Sunday, June 9, 2019

Introducing CO stories and lyrics for July 5, 2019

1.  鼓樂飛揚 Flying Drums - Musical Performance

2. 人生長恨水長東

曲詞:  http://68893333.com/sllyric/Lyric/7022.pdf

聽曲:https://youtu.be/92h2laA7cn4


故事:(譚惜萍撰曲) 這是南宋詩人陸游與表妹唐婉的故事,陸游與唐婉婚後三年,陸游荒廢書卷、無心考科舉,而陸家最重要是希望陸游有日金榜題名,於是激怒了母親,再加上其它原因,便迫二人分離。之後陸游再娶,唐婉再嫁,七年後陸游經過沈園,在沈園墻壁題下一首千古絕唱「釵頭鳳」:


紅酥手,黃縢酒,滿城春色宮牆柳。東風惡,歡情薄。一懷愁緒,幾年離索。錯、錯、錯。
春如舊,人空瘦,淚痕紅浥鮫綃透。桃花落,閒池閣。山盟雖在,錦書難托。莫、莫、莫。

一年後唐婉在沈園看到這詩、淒婉地回了以下的一首:

世情薄,人情惡,雨送黃昏花易落。曉風乾,淚痕殘,欲箋心事,獨語斜闌。難,難,難!
人成各,今非昨,病魂常似鞦韆索。角聲寒,夜闌珊,怕人尋問,咽淚裝歡。瞞,瞞,瞞!

唐婉寫下此詞不久,就抑鬱而死
此曲是四十年後陸游再訪沈園,已是白髮蒼蒼、夢見唐婉、互訴心聲。丨

Story - The famous poet, Lu Yiu, from the Southern Sung Dynasty (1127-1279), was in love with his cousin Tang Wen and married her while they were quite young.  Unfortunately, Tang could not give him any children and his mother forced him to divorce Tang.  Lu was heartbroken but had to obey his mother and married another woman.  Later Tang also remarried.  Seven years had passed, and one day Lu was strolling in the Shen Garden and wrote a very doleful poem on the wall, expressing his unfailing love for her, claiming their divorce was a mistake.  A year later, following the same rhyming order, Tang retorted by writing another bitter poem on the same wall, describing how hard life was for her after the divorce.  Soon after, she died.  40 years later, Lu, now an old man revisited the Shen Garden and dreamed of Tang. 

3.  櫻桃落盡春歸去
曲詞:http://68893333.com/sllyric/Lyric/7212.pdf

聽曲:https://youtu.be/AI35F-IuNak


故事:這首曲描述南唐李後主李煜與大周后娥皇的故事、娥皇體弱多病、她妹妺(後來的小周后)借探病之機會與李煜偷情,他還為她寫了一首菩薩蠻之詞描述二人偷情時的情景、令大周后大受刺激,一病不起!


Story - He's the last Emperor of Southern Tang in the Five Dynasties.  While his queen was sick in bed, he had an affair with the queen's little sister and wrote a poem about their affair.  The queen got sicker and died  unable to forgive him.



4.  寒江釣雪

曲詞及聽曲:https://youtu.be/11Ugm0dYVaU

故事:這首曲是著名粵劇編劇家南海十三郎(江譽鏐)之作,取自他寫給薛覺先名劇「心聲淚影」插曲。其實看到曲詞、便知道他是寫自己的心聲!據說南海十三郎當年就讀香港大學醫科、為了愛慕一位女同學、毅然離開香港到上海追隨心愛的人、但始終未得對方接受、所以這首曲是反映他的心聲,並表白對她是一片痴心、曲詞內容描述雖然她是渺無音訊、但對她仍是矢志不移!


Story - It's just a song written by its composer trying to express his eternal love for his woman whom had disappeared. 


5.  武則天與王皇后

曲詞:http://68893333.com/sllyric/Lyric/7085.pdf

聽曲:https://youtu.be/hv6jsqH7f8s



故事:武則天原是唐太宗才人、太宗死後、武才人依唐後宮之例,入感業寺剃髮出家。李治繼位、寵愛蕭淑妃、王皇后記起李治當太子時對武才人甚有好感,於是親身到感業寺準備迎接武則天入目的是想把她當作一枚棋子,利用她来離間蕭淑妃。

Story - This song is about Empress Wu of the Tang Dynasty before she got into power.  She was being placed in a nunnery after the old Emperor died, but the current queen coerced Wu to go back to the palace to be a concubine for the young emperor.  The queen's intention was to get Wu to divert the young emperor's attention towards another concubine. 

6.  史可法浴血揚州

曲詞及聽曲:https://youtu.be/9d42fqDHtvI

故事:這曲是溫哥華名撰曲家李竹所寫的。此曲描述明末重臣史可法奉命鎮守揚州,以防清兵南犯,史可法文人將兵、勢孤力弱,終以寡不敵眾而城破,清帥下令屠城、可法邊戰邊走,在江邊與夫人楊氏重見,可法但求一死以謝揚州,欲與夫人沉江殉國,楊氏不願作無謂犧維,但無能改變丈夫求死的念頭,唯有代夫盡孝,時清兵殺近,可法刎劍自戕。


Story - the famous Ming Dynasty hero Tse who was willing to die for his country.  He was running for his life after the Yang city he guarded had fallen to the enemies.  He saw his wife by the riverside.  He wanted his wife to die together with him for the fallen city but his wife said she would not die just for no purpose; she should stay alive to help him take care of his mother. 


7.  紅娘遞柬

曲詞及聽曲:https://youtu.be/R4Wb9mrfwy4


故事:這是名劇西廂記的一幕,相國老夫人及女兒崔鶯鶯回歸途中在山西普救寺暫居,偶遇書生張珙字君瑞來借宿,張生與崔鶯鶯互相產生愛慕。叛將孫飛虎帶手下慕名圍寺,要強搶崔鶯鶯,鶯鶯的母親宣稱誰能救女兒就將女兒許配他,張生向他一位故舊「白馬將軍」杜太守寫了一封求救信,由一位僧人突出包圍送出,杜太守發兵解圍。後來因為老夫人悔婚,鶯鶯的婢女紅娘便替二人遞柬,使有情人終成眷屬。

Story - It's from the Chinese novel, Romance of the West Chamber - the story is about a few secret meetings between a gifted scholar and a beautiful lady in the west chamber at the back garden.  Through much trials and tribulations, and finally it's a happy union.  Scholar Zhang and Cui Ying-ying, the Prime Minister's daughter, fell in love with each other when they met and exchanged verses in the garden.  When Cui's family ran into trouble, Zhang bravely came to their rescue.  But later Cui's mother broke her promise to give her daughter to Zhang in marriage.  The warm-hearted maidservant Hong-Niang came up with her ingenious plans and eventually brought the couple together.

8.  絶情谷底俠侶情 (折子戲 - One Act Operetta)

曲詞:http://68893333.com/sllyric/Lyric/7125.pdf
聽曲:https://youtu.be/6oTqp5txH3E

故事:楊過與小龍女是金庸小說《神鵰俠侶》的男女主角、偶然相遇而互生情愫,但因師生戀不容於世,一次他們在絶情谷誤中了冰魄銀針之毒,導致無藥可救,楊過雖有斷腸草可解毒,但只能救活其中一人,小龍女不願獨活,不欲拖累夫君而於絕情谷跳崖自盡,遺下十六字在崖上:「十六年後,在此重會。夫妻情深,勿失信約。」這曲是描述小龍女十六年後與楊過重逢。


Story -  from the famous novel, Legends of the Condor Heroes written by Jin Yong.  Yang and his lover Little Dragon Girl were separated for 16 years.  But Yang waited for 16 years to come back for his love, proving his love for her had never failed.


9.  潞安州 
(折子戲 - One Act Operetta)
曲詞及聽曲:https://youtu.be/PbIiLHeelJk

《潞安州》乃著名編劇家陳冠卿先生六十年代初所撰。講述的是宋朝陸登孤守潞安州數月,因苦盼朝廷救兵不至,知城危在旦夕,乃回與妻訣别,囑妻擕出世方兩月之幼兒陸文龍逃奔,期保下一脈。陸妻剛烈不從,畀陸文龍付托乳母,與陸登慷慨赴死故事。


Story - During the Northern Sung Dynasty (960-1126), the Jurchen tribe grew very powerful in the north and formed a kingdom called Chin (1115-1234).  Lu Deng, a general who was guarding the city of Lu'an knew that the Jurchen General was leading 500,000 soldiers to invade Lu'an while he only got 5,000 soldiers.  He had sent for help but help never came.  He vowed to guard his city and told his wife to take their son and leave.  But his wife wanted to stay by his side, so she sent her son away with the nanny.  Lu then returned from battle, badly wounded.  To his surprise, his wife did not leave!  Now he knew he could no longer guard the city but he was more worried that his wife would be mistreated by the enemies.  To ease his fears, his wife took her life.  He died at the end.

10.  林沖之夜奔 
(折子戲 - One Act Operetta)
聽曲:https://youtu.be/bhJ8Wf3Ovw8 (沒有歌詞)

故事:林沖是元末明初著名小說《水滸傳》中的人物,綽號豹子頭,東京人氏,原是八十萬禁軍槍棒教頭,因其妻子被太尉高俅的養子高衙內看上,而多次遭到陷害,林沖殺死高俅奸細二人後,官府捉拿甚急。柴進乃介紹投奔梁山,但晝間恐人看破,只有夜裡潛行,徑奔梁山泊去。


Story - from the famous Chinese Novel - Outlaws of the Marsh or Water Margin.  This song is about how one of the good government officers, Lin Chung, who was being framed for a crime he didn't do because a rich and powerful guy wanted his wife who later would rather commit suicide and eventually Lin had nowhere to go but to become an outlaw.

July 5/6 2019 Poster

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Cantonese Opera Event at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts on July 7, 2017

Young Actor Returns to Richmond Hill Centre to Perform Cantonese Opera


On July 7, Master Ruan Guo-Xuan, one of the prominent percussionists in Chinese Music, will present his Annual Guo-Xuan Cantonese Opera and Singing Event at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts.  A young rising actor, Huang Chun-Qiang, who had performed last year here in Toronto for the Guo-Xuan Show, will come back as an honourary guest to perform two acts and sing a song with local amateur actors and singers.  Huang had graduated from the Guangdong Opera Theatre School and had been frequently invited to perform in Hong Kong, the United States and Canada. 

There will be six songs and two acts performed for that evening.  Each song or act comes with a story and it often involves history; hence it is necessary to explain the background of each song and act. 

Below is the Programme listed for the Guo-Xuan Annual Cantonese Opera and Singing Event:

1.         Flying Drums – Music by Master Ruan Guo-Xuan and his Chinese Orchestra

2.         The Purple Hairpin Story – Bidding Farewell           

The Purple Hairpin Story is a famous Chinese opera written in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1662).  The story began with a scholar named Li Yik, who happened to pick up a purple hairpin which belonged to a beautiful girl called Fok Siu-Yuk.  They fell in love the moment they met and got married thereafter.  However, Li had previously met General Loh's daughter who was also in love with Li.  Failed to get Li to marry her, Miss Loh asked her father to separate Li and Fok.  General Loh then forced Li to leave Fok by assigning him to a position as a military advisor and sent him far away to the border.  This song describes the two lovers, Li and Fok, saying goodbye to each other, not knowing when they could meet again.  Fok vowed she would always remember the one who had picked up her purple hairpin, as in the title of this song.

3.         Joining Forces Against Tsao

During the period of the Three Kingdoms (222-264), Wei, Shu, and Wu were always trying to find ways to oust each other.  Eventually, Wu and Shu had decided to join forces against Wei to get rid of Wei's emperor, Tsao.  From the Wu Kingdom, a young man serving the court called Chou Yu, wanted to set fire to Tsao's military ships which were in thousands, but could never come up with a feasible plan because they needed the easterly wind.  However, at that time of the year, it was only blowing northwesterly wind which would only burn their own ships.  Unable to move forward with his plan, he got sick worrying about it.  Meanwhile, ChuGe Liang, the advisor for the Shu Kingdom, came to visit Yu and offered a way to cure his sickness.  Liang's solution was that, he said he had the power to get the easterly wind to burn all of Tsao's ships.  Then Yu was cured without any medicine!

4.         Love Story Between Lok Har and Gu Mou - Prequel

This song was written as a prequel to another love song between the same two lovers.  The male, Gu Mou had to go to the capital to take the Grand Examination which was only held every few years, in the hope to be selected as the next Champion and be given a high honourary position in the royal palace.  However, his love, Lok Har was sick but still wished him to go so that he could come back with honours to marry her.  So now they're saying goodbye to each other in this song.

5.         Last Ruler Li and His Lost Kingdom

Ruler Li was the last ruler of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907-960), a period before the Sung Dynasty (960-1279).  After Ruler Li's kingdom was conquered by the Emperor of the Sung Dynasty, he changed his name to Li Yu and focused on writing poetry.  Both he and his beloved new wife, Lady Chou, the younger sister of his queen who died earlier, were being kept as prisoners of the Sung Emperor.  One day, the Sung Emperor sent in a glass of poisonous wine for them.  This song recounts the situation of that sad last moment between the two.                                                       

6.             Unyielding to Foreign Conquest     
            
Wen Tian-Chiang was the last prime minister of the Southern Sung Dynasty (1127-1279). When Kublai Khan invaded the Southern Sung Dynasty, Wen tried to negotiate peace but to no avail.  Later, he was captured by the enemy, the Mongols, who later formed the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1367).   While he was in the enemy prison, he was forced to write a letter to the Sung generals asking them to surrender.  However, Wen just wrote a poem declaring that he would rather die than to surrender.  This song narrates that time when his wife came to visit him in prison and they both expressed that they would not be afraid to die to show their loyalty to the Sung Kingdom.

7.        One-Act Operetta - Hitting the Princess

During the Tang Dynasty (618-906), General Kuo Tzui had successfully crushed the Anshi Rebellion.  In order to reward him, the Emperor tried to marry his daughter off to one of Kuo's sons.  Now the young couple, both grew up in classy and powerful families, were somewhat spoiled!  When the General's birthday came up, the young husband told the princess to go and send her greetings in person to her father-in-law.  But the princess, thinking she was royalty, did not bother to show her face at the birthday party.  The husband was so mad at his wife’s no-show especially when he was being ridiculed by his brothers and relatives.  So when he came home, he scolded her first and when she said it wasn’t any big deal, he hit the princess on her face.  The princess, not expecting this kind of action could come from her loving husband, was infuriated.  She cried as she stormed out their home, heading to the palace to tell her father, the Emperor.  Before she left, she warned her husband that he could not get away with his action! 

8.         Two Poems Written On the Wall In Shen's Garden     

The famous poet, Lu Yiu, from the Southern Sung Dynasty (1127-1279), was in love with his cousin Tang Wen and married her while they were quite young.  Unfortunately, Tang could not give him any children and his mother forced him to divorce Tang.  Lu was heartbroken but had to obey his mother and married another woman.  Later Tang also remarried.  More than ten years had passed, and one day Lu accidentally ran into Tang and her husband in Shen's Garden.  Sadly, he wrote a very doleful poem on the wall in Shen's Garden, expressing his unfailing love for her, claiming their divorce was a mistake.  Following the same rhyming order, Tang retorted by writing another bitter poem on the same wall, describing how hard life was for her after the divorce and that she cried her tears at night without letting anyone know.
9.         One-Act Operetta - The Fall of Lu'an City        

During the Northern Sung Dynasty (960-1126), the Jurchen tribe grew very powerful in the north and formed a kingdom called Chin (1115-1234).  Lu Deng, a general who was guarding the city of Lu'an knew that the Jurchen General was leading 500,000 soldiers to invade Lu'an while he only got 5,000 soldiers.  He had sent for help but help never came.  He vowed to guard his city and told his wife to take their son and leave.  But his wife wanted to stay by his side, so she sent her son away with the nanny.  Lu then returned from battle, badly wounded.  To his surprise, his wife did not leave!  Now he knew he could no longer guard the city but he was more worried that his wife would be mistreated by the enemies.  To ease his fears, his wife took her life.  He died at the end.One-Act Operatta - Hitting The Princess

                                       
Postscript: All Chinese names and dynasties translated here are mostly based on John K. Fairbank and Edwin Reischauer – East Asia, The Great Tradition