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.