A Chinese Makeover For European Opera
As Nation Augments Its Cultural Offerings, Fans Hope to Popularize Western Art Form
By Maureen Fan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, November 16, 2007; A24
BEIJING -- The house was packed with an invitation-only audience, including a former foreign minister and China's top cultural official. As floodlights turned the stage blood red, a chorus of voices conveyed the anxiety and terror of an ancient Chinese battlefield.
"It's the fire of hatred, it's the fire of victory, burning, burning," the chorus sang in Mandarin, in one of the few Western-style operas here based on a Chinese story and composed and performed by Chinese artists.
Last month's operatic premiere of "Farewell My Concubine" was only the latest example of an increasingly confident China ramping up its cultural acts to compete with the Western stage. It was also part of an effort to keep opera alive by appealing to sophisticated urban Chinese who these days prefer Western entertainment.
China has recently invited world-class dancers from the West to work with its National Ballet, and a state-owned cultural exchange agency is teaming up with Cameron Mackintosh, producer of "Les Mis¿rables," "Cats" and "The Phantom of the Opera," to stage Chinese-language versions of Western musicals. With "Farewell My Concubine," producers hoped that a Chinese story would bring in new audiences unfamiliar with Western-style opera.
"Since we are a big country with a long history of culture, we should master opera," said Liu Xijin, director of the National Opera House. "To develop Western opera in China, we need to persistently perform the world's classical works well."
"Only after we present good operas can we attract more and more young audiences, and by presenting Western opera with Chinese stories, it's easier for Chinese audiences to understand and accept it," he added.
While Chinese officials are fond of invoking their 5,000 years of culture and history, signs of it are often in short supply.
China already has Peking opera, a more theatrical and traditional art form featuring a sparse stage, colorful costumes and often a higher-pitched singing style. But Peking opera was popular only until the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and '70s, at which point it was seen as too bourgeois and most performances were banned. Although it has tried to modernize to appeal to younger audiences, Peking opera has never quite regained its popular footing. These days it's a favorite mostly among the elderly.
Western-style opera, on the other hand, is growing in popularity, even though it continues to be prohibitively expensive for many. Opera singers say that there are more places to study and perform than ever before, and that increasingly worldly Chinese know that Western opera is a mark of sophistication.
"I believe that more and more people will like opera, since it stands for the highest form of art. Music teachers from other provinces tell me their students all want to watch opera, but the tickets are too expensive," said Ruan Yuqun, 25, who graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music this summer and performed the lead female role of Yu Ji in "Farewell My Concubine."
Last year, performers from the National Opera House toured 20 universities, singing highlights from "Carmen," "Madama Butterfly" and "La Traviata." At Chongqing University in southern Sichuan province, more than 10,000 students stood in the rain to hear the music.
"Students would stand outside the hall to listen if they couldn't afford the tickets. They didn't want to leave even after our performance finished," said Liu, the director. "They felt the Western style of music is fresh, so they like it. It's different from our Chinese music."
Five years ago, the National Opera House was the only venue to produce operas; now operas are being staged by the China National Symphony Orchestra, China Opera, the Shanghai Opera House and the Central Conservatory of Music.
"I hope to present to the outside world what we can attain in opera," Ruan said. "In terms of singing and performing, we are not worse than the international standard, I think. The difference is that we are young, and we lack experience on stage."
Transforming a Chinese story into a Western opera is a challenge. In the case of "Farewell My Concubine," a former top conductor in Shanghai said he spent more than 18 years working on it. The story is based on the aftermath of a historical battle at the end of the Qin dynasty.
"How to integrate a 400-year-old European form of art into traditional Chinese culture and Chinese character, into a 2,000-year-old Chinese story, really takes effort," said Xiao Bai, 75, who labored in the countryside during the Cultural Revolution. "During these 18 years, we held two concerts and edited the work a lot."
In addition, singing in Mandarin is harder than in Italian, the performers said. "I have to fully pronounce the changing tones for each Chinese character, which involves lots of changes on lips, teeth, tongue and so on," Ruan said. "But the pronunciation of Italian words seems to be smoother while singing."
Xiao never thought he'd see his music and play on stage, let alone in such dramatic fashion. Thanks to sponsorship by the Chinese American Inter-Cultural Exchange Foundation, a Dallas-based nonprofit organization, the cast of "Farewell My Concubine" will soon tour six U.S. cities, including Washington, where a January appearance at DAR Constitution Hall is planned.
It's an unusual opportunity, because many Chinese cultural institutions have been weaned from the state and do not have the funds to support such a trip.
"After Italian opera came the French, the German and the Russian opera," Xiao said. "They all employed the same basic elements of opera but told different kinds of stories -- all the composers tried hard to figure out one thing -- how to incorporate the art with their own culture. Why shouldn't China try to find the answer as well? If we can make it, we might become the fifth country in the opera world."
The Oct. 12 premiere won over Feng Ying, 23, an administrator at the China Society of Land Economics who attended the show.
"If it's a Western story sung in a foreign language, I don't know if I would enjoy it as much as this. It's in Chinese and about Chinese history, so it feels familiar to me," she said. "I was touched by the deep love between the hero Xiang Yu and his concubine Yu Ji."
Researcher Li Jie contributed to this report.
- Re: A Chinese Makeover For European Operaposted on 11/18/2007
没听过,不晓得什么样。
不过,欣赏不了歌剧,就如欣赏不了京剧一样,可能再过几年会好一些。
大嗓门唱出来的虞姬,会是什么样子的呢?
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