Huagu Opera

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Huagu Opera

Applicant: Changde City, Hunan Province

Project No.: 713

Project No.: Ⅳ - 112

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: Traditional Drama

Region: Hunan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Changde City, Hunan Province

Protection unit: Huagu opera protection center, Dingcheng District, Changde City

Introduction to Huagu Opera:

Applicant: Changde City, Hunan Province

Huagu opera is the general name of "Huagu", which is popular in Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, Zhejiang and other places. Fan Wenruo's legendary works in the late Ming Dynasty depict the dramatic scene of singing flower drum, showing the initial appearance of this artistic form. Flower drum singing originated from folk songs, and then gradually developed into "two little plays" performed by one clown. In the process of practice, it draws lessons from the performance mode of local opera, absorbs various artistic factors, and finally develops into an independent local opera. The tunes of Huagu opera basically belong to the combination of Qupai, supplemented by some plate changes. Performance means are rich and diverse, lively, with distinctive local characteristics and folk song and dance style. Traditional plays mainly reflect the production and labor, love between men and women, family conflicts and other folk life content. In the later development, some new works reflect modern life.

There are 123 traditional operas in Yueyang Huagu opera. Its tune music can be divided into "Gong tune" and "qin tune". The "Gong tune" can be divided into "South Road Gong tune", "North Road Gong tune" and "special Gong tune Sanqu". The "qin tune" can also be divided into "Zheng Diao qin tune" and "qin tune minor tune". Shaoyang Huagu opera is rich in singing and many tunes. It has formed a music system which integrates three kinds of tunes: chuandiao, paipai and Xiaodiao. Its performance and music can be divided into East, South and West according to the basic artistic style.

The main tunes of Huaibei Huagu opera include "Suzhou tune", "Huibei tune", "kouzi tune flat", "Hanban" and so on. Its performance is also unique, with the most characteristic of "Huagu big walk", which is considered as the "unique work" of Huaibei Huagu opera. There are four main tunes in South Anhui Huagu opera, namely "taoqiang", "beizhuozi", "Siping" and "Beiqiang", and there are also Huaqiang composed of dengqu and folk songs. Its traditional plays include "sweeping flower hall", "beating melon garden", "false good news", "when tea garden", "beating mending nails" and so on. The singing tune of Suizhou Huagu opera can be divided into four major modes: "mandiao", "Jidiao", "liangshandiao" and "Caidiao". Macheng Huagu opera, also known as "dongluzi", has "Dongqiang", "ergaoqiang", "Erxing", "Dui Qiang", "tanqiang" and "Xiaodiao" in its singing, and "flower selling", "Pearl Tower", "gaodiba" and "naogongtang" in its repertoire.