Posted 2017/6/18
Four-strand String Opera, also called Four-string Opera, or Two-double String Opera, or Five Accents String Opera, or Wuqiang String Opera, or Five Tunes String Opera, is one of rare local operas in Hebei Province. In the first years of 19th century, it was carried to Xingtai from Linqing, Shandong Province. On the basis of the local popular music, it reformed itself and absorbed the nutrition from Luantan Opera, Beijing Opera, Hebei Clapper Opera. Then it turned into today’s Four-strand String Opera step by step.
Four-strand String Opera has a history of nearly 200 years from its birth to today. In the period that is from 1920 to the War of Resistance against Japan, it developed by leaps and bounds. After the July 7 Incident of 1937, it was at the low tide. Then it rejuvenated after 1949.
At first, Four-strand String Opera were mostly small plays to reflect the local family lives. Then, it changed into the performance of traditional historic opera and a serialized theatrical performances. Its vocal music is drawn-out, smooth and mild. Its words are implicit, humorous and simple. Its libretto is made up of sentences, each of which consists of seven words. And its traditional accompany instrument is four-strand string qinhu. Other instruments used in the civil and military division are the same as those used in Hebei Clapper Opera.
Four-strand String Opera has more than two hundred lists of plays. In its prosperous and rejuvenated periods, the famous performers are Guo Su’e, Yin Xiuzhen, Dong Xiaolin, Wang Haitang, Ma Fengyun, Zhang Chunshan and Ma Fengxian, especially Ma Fengxian who is the most influential.
Four-strand String Opera caused a great sensation in Xingtai and Shanxi. In Beijing, Tianjin, He’nan, Shanxi and Shanxi there are its footmarks left. Its representative plays include Liu Jiading Goes to Palace, Entering the Palace for the Second Time. Xingtai Four-strand String Opera Troupe which has forty performers and more than thirty lists of plays are a professional troupe to perform this kind of opera.
