July 7, 2017 - Show at the Richmond Hill Centre for The Performing Arts

Programme  節目表 for July 7, 2017 at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts (written by Louella Cito):

It is the annual Guo-Xuan Cantonese Opera Event presented by Master Ruan Guo-Xuan, one of the prominent percussionist in Toronto, Canada.

1.       鼓樂飛揚 – 阮國旋樂隊  Flying Drums – Music by Master Ruan Guo-Xuan and his Chinese Orchestra

2.       長憶拾釵人   The Purple Hairpin Story – Bidding Farewell

這首曲的人物源出唐代小說家蔣防的「霍小玉傳」，在明代由湯顯祖改成戲劇「紫釵記」，這曲是敘述戲劇其中一幕的情節，話說唐代隴西才子李益（十郎）赴長安應試期間、拾得霍小玉的紫玉釵，並以釵定情。之前，李益曾巧遇盧太尉之女，她對李益一見傾心，李益高中狀元之日，盧太尉下令所有及第進士要上門拜見，希望趁此安排婚事，李益卻沒有前往，因而盧太尉將他遠庶塞外參軍，斷絕李霍二人音訊。這曲描述二人分離在即，不知還有沒有重聚的機會，臨別時小玉對李益說自己會永遠懷念拾釵人。

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.       合兵破曹       Joining Forces Against Tsao

三國局勢主要為蜀吳同盟對抗曹魏，吳國周瑜少年英雄，為應付曹操威勢，說服孫權聯合劉備抗曹。周瑜想到要用火攻曹軍連環船，但如果是吹西北風，便燒不到曹軍的連環船，反而會燒到自己的船，在無計可施之下，周瑜病倒，藥石無效，諸葛亮拜訪，說自己有藥方可以醫好周先生的病。其實諸葛亮的藥方，只有十六個字﹕「欲破曹公，宜用火攻，萬事俱備，只欠東風。」再加上諸葛亮說他能借得東風，周瑜一看，心病即愈，終於打勝一仗。

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.       風雨斷腸花   Love Story Between Lok Har and Gu Mou - Prequel
此曲是名曲【落霞孤騖】故事的上卷。落霞抱病在身，孤騖却要上京考取功名。風雨夜，聽啼鳥，二人惜别依依，萬般凄楚。曲情催人淚下，碎人心，斷人腸。

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.       南唐劫後情   Last Ruler Li and His Lost Kingdom

描述南唐李後主(李煜)與小周后於亡國後、被囚禁在宋宮，看著宋帝賜來的一杯毒酒，他倆人面對生死的思量。

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.        留取丹心照汗青        Unyielding to Foreign Conquest
完軍逼近臨安，南宋朝廷中的官員紛紛逃跑。當時文天祥任右丞相，往元軍軍營談判被扣留，雖然逃脫但最終仍被俘虜。元將要他寫信給明軍招降，他只寫了一首詩，最後兩句是：「人生自古誰無死，留取丹心照汗青。」這曲描述他在牢中得妻子來探望，互相表明心跡、寧死不降。

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.     潞安州 (折子戲) One-Act Operetta - The Fall of Lu'an City
北宋名將陸登，率兵五千守潞安州。金國元緒兀朮率領五十萬大軍來圍攻潞安州，陸登忽聞胡笳，情知不好，但兀朮已率兵闖至城下，刀砍鎗砸，雷木炮石，終將城門打開，金兵蜂擁而進。天亮，金兵攻陷道道防線，卷入城里。陸登戰了兩個時辰，城已破，我焉能獨生。連喊數聲罷了，自刎而亡。兀朮爲陸登夫婦的忠義烈舉所感動，遂將陸公子文龍收爲義子，將陸登夫婦合葬在城外土山上。此曲描述陸登兵敗回來叫妻子逃走，妻子卻不願偷生，願為夫盡節而亡。

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.

8.       沈園題壁兩斷腸       Two Poems Written On the Wall In Shen's Garden
南宋詩人陸游初娶表妹唐琬，夫妻恩愛，因唐琬不孕，為陸母所不喜，陸游被迫與唐琬分離。陸游依母心意，另娶王氏為妻，唐琬也迫於改嫁趙士程。十餘年後，陸游春遊，於沈園遇唐婉夫婦，傷感之餘，在園壁題了著名的《釵頭鳳》詞：「紅酥手，黃滕酒，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！」。唐琬看到後悲傷不已，也依律賦了一首《釵頭鳳》：「世情薄，人情惡，雨送黃昏花易落。曉風乾，淚痕殘，欲箋心事，獨雨斜欄。難，難，難！人成各，今非昨，病魂常似鞦韆索。角聲寒，夜闌珊，怕人詢問，咽淚妝歡。瞞，瞞，瞞！」

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.        打金枝(折子戲) One-Act Operetta - Hitting The Princess
唐安史之亂為名將郭子儀平定，為了表示誠意，代宗便把女兒昇平公主嫁給名將之子郭曖。這對年輕小夫妻都出身在頂級富貴權勢之中，各自脾氣更是不了得，新婚過後，兩人驕傲的個性便開始發生了沖突，導火線是郭曖要求公主向自己爹娘行禮。那天適逢公婆雙壽，公主卻不肯過府行禮，郭曖回家怒責公主沒到郭家跟公婆行兒媳禮儀，公主反唇相譏，郭曖忍無可忍，便借些洒意給了公主一個耳光，公主沒想到郭曖居然敢動手打自己，一氣之下直奔回皇宮向父皇哭訴告狀。

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!

Postscript                (1)                The programme order, No. 7 and No. 9 will be interchanged. 

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