It's urgent, and the topic is "Talking about the relationship between folk opera and Nuo". A friend with information sent it to my email address at1127985 in 147@qq.com. Thank you.

Now, almost no one denies the close relationship between the production of China traditional opera and ancient Nuo culture. Because in the past ten years, the constantly discovered information of ancient and modern Nuo opera has provided enough new evidence for this topic. However, in the process of studying Nuo Opera, especially in the process of compiling the local volume of China Opera Records, there is a problem that bothers me, that is, is it a big national opera that has been passed down to this day and spread to various regions and nationalities? Or is there more local drama? To say the former, its language, pronunciation, singing tone and so on are different; It is said that it is the latter, and there are many similarities in theme, content and style. This is unprecedented in all kinds of operas in China. So, it doesn't look like it, and it doesn't make sense. From this point of view, although Nuo opera belongs to the category of traditional Chinese opera, on the whole, it is obviously different from ordinary Chinese opera. In my opinion, this is caused by the originality of Nuo opera art, the complexity of art form and the ambiguity of opera concept. To this end, I want to start with the analysis of these problems and talk about my personal shallow views to suit everyone.

one

China's national drama has now been called "traditional opera" by convention. But what is drama and non-drama has never been a unified standard and accepted view.

As we all know, China traditional opera is a comprehensive performing art, which consists of music (instrumental music), singing, dancing, acrobatics and martial arts. And literature (poetry, prose, novels) and fine arts. Therefore, to distinguish between national and non-national dramas, we must first look at the number of artistic factors and the degree of their mutual integration. Any performing art that is not combined with each other or has only a few simple combinations is not drama; A variety of performing arts must be closely combined to become a traditional opera. Or in short, opera is a comprehensive performing art; A single and complex performing art is not an opera. However, the various performing arts that make up the comprehensive opera are not the same in nature and importance. Dance, acrobatics, martial arts, magic and other action arts are transformed into traditional opera's doing, beating and jumping; The combination of poetry, prose and vocal music in literature is transformed into the singing and reading of opera, and the novels in literature are put into performance and become the story of opera. Among all the literary and artistic factors that make up a traditional opera, songs and dances (including "singing") and stories are the most important. Therefore, Wang Guowei said, "A traditional Chinese opera actor is to perform a story by singing and dancing." This is a very correct and concise summary.

But there are songs and dances, stories and comprehensive performing arts, which does not mean "drama". "National Opera" must also be performed by dressing up characters with feet. Relatively speaking, the degree of integration is secondary. Dressing up characters to perform is a necessary condition for all dramas, and dressing up characters through foot color is a characteristic of China operas. So I think Wang Guowei's statement is refined, but it is not complete enough. Opera should be an art in which artists dress up characters through their feet and perform stories through singing and dancing. Only those who meet these basic conditions are "operas", otherwise, they are not "operas"

However, the vast majority of China operas have now developed to a higher stage. It not only has more artistic factors and higher comprehensive degree, but also has more and more complete foot color business, and the story changes from short to long. Therefore, the current opera should be a highly comprehensive art in which artists dress up characters through various foot colors such as birth, Dan, Jing, tail and ugliness, and interpret long stories through various means of expression such as singing, reading, doing, fighting and dancing. These two performing arts are both "traditional operas", but their development levels are different. The former is mostly a small play with few colors, short stories and low comprehensive degree. The latter is mostly drama, with many colors, long stories, complicated plots and high comprehensive degree. Therefore, we can call the former opera a generalized opera or a primary form of opera; The latter type of drama is called drama in a narrow sense or drama in an advanced form.

Since ancient times, there have been many kinds of operas. Different types of this kind of opera are called "operas". As for the types of non-opera, there are more categories, such as instrumental music (percussion, orchestral music, etc. ), singing (pop songs, folk songs, karaoke and so on. ), dance (national dance, ballroom dance, ballet, break dance, etc. ), acrobatics, magic, martial arts, rap (Quyi), circus (animal training) and so on. However, in ancient times, we ancients called these performing arts "plays". Although in the Western Zhou Dynasty, a few people separated music (instrumental music and vocal music) and dance from "drama" and called them "music" and "dance", until the Song Dynasty, most people still referred to them as "drama". Because of its variety, it is always called "hundred operas" or "zaju". "Zaju" means "Zaju", which means the same as "Bai Ju". Therefore, I think all the single and complicated non-dressed performing arts in ancient and modern times can still be collectively called "drama"; The performing arts with songs and dances, stories and feet are called "traditional operas".

The above surveys on drama (non-drama) and drama are all aimed at a certain drama (festival). Any kind of China traditional opera shows a large number of dramas (festivals). The so-called "traditional operas" are all based on the troupe. Therefore, to judge whether some performing arts are traditional operas and what are the characteristics of traditional operas, it is necessary to inspect all the plays (festivals) performed by several similar operas to see their overall appearance and characteristics. However, the plays (festivals) performed by all the troupes in ancient and modern times are often not very pure. Including dramas that broadcast long stories, short stories, acrobatics, martial arts and other programs without storylines, or narrative rap art with storylines, which is a mixture of drama and drama. As a scientific study of art, we should call a certain performing art "opera", which should at least be all the plays (festivals) performed by several similar troupes, most of which are operas. If most of its performances belong to "drama" rather than drama repertoire, it can't be called "drama genre". However, at present, the titles of traditional operas in China are rather confusing, and Nuo operas are just like this.

two

Many existing Nuo operas in China are a kind of folk religious culture, whose main purpose is to sacrifice and entertain gods. Its internal composition is much more complicated than secular opera. Generally speaking, Nuo opera consists of three parts: sacrificial ceremony, sacrificial art (that is, singing and dancing, rap, acrobatics and other "plays") and opera. Among them, pure ceremony is not art (drama). In the art part, the proportion of "drama" greatly exceeds that of "drama"; There are more minor dramas than major dramas in National Drama, and some even have no major dramas.

For example, the Nuo altar opera performance in Sinan, Guizhou Province is a kind of sacrificial ceremony to invite immortals from all walks of life to eliminate disasters for the people. Most of them are rituals that introduce the origins of various gods as wizards and witchcraft that symbolizes the elimination of disasters and epidemics. There are more than ten procedures from opening an altar, issuing a document, building a building, and bridging (hereinafter referred to as the "four altars") to sending gods and wandering. However, from an artistic point of view, there are two situations: a small part is a pure sacrificial ceremony, not art, especially setting plans for gods and offering fruits to prepare for inviting gods. Most of them have artistic factors, but they are not traditional operas, such as sacrificial ceremonies to introduce the origin of gods, solo, duet, riddle, duet and other forms of folk art. The witchcraft to eliminate disasters is acrobatics, qigong, illusion and martial arts. The other part also invited God, but invited a special "drama god". There are 24 repertoires (festivals) in the performance, such as opening a hole, escorting a general, ordering an immortal officer and landing troops, which are included in the three sacrificial procedures of going to the upper hole, the middle hole and the lower hole. This part of the performance was also performed by wizards. The difference is that wizards dress up as gods and perform with masks, which is called "drama", and the elements of drama have increased. However, we can see that the twenty-four plays (festivals) of the performance are still the process of asking God, the plays are sacrifices, and the first-person narrator is mixed in the narrative. From an artistic point of view, most of them are rap, and there are no songs and dances with plots. Only a few are small plays with simple plots and simple costumes. Wizards dressed as gods not only introduce themselves, but also introduce other gods as gods. This is especially true for programs with complicated plots. There are also some secular dramas in the drama, but most of them are simple funny performances. For example, Gan Sheng after Exam consists of seven parts, such as Ba Lang after Exam, Killing Jiu Lang and Fortune-telling Lang Jun, which are unrelated plots. They are all independent dramas. I don't know when, as a scholar, I took buddhist nun to take the exam, and all kinds of events were linked together, which was called "string play" by the masses.

However, there are some operas (festivals) in Nuo altar opera in Sinan, Guizhou, which are called "foreign operas" after the whole ceremony. There are also 24 kinds of "foreign operas" (the actual number often exceeds this number), most of which are performed by troupe artists without masks. This part of the drama, the repertoire content is more complicated, both religious and secular; There are both small plays and big plays. Generally speaking, secular drama is dominant, accounting for the majority. However, it can still be seen that most of the dramas with strong religious colors are small plays. The performance of this part of the drama is actually a manifestation of the secularization of the sacrificial drama and the entertainment of the gods, in order to attract more secular audiences.

As can be seen from the above examples, many existing Nuo operas in China are not only a mixture of rap, song and dance, acrobatics, martial arts, illusion, entertainment and comedy. (collectively referred to as "drama") and small drama (collectively referred to as "drama"), but there are also many Nuo operas that are mainly based on rap, song and dance, acrobatics and small drama. Strictly speaking, these Nuo operas cannot be called "operas". Some Nuo operas can be called "traditional operas". Although there are mostly small operas and big dramas on the whole, they are the result of the "invasion" of local popular secular operas and the performance of the decline of Nuo operas.

No matter whether it is a Nuo opera with traditional opera as the main body or a Nuo opera with non-traditional opera as the main body, it is a mixture of traditional opera and non-traditional opera, which is the same feature in all Nuo operas. Generally speaking, all Nuo operas are "miscellaneous operas". This is an important sign that Nuo opera is immature. Because from the development history of China traditional opera, it has experienced the evolution from simple to complex, from non-costume to costume, from mixing to synthesis, and from small drama to big drama. All Nuo operas, in terms of troupe and genre, have not completely completed this transformation. It is inconceivable that a mixed and immature local opera can expand from one place to all places and develop into the largest drama in China. A local opera has developed into a national opera in different languages, even a highly mature opera like Kunqu opera and Beijing opera can't do it. Not since ancient times. The major national operas in ancient and modern times, at home and abroad, not only originated in a certain place, but spread to the whole country after their development was relatively mature. Moreover, the language, pronunciation and singing used are based on the local dialect pronunciation and music. After they developed in other places, some changes have taken place over time, but they are still similar. Therefore, the existing Nuo operas of various nationalities in China are by no means, nor can they be, national operas spread from one place to another. Some people say that Nuo opera in minority areas was handed down from Han areas. I think Nuo operas in some places are ok (under the condition of speaking Chinese together), but it can never be said that all Nuo operas of ethnic minorities are handed down from Han nationality.

three

In my opinion, the existing Nuo operas in various regions and ethnic groups in China were originally born and bred, the products of primitive society, and the primitive songs and dances that came into being and developed with the appearance of primitive religion. Because the languages and music of different nationalities are different, and the dialects and music of different regions (clans and tribes) of the same nationality are also different, the existing Nuo operas of different regions and nationalities have different languages, dialects and vocals. But nowadays, Nuo operas popular in different areas of Han nationality, except for different dialects, mostly sing high-pitched tunes, which seem to be the same. In fact, there are the same high-pitched tunes all over the country, accompanied by gongs and drums, orchestral music and cavity help, but the mode and melody of singing are still different. Therefore, this situation will occur because after the emergence of Nuo opera, it has experienced primitive society, slave society and feudal society for a long time. With the progress of society and the increase of communication, they interact with each other to varying degrees. Before the formation of secular comprehensive operas, there was mutual influence between Nuo operas in adjacent areas; After the formation of secular comprehensive drama (also born out of Nuo opera), Nuo opera and non-Nuo opera (local opera) also influenced each other. Except for some folk songs, most of Nuo operas in Han areas sang Gao Qiang, indicating that Gao Qiang was the most popular among the people at that time and had the greatest influence on Nuo operas. Few existing Nuo operas sing disorderly songs at the same time. It seems that no one sings Kunqu opera and Pihuang opera at the same time. For example, Nuo opera in the Han Dynasty solidified when it developed into a high-pitched tune. In fact, since then, Nuo operas in all parts of the country have generally declined rapidly. Kunqu opera and Pihuang opera are independent performances, and they are rarely mixed with Nuo operas. This is the fundamental reason why Nuo operas in Han areas often sing high-pitched tunes, and Nuo operas in ethnic minorities and Han mountainous areas are preserved more.

Although all Nuo operas originated from primitive religions in primitive society, the historical development of various clans and tribes is very uneven. It is generally believed that primitive religion originated in the Middle Stone Age from 30000 BC to 10000 BC. In the Central Plains of Han nationality, Xia Dynasty (2 1 century-BC16th century) entered the slave society. About the Warring States period (475-22 1), it entered the feudal society. However, many ethnic minorities in China were still in the late historical period of slave society or primitive society until the 1940s. Therefore, many Nuo operas, which also originated in primitive society, are far apart in age. In ethnic minority areas, especially in areas with extremely closed traffic and little contact with the Han nationality, its Nuo opera is more primitive, with few or no secular dramas (festivals) and few or no big dramas, which are basically songs and dances, rap, acrobatics and small dramas.

It is precisely because the existing Nuo operas of all ethnic groups are the remains of primitive society. Although in the long years, each has a certain development and evolution, some original programs have been lost, some original programs have survived, and some have added new programs under the influence of other performing arts. The new programs absorbed by Nuo operas in different places are different, so there are certain differences. However, after all, they are the remains of primitive society, and many programs reflect the primitive life and consciousness of people in primitive society. The productivity of primitive society is extremely low, leading a simple collective life of fishing, hunting, animal husbandry and farming, with similar social structure, mode of production and religious consciousness. Therefore, many Nuo operas produced in different times, regions and clans are sung in different languages, dialects and intonations, and the themes, contents and ideas reflected in their dramas (festivals) are similar. The primitive religious nature of Nuo Opera has greatly increased the cohesion of clans and nations, but it has greatly hindered the development and evolution of Nuo Opera, retaining more artistic forms in different stages of the development history of opera culture and becoming a "living fossil" for studying the origin and development of opera today.

To sum up, our conclusion is that Nuo opera is not a simple and mature drama, but a mixture of various art forms and different art forms. Many existing Nuo operas are not a national opera, or even local operas. Nuo operas with a large number of operas can be said to be local operas, while Nuo operas with only a few operas cannot be called local operas. It can be called local operas, which are different from ordinary folk operas because of their primitiveness, religiosity and mixing. Generally speaking, Nuo opera is a special opera culture with special value.