Chinese Opera is one of the “three oldest dramatic art forms in the world” (travelchinaguide), along with “Greece tragic-comedy and Indian Sanskrit” (travelchinaguide). From Chinese Opera comes many forms of opera, over 300 types (travelchinaguide), but the most well know would be the Peking Opera. The Peking Opera is known by many names, like “Eastern Opera” (ebeijing), and “jingqiang” (Xu), but the most common name in the Western world is the “Beijing Opera” (Wertz).
Peking Opera is over 200 years old (Wertz).It started in approximately “1790, when four opera troupes from the province of Anhui came to Beijing to perform on the occasion of the 80th birthday of the emperor, Qianlong” (HISTORY, Xu). It was originally performed in “open air, teahouses or temple courtyards” (Wertz). Peking Opera is a blend of “singing, reading, acting, fighting, and dancing” (ebeijing).”Today as in the past century, performers are first trained in acrobatics, followed by singing and acting” (Wertz).
Peking Opera is said to be a live “encyclopedia of Chinese Culture” (Wertz). Because of this, and many other highly regarded qualities, China has made the Peking opera it’s “national opera” (Wertz). The Beijing Opera is such an important part of Chinese culture that “Beijing Opera Month” has been declared (Wertz).
Many of the classic operas from the Qing dynasty would, most likely, not be able to be performed by todays actors. They consisted of “more than 24 acts; to rehearse them would take years and to stage them several days” (HISTORY). The epic play, Shengpingcaofa, was based on the tale, Journey to the West, it is considered “one of the four great classic Chinese novels” (HISTORY), this play has over 240 acts (HISTORY).
There is a saying that chi...
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...still very much the same as they were many years ago, just with modern twists, like electricity for lighting effects and sound effects.
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Xu, Chengbei. Peking Opera: The Performance behind the Painted Faces. Beijing: China
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Eastern Washington University Department of Music presented a program of Opera works by Giacomo Puccini, Aron Copland, W.A. Mozart, John Dowland, Franz Shubert, Maurice Ravel, and Robert Schumann on Friday, March 7, 6:30 p.m., in the Music Building, Recital Hall. These Opera works were sung by Senior Recitalist, Alexandra Rannow.
Hanan, Partick and Yu Li. Silent Operas. Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1990.
From the late 1800’s up through the present date, musical theater has changed. Though customs and love for the theater will always be carried on, origins, trends, and styles will change throughout time.
Komische Oper is the third tier company in Berlin, in budget as well as in ticket prices. This has the distinct advantage of making opera accessible to young people and there were plenty in the audience the other night, rarely seen, one would guess, at the other houses here and almost never in the US. But while young people may be wooed to opera with overdone productions, they are not likely to become devotees unless they are captured with beautifully sung music. Otherwise, it's back to The Phantom Menace, where the scenery doesn't get stuck.
There are lots of musical instruments are integral to Chinese culture, including the flute-like xun and the guqin, which is in the zither family. And of course china has the Beijing opera which is developed for hundreds of years and now still very popular in Chinese. There are also the Chinese martial arts - Kung Fu. The aim of Chinese martial arts is to strengthen both the body and mind and to extend friendship. Martial arts are not intended to do harm to others, nor does the practitioner use his skills to boast, or to betray his friends or his country. These are the paramount principles that every person who practices martial arts should
Throughout the film ancient China’s profound history and glorious culture has displayed through various cultural elements. The martial arts, writing system, architecture all together gives an image of the Chinese culture. The developments and advanced techniques have shaped the country and stabilized the society. China has accomplished some of the greatest achievements of mankind. It had also made significant contribution to the development of advanced systems around the world. Chinese culture is very unique. All the elements presented in the film have truly strengthened my understanding of the Chinese
Opera, a popular art from Italy, was popular with the immigrants as well, and unlike the music halls, it generated an appeal far beyond the Italian community. From the 1880's, when the Metropolitan Opera House opened in New York with Cleofante Capanini as it's first conductor and director, until today, the Italians have been prominent in opera in the United States and else where in the world.
This summer my family and I visited Branson Missouri, where we witnessed the Acrobats of China. Acrobatics have held a large presence in Chinese culture for centuries now. Several mythological and religious stories performed through acrobatic shows while managing to capture their past history, and still providing a jaw dropping experience.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic Classical Music Concert Report. I attended the Los Angeles Philharmonic classical music concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on Friday 29 November 2013. The classical concert started at 8:00pm to the enjoyment of the huge audience that had been waiting for this amazing music extravaganza. Classical music concerts always offer magnificent entertainment and the audience in this concert was expectant to derive such entertainment or more. In attendance were Christian Zacharias, who was the conductor, and Martin Chalifour, who was the LA Phil commanding Principal Concertmaster and Bach violin player.
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, beginning as a campaign targeted at removing Chairman Mao Zedong's political opponents, was a time when practically every aspect of Chinese society was in pandemonium. From 1966 through 1969, Mao encouraged revolutionary committees, including the red guards, to take power from the Chinese Communist party authorities of the state. The Red Guards, the majority being young adults, rose up against their teachers, parents, and neighbors. Following Mao and his ideas, The Red Guard's main goal was to eliminate all remnants of the old culture in China. They were the 'frontline implementers' who produced havoc, used bloody force, punished supposed 'counter revolutionists', and overthrew government officials, all in order to support their 'beloved leader'.
German Romantic Opera. The Opera Quarterly , 4 (4), 61-74. Retrieved August 19, 2008 from Oxford Journals Online (http://oq.oxfordjournals.org).
Many cultural enthusiasts, archaeologists, and architects have a common interest in theatre and its origins. People from a few decades back have located the remaining of the oldest theatres in Greece, England, France and some parts of minor Asia. Theatre was a part of people’s lives as it was one of the few sources of entertainment, and it was originated from when people collectively sit in a gathering and listen to a storyteller. There were performances done by different people present at that moment. Later on, this activity kept improving and innovating, and in the result, many theaters for entertaining purposes were built by emperors who ruled the countries or kingdom in those days. The design of these theatres
The start of the new century was marked with the emergence of ‘opera seria,’ a “serious” opera that soon became the standard Italian style. The operas were characterized by a lack of chorus and consistency, as the individuals who performed possessed separate and distinct styles and the order of the subjects of which they were interpreting seemed sporadic and haphazard. Nevertheless, with its dramatic interpretations of various historical and mythological themes, opera seria was thought of as possessing content fitting only for royalty and quickly became a favorite of the nobles and aristocrats. As such, it served to be the main attraction during the ever-popular carnival season. In less than a century, however, as opera seria was thought to be too rigid, extravagant, and expensive, fewer and fewer of the required sopranos, of whom possessed the vocal range necessary for the dramatic works, came out as opera singers as their employment moved to the church for the last decade of the century. Their talents had previously earned them the highest salaries out of any musicians, allowing those on top to live lavishly and comfortably, but the decline of opera seria in Italy forced them to change their paths and career choices.
The History of Chinese Music The history and development of Chinese music through different time periods from when it began.
The origin of Chinese music can be track back to 7,000 to 8,000 years ago due to the discover of remains of instrument .In Xia Dynasty, in 2,000 B.C. , Chinese music began to be visible in recorded history. Back then, only the royal families and dignitary officials enjoyed music and the music was used for performing rituals since Chinese music was part of the Confucian tradition. In Confucianism, music is one of the six art(六藝), which includes calligraphy, etiquette , riding , archery, mathematics and music. During the Tang Dynasty(618-907), dancing and singing became the mainstream, which made music not a privilege to rich people anymore, it spread from the royal court to the common people. Also, with the influence from foreign religions such as Buddhism and Islam, their music were also absorbed into Chinese music. In Song Dynasty(960-1279), the original opera such as Zaju and Nanxi was formed and performed in tearooms, theaters, and showplaces. Chinese opera had been developed rapidly and diversely during Ming (1368-1644 ) and Qing Dynasties ( 1644-1911). The Chinese opera became very wide spread, different regions have developed their own opera style.