The same song

Author: Meng Xin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-01
Features: Revolutionary Modern Peking Opera broke through traditional Peking Opera in aspects such as performance style, tunes and forms of singing, accompanying music, and spoken dialogue. For example, in Revolutionary Modern Peking Opera, spoken dialogue adopted Mandarin instead of the Zhongzhou (a traditional rhyme system that blended Huagang and Beijing dialects). Additionally, Revolutionary Modern Peking Opera adopted the act-division method of theater. It also absorbed and drew inspiration from the leitmotif technique in Western opera. To this day, these practices still hold certain reference value for the current practice of traditional theater arts. In this collection of Peking Opera arias, we have selected some outstanding singing excerpts from modern Peking Opera for the readers. From the perspective of themes, the selected works are all related to the various stages of revolution and construction led by the Communist Party of China. During a certain historical period, these works were collectively referred to as "Revolutionary Modern Peking Opera." Many people associate these Peking Opera works closely with the "Gang of Four." They believe these works were produced under the guidance of Jiang Qing, which does not align with historical facts. In reality, plays such as Red Lantern, Sand Bay, and Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy were created before the Cultural Revolution and achieved great success upon their premieres, producing a profound social impact.