Stills from the English opera Dream of the Red Chamber. Courtesy of Shi Yijie
Shi Yijie participated in the concert rehearsal. Courtesy of Shi Yijie
In 2007, after winning several consecutive international vocal competitions, my career as a professional opera singer began in Italy. It is the birthplace of Western opera, which has been around for more than 400 years since its formation in the early 17th century. Looking back now, it is a blessing in my singing career to be able to study and work in the environment where opera art originated, developed and flourished for a long time. This allows me to accurately grasp the sense of language, accurately grasp the style of the work, and invest in the understanding and expression of music, forming a conditioned reflex when singing, and interpreting the work as perfectly as possible.
The development of Chinese opera has bright prospects
In the past one or two decades, I have studied and worked abroad, been exposed to a large number of opera works, and have also participated in more than 40 operas on stages at home and abroad, experimenting with the works of different composers and playing various roles. Many of these plays are the classics of the world's major theaters, such as Rossini's "The Barber of Seville", "The Italian Girl in Algiers", Verdi's "La Traviata", "Rigoletto", Donizetti's "Sweet Love", "The Girl in the Army" and so on. Rossini and Donizetti were both very prolific composers, the former composing 39 operas at the age of 37, and the latter composing 70 operas in his lifetime. In addition to the works of these masters, many of their peers at that time also created many operas, but today they are still passed down and frequently staged. I think this is similar to the situation of original opera in China today, where various themes and styles have blossomed in an all-round way, providing more and more new works for singers. Fine creation needs to go through a big wave of sand, and time will test what kind of works can be passed on for a long time.
In 2016, I participated in the English opera "Dream of the Red Chamber" in San Francisco, USA, playing Jia Baoyu. The opera "Dream of the Red Chamber" simplifies the storyline of the original book, with the story of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochao as the main line, and interspersed with power struggles to show the success or failure of the big family. Western audiences are interested in this opera adapted from a masterpiece of classical Chinese literature. Because there is no language barrier and it is a love story that they like to hear, they can quickly enter the dramatic situation and then feel the traditional Chinese culture behind the play. The musical composition of this opera uses the guqin in terms of timbre, as well as traditional Chinese percussion instruments such as gongs, cymbals, and wooden fish, and borrows the traditional tune of Jiangnan silk bamboo in melody, and integrates with Western symphony.
Of course, through music, it is extremely difficult to present such a great literary classic in two and a half hours, and the simplified content may not fully show the essence of the original literary work, but opera is the carrier, which must be more focused on music and limited in volume. Judging from the performance effect, the opera "Dream of the Red Chamber" touched the Western audience, making them yearn for Chinese culture and attracting them to take a key step closer to Chinese culture. Through this experience, I also have some experience and thoughts on promoting musical works with Chinese cultural background overseas.
First of all, the social environment and cultural background of the East and the West are quite different, and if you want each other to accept a different view or aesthetic taste than your own culture, you need to lower the threshold of difference first. Opera was originally imported, for a long time, Western audiences have established some deep-rooted cognition, if you hope that they can better accept Chinese original opera, you need to first build the creative system on the original artistic framework, and then gradually integrate the characteristics and elements of Chinese culture and music art, so that it is easier to form a space for dialogue. Just like the Russian national music school that occupied a place in the German-Austrian music system in the last century, Russian creators adopt the framework of a universal music creation language, in which musical elements and cultural values with distinct Russian characteristics are integrated, and finally win the recognition of the industry and the love of the audience.
Secondly, the theme of Chinese original opera can be further expanded. Although heroic stories and epic poems are common themes of foreign grand operas and operas, there are also many comedy operas and operettas that are close to the lives of the people. For example, the well-known Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" and Rossini's "The Barber of Seville" all tell the story of intelligent civilian characters, while Puccini's "Bohemian", "Madame Butterfly" and "Tosca" focus on depicting personal experiences of love and hatred, although it is "small love", it also reflects the shining points and sublime sense of human nature. China is a vast country, there is no shortage of good stories, how to tell good stories is the key. In order to create original opera works that not only meet the spiritual needs of foreign audiences, but also meet their emotional needs, creators need to make more efforts and attempts, and closely connect with the current life and life of the target audience in terms of subject matter content, narrative means and presentation methods, in order to impress people's hearts.
The third is the use of creative techniques. At present, Western opera creation has entered the stage of modern musical techniques and styles. The avant-garde nature of modern music is an experimental means to break the traditional traditions of the past, and it is also the choice of Western music after exhausting all creative methods after the development of the Renaissance, classicism and romanticism. For Chinese opera creation, we have not gone through such a long road of accumulation and change, and the meaning of "modernity" for us may be completely different from that of the West. Whether to inherit and apply these modern creative means is a question worth thinking about.
About a dozen years ago, European opera seemed to have experienced the "last boom". The European debt crisis inevitably had an impact on the music and cultural sectors, with a marked reduction in government funding and private funding, a shrinking performance market, a sharp decline in the opportunity for actors to appear on stage, and a less prosperous consumer market for opera. In contrast, the Chinese opera performance market is thriving. Every time I perform, I am very pleased to see the energetic young audience that enters the theater, and the young people they represent have a desire and love for opera. Chinese opera, the future can be expected.
Chinese art songs convey the beauty of culture
In addition to Chinese original operas, the overseas dissemination of Chinese art songs is also worth the effort of creators. The volume of the opera is always large, not only the production cost is high, but the audience also needs to spend a long time and more energy to immerse themselves in it. In contrast, an art song is also likely to open a door for foreign audiences to understand Chinese culture and art.
An art song, as little as two or three minutes, as many as six or seven minutes, these lyrics from ancient and modern Chinese and foreign poetry of the musical work is like a condensed miniseries - "although the sparrow is small, all the organs are complete". It actually puts higher demands on the singer, because there is no longer emotional preparation, and the singer needs to enter the corresponding situation immediately after the prelude to a few bars, and show the occurrence, development and end of the whole plot in a relatively short period of time. Therefore, art songs require more detailed musical processing, and the control and design at all levels need to be more delicate, so that the audience can listen to a highly condensed story in a song and experience the ups and downs of emotions.
De'ao art songs are a musical genre that came into being with the romantic poetry of the 19th century, its music and text are highly integrated, the expression is intimate and exquisite, the piano and the vocals are equal and independent, and the fiery and sincere emotions flow in the ears of the listeners. The same is true of Chinese art songs in terms of form, but the difference is the aesthetic spirit contained in them. In Chinese art songs, a poem is like an ink painting, and the singer uses the song to express the artistic conception contained in it, and uses the melody to present the aesthetic interest of clean and clear, gentle and tender in Chinese culture. The implicit expression of the Eastern way in the short lyrics of Chinese art songs, the evocative meaning hidden behind the words, and the "blank space" in the music constitute a more condensed and restrained form of music. I think that a chinese art song can make the world audience perceive and appreciate the beauty of the essence of Chinese culture.
Pianist Chen Sa and I have held special concerts of Chinese art songs in many cities, and I have felt the heartfelt love of the audience. I look forward to bringing Chinese art songs to all parts of the world, so that they can listen to the voices of "China's Schubert", "China's Schumann" and "China's Brahms", and listen to the beauty of the East from China's musical art.
(The author is a Chinese tenor singer and a professor at Hunan Normal University)
People's Daily ( 2022-02-17 17th edition)