National Components of Chinese Musical Theatre

Abstract

The article is devoted to the key characteristic of Chinese musical theater: the dialectic of the common, belonging to the whole national culture, and the special, the quintessence of regional musical-theater traditions. The author reveals the theme on the example of Tang Jianping’s opera The Dawns are Quiet Here. For the first time the formation of the specificity of the plot, vocal and acting technique, symbolism of scenography, etc. is analyzed. The author traces the interrelations of philosophical teachings of Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, fixed in the national mentality, in the formation and development of Chinese theater. The presence of elements of Taoist practices in the actors' plasticity, theatrical plots, costumes, and musical accompaniment is emphasized. The significance of Confucian virtues in the palette of social roles and archetypes of characters and plots of traditional opera is noted. The Confucian idea of self-sacrifice correlates with the sacrificial love for the Motherland, the highest form of devotion, of the heroines of B. Vasiliev’s story, which is consonant with the concept of the embodiment of true humanity and selfless service, “Zhen”. The author comes to the conclusion about the organic combination in Tang Jianping’s opera The Dawns are Quiet Here of the markers of cultural and historical development of the genre – the idea of self-sacrifice, symbolism, inclusion of traditional Chinese instruments – with the Western European canon, which strengthens the manifestation of the national beginning in all cultural processes.