Back in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), this opera was in danger of dying out. In 1954, Changde organized Gaoqiang Opera courses, and collected more than 20 traditional scripts and staged some of them. In recent years, with tremendous social changes, the opera faces extinction again and is therefore in need of protection.
Gaoqiang, or “high pitched music”, refers to a number of singing styles that can all be traced back to a southeastern percussive style called yiyang. High-pitched opera is believed to get its name from the very high, forceful falsetto in which it is sung, or possibly because of its popularity in Gaoyang district.
Its vocal solo tune is beyond the eight-bar music scale, and sounds both elegant and energetic. The high-pitched tune usually has no stringed instrument accompaniment. Its solo singing quickly passes up or down the music links and skillfully uses a throbbing effect and artistic addition around the tone. In addition, a chorus from the orchestra either makes remarks or repeats what the soloist sings.
Xi’anGao Aria Opera
Xi’an Gaoqiang Opera originated in Quzhou, Zhejiang Province. In ancient times, Quzhou was called Xi’an. The opera took shape in the Jiajing Period of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and spread to other places like Wenzhou and Jinhua cities in Zhejiang, southeastern Jiangxi and northwestern Fujian provinces.
The survival of the opera is in jeopardy due to the loss of audience and practitioners, and needs protection.
Songyang Gaoqiang Opera
The Songyang Gao Aria Opera is one of the oldest operas in existence in Zhejiang. It was created in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and reached its peak in the Qing Dynasty(1644-1911).
It is popular in the rural areas of southeastern Zhejiang, and spread to other places such as Fujian，Jiangxi and Anhui provinces.
The Songyang Gaoqiang has kept the primitive form of opera, characterized by its graceful tunes and unpolished formula. The opera consists of a variety of consonant tunes of Qu, a type of singing verse that emerged in the Southern Song and Jin Dynasties. The sentence patterns and the tunes to which Ci, or poetry written to certain tunes with strict tonal patterns and rhyme schemes in fixed number of lines and words, can be changed freely if necessary.
The roles include sheng (male role), dan (female role), and chou (clown or comic role) and many more. The art has been passed down through 23 generations.
There are more than 40 repertoires in existence, and representative works are The Wife’s Drama, Three Top Scholars, Eight Immortal Bridge, Buying Water, The Story of Carps, The Fire Ball, and Jiulou Shajia. The Songyang Gaoqiang Opera is remarkably valuable in terms of historical and cultural research. However, the opera is in danger of dying out, and protective measures will be taken as soon as possible to keep the art alive.
Yuexi Gaoqiang Opera
With a history of over 300 years, the Yuexi Gaoqiang Opera is one of the ancient and rare types of opera in Anhui Province. During the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), literati and businessmen introduced the Qingyang Gaoqiang Opera, a genre of Gaoqiang opera from Chizhou, Anhui Province, to Yuexi County. Local literati learned to sing the opera and set up troupes. Yuexi-style gaoqiang was born.
The operas can be divided into serious operas and comedic operas. Most of them are serious. The comedic operas are mainly staged during folk events, and are part of Yuexi folk culture.
After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the government established a professional theatre that was devoted to Yuexi Gaoqiang Opera. But since the 1960s, historical materials have been seriously damaged and the Yuexi Gaoqiang Opera is facing extinction.
Chenhe Gaoqiang Opera
The Chenhe Gaoqiang Opera originated from the Yiyang Opera, a branch of southern Opera that came to Yiyang County, Jiangxi Province during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)), and reached its peak during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). An artist named Du Fenglin set up the earliest Chenhe Gaoqiang theatre troupe and toured around, which led to the spread of the opera among civilians.
Over time the Chenhe Gaoqiang Opera developed a unique artistic genre. It has many repertoires. The aria is loud and sonorous and wide in diapason. It moves freely among the high, medium, and low ranges. It can be loud as thunder, and soft as whispering wind.
The roles, to name just a few, include sheng (male role), dan (female role), and chou (clown or comic role), Jing(painted face male role). The performance is accompanied by gongs, drums, flutes, erhu (two-stringed instrument), suona horns and other instruments. The suona horn which sounds loud and sonorous, plays an important role in supporting the aria and accompaniment.
The Chenhe Gao Aria Opera has been called one of the treasures of Chinese drama. It emphasizes the interaction between the actors and audiences, and hence is regarded as the earliest stream-of-consciousness art in the world.. The opera has taken the world by storm when touring abroad.
However, due to the lack of fund and practitioners, the Chenhe Gaoqiang Opera is fading away and protective measures shall be taken as soon as possible to keep this piece of cultural heritage alive.
Changde Gaoqiang Aria Opera
The Changde Gao Aria Opera is based on primitive sacrificial dances and singing and other folk music in Changde, It also adopted elements of the Yiyang Aria (a branch of southern opera in Yiyang County, Jiangxi Province during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)) and the Qingyang Aria (a opera formed in Chizhou, Anhui Province during the Ming Dynasty).
The recital and singing combined the ancient phonology and intonation of the Changde dialect. Exotic dialects are also used to outline the regional characteristics of the roles. The opera pays special attention to basic performance skill training and has a set of expressive stylized movements. The actors also imitate the movements of birds and beastsThere are stunts throughout the performance, making the show even more absorbing.
The opera has about 30 kinds of basic arias and 70 Qu tunes, a type of singing verse which emerged in the Southern Song and Jin Dynasties. The roles include sheng (male role), dan (female role), and chou (clown or comic role) and jing (male painted male role). There are a lot of representative works, such as A Fight between Two Monkeys, Two Wolves Mountain, and Cheng Yaojin Gets Married.
