Le Pavillon Aux Pivoines/The Peony Pavilion. Opéra Classique Chinois Kunqu (1995)

Le Pavillon Aux Pivoines/The Peony Pavilion. Opéra Classique Chinois Kunqu (1995)
Lang Ting Opera troupe
APE tracks (JetAudio) | Chinese Opera | 414 MB | No scans+No cue or log | RS.com

L'opéra classique chinois Kunqu est né au XVIe siècle. Il représente le style le plus élaboré et le plus raffiné de l'opéra chinois. Point de batailles ni d'acrobaties comme dans l'opéra de Pékin, l'importance est d'abord donnée aux sentiments des personnages et à la musique qui fait appel aux flûtes, aux instruments à cordes et aux percussions. "Le Pavillon aux Pivoines", qui raconte une histoire d'amour née d'un songe, est sans nul doute l'oeuvre la plus importante du genre. Premier enregistrement mondial avec Hua Wen-yi (Première Dame de l'Opéra Kun), Kao Hui-lan et la troupe d'opéra Lan-ting de Taïwan.

1. Acte/act 1. un songe dans le jardin/a dream in the garden
1. Acte/act 2. à la poursuite d'un rêve/in pursuit of the dream
2. Acte/act 3. le jugement de l'âme/judgment of the soul
3. Acte/act 4. on retrouve le portrait/recovering the portrait
4. Acte/act 5. on convoque l'esprit/summoning the spirit
5. Acte/act 6. le retour à la vie/restored to life

Plot: The performance tradition has focused on the love story between Du Liniang (杜丽娘/杜麗娘) and Liu Mengmei (柳梦梅/柳夢梅), but its original text (standard translation: Cyril Birch) also contains subplots pertaining to the falling Song Dynasty's defense against the aggression of the Jin Dynasty.

It is the last days of the Southern Song Dynasty. On a fine Spring day, her maid persuades Du Liniang, the sixteen year old daughter of an important official, Du Bao, to abandon her studies and take a walk in the garden, where she falls asleep. In Du Liniang's dream she encounters a young scholar, identified later in the play as Liu Mengmei, whom in real life she has never met. Liu's bold advances starts off a flaming romance between the two and it flourishes rapidly. Du Liniang's dream is interrupted by a flower petal falling on her (according to her soliloquy recounting the incident in a later act: Reflection on the lost dream. However, she was apparently awoken by her mother according to the script itself). Du Liniang, however, is since preoccupied with the intense oneiric affair and her lovesickness quickly consumes her. Unable to recover from her fixation, Du Liniang wastes away and dies.

The president of the underworld adjudicates that a marriage between Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei is predestined and Du Liniang ought to return to the earthly world. Du Liniang appears to Liu Mengmei in his dreams who now inhabits the same garden where Du Liniang had her fatal dream. Once recognising that Du Bao's deceased daughter is the lady who appears in his dreams, Liu agrees to exhume her upon her request and Du Liniang is brought back to life. Liu visits Du Bao and informs him of his daughter's newly resurrection. However, Liu is met with disbelief and imprisoned for being a grave robber and an impostor. The ending of the play follows the formula of many Chinese comedies. Liu Mengmei narrowly escapes death by torture thanks to the arrival of the results of the imperial examination in which Liu has topped the list. The emperor pardons all.

This is only a broad outline of the plot of an opera which typically runs for 20 hours.

If someone has a filmed opera, please, please upload it, in DVD quality if possible. Thank you in advance.


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