| dc.description.abstract | Local Kunqu opera companies have successively risen since 1956, focusing both on inheritance and innovation. Besides the extraordinary contribution to classical ＂folding plays＂, they also developed ＂modern full-length plays＂. Time is changing, and so is viewers′ taste. Corresponding to the evolving world, more creative components have been applied in Kunqu operas, which led to totally different musical content and construction.
Based on the transformation, this paper shines a light on script formation, diverse tunes and combinations, and lyric writing of Kunqu Operas. As the performing time shortened, the narrative threads of modern scripts have been cut down. This trend, combined with playwrights′ distinct ideas, results in a preference for incomplete simple music modes or collections of disconnected tunes. As to lyric writing, except for several specific writers insisting on established patterns, most modern experts would rather choose uniquely novel forms, exploring the realm of possibilities for Kunqu.
Concluded from the overall effects and the structural and musical changes of the ＂main patterns＂ in regular tunes, different strategies have been conducted to deal with the unfit chaos and the tunes composed for various rhythm and chorus. Composers adopt diverse plans to make music more coordinated to be featured as Kunqu operas.
In terms of modern tunes and background music, their patterns and lyrics vary according to different stories. Without restrictions of set modes, they obtain more flexibility to reflect the composers′ different backgrounds and experiences, including their grasp of features of Kunqu operas and traditional music, and their disparately compositional styles. Thus, other than the classical tunes played with gongs or other Chinese conventional instruments, innovative compositions adapted from traditional or folk music are also seen in modern Kunqu operas. | en_US |