Culture

Mei Lanfang: Nurturing Art Practice with Noble Personality

2024-04-03   

Beijing Opera master Mei Lanfang has unique value on the stage of Chinese opera and is a peak in the history of Chinese opera in the 20th century. He is an innovator who dares to be the "leader in the world", an "artistic worker" who repays his motherland with hard work, and a world-renowned opera artist. This year marks the 130th anniversary of Mei Lanfang's birth. Looking back on the exploration achievements of Mei School art in inheritance, innovation, and dissemination, it has important inspiration and reference significance for strengthening cultural confidence, promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of excellent traditional Chinese culture. 1. Mei Lanfang, who created a new stage scene with Dan as the protagonist, had a career of about 53 years in stage performance and performed numerous plays throughout her life. In the preface written by Qi Rushan for "Mei Lanfang's Song Score," he said, "Mei Junkun is both chaotic and skilled, capable of performing hundreds of plays." These plays can be roughly divided into three categories: traditional plays (Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera), newly choreographed plays (fashionable new plays, ancient costume new plays), and adapted plays. Among them, traditional opera has the largest number of plays, with over a hundred copies. However, the most representative of Mei Lanfang's stage artistic achievements are the newly choreographed and adapted plays, mainly reflected in the following three aspects: first, before Mei Lanfang, Peking Opera was dominated by the elderly, and other professions were basically supporting the elderly. The newly choreographed and adapted plays starring Mei Lanfang have created a new stage situation where the Dan character is the main character. The veteran, who is known for playing heroes and sounds like thunder, no longer has strong appeal. The dominance of the Dan character on the stage of traditional Chinese opera has become a common phenomenon since the 1920s. Secondly, Mei Lanfang's performance style combines the performance routines of various actors such as Qingyi, Huadan, Daoma, and Tiedan, forming a unique form of performance. Third, in the process of inheriting the art of traditional opera, he took its essence, removed its dross, changed the original low-grade taste of traditional opera, and deleted the image and role of feudal superstition, barbarism, and debauchery. Mei Lanfang has always maintained a cautious attitude towards the innovation of Peking Opera art. At the opening ceremony of the new students of the National Opera Training Institute, he once said, "Studying art is an extremely noble life; it is a life engaged in human spiritual production; it is a life that stands at the forefront of the times and creates a new era. We must continue to do it step by step, so our minds must be very clear. We must have a sense of respect for our cause. If there is any negligence, our cause cannot develop towards greatness." Mei Lanfang uses academic rationality to grasp the challenges in the reform of traditional Chinese opera, and uses academic achievements to guide the direction of its development. Mei Lanfang adheres to the basic principles and laws of the innovation of traditional Chinese opera art, inheriting and developing tradition. Mei Lanfang proposed that the development of Peking Opera should not change its form, but rather preserve its classical artistic charm. If reform is carried out, it is also necessary to preserve its inherent norms and procedures, make targeted changes on the basis of tradition, and not rashly undergo major surgeries. What Mei Lanfang said about "moving forward" is innovation, and he advocates that traditional Chinese opera art must be revitalized and revitalized through innovative transformation. "Not changing forms" refers to the way of innovation. He advocates that innovation cannot be separated from the basic forms of traditional Chinese opera, and should be based on inheriting the basic styles of traditional Chinese opera art and following the basic laws of its development.

Edit:Liangyongqing Responsible editor:Liyi

Source:GuangmingOnline

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