The Main Roles in a Peking Opera Performance
- Sheng This is the common name of the opera’s male characters usually composed of Lao Sheng and Xiao Sheng. ...
- Dan This is the general name for the female characters of the Peking Opera including Zhengdan, Huadan, Laodan, and Wudan. ...
- Jing The painted face usually pertain to the male characters who have unique personality or appearance, like Caocao and Baozheng.
- Chou ...
What is Peking opera All About?
It's all about the characters, their appearance, and performances. Peking Opera has four categories of roles. All are character types, emphasized by makeup, costumes, and specific gestures and facial expressions. Within these four roles, some specific subtypes appear in civil plays while others appear in martial plays.
What are the different roles in Beijing opera?
The rest tells what roles appear in the plays, from the powerful supernatural beings to animals like tigers and dogs. There are currently four main role categories in Beijing Opera. They are Sheng - Male Role, Dan - Female Role, Jing - Painted Face Male and Chou - The Comedy Role.
What is qingyi in Peking opera?
Qingyi is the most important role in Peking Opera and plays dignified, serious, and decent characters, which are mostly wives or mothers. The roles dress in yellow clothes and feature a small range of motion, and singingwith a pure and high-pitched quality.
Who is the male role in Peking opera?
They were Sheng, Dan, Jing, and Chou, based on the gender, age, evil or kind-hearted nature, handsomeness or uglinessy of the characters played. Sheng is the male role in Peking Opera.
Which refers to the main male role in Peking opera?
The sheng 生 is the main male role in Peking opera, which has numerous subtypes. For example, the laosheng is a dignified older role with a gentle and cultivated disposition. Young male characters as xiaosheng sing in a high, shrill voice with occasional breaks.
How many main types of roles are there in Peking opera?
All roles are classified according to sex, personality, age, profession and social status. Hangdang is the general term for role types in Peking opera. As we all know, there are four types of role in Peking opera today – namely, the sheng (male role), dan (female role), jing (painted face) and chou (clown).
What are the 4 main roles in Peking opera?
Chinese Opera. In Beijing opera, the actor's roles are divided under four main headings, sheng, dan, jing, and zhou, or male, female, painted face, and comic. Each role has its own vocabulary of gesture, walking, and vocal technique.
What are the two main characters of Peking opera?
The main role categories in Peking Opera are sheng or the male roles, dan or the female roles, jing or the painted-face characters, and chou or the comic characters. All these role types are further divided into sub-categories according to their specific characteristics.
What are the performers of Peking Opera?
Famous Beijing Opera PlayersMEI Lanfang. The best known Beijing Opera master ever. ... TAN Xin-Pei (1847 - 1917) ... MA Lian-Liang (1901 - 1966) ... ZHOU Xin-Fang (1895 - 1975) ... YAN Ju-Peng (1890 - 1942) ... SHANG Xiao-Yun (1899 - 1976) ... CHENG Yan-Qiu (1904 - 1958) ... XUN Hui-Sheng (1899 - 1968)More items...•
Which belongs to the roles of dan in Peking Opera?
Dan is the general name for female roles in Chinese opera, often referring to leading roles. They may be played by male or female actors. In the early years of Peking opera, all dan roles were played by men, but this practice is no longer common in any Chinese opera genre.
Is a comedy role in Peking Opera?
Humor plays a very important role in Peking opera; as the saying goes “Without humor, there is no Peking opera” (Wei 2006).
What type of scale was used in Peking opera?
The same study observed a marked peak near 3300 Hz on LTAS curves of the Colorful Face (Hualian) role. Similar to Western operatic singing, Peking Opera singing uses an anhemitonic pentatonic scale as the main melody structure, and a hexachord scale as the secondary melody structure.
What Is Peking Opera?
Chinese culture is musically and artistically rich. The country has several unique types of musical ensembles, among them a performing art called Peking Opera.
Why do opera artists work in Peking?
Because of the many skills involved, Peking Opera artists work for years to perfect their art, undergoing long periods of training and appren ticeship before they begin performing . And they tend to train for specific roles, because each role requires a different way of singing. Some are done in a low, natural register.
What is the importance of music in Peking Opera?
Music is very important to Peking Opera. Certain story types are accompanied by specific types of music, which may include arias, percussion patterns, and fixed tune melodies. Fixed-tune melodies are familiar melodies to which a composer adds new words for a specific opera or story.
How many roles are there in Peking Opera?
Peking Opera has four categories of roles. All are character types, emphasized by makeup, costumes, and specific gestures and facial expressions. Within these four roles, some specific subtypes appear in civil plays while others appear in martial plays.
What is the role of the chou?
The chou is the comic role , and it also has specific make-up and costumes. The chou is sometimes considered secondary and it doesn't focus as much on singing. But when the chou role does sing, it's sometimes in the form of improvisation, which means singing melodies and words that aren't written out ahead of time.
What is the final role category in the comics?
Each character has a very specific mask, done in multiple patterns and colors, each with specific symbolism. The final role category is the chou, or clown. The chou is the comic role, and it also has specific make-up and costumes.
What is the military part of the orchestra?
The orchestra sits out of audience view, split into divisions called civil and military. The civil part of the orchestra, made up of string and wind instruments, accompanies singing. The military part, having many types of drums and other percussion instruments, accompanies acting, dancing, and fighting.
What is the Peking Opera?
(Photo by Ana Paula Hirama via Flickr) Peking Opera is a picturesque art that integrates music, performance, literature, aria, and even face-painting.
What is Beijing Opera known for?
Beijing Opera is known for displaying the soul of the Chinese national culture. Its exceptional charm motivates the beliefs of Chinese people. There is absolutely no doubt that Peking Opera is a treasure of the country’s culture. Beijing Opera in China.
What is the biggest opera in China?
Peking Opera, also known as the “Beijing Opera”, is the biggest opera in China originating from 160 years ago. It made several ‘firsts’ in Chinese dramas such as the number of artists, the abundance of repertoires as well as opera troupes and spectators. It was developed by absorbing different other dramatic forms like the local drama called ‘Huiban’, which was famous in South China in the 18th century. (Photo by Ana Paula Hirama via Flickr)
What is the Lianpu?
Lianpu, which is colorful dressing on the faces of the actors and actresses , is formed through the long-term practice and understanding, as well as the judgment of the different roles in the plays. The professional spectators can easily tell the characteristic of a role since the artists use transformative and exaggerated figures. That’s why it is also known as ‘the picture of hearts’. Particular formats of the facial painting are used when it comes to color, type, and shape. The eyes, foreheads, and cheeks are often painted like butterfly wings, swallows, and bats.
How can an actor rehearse the scene of galloping the horse?
For instance, a certain actor can rehearse the scene of galloping the horse by simply using a horsewhip without the need to ride an actual horse on stage. Another example is a bridge that is made up of 2 chairs that are standing on each side of a table.
Why is singing important in art?
Singing is used to strengthen the appeal of art by utilizing different kinds of tones. Dialogue complements the singing which has lots of musical and rhythm sensations. Dancing pertains to the movements of the body which require high performing skills.
Where is the Beijing Opera Theater?
It also has cheap prices ranging from CNY 50 to CNY 380. Beijing Opera Theater is located in Ping’anli Xi Dajie, Xicheng District , and has a seating capacity of 1,000.
What is the role of Sheng in Peking Opera?
Sheng is the male role in Peking Opera. This role has several subtypes according to the character’s age, personality and status, which has Laosheng (Senior Male Role), Hongsheng (Middle-age male), Xiaosheng (handsome young male role specializing in song and recitation), Wusheng (Acrobatic Male Role), and Wawasheng (a child role).
How many roles were there in the Beijing Opera?
With the development of Beijing opera, it was divided into four main roles. They were Sheng, Dan, Jing, and Chou, based on the gender, age, evil or kind-hearted nature, handsomeness or uglinessy of the characters played.
What is a dan in opera?
Dan is the term for female roles in Peking Opera. The roles can be divided into six subtypes based on characters played. There is Zhengdan (Qingyi), Gui mendan, Wudan (acrobat), Laodan (old women), Huadan, and Daomadan (a stronger, more forceful character). Four examples of famous Dans are Mei Lanfang, Cheng Yanqiu, Shang Xiaoyun, and Xun Huisheng .
What is the character of Huadan in Peking Opera?
Huadan is the vivacious and unmarried woman role inPeking Opera. Compared to a Qingyi, a Huadan is not of such a high social class, and she will take the attention of the audience with her coy, coquettish, and quicker movements. Her costume is vivid in design and color, consisting of a jacket and trousers, and usually carrying a red handkerchief in her hand. The voice of Huadan has a gayer and stronger quality.
What is the role of Qingyi in Chinese opera?
Qingyi is the main woman roles in traditional Chinese drama. Qingyi is the most important role in Peking Opera and plays dignified, serious, and decent characters, which are mostly wives or mothers. The roles dress in yellow clothes and feature a small range of motion, and singingwith a pure and high-pitched quality.
What is Xiaosheng's costume?
Depending on the role'sposition in society, the costume of the Xiaosheng may be either elaborate or simple. The feature of a young warrior is his long pheasant feathers, which rise in sweeping curves from his hat.
What is the Daomadan role?
The features of the role are the head-dress and military weapons. The most famous Daomadan role is Mu Guiying, who is a heroine in Chinese history, famed for her military prowess.
How many roles are there in Beijing Opera?
There are currently four main role categories in Beijing Opera. They are Sheng - Male Role, Dan - Female Role, Jing - Painted Face Male and Chou - The Comedy Role. Any role in these categories or sub-categories can be the leading role in a play. Except the second category, the other three categories are for male characters.
Who plays the monkey king in Chinese opera?
Mention must be made of the Monkey King who has a special place in the hearts of all who are interested in Chinese opera. Played by an exceptionally talented Wu Sheng actor, the Monkey King holds every minute of the audience's attention with the quick, agile movements of his lithe body, and his blinking eyes.
What is the role of Lao Sheng?
Lao Sheng actors are required to attain the dignity of bearing and gentle, polished manners of the middle-aged mandarin official or scholar; in military plays they may be a general or high-ranking officer of a gentler and more cultivated disposition than of the painted faces.
What is Dao Ma Dan's role?
A Dao Ma Dan plays the part of the female warrior. She is trained mainly for acting and singing and performs many skilful movements especially with the pheasant feathers in her head-dress and her military weapons. She still retains feminine charm, however, and a very versatile actress is required for this role. Her parts, such as that of Mu Gui Ying, are of the heroines in Chinese history who were famed for their military prowess. A Dao Ma Dan's clothes can be very elaborate, as she wears the four pennants strapped to her back and the Kao
What is the Lao Sheng's voice?
A Lao Sheng's voice is soft and pleasant to listen to, neither too harsh nor too high pitched, but gentle and firm.
What is a chou?
Lastly there is the Chou or comedy actor who generally plays the role of a dim but likeable and amusing character with blinking eyes and all the appropriate gestures. Sometimes the Chou can be a rascal, with a slightly wicked nature. Alternatively a scholar or prince--an eccentric or representing the sort of scholar or prince who would not command much respect. Chou parts can be divided into two types: Wen Chou, who is usually a civilian, such as a jailer, servant, merchant or scholar; and Wu Chou, who performs minor military roles as a soldier and must be skilled in acrobatics. His costume is either elaborate or fussy if of high social standing, but simple if of a low standing.
