Xiang Opera Traditional Tune Selection

Author: Chen Bin, Chen Songmin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-07-01
Features: This collection of Xiang Opera music traditional singing scores is compiled from selected singing pieces passed down orally by various renowned senior artists, as recorded by the authors. The selection strives to preserve the original lyrics (including dialectal colloquialisms and vocal fillers), accompanied by annotations. The traditional tunes' tonality, mode, transposition, modulation, changes in coloristic sounds, tuning and performance techniques of accompanying instruments, as well as polyphonic elements, have all been meticulously verified and corrected to ensure accuracy. Xiang Opera music is exceptionally rich and diverse. It has resiliently taken root in the lives of people across both sides of the Taiwan Strait, accompanying the historical twists and turns of Xiang Opera. Over the years, through long-term performance practices by predecessors, the tradition has been inherited while drawing inspiration from other art forms and absorbing their artistic nourishment. Through creative reforms, a distinctive style has gradually emerged today—rich in the flavors of the southern region and imbued with a strong sense of local rural charm.