(no subject)
When Mao Weitao's new Yue opera Kong Yiji, based on a collection of Lu Xun's short stories, premiered in 1999, it had something to offend everyone in China's literary and theatrical establishments. The academics were offended by its departure from the rthodox readings of Lu Xun's writings. Those in the theater thought that Yue opera has no business taking on such weighty and serious themes, the purists sniffed at the curious new mixed gender cast with men playing men as well as women playing both women and men, and the theater critics despised the narrative's departure from the officially sanctioned socialist realism. But most livid were the fans, who simply could not accept that the romantic scholar of their dreams shaved her head to play the crippled and pathetic Kong Yiji.
But divorced from the original hype and hysteria, Kong Yiji proved to be a brilliant piece of theater, as fine as any I have ever watched, be it Chinese or Western, ballet, plays, or operas. Lu Xun's Kong Yiji is known as a scathing portrait of the moribund Chinese scholar toward the end of Imperial China. But almost a century later, the opera choose to look past his occasionally shrill revolutionary rhetoric, and focus on the great empathy and humanity in Lu Xun's work instead. If there's any fault to be found it might be the overly erudite script that sometimes required repeated readings to decipher, but even that is balanced by the innate humanity of Mao Weitao's performance.
Here are two songs from the opera:
九州洪波禹溪收 -- Toward the end of the opera, Kong Yiji, crippled and down on his luck, sings a song in exchange for some wine. This beautiful but difficult song distills the five thousand years of the scholarly tradition and culture into about a dozen lines. Here is an essay with a line by line explanation.
九州洪波禹溪收，越王投醪酬貔貅。
醉后闲题桥头扇，梦醒莫忘沈园柳。
梅子黄时雨，春草池上楼。
浣纱石枕流，青藤墨迹幽。
风流才，经纶手，
唐诗豪，宋词秀，
慷慨悲歌冲牛斗，
文章巨眼偏浙右。
壮已哉，美乎哉 ！
云蒸霞蔚，错彩镂金
刻在我心头。
尽化为，百丈龙湫千年愁，
泻入鉴湖酿成酒。
回字歌 -- This is a charming little ditty about the four different ways of writing the character 回. You'll never forget the different forms after you hear it. The lyrics are below, but unfortunately the different forms have all been lost in simplified Chinese, so the characters look the same below. But if you watch the subtitle carefully in the song you can see the different ways of writing it. I made some annotations for flemmings, who might find it entertaining.
孔门至贤属颜回，清水淡饭苦苦菜。
人家照样蛮乐惠，小弄堂里来来回回来又呀回。
（白：）这个颜回就在小弄堂里转圈子勿出来，所以这个“回”字四面不通。
The first 回 is written in the current form, as Kong Yiji explains, in the warren of lanes you can walk around and around in circles, so there's no exit.
（唱：）天上火神叫回禄，火光熊熊人遭灾。
回禄之灾求生路，房子缺口逃出来么，逃出呀来！
（白：）这第二个“回”字要留个缺口，人才能逃出来！
The second character is used in the name of the God of fire. It is written with only half stroke on the bottom, leaving an exit, so that you can escape when there's a fire.
这第三个“回”字么，就是你天天要用的。
（唱：）你回到家里去困觉，阁楼不低也不高，
爬上一只小扶梯，回来回去准备好吗，准备呀好。
The third character is written with a radical resembling a little ladder. Kong Yiji explains that it is mean to "return", and when you go home you need to climb a little ladder.
第四个“回”字，（笑：）嗬嗬嗬嗬！
（白：）欲知后事如何？且听下“回”分解！
哎！我已经讲的一清二楚，诸位目瞪口呆要听下“回”分解，
这第四个“回”字中间么就是你红眼睛阿义的一个目字。
The fourth character is not written with a 口 in the center, but the radical for eye, 目. This character is used to represent a chapter.
（唱：）一回二回三、四回，回答出来就解了围。
泼点墨水消消闲，上智下愚无可改，无可改，无可呀改!
The entire opera can be seen here
But divorced from the original hype and hysteria, Kong Yiji proved to be a brilliant piece of theater, as fine as any I have ever watched, be it Chinese or Western, ballet, plays, or operas. Lu Xun's Kong Yiji is known as a scathing portrait of the moribund Chinese scholar toward the end of Imperial China. But almost a century later, the opera choose to look past his occasionally shrill revolutionary rhetoric, and focus on the great empathy and humanity in Lu Xun's work instead. If there's any fault to be found it might be the overly erudite script that sometimes required repeated readings to decipher, but even that is balanced by the innate humanity of Mao Weitao's performance.
Here are two songs from the opera:
九州洪波禹溪收 -- Toward the end of the opera, Kong Yiji, crippled and down on his luck, sings a song in exchange for some wine. This beautiful but difficult song distills the five thousand years of the scholarly tradition and culture into about a dozen lines. Here is an essay with a line by line explanation.
九州洪波禹溪收，越王投醪酬貔貅。
醉后闲题桥头扇，梦醒莫忘沈园柳。
梅子黄时雨，春草池上楼。
浣纱石枕流，青藤墨迹幽。
风流才，经纶手，
唐诗豪，宋词秀，
慷慨悲歌冲牛斗，
文章巨眼偏浙右。
壮已哉，美乎哉 ！
云蒸霞蔚，错彩镂金
刻在我心头。
尽化为，百丈龙湫千年愁，
泻入鉴湖酿成酒。
回字歌 -- This is a charming little ditty about the four different ways of writing the character 回. You'll never forget the different forms after you hear it. The lyrics are below, but unfortunately the different forms have all been lost in simplified Chinese, so the characters look the same below. But if you watch the subtitle carefully in the song you can see the different ways of writing it. I made some annotations for flemmings, who might find it entertaining.
孔门至贤属颜回，清水淡饭苦苦菜。
人家照样蛮乐惠，小弄堂里来来回回来又呀回。
（白：）这个颜回就在小弄堂里转圈子勿出来，所以这个“回”字四面不通。
The first 回 is written in the current form, as Kong Yiji explains, in the warren of lanes you can walk around and around in circles, so there's no exit.
（唱：）天上火神叫回禄，火光熊熊人遭灾。
回禄之灾求生路，房子缺口逃出来么，逃出呀来！
（白：）这第二个“回”字要留个缺口，人才能逃出来！
The second character is used in the name of the God of fire. It is written with only half stroke on the bottom, leaving an exit, so that you can escape when there's a fire.
这第三个“回”字么，就是你天天要用的。
（唱：）你回到家里去困觉，阁楼不低也不高，
爬上一只小扶梯，回来回去准备好吗，准备呀好。
The third character is written with a radical resembling a little ladder. Kong Yiji explains that it is mean to "return", and when you go home you need to climb a little ladder.
第四个“回”字，（笑：）嗬嗬嗬嗬！
（白：）欲知后事如何？且听下“回”分解！
哎！我已经讲的一清二楚，诸位目瞪口呆要听下“回”分解，
这第四个“回”字中间么就是你红眼睛阿义的一个目字。
The fourth character is not written with a 口 in the center, but the radical for eye, 目. This character is used to represent a chapter.
（唱：）一回二回三、四回，回答出来就解了围。
泼点墨水消消闲，上智下愚无可改，无可改，无可呀改!
The entire opera can be seen here