| Summary: | 博士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 中國文學研究所 === 95 === The topic of this dissertation is “Suzhou Kunqiang and qulyu of the Early Qing” The term “early Qing dynasty” refers to the reign of Shunzhi (順治) and Kangxi (康熙), and the term “Suzhou area “ refers to the area governed by Suzhou Fu (府), which included one state (州) and seven counties (縣). The term “Kunqiang and qulyu” （崑腔曲律） can be divided into two parts: qu ci(曲詞), which is the literary part, and qu diao (曲調), which is the musical part. I will discuss the former in this dissertation, including the punctuation and rhetoric (句讀正襯) styles and the tune title combination (曲牌聯套) rules, but not the latter. In previous researches, there is no exclusive study on Kunqiang and qulyu in this particular area and historical period--the studies on Suzhou area in early Qing dynasty have not included the topic of kunqu music, and the studies on local operas, which are drawing more and more attention, have not included Suzhou area in early Qing dynasty. Thus, this dissertation is one of the first to discuss this important yet unexplored topic.
Notated qu compositions (qupu 曲譜) are the first-hand material for studying the kunqu style. Since the extant qupus before the publishing of Jiugong Dacheng Nanbei Pu (九宮大成南北譜) in the reign of Qianlung (乾隆) are all literal notation (文字譜), I have to limit the topic within the literary part of kunqu. Similarly, since there were few qupus which indicated frequently-used tune title combinations (常用聯套) before the publishing of Xinding Shierlu Kunqiang Pu (新訂十二律崑腔譜) by Wang Ruisheng (王瑞生) in the reign of Kangxi, my discussion on tune title combination rules is based on chuanqi (傳奇) works, which are the scripts of kunqu. To be specific, this study is based on Zhang Dafu (張大復) ’s Hanshantang Qupu (寒山堂曲譜) and Li Yu (李玉) ’s Beici Guangzheng Pu (北詞廣正譜), as well as fifty-five other chuanqi scripts written by more than ten Suzhou playwrights of early Qing.
The structure of this dissertation is as following:
In the first chapter, I will discuss the various opera types (戲曲腔調) in Suzhou area during early Qing dynasty, in order to get an overall view of the situation kunqu opera (崑山腔) faces at the time from late Ming to early Qing, when there are many new opera types rising. I will also try to solve the problem regarding various versions of Zhang Dafu’s Hanshantang Qupu, in order to understand the attitudes of the playwrights in early Qing dynasty towards compiling musical notation, and their aesthetic views towards the changes in qu rules(曲律).
In the second and third chapter, I will take a close look at Zhang Dafu’s Hanshantang Qupu and Li Yu ’s Beici Guangzheng Pu to analyze the changes in the tune title rules (曲牌格律) and compare the differences in tune title patterns, in order to study the development and changes of Kunqiang and qulyu.
The fourth chapter discusses the chuanqi works written by Suzhou playwrights of early Qing and examines the development of the kunqu tune title combination rules (崑曲聯套規律).
Finally, in the fifth chapter, I will explore the relation between the tune title combination rules and the arrangements of scenes (排場).
I have employed various research methods in handling the different issues in this dissertation. In the first chapter, which gives an overview of the whole topic, I have gathered materials related to each local opera from original literature, such as biji congtan (筆記叢談), and articles written by recent scholars. Then I have drawn evidence to discuss the various versions of Zhang Dafu’s Hanshantang Qupu. In the second chapter, I have set Zhang’s work as the basis for studying different tune title styles, and compared it with other nanqu (南曲) notations before and after him. The third chapter discusses the changeable styles and the strict taoshi (套式) of beiqu (北曲), in order to examine the development and changes in beiqu. The fourth and fifth chapters continue this issue to discuss the styles of tune title combination. Here I have used statistics and classification to quantify the difference between the tune title combinations in Ming and in Qing. Then I further analyze the utilization of tune title combinations, that is, the arrangements of scenes, by providing many examples from actual opera works.
Since Wei Liangfu (魏良輔) invented shuimo diao (水磨調) in Ming dynasty, kunqu has matured during late Ming dynasty. By early Qing, it had already gone through nearly 100 years of development. In this period, apart from keeping the tradition set by predecessors, people also try to make changes and renew the Kunqiang and qulyu.
In regard of the tradition kept, we can see that about forty percent of the tune titles in Zhang Dafu’s Hanshantang Qupu are the same as previous ones. Thus we know that the tune title is the constant part of kunqu. Most of the tune titles do not allow too many variations or changes in their usages and order. As for the tune title combinations, most of them were set in the early stage of the development of chuanqi in Ming dynasty. They were still followed in early Qing dynasty, and were used in fifty to sixty percent of the scripts of this period. The beitao (北套) preserved in taoshu fenti (套數分題) in Beici Guangzheng Pu (北詞廣正譜) or used in chuanqi (傳奇) scripts indicate that their rules were quite fixed and almost unbreakable. Furthermore, the plots (關目) which were often used in the plays of Ming dynasty still kept their basic forms in the plays of early Qing dynasty, and the patterns of scene arrangements generalized by previous scholars can also be seen in the scripts of Suzhou playwrights in early Qing dynasty, with few changes.
These facts show that after Wei Liangfu set the kunqu style, the looseness of Nanqu was no longer seen. There emerged unbreakable rules for kunqu, which became its basis and marked its uniqueness. However, during early Qing dynasty, kunqu style also went through some changes, which, in my opinion, include the following:
(1) The old rules of tune titles became less and less strict.
After comparing tune titles collected in Zhang Dafu’s Hanshantang Qupu and the previous tune titles, we can see that in early Qing, the factors deciding tune titles often changed completely, which made the tune title styles in this period dramatically different from the old ones, even making the qu form (曲體) completely different from the original pattern (本格). Changes also occur in the scripts. The tune title combinations in the scripts of early Qing dynasty are often different from those in the scripts of Ming. For example, a common combination can be devided into single-qu type (單曲型), variant type (變易型) and mixed type (雜綴型)…etc, making it much more complicated. About sixty percent of the content of Zhang Dafu’s Hanshantang Qupu is different from traditional qupus, and about thirty percent of the tune title combinations in other playwrights’ works were not found in the works of Ming dynasty. Thus we can see that in early Qing, the rules of some of the tune titles were not as strict as before.
(2) The idea of gongdiao (宮調) became less clear
This can be seen from Zhang Dafu and Li Yu’s handling of gongdiao, which often disobeys traditional definition. In Zhang’s work, the grouping of some tune titles and the usage of gondiao were quite different from traditional definition. This indicates that the difference between nanqu and beiqu, the definition of fandiao (犯調), and the choice of Ban style (板式) became less clear. Li Yu’s notation is the first notation of beiqu which uses 17 gongdiao to compose the whole notation. However, these gongdiao were not actually used in the tune title system and the composition of scripts. The fact that editors like Li Yu used gongdiao to compose the whole book indicates their ignorance towards its definition, and that the rules of gongdiao had become so loose that the idea of gongdiao itself had become less clear among editors of early Qing dynasty.
(3) More attention was paid on performance
The looseness of tune title styles and the fact that the idea of gongdiao became less clear both suggest one thing: more attention was paid on the actual performance. As the editor of qupu, Zhang Dafu claimed for several times in his work that the reason he uses music rules (音律) as guideline in notation is for the sake of practical needs of the playwrights. In his book, he has also mentioned the issues concerning acting, singing and staging. In regard of notation style, Zhang Dafu and Li Yu both omitted the marking of pingze (平仄), which had been very important in previous notations. Instead, Zhang Dafu made detailed notation on paishu (拍數), while Li Yu’s notation was the first beiqu notation that marked banyan (板眼). These facts are both evidence of the evolution from gelu pu (格律譜) to gongchi pu (工尺譜). We can see that qu scholars of Suzhou in early Qing started to concern themselves for the musical part of Kunqiang and qulyu. Furthermore, the scene arrangements of chuanqi scripts in early Qing were often quite flexible, which indicates that Suzhou playwrights of this period were putting more efforts on enhancing the theatrical effects and performance.
(4) Beiqu assimilated with kunshan shuimo diao
The looseness of the tune title styles and the gongdiao rules in nanqu mentioned above can also apply to beiqu. The disintegration of rules in beiqu can be seen as the evidence for the fact that it had assimilated with kunshan shuimo diao(崑山水磨調). Beiqu, which was introduced into Suzhou during the middle period of Ming, became greatly influenced by nanqu. In late Ming dynasty, it still kept its own characteristics and were as popular as nanqu, but by early Qing dynasty, it had already become assimilated with nanqu and even influenced by kunshan shuimo diao, and finally lost its own original rules. Thus, in Suzhou, the beiqu in early Qing dynasty was quite different from that in Yuan dynasty.
Suzhou area was a place with unique geographical and cultural environment. Thus in early Qing dynasty, when a new age had just begun, the kunqu style in this area, while inheriting the great achievements reached in Ming dynasty, had also gone through changes, even breaking the traditional rules to enable further development and variation. This indicates that Suzhou in that period was facing significant changes, which is an important factor in the study of the kunqu style there, and makes it a worthwhile topic.
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