The vocal technique is regarded as more mellow and natural than the singing in the Peking opera. The most important melody instrument is a wooden banhu (pan-hu) violin. The orchestra also includes string and plucked instruments. This gave greater freedom for rhythmic patterns as well as to the verses employed.Ī dominant instrument in the orchestra accompanying the clapper opera is the bangzi (pang-tzû) clapper, a small, rectangular plate made of date palm, which is beaten with a wooden stick. In the clapper opera, however, the text is written first and then the music is composed to suit the text. In some Chinese operas, the text is usually written for stock melodies that already exist. The tones, according to whether they are level, ascending, or first descending and then ascending, or descending in pitch, affect the actual meaning of the word. It seems possible that in the beginning it was a style performed only in a very small area, but it spread in the 17 th century to North and South China as well.Īs has been discussed before, Chinese is a tonal language and thus, when it is sung, its relationship with the accompanying music is symbiotic. It is mentioned for the first time in literary sources in the 16 th century. Bangzi Opera or the Clapper Operaīangzi opera (bangzi qiang, pang-tzû ch’iang) or the clapper opera was probably created in Central China, in the border area between the provinces of Shaanxi (Shen-shi) and Shanxi (Shan-shi). In this connection only a handful of regional styles can be discussed. Local operas, however, bear characteristics of the dialects and melodies of certain provinces, and although they can occasionally be seen elsewhere as well, they are mainly performed in the areas where they were created and developed. Although kunqu was originally a southern opera style and Peking opera at the beginning a predominantly northern style, they both gradually spread around the country. Kunqu came first, and then the Peking opera attained the status of a “national style”.
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