Quick Answer: Who Was Yu Shuyan?
Yu Shuyan (余叔岩, Yú Shūyán, 1890–1943) was a Beijing-born Peking opera performer whose approach to the laosheng (老生, lǎoshēng), or mature male role, became an influential school of performance.[1]
- Training: He studied with a leading actor in the same role family.[1]
- Legacy: His commercial recordings preserve 37 sides of sung excerpts.[2]
- First listen: The national arts archive lists three credited selections.[1]
Use one recording to hear how the voice makes a phrase. The school’s stage practice also passed down through teaching.[1][2]
A three-minute record side is long enough to hear Yu give different weights to successive syllables. His work onstage also included speech, movement and stylized combat, all part of the training he passed on.[1][4]
From Tan Xinpei to the Yu School
Yu grew up in a performing family and became a formal pupil of Tan Xinpei (谭鑫培, Tán Xīnpéi). The Yu school (余派, Yúpài) refined elements of Tan’s work across singing, recitation and movement. The national arts archive identifies Tan Fuying (谭富英, Tán Fùyīng) as a pupil and traces the influence of Yu’s stage movement on other performers.[1]
What the Thirty-Seven Record Sides Preserve
Yu recorded 37 commercial sides for four companies. They are known collectively as his eighteen and a half records. The count treats two recorded sides as one full disc. The 78-rpm format captures individual passages, some short enough to fit on one side. Shanghai Music Publishing House also lists a modern set of jinghu (京胡, jīnghú) fiddle accompaniments for many of the same pieces, prepared for study.[2][4]
Start With Two Recordings
Begin with The Empty City Stratagem (空城计, Kōngchéng Jì) in the national arts archive. Follow one sung line. Replay it and notice which syllables carry a sustained note and which move the words along.[1]
Try Hongyang Cave (洪羊洞, Hóngyáng Dòng) next. The Encyclopedia of China catalogs a 1925 side under Yu’s name. It lasts just over three minutes. Listen to what the fiddle does when Yu takes a breath. Then follow how he reenters the phrase.[3]
FAQs About Yu Shuyan
What role did Yu Shuyan play?
He specialized in the mature male role, one of the Chinese opera role types used to train and cast performers.[1]
What does “eighteen and a half records” mean?
It is the conventional count for 37 recorded sides, using two sides per full disc. The archive presents examples as selected passages.[1][2]
Источники
[1] Chinese National Academy of Arts Library. Four Leading Peking Opera Actors
[2] Shanghai Music Publishing House. Jinghu Accompaniments to Eighteen and a Half Records
[3] Encyclopedia of China. Hongyang Cave
[4] National Taiwan University, Theatre Studies. Study of Peking Opera Performance and Recordings