The Beauty of Kunqu Opera

Welcome to The Beauty of Kunqu Opera! The following lecture videos will give you some ideas of the historical background and characteristics of Kunqu, China’s classical opera that originated more than 600 years ago and blossomed during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties (around 16th – 17th centuries). The introduction is followed by excerpts and analysis of The Peony Pavilion, Kunqu’s masterpiece. The poetic artistry shown in the arias, dialogues and dance movement of the characters exemplifies the aesthetic achievement of Kunqu.

Kunqu means music/song (qu) that originated from the district of Kunshan, Jiangsu province. The word itself shows the fundamental role played by music in this Chinese classical opera. This week, Prof. Lindy Li Mark from the California State University, East Bay will talk about the musical aspect of Kunqu. What are the musical features of Kunqu melodies? What is tune-type and what does a traditional score of Kunqu look like? How is the music of Kunqu different from that of the Western operas? What instruments are used in a Kunqu ensemble? Answers to these questions can be found in the lecture videos.

Just like other genres of Chinese opera, Kunqu has a broad range of role-types, such as male (sheng), female (dan), painted face (jing) and comic (chou). From this week on, legendary performing artists who have devoted their whole lives to Kunqu will talk about the role-types they specialize in and their facial makeup, costume, singing, speaking and movements. In addition, they will demonstrate some of the very important repertoires in Kunqu and share with us the characteristics of each of them. This week, Maestros Yue Meiti and Cai Zhengren will talk about one of the most important role-types of Kunqu, the male role-type. Classical plays such as The Jade Hairpin, The Shepherd, and The Palace of Eternal Life will be introduced as well.

The female role-type is another prominent role-type of Kunqu and can be divided into a number of subtypes. In this week lively lectures and demonstration by Maestros Zhang Jingxian (mature female), Zhang Jiqing (young noble lady), Liang Guyin (vivacious young female) and Wang Zhiquan (martial female) will show us the charisma of the diversified female characters on the Kunqu stage from Chinese classics such as The Lute, The Peony Pavilion and Journey to the West.