Opera and Ballad (Continued)
Kunqu
Kunqu also known as Kunju, Kun opera or Kunqu Opera, is one of the oldest extant forms of Chinese opera. The origin of kunqu can be traced back to the end of the Yuan dynasty. Yongjia zaju, an opera genre originally from Wenzhou, Zhejiang province was brought to Kunshan, Jiangsu province, where it took on the dialect and regional musical styles of the new locality. Early in the Ming dynasty, the singer Wei Liangfu adopted attractive elements from various music genres to create a new singing style that would appeal to elite patrons-a bamboo flute provided the main instrumental accompaniment, the vocal melodies contained many subtle details, and the pronunciation sounded very elegant and high class. The playwright Tang Xianzu created several classic kunqu dramas, including his masterpiece 'The Peony Pavilion' (Figure 5), which has been translated into English several times.
Other masterpieces of kunqu include 'The Palace of Eternal Life' and 'The Peach Blossom Fan' (Yuan 2000: 217-219; Xia 1989: 188-189; Chen 1995: 282-283).
As the only opera readily accepted by the noble classes until the emergence of jingju (c. 1800)-with which it has much in common-kunqu tradition was carefully maintained by artists and the literati alike, gradually gathering elements of music, dance-like movement, acrobatics, martial arts, recitation, and the stage arts, and developing as a form of total art work. Since its patrons were from the literate classes, its scripts are rich and abundant, including many folk stories and legends that provided rich content resources that could be borrowed by musicians working in other opera traditions. However, because of its restricted, upper-class aesthetic, kunqu gradually lost widespread appeal over the years, and barely survived the social reforms of the twentieth century, although periodic revivals have tried to invest it with new life.
The long, straight legs of Wading birds, such as the Grey heron, provide great bones for flute making.
