Five-act opera "White-Haired Girl" full score

Author: Collected Works by Yan'an Lu Xun Art College
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-09-01
Features: Preface to the published score of the opera White-haired Girl. The preface was originally to be written by the composer personally, but unfortunately, all seven composers of the opera passed away one after another by the Huangpu River and at the foot of the Great Wall! They are Xiang Yu, Ma Ke, Liu Chi, Chen Zi, Li Huanzhi, Qu Wei, and Zhang Lu. These seven were all musicians who made significant contributions to China's music industry. After their passing, I, as a non-composer of the opera, found it difficult to write a more substantial preface. To respect history, I had to follow the spirit of the "Preface," "Explanation," and "Introduction" written by the authors He Jingzhi, Ding Yi, and others in previous publications of the opera, especially the "New Edition Preface" signed by He Jingzhi, Zhang Lu, and Qu Wei in the 20th century. This "Preface" is more realistic than any previous preface. In addition to accurately summarizing the plot, it also made accurate arguments in connection with the current trends in thought and artistic trends, which I fully support. This published score collection of the opera was enriched by Zhang Geng, a distinguished dramatist who organized and led the creation of White-haired Girl during the Yan'an period, writing a preface for it. This is truly precious. When he wrote this preface, he was already 90 years old and had not written anything for an opera since then. Moreover, he had unfortunately passed away a few months ago, so this preface he wrote for White-haired Girl became Zhang Geng's final work on opera theory! Regarding the publication process of this score, the opera world and fans of White-haired Girl were very concerned. Therefore, it was necessary for me to briefly state this in this preface. The opera White-haired Girl was born in the spring of 1945. After 58 years, it has been published seven times from the first edition, second edition, revised edition to the second re-revision, all under the author's guidance as regular publications. While the unofficial performance copies printed by local cultural troupes, army cultural troupes, worker performance teams, and peasant performance teams cannot be counted, these were mostly simple tunes printed in the 1940s. Although the paper was rough and the printing technology was not high, they still met the urgent needs of hundreds of millions of people for this opera. As for the publication of the full score of the opera, it only began to be discussed in recent years. On June 24, 1995, the China Opera Research Association initiated a symposium on the 50th anniversary of the premiere of White-haired Girl, jointly organized with the China Music, the China Dramatists' Association, the China Yan'an Lu Xun Alumni Association, and more than 10 academic organizations, held in Beijing. A total of 120 people from the opera world, history, and literary theory circles from all over the country participated in three days of discussions and paper presentations. During the conference, the representatives suggested entrusting the China Opera Research Association to organize the publication of the full score of White-haired Girl and to apply for funding from the Ministry of Culture. To implement the representatives' suggestions, the seven surviving authors of White-haired Girl jointly wrote a letter to the China Opera Research Association, which was then forwarded to the Ministry of Culture. This matter was delayed for several years until the leadership of the Ministry of Culture changed, and with the support of Sun Jiazheng, Pan Zhenzhou, and Wang Wenzhang, it was finally resolved. After that, Qu Wei, the chief composer of the full score, began his work. Qu Wei is a composer with a very rigorous attitude toward creation. For this reorchestration, he adopted a large double woodwind band and some Chinese folk instruments. To create in a quiet environment, Qu Wei returned to his hometown Changzhou from the bustling metropolis of Shanghai. He and I contacted each other by phone every two weeks to discuss his progress, always conveying a gentle confidence to me. The spirit of this 85-year-old artist's daily labor was deeply moving. Unfortunately, just as Qu Wei was about to complete the proud work he had undertaken, he suddenly collapsed! Qu Wei bid farewell to the world while writing the full score of White-haired Girl on his desk, which left a deep shock and sense of regret. He truly dedicated himself to the art of the Chinese nation, "devoting himself to the cause and dying without regret." After Qu Wei passed away, who would complete his unfinished work? Many talented composers in China's music world expressed their willingness to complete this task unconditionally. This reflected not only the respect for Qu Wei's character but also the deep affection of composers for White-haired Girl. Considering Qu Wei's personal style in orchestral composition, Shanghai Music Publishing House recommended Ma Youdao, a younger composer who had long worked with Qu Wei, to take over the task. After He Jingzhi and I studied it, we adopted this suggestion, and it proved to be suitable. From the Overture I have read of the newly composed White-haired Girl by Ma Youdao, his orchestration techniques and harmonic use are very similar to those of Qu Wei, to the extent that I even feel it could have been written by the same composer. Fairly speaking, Ma Youdao is a qualified successor to Qu Wei's unfinished work. Here, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Ma Youdao for his efforts. In the 80-year history of China's new opera, White-haired Girl holds a special position, which is historically formed. In the winter of 1944, when He Jingzhi began writing "The north wind blows, the snowflakes flutter," the world was changing; World War II was nearing its end. The Allied forces had landed in Normandy. By late April 1945, the Soviet army had captured Berlin, and the Allies had met on the European battlefield, ending the war. At that moment, White-haired Girl began its first performance in Yan'an, and after more than 30 performances and revisions, the invading Japanese army also surrendered. From then on, the class contradictions in China shifted from non-antagonistic to antagonistic. The authors of White-haired Girl, against this historical background, with a serious sense of social and historical responsibility, exposed the cruel exploitation and persecution of peasants by feudal society and the peasants' resistance. This is a microcosm of China's 2,000-year-old feudal society, a great tragedy with a beautiful future as its conclusion. It met the needs of the Chinese people's liberation struggle in the second half of the 1940s. This opera, with its profound sense of reality and magnificent fantasy, represents a model of the new artistic world of that era. Its poetic language and rich national tone, along with its deep exposure of social contradictions, shook half of China in the 1940s, inspiring hundreds of millions of people. China's great literary giants Guo Moruo and Mao Dun, after watching White-haired Girl in Hong Kong in May 1948, both wrote enthusiastic articles: Guo Moruo titled his article "The Liberation of Tragedy—Written for the Performance of White-haired Girl," highly praising the opera: "China's feudal tragedies have been performed for over 2,000 years, and with the performance of White-haired Girl, they are indeed nearing their end. 'Demons have turned into humans.'" Mao Dun wrote: "We have no hesitation in praising White-haired Girl as China's first opera. I think this is more qualified than China's old theater to bear this name—China-style opera." These two articles were published simultaneously in Hong Kong on May 21, 1948. Traditionally, the evaluation of literary works is not just one voice, and White-haired Girl is no exception. Since its birth, it has brought many sincere supporters and brave defenders, followed by a group of sharp critics. It is not surprising that these two completely different reactions occurred. In the history of world art, there have been many cases where multiple creators worked on the same theme. A similar situation to White-haired Girl is not rare, referring to an imperfect artistic work that is still well-received by the world. Take Schubert's famous Unfinished Symphony as an example: he wrote nine symphonies in his lifetime, but the eighth symphony was an unfinished work, only writing nine measures for the first, second, and third movements. Conventionally, a symphony should have four movements, so the Eighth Symphony is "incomplete." When Schubert was alive, this symphony had not been performed. Several decades later, wrote the third and fourth movements for the symphony to make it "complete," but after the performance, critics unanimously criticized this practice for severely damaging the original work's elegant and melancholic style, calling it a "shameful 'completion.'" Critics wrote: "We still thank Schubert for not completing it. Perhaps Milo's statue of the armless Venus might be more valuable than adding arms to it." The Chinese opera White-haired Girl has taken root in the hearts of hundreds of millions of people over the decades. Let it remain as it is. This opera, representing an era, is a document. The publication of its full score is undoubtedly a precious gift for artists engaged in opera construction and for the outstanding people—those with education, that is, the opera enthusiasts. Although it has been published in simple tunes many times, the publication of the full score adds a Chinese opera from the East, shining with light, to the world's opera library. It provides a standardized version for scholars at home and abroad to study and explore Chinese opera, while also providing a complete and accurate performance score for opera houses. The new Chinese opera White-haired Girl has fulfilled its historical mission and has entered the treasure trove of advanced culture of the Chinese nation. Of course, it will continue to live in the lives of the people, hearing harmonious sounds in response to itself [Preface] Before the full score of the opera White-haired Girl is published, the authors asked me to say a few words. What I want to say is: opera is a comprehensive art, and music is an important means of expression. White-haired Girl, in addition to its script being centered on the oppressed working people and being a completely new literary work, also solved some problems in expressing new life in music. This achievement was not easy to come by. It was achieved by summing up the experience and lessons of the Yangge movement in line with Comrade Mao Zedong's "Talk at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art," and by concentrating the wisdom of the people. Some comrades have already written articles on this, so I won't elaborate here. In general, new opera is to express new life and new ideas. A completely Chinese old or foreign musical language cannot solve the problem; but this new life also develops from the old life, so it still needs to develop by transforming old music (all the excellent music heritage of the world). Comrade Qu Wei revised and organized the performance scores of the past, revealing in detail how the singing and accompaniment were done, for evaluation and discussion of its gains and losses, and at the same time providing a standardized version for future performances. I hope that the publication of the full score of White-haired Girl this time will play a positive role in improving the creation of new opera in the future. Zhang Geng, 2001, Beijing