Sun 5 May 2013
Posted by Bertrand under External links, Jingju / Beijing Opera / Peking Opera 京剧
No Comments
Fern wrote: “Hello, I found this via Greg’s Facebook group, I think it’s worth a post.”
Sun 28 Apr 2013
Posted by Bertrand under External links, Jingju / Beijing Opera / Peking Opera 京剧, Photographs
[4] Comments
Last night we were invited for supper and my 9 year old son was not in exemplary behavior mode. Fern sent me this link today:
http://www.chncpa.org/ens/jmsc/ycjmxx/2011-04-22/65150.shtml
My reaction: how do those jingju directors manage this?!
Sun 21 Apr 2013
Sat 30 Mar 2013
Posted by Bertrand under External links, Favorite performers, Full length operas, Zhang Huoding 张火丁
[2] Comments
A really old performance of “Tears on Barren Hill” starring Zhang Huoding is offered up by Tony Zheng at Youtube at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n0OeT4-CZo
Sound is quite listenable even if picture quality is pretty awful.
Youtube videos can be downloaded using the Firefox add-on Video Downloadhelper http://www.downloadhelper.net/
Sun 10 Feb 2013
Thu 23 Aug 2012
Posted by Bertrand under External links, Photographs
1 Comment
Hello,
Also during my vacation I visited the magnificent Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts. I was awed there by the paintings by John Singer Sargent, silverware made by Paul Revere, ancient Egyptian art, and more. The reason I am mentioning it here is they also have an impressive collection of Chinese decorative arts.
(above) Large Meiping Vase with Sgraffito Design of Peonies; 11th or 12th century, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), North China, Hebei-Henan provinces, Cizhou ware. Stoneware coated with a white slip and a dark slip-pigment tinted by magnetic iron oxide, under a low-lime transparent glaze.
The museum is over a century old, and they have benefited quite a lot from the donation of numerous private collections over the years. From the museum web site: the objects on view in the Chinese Decorative Arts exhibition were part of the collection of the late Elizabeth and Sidney N. Morse, Sr. Born in 1896 Sydney Morse grew up in Boston and attended Harvard University. He gained a lifelong appreciation of Chinese ceramics when working for his father’s import-export business in the Philippines and by travelling to many other Asian countries (1916-21). Mrs. Birgit Faber-Morse has donated these works (along with other Asian objects) to the Worcester Art Museum, in honor of her parents-in-law.
Collectors again.
Before casting off again, I thought Fern was kidding, but today really is Chinese Valentine’s Day! Apparently, today Lü Yang is praying to find a good husband in the future.
Fri 16 Mar 2012
Posted by Bertrand under External links, Shi Yihong 史依弘
[6] Comments
A nice article in English about the “crossover queen” here.
Wed 21 Sep 2011
Posted by Bertrand under Audience recording, CDs, External links, Favorite performers, Jingju / Beijing Opera / Peking Opera 京剧, Playlist, Re-posted, Song Xiaochuan 宋小川, Zhang Huoding 张火丁
[3] Comments
Last week I discovered a studio CD by my favorite singer I did not know existed here.
I had seen the cover to this Zhang Huoding CD before, but it seemed so amateurish I thought it was a live audience recording being distributed. But no, it is a very good recording of the singer at her peak in 2005.
I posted a couple of tracks from this a while back, without knowing the origin, here and here. The CD seems to be out of print everywhere at the moment. But don’t worry, we’ll start a petition.
Later this week, I stumbled on two more nice live MP3 recordings by Madame Huoding, first an aria from the Butterfly Lovers opera, then from the Dragon and the Phoenix.
The source of the latter two was here.
Finally, to round out the week, Fern found some rare audience video recordings of Zhang Huoding.
She wrote me, “I was sorting out my folders and suddenly I got an idea, regarding a complete Da Deng Dian with Zhang Huoding. That opera is part of the Red-maned Fierce Horse (Hongzong Liema) monster play, and almost always only
a few acts are performed together at once, Wujia Po and Da Deng Dian are always inside though.
I started to search for “红鬃烈马” “张火丁” and found some valuable information:
The Mandarin Duck Grave you recently uploaded was performed in Chang’an Grand Theatre 2006/11/24. (Before that, there was a performance by Zhang Huoding’s brother).
The next day, 2006/11/25 there was a performance of Hongzong Liema, in which Zhang Huoding starred in the Wujia Po and the Da Deng Dian parts. [Fern mentions that she is looking for the the first part, Bie Yao, played by Jin Xiquan and Xiong Mingxia.]
I found only this copy so far:
http://operabeijing.com/megapoxy/videos/Dadengdian_Zhang_Huoding.flv
It’s small but not that bad. They lift up the zhanghuoding.com banner at the end like after the Mandarin Ducks.
(In) the channel of the same individual who uploaded the Mandarin Duck Grave here, there was this atypical piece there too, a full Sitting in the Palace w/ Zhang Huoding and Du Zhenjie:
http://operabeijing.com/megapoxy/videos/Zuo_Gong_Zhang_Huoding.flv
Crappy quality but it’s kind of a rarity I guess. The oh-so-famous part starts at 30:54.
The full cast for these two days’ performances is as follows:
11/24
《武文华》 张火千 蔡景超 Wu Wenhua (Zhang Huoqian, Cai Jingchao)
《鸳鸯冢》 张火丁 宋小川 李崇善 寇春华 吕昆山 金立水 唐禾香 黄涛 Mandarin Duck Grave (Zhang Huoding,
Song Xiaochuan, Li Chongshan, Kou Chunhua, Lü Kunshan, Jin Lishui)
11/25
《红鬃烈马》 Red-maned Fierce Horse
《别窑》 金喜泉 熊明霞 Pinggui Leaves His Home (Jin Xiquan, Xiong Mingxia)
《武家坡》 张火丁 杜镇杰 Wujia Slope (Zhang Huoding, Du Zhenjie)
《银空山》 邓敏 宋小川 马翔飞 寇春华 吕昆山 黄文俊 陈真治 Silver Sky Mountain (Deng Min, Song Xiaochuan, Ma Xiangfei, Kou Chunhua, Lü Kunshan, Huang Wenjun, Chen Zhenzhi)
《大登殿》 张火丁 李崇善 赵葆秀 常秋月 The Great Enthronement (Zhang Huoding, Li Chongshan, Zhao Baoxiu, Chang Qiuyue)“.
Thank you Fern, that was a *nice* birthday present in advance!
To close this off, I like to replay a video Fern posted herself before on her own great blog here. It’s a really nice performance, and my copy of the video is bigger, has better sound, and comes from CCTV11 rather than CCTV4, so from a different source. It also identifies a time frame, 2006, which was very good Huoding vintage from what we’ve seen here.
Click here to download the video (28 MB in size, .rmvb format)
Enjoy!
Sat 6 Aug 2011
Posted by Bertrand under External links, Jingju / Beijing Opera / Peking Opera 京剧, Re-posted
No Comments
(originally published on: May 29, 2011)
Neat article at:
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinion/x1073916001/Merritt-Banging-the-Beijing-Opera-gong
Mon 1 Aug 2011
Posted by Fern under External links, Getting Started / "Orientation" 开始, Web development
No Comments
Google is great.
Though when it comes to Chinese opera, searching without Chinese characters is doomed. Especially applies to videos, since the best stuff is “hidden” on Chinese sites, except a few great channels on You Tube.
There are many online tools to handle the language barrier issue. I tried loads of them, and finally picked the best ones. Also compiled a list of basic search terms related to Chinese opera (all in simplified characters, as far as I noticed Google doesn’t make a difference between simplified and traditional), and a list of links to great video and audio resources.
I’ll keep this post updated, hope it will be useful.
(There are around 360, impossible to list all. )
CCTV11
CNTV’s channel dedicated to Chinese Opera
jingju.net
After picking what you want always click the green button to download the RAR files.
xikao.com