The Role of Speech Tones in the Creative Process of the Cantonese Opera

The Role of Speech Tones in the Creative Process of the Cantonese Opera full Yung,, Harvard University The C,-,ntonese Oper8 is one of the 35.0 or so regional operas in China, a number arrived from a survey conducted in the 1950 1s, The word 11 Cc1ntonese11 cor.::es from HCanton11 which is n major city in the southernmost region of China, ebout 60 miles northwest of Hong Kong. The Opera is considered one of the m8jor regional oper8s for its wide popularity in the area 2round C.!tnton as well as in m8ny overseas Chinese settlements in Southeast Asi~o For centuries, the oper2tic activities around Canton were influenced strongly by popular operatic styles from the northerr provinces. It shc,res many common features with other regional operas today; however, it has also developed its own distinctive tradition and musical idiom, Since Pekine; Operu is the most well known Chinese Opera today in the ;•;est, I would like to contrast certain aspects of the Cantonese Opera with the Peking Oper.a as a quick means of providing some bac~iround knowledge of this lesser known rer,ional opera., The first point to be brought up is that Peking Opera is a relatively fossilized tradition as compared to Cantonese Opera which is still a living one o Even in the Car.ton area, Cantonese Opera has always been considered as an art form of a low social status, catering to a nonliterate rural audience as much as to a half-literate urban mass, The literati has alweys looked down upon it, hence leaving it alone to the artistic instincts of the performing artists. Such an artist is less ,,._, concerned with preserving his art in a 11 pure 11 state, and more ready to change under the pressure of current fashion. Thus, in the past, as it is today, the Cantonese Opera has been most willing to accept outside influences and adapt them into its own idiom, These influences sometimes involve foreign elenents, An exan;ple of this is that, in the 1920 1s 1 158 China W\'n8dftptations of these influences in the form of: 1) Viriting new operBs based on tne stories of Hollywood movies of the ti:me o Hence there were operas likt 11 The Thief of Boghdad 11• 2) Adapting Western tunes into the repertory of. pongs o 3) Employing ~destern instruments: most popular ones are the violin, sa;,::Dphone, and the guitar, which W8s later chenged into the electro.c guitar, Today in Hor:g Kong, these a.dnptations have disappeared fron the opera stage; h0t-;ever, the opera is still goi~g through other chsngeso The second point to be made is that the Cantonese Opera is very much more tied to ritu2l th~n the Peking Opera is. Even today in !!on~ong, most performances are related to the celebration of Chinese festivals. This is especid.ly true in rural areas around Hong Kong, On specia.1 days of the year, the viD.ages consider it essentia~ to hire an opera troup to perform, as mrJ.ch for rit·-1alistic reasons as for entertainment. fut it must be pointed out th,,t from the 1900 1s to the 1950 1s, the opera was such a commercial success that there were regulflr year round performances in big cities like Canton and Hong Kong, Since the 1950 1s, it has greatly declined in popul~rity in Hong l(ong~ There ore far fewer regula.r co!·1::mercial performances tod~y. However, rituGlistic performances during festivals are still ver"J much observed, Today in Hong Kong, when a Chinese festiual is held, the local citizen leaders and well-to-do merchcnts of tt village raise enough money to hir-e an opera troupe which s,ill perform free of charge fbr the villagers and other residents of the neighbouring areas, The size and quality of the troupe depend on the fund available, 159 The idea. of a 11 troupe" in Cantonese Opera needs 8 i-;ord of e:q.llanation, Any specific troupe is identified only by one or two chief singers. He i:ould hire supporting perflJrrners and workers for each booking...