Tale of the Pipa explained

Tale of the Pipa ("Tale of the Pipa" or "The Story of the Lute") is a Chinese nanxi play written by the playwright Gao Ming during the late Yuan dynasty.[1] [2] There are French, German, English translations of the play, and an English novelization-translation.

It was the most popular drama during the Ming dynasty,[3] and it became a model for Ming drama as it was the favorite opera of the first Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang.[4]

Plot

The play is set during the Han dynasty.[3] Based on an older play, Zhao zhen nü (The Chaste Maiden Zhao), it tells the story of a loyal wife named Zhao Wuniang (T: 趙五孃, S: 赵五娘, P: Zhào Wǔniáng, W: Chao Wu-niang) who, left destitute when her husband Cai Yong is forced to marry another woman, undertakes a 12-year search for him. During her journey, she plays the pipa of the play's title in order to make a living. The original story sees Zhao killed by a horse and Cai struck by lightning, however in Gao Ming's version the two are eventually reconciled and live out their lives happily.[5] [6] [7] Gao reportedly composed The Lute over a three-year period of solitary confinement, locking himself in an attic room and wearing down the floorboards by tapping out the rhythms of his songs.[2] [8]

The Lute won considerable critical acclaim amongst Gao's contemporaries, since it raised the popular and somewhat rustic form of Southern folk opera to a high literary standard, and it became a model for Ming dynasty theatre.[7] It was a favourite play of the first Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, who commanded that it be performed every day at court.[9] [10]

Translations

Antoine (A. P. L.) Bazin wrote a French translation in 1841.[11] This version, titled Le Pi-pa-ki ou l'Histoire de Luth, was published in Paris in 1841 by the Imprimerie Royale.[12] A group of Chinese students in Boston performed an English-language version of the play in 1925, translated by Y.H. Ku and Liang Shih-chiu, and acted by Liang and Bing Xin among others.[13] Vincenz Hundhausen wrote a German translation in 1930.[14] A complete English translation and study by Jean Mulligan appeared in 1980.

Memoirs of the Guitar, published in Shanghai in 1928,[15] is an English-language novel self-described as "A Novel of Conjugal Love, Rewritten from a Chinese Classical Drama". The author was Yu Tinn-Hugh and the publisher was the China Current Weekly Publishing Company.[16]

Adaptations

A 1946 American musical comedy based on the Chinese play, titled Lute Song, was written by Will Irwin and Sidney Howard.[17] This adaptation was produced on Broadway. It starred Yul Brenner and Mary Martin.[2] Cyril Birch, collaborator in a translation of The Peach Blossom Fan, wrote that presumably the basis of the American play was the A. P. L. Balzin French translation of the Chinese play.[11]

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Chinese Theories of Theater and Performance from Confucius to the Present . 41 . Faye Chunfang Fei . University of Michigan Press . 2002 . 978-0472089239 .
  2. Book: Stanley Hochman. McGraw-Hill encyclopedia of world drama: an international reference work in 5 volumes. 30 May 2013. 1984. VNR AG. 978-0-07-079169-5. 235.
  3. Tanaka, p. 153.
  4. Book: Chinese Theatre . Jin Fu. 447 . Cambridge University Press . 3rd . 2012 . 978-0521186667 .
  5. Book: Faye C. Fei. Chinese theories of theater and performance from Confucius to the present. 30 May 2013. 2002. University of Michigan Press. 978-0-472-08923-9. 41.
  6. Web site: [{{wdl|7108}} The Lute ]. World Digital Library.
  7. Book: Merriam-Webster, inc. Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia Of Literature. registration. 30 May 2013. 1995. Merriam-Webster. 978-0-87779-042-6. 447.
  8. Book: Colin MacKerras. Chinese Theater: From Its Origins to the Present Day. 30 May 2013. 1983. University of Hawaii Press. 978-0-8248-1220-1. 64.
  9. Book: Grant Guangren Shen. Elite Theatre in Ming China, 1368-1644. 30 May 2013. 15 March 2005. Routledge. 978-1-134-29026-0. 5.
  10. Book: James R. Brandon. Martin Banham. The Cambridge Guide to Asian Theatre. 30 May 2013. 28 January 1997. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-58822-5. 29.
  11. Birch, p. xvii.
  12. Das traditionelle chinesische Theater, p. 293.
  13. .
  14. Bieg, p. 71.
  15. Liu, Wu-Chi, p. 291.
  16. "Memoirs of the Guitar: A Novel of Conjugal Love, Rewritten from a Chinese Classical Drama." Google Books. Retrieved on December 5, 2013.
  17. Birch, p. xvi-xvii.

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