Quick Answer: What Is Huai Opera?
Huai opera (淮剧, Huáijù) is a theater tradition with roots in northern Jiangsu. It developed a professional stage in Shanghai after circulating from communities around Yancheng and Huai’an. Its vocal music grew out of local singing and storytelling and continued to change as performers moved to new stages.[1][2][3]
- Place: Northern Jiangsu is its home region. Shanghai became a major center for the form.[1][2]
- Sound: Different tune types make different use of percussion and bowed accompaniment.[3][5]
- Repertoire: The genre supports both stories from earlier eras and new plays about contemporary life.[1][6][8]
Start by listening for what accompanies the singer. A percussion accent and a bowed phrase give a line different kinds of support.
An erhu can carry a phrase across the gap between two sung lines. In the history of Huai opera, the adoption of that bowed sound helped give performers another way to shape a scene.
From Northern Jiangsu to Shanghai
Jianghuai opera (江淮戏, Jiānghuáixì) is one older name. The northern Jiangsu roots include incense opera (香火戏, xiānghuǒxì) and local vocal material associated with work songs and rural singing. One local song form could be sung solo or as a duet with bamboo clappers keeping time.[1][3][5]
In the late Qing and early Republican period, performers took the form to Shanghai. Troupes appeared in teahouses and playhouses and later worked on professional stages. Some recruited Peking opera performers. The exchange became part of Shanghai’s theater culture, where troupes could expand the works they performed.[1][2][3]
The Three Principal Tune Traditions
The Huai tune (淮调, huáidiào) is associated with earlier song and ritual theater material. In Huai’an’s western branch, gongs and drums can accompany and punctuate the singing. Listen for how the percussion places accents between parts of a line.[3][5]
Ladiao (拉调, lādiào) developed as musicians used the erhu (二胡, èrhú), a two-string bowed fiddle, to accompany a vocal style related to incense-opera tunes. In 1939, Xiao Wenyan (筱文艳, Xiǎo Wényàn) used Ladiao and other vocal material to develop Ziyoudiao (自由调, zìyóudiào). Its phrasing gave singers more flexibility in carrying a line.[3][4]
Two Plays That Show Its Range
In Small Town (小镇, Xiǎozhèn), the promise of a reward disrupts a town. Zhu Wenxuan (朱文轩, Zhū Wénxuān) faces a family emergency and claims credit for a rescue he did not carry out. The play turns on whether he will let the town believe his story.[6]
The Shanghai company’s production of The Golden Dragon and the Mayfly (金龙与蜉蝣, Jīnlóng yǔ Fúyóu) premiered in 1993. It stages a conflict over power in a setting inspired by the Spring and Autumn period. Its court-centered conflict gives the singers a different dramatic setting from the Jiangsu play’s contemporary town.[7][8]
How the Repertoire Reached New Audiences
The Jiangsu troupe brought Small Town to Nantong University in 2018. In Shanghai, original performer Liang Weiping (梁伟平, Liáng Wěipíng) returned to work on a revival of The Golden Dragon and the Mayfly in 2023.[6][7]
FAQs About Huai Opera
Why is Huai opera also called Jianghuai opera?
Jianghuai refers to the region between the Yangtze and Huai rivers. Jianghuai opera is one of the genre’s older names.[1][2]
Is Huai opera only performed in Jiangsu?
The form has roots in northern Jiangsu and established troupes in Shanghai. National heritage entries document both settings, and the repertory has also circulated beyond them.[1][2][5]
Источники
[1] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network. Huai Opera, Yancheng
[2] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network. Huai Opera, Shanghai
[3] Yancheng Municipal Government. Huai Opera in Yancheng
[4] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network. Xiao Wenyan
[5] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network. Huai Opera, Huai’an
[6] Nantong University. Small Town on the Nantong University Stage
[7] Xinmin Evening News. The Golden Dragon and the Mayfly After Thirty Years
[8] Performing Arts Review, National Theater and Concert Hall. Review of The Golden Dragon and the Mayfly