Die Rezeption der Inszenierungen des deutschen Regisseurs Peter Konwitschny (geb. 1945) im Bereich der japanischen Opernregie lässt sich in Bezug auf die Entwicklungsgeschichte der Opernkultur in Fernost unter verschiedenen Gesichtspunkten untersuchen. Sie ist mit der Frage verknüpft, warum die europäische Oper—d.h. die europäischen Musiktheaterstücke, welche vom siebzehnten Jahrhundert bis Anfang des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts von den europäischen Komponisten und Librettisten geschaffen wurden und bis heute als sogenannte Repertoirestücke weltweit aufgeführt werden—und überhaupt die europäische klassische Musik sich in Ostasien seit dem zwanzigsten Jahrhundert so rasch verbreitet haben und so beliebt wurden. Dieser Beitrag beschränkt sich aber speziell auf Japan und insbesondere die Regiearbeiten der japanischen Schüler von Konwitschny. Die Oper ist in den drei ostasiatischen Ländern (China, Korea und Japan) je nach dem politischen Kontext (z.B. in China durch die kommunistische Zeit und in Korea unter dem starken amerikanischen Einfluss) unterschiedlich rezipiert worden—für eine ausführlichere Rezeptionsgeschichte der Oper in Fernost ist hier aber nicht der Ort.

Zur Vorbereitung dieses Beitrags habe ich die Proben und Premieren zweier Operninszenierungen von Konwitschny in Tokio (Verdis Macbeth 2013 und von Webers Der Freischütz 2018) besucht und als Zuhörerin an seinem Workshop in der Sommerakademie in Biwako Hall in Otsu 2014 teilgenommen. Darüber hinaus gab es zahlreiche Gespräche und Interviews zwischen dem Regisseur, den japanischen Mitwirkenden und mir vor Ort. Außerdem überließen mir einige der japanischen Regieschüler von Konwitschny Mitschnitte ihrer eigenen Regieprojekte. Des Weiteren unternahm ich im Dezember 2018 eine Forschungsreise nach Tokio mit freundlicher Unterstützung von Prof. Dr. Günther Heeg (Direktor des CCT Leipzig) und Prof. Dr. Eiichiro Hirata (Keio Universität Tokio). Dabei hielt ich zwei Vorträge über das vorliegende Thema an der Keio Universität Tokio und führte anschließend vertiefte Diskussionen mit japanischen Theaterwissenschaftlern und -praktikern.

I. Aufnahme und Verbreitung der Oper in Japan

Nach Ostasien gelangte die europäische Oper Anfang des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts. Es gab zwar bereits gegen Ende des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts ein paar Aufführungen von ausgewählten Opernszenen in Form einer Präsentation, die durch europäische Diplomaten und Missionare in Japan organisiert wurde, und einige Opernaufführungen durch unbekannte europäische Operntruppen in China. Die erste nachgewiesene komplette Opernvorstellung in Japan durch einheimisches Personal war Glucks Orfeo ed Euridice 1903 am Tokyo Music College.

Recorded 23 October 2010

Translated and annotated by Guo Chao

Lecturer

Huang Xiaowu 黃小午 (b. 1948), a Jiangsu Company laosheng 老生, studied with “chuan” generation (chuan zi bei 傳字輩) performers, including Zhou Chuanying 周傳瑛 and Zheng Chuanjian 鄭傳鑑 [all Appendix H]. His wife Wang Weijian 王維艱 is among the leading performers of laodan 老旦 roles of her generation.

Synopsis

The Palace of Lasting Life (Changsheng dian 長生殿) [Appendix F] is a chuanqi 傳奇 script by Hong Sheng 洪昇 (1645–1704) [Appendix G], completed in 1688. Also translated as The Palace of Eternal Youth and The Palace of Eternal Life, it deals with the familiar story of the doomed love between the Tang emperor Minghuang 唐明皇 (that is, the Xuanzong 玄宗 emperor Li Longji 李隆基, r. 685–762 CE) and Precious Consort Yang (Yang Guifei 楊貴妃; personal name Yang Yuhuan 楊玉環, 719–756 CE). The story of their love and its consequences already had a long tradition in fiction, verse, and drama before Hong's work. Whereas some of those treatments portray Yang as unfaithful and Minghuang as culpable for the An Lushan 安禄山 rebellion (755–763 CE) as a result of neglecting his responsibilities, Hong presents both figures sympathetically. One of the highlights of Qing drama and the kunqu stage, The Palace of Lasting Life is often cited “for its exceptional musicality, that is, for the marvelous fit between the words and the tune patterns Hong Sheng employed” (Zeitlin 2006, 458). The chuanqi script by Hong consists of 50 scenes, early performances of which reportedly lasted “three days and nights.” Both historically and at present, a more common way to perform this content would be to mix these scenes with highlights from other plays. From the mid-1980s onward, sequential kunqu 崑曲 versions of one or more sessions (for example, on consecutive evenings) have proven popular, including five-scene (1986) and four-session, 44-scene versions in Shanghai (2007) (Yang 2018, 29, 48–49, 63, 205).

Recorded 16 June 2010

Translated and annotated by Kim Hunter Gordon

Actor

Ji Zhenhua 計鎮華 (b. 1943), a Shanghai Troupe [Appendix I] laosheng 老生, is renowned as one of the great male voices of kunqu. In 1987, he became the first kunqu laosheng to win the Plum Blossom Prize (Meihua jiang 梅花獎). He is considered the “pre-eminent performer” of this scene, which is acclaimed as “the signature piece of his career and singing artistry” (Lam 2014, 118).

Synopsis

For the general background of The Palace of Lasting Life (Changsheng dian 長生殿) [Appendix F] see Lecture 5. The scene here concerns Li Guinian 李龜年, a former player in Tang Minghuang's 唐明皇 imperial ensemble, now “reduced to eking out a living as an itinerant balladeer who performs stories to music.” Corresponding to scene 38 in the script of The Palace of Lasting Life, in this scene Li Guinian sings “the tragic history of Lady Yang [Yang Guifei 楊貴妃; personal name Yang Yuhuan 楊玉環] and the emperor to amuse a plebeian audience at a temple fair in Nanjing” (Zeitlin 2006, 485). The flautist Li Mu 李暮, also a refugee from the disasters of the An Lushan rebellion, happens upon him there and the two discuss the glories of the past and the nation's present dire state. Literary scholars have tended to see Li Guinian as the “dramatic persona” of the playwright Hong Sheng 洪昇, and as a way to generate sympathy for “the correlation of the fortunes of the empire and the royal couple,” whose story is the main line of the plot (Wang 2009, 248).

Role Types

Li Guinian wears a long white beard and is a laosheng 老生 of the wai 外 subvariety. Li Mu is a jinsheng 巾生. There are often four other fairgoers of assorted role types listening to Li Guinian recount his tale, though Ji does not mention them.

Performance

A video recording of Ji Zhenhua's rendition was made for the first volume of Kunju Collection (Kunju xuanji 崑劇選輯), published in Taiwan in 1992.

Recorded 16 April 2010

Translated and annotated by Kim Hunter Gordon

Lecturer

Cai Zhengren 蔡正仁 (b. 1941) of the Shanghai Troupe [Appendix I] is arguably the best-known active sheng 生, famed especially for his portrayal of daguansheng 大官 生 roles, such as the emperor in The Palace of Lasting Life (Changsheng dian 長生殿) as well as for qiongsheng 窮生 parts. A student of Yu Zhenfei 俞振飛 [Appendix H], and former leader of the Shanghai Troupe, he was awarded the Plum Blossom Prize (Meihua jiang 梅花獎) in 1986.

Synopsis

For the general background to The Palace of Lasting Life see Lecture 5. In this scene, the emperor, still in exile in Sichuan, continues to be tortured by grief and regret following the death of Precious Consort Yang Guifei 楊貴妃. He has commissioned a sculpture of her likeness which is now ready to be instated.

Role Types

The role of the emperor, Tang Minghuang 唐明皇, belongs to the broad category of sheng 生 or xiaosheng 小生, the narrower category of guansheng 官生 and, most narrowly, daguansheng 大官生, which is reserved for high officials as well as the emperor. Although bearded and in this case elderly, the singing register remains partially falsetto like that of most sheng rather than the purely modal voice used by other bearded roles. In the lecture, Cai Zhengren specifically warns against the risk of giving the appearance of low status when adopting a more elderly gait, since the gravitas of the role means that movements must have a certain amplitude, which he also contrasts with the smaller movements of the comic xiaohualian 小花臉 or chou 丑, who features in this scene in the person of the palace eunuch Gao Lishi 高力士. Given the emperor's miserable frame of mind, however, he does borrow some movements from the qiongsheng 窮生 role type, which is used to depict sheng fallen on hard times.

Performance

Cai Zhengren's performance is available in a 1992 recording, collected in the first volume of Kunju Collection (Kunju xuanji 崑劇選輯), published in Taiwan.