establishes the heroic theme of the whole work. . Afterwards, in the chorus of the string group, there was a picture of lotus leaves connected to the blue sky on the stage, and the beautiful picture of the red reeds reflected by the glow of the sun slowly opened. The water-like harp plucks embellish it, showing the full water town temperament. In the misty mist, a curved light boat moves from far to near in the lotus field, cutting through the lake water and swaying layers of ripples… Realistic set props, high-definition LED screens and holographic screen projections perfectly interweave the real scene and technology, the entire stage. Like a flowing Danqing ink painting, it immediately pulls the audience into the beautiful scenery of Baiyangdian Lake, the Pearl of North China. Above the boat is the returned Baiyangdian anti-Japanese hero Liu Diansheng. An aria “Return to Baiyangdian” expresses the revolutionary aspirations of the Red Army soldiers and their firm determination to complete the task. He wants to lead the people of Baiyangdian to establish an anti-Japanese guerrilla team – Yanling Team. The entire aria melody begins with a soothing and smooth melody, and as the narrative gradually fluctuates, the overture music is perfectly connected with the music of the first act, and leads to the background of the whole drama and the beginning of the story.
How to express this elusive Yokohama with music? The composer used a variety of singing forms such as round singing, chorus, lead singing, etc., and vividly depicted the alert image of Yanling team members hiding under lotus leaves and waiting for opportunities in the reeds. The unpredictable lotus leaf soldier is like a sharp blade piercing the enemy’s heart, playing a crucial strategic role in the anti-Japanese guerrilla battle in North China.
The composer also created character music for the protagonist, and as soon as the prelude music plays, you will know who will appear: the courageous and upright Diansheng, the outspoken and brave Yinglian, the playful and cute Xiaoling, the kind and reasonable mother, the swaying Liu Jincai, the mercenary Mr. Shen… Each character with distinct images and unique characteristics will appear with different styles and characteristics of music. The plot is fascinating and progressive, and the music empathizes and sublimates the theme. When the plot of Xiaoling’s arrest advanced to a tense stage, the aria that scolded the traitors made the audience gasp. After singing “Meet You”, the audience also shed tears of regret.
The theme song “Flying Wild Goose” runs through the whole play, sometimes the whole chorus, and sometimes one or two fragments appear. With the different plots and moods of the story, the accompaniment instruments, rhythm, speed, harmony, etc. of the theme song are different. It constantly evokes the audience’s memory and plays the finishing touch to sublimate the central idea. The catchy melody and friendly and simple lyrics sing the heroic spirit of the soldiers of the Yanling team fighting the enemy bravely, as well as the chivalrous tenderness of the soldiers to their hometown and their relatives.
The whole work of “Yanling Team” has achieved excellence from music creation to actor singing, from script design to stage performance, from props and stage beauty to the application of technological means. Let the audience feel the revolutionary feelings of Yanling soldiers as if they were on the scene in the fusion of sound and picture, so as to achieve the dual integration of vision and hearing.
2. Use traditional Chinese music to tell the story of the Chinese revolution
Although the whole work is mainly based on Western symphonies, it always reveals the shadow of local traditional music: Hebei folk songs, Pingju, Baoding old tunes, allegro, traditional percussion bangzi and plucked sanxian… skillfully integrated into the overall music of the opera In the framework, the whole opera is full of strong Yanzhao local color. For example, in “The Wind Blows Lotus Flowers Ten Miles of Fragrance”, the composer re-created on the basis of the melody of the Hebei folk song “Walking the Mountain Bridge”. The melody sounds cordial and beautiful. In “See You Again”, the composer also added Hebei Bangzi’s “tight pull and slow singing” singing style, accompanied by gongs and drums crossing the door, pushing the plot to a climax. The integration of local folk songs and operas is natural and smooth, and the addition of dialect rap lyrics has no sense of incongruity, which also shows the composer’s mastery of local traditional music and profound skills in song writing.
On the stage of this year’s “Thirteen Arts Festival”, we also saw national opera works with revolutionary themes such as “Yimeng Mountain” and “Red Boat”. These works not only have excellent themes and novel interpretation angles, but their music also has distinct and strong local characteristics: traditional Chinese music such as Hunan’s folk song Huagu Opera, Shandong’s Kuaishu Yangko, and Hebei’s Lao Diao Pingju. Home creation brings an inexhaustible source of art.
(Author: Huang Ying, Hebei Institute of Engineering and Technology)
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