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Night of Modern Chinese Opera and Dance Drama

The history of modern Chinese opera and dance drama may be less than a hundred years, but this genre that is derived from western opera and dance drama has given generations of Chinese people unique memories.

The Orchestra will bring you some of the most unforgettable moments and tunes of modern Chinese operas and dance dramas in the past 50 years. The programme includes excerpts from The White-haired Girl, Liu Hulan, Wang Gui and Li Xiangxiang, Xiao'erhei Getting Married, Liu Sanjie , The Red Guards of Hong Lake and The Wilderness.

The dramatic element in the songs featured in the programme made them audience favourites in China at one time, and led to a new era of development in Chinese vocal music. In this concert, they are sung by famous vocalists to the accompaniment of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. The rich nuances may perhaps bring back memories for many in the audience.  

Chinese Opera and Xiqu

The Chinese counterpart to western opera first appeared in the 1920s and 1930s.  It was a performing art form that at first emerged as a hybrid of drama and opera in the western context.  In the early days of its existence, it was more like a play with sung passages, and the singing was also very much a hybrid of the western and the Chinese vocalizing techniques.  While the subject matter was home grown, with the libretto in putonghua (called “Mandarin” at that time), the form and the musical idiom were from the West.  

As for the age-old performing art form of China, commonly (and misleadingly) referred to as “Chinese opera”, xiqu, it dates back to more than two thousand years, or at least more than six hundred years if one is to take it in its fully developed form, that is, the zaju of the Yuan Dynasty (1203-1368).  Therefore, it may well be the most systematic, most comprehensive and the oldest performing art extant in the world.  Often xiqu performances include acrobatics and martial arts, two elements not so common in western opera.  In China, there are so many types of regional opera that they number over 300.  Each is built on its own dialectal vernacular, local customs and folk music, and each is unique because the dialogues and vocal delivery are also rich in regional and local flavour. 

Unlike opera, xiqu is performed according to stock characters, role types and highly stylized movements that follow preset routines.  Characters are denoted by masks (or ‘painted faces’), which can be distinguished to be “good” or “bad”. As for the music, it is based on qupai, or set pieces, rather than composed for each specific production.  One can see that “opera” and “xiqu” are two different forms of performing art.  That is why today, academics would refer to the old type of operatic form as “xiqu”, and the contemporary counterpart of western opera as “Chinese opera”. 

Ensemble  The Wedding Scene (From the dance opera Yu-Mei-Ren)   Wu Zuqiang, Du Mingxin 
 Arr. by Chen Ning-chi 

From the dance opera The White-haired Girl:
Soprano and Orchestra  As the North Wind Blows
Soprano and Orchestra  It is Snow Ten Miles Around
Contrapuntal Singing and Orchestra  The Red Braids in Yours Hair
Ma Ke, Qu Wei et al   Lyrics by He Jingzhi and Ding Yi                Arr. by Phoon Yew-tien* 

From the opera Liu Hulan:
Soprano and Orchestra  Heavy Snow on the Coldest Day 
Luo Zongxian, Wei Feng Lyrics by the members of the Campaign Drama Society
Soprano and Orchestra     There’re Mountains after Mountains and Rivers After Rivers Chen Zi  Lyrics by Hai Xiao 

From the opera The Brother and Sister Pioneers:
Tenor and Orchestra Cock-a-doo, Cock-a-doo, Sing Away     An Bo   Lyrics by Lu You  Arr. by Chen Ning-chi* 

From the opera Xiao’erhei Getting Married:
Soprano and Orchestra   The Crystal Clear Water and the Icy Blue Sky   Ma Ke et al   Lyrics by Hu Sha, Tian Chuan 

From the opera The Red Guards of Hong Lake:
Soprano and Orchestra   As the Waves Surge on Hong Lake
Soprano and Orchestra   See How the Suffering People Are Liberated
Zhang Jing’an and Ouyang Qianshu   Lyrics by Zhu Benhe et al
Arr. by Phoon Yew-tien* 

Intermission 

From the opera Liu Sanjie:
Soprano and Orchestra   Hear How This Side Sings and That Side Joins In
Contrapuntal singing and Orchestra  What Bears Fruit Up High?
Liu Chuan, Liu Sanjie   Lyrics by the Creative Team     
Arr. by Phoon Yew-tien* 

From the opera The Red Corals:
Soprano and Orchestra   Sadly the Sea Wind Blows
Soprano and Orchestra   In Praise of the Corals
Wang Xiren, Hu Shiping    Lyrics by Zhong Yibing, Shan Wen 
Arr. by Phoon Yew-tien*

From the dance opera The Twinkling Red Star:
Tenor and Orchestra The Red Star Shines On My Path As I Go to War
Soprano and Orchestra  The Azalea
Fu Gengchen    Lyrics by Wang Rujun    Arr. by Chen Ning-chi* 

From the opera Jiang Jei:
Soprano and Orchestra   In Praise of the Red Plum Blossoms    Yang Ming, Jiang Chunyang and Jin Sha    Lyrics by Yan Shu    Arr. by Chai Benyao 

From the opera The Wilderness:
Tenor and Orchestra Women, O Women
Soprano and Orchestra   O Tiger My Love
Duet and Orchestra  Man Lives Only Once
Wan Fang Lyrics by Jin Xiang  Arr. by Qu Chunquan* 

Ensemble   The Victory Yangge Dance (From the dance opera White-haired Girl   Ma Ke, Qu Wei et al   Arr. by Yu Chiu-for 

* Arrangement commissioned by HKCO/Premiere