Tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Yuan Xuefen . Although she has been away for 11 years, the host Cao Kefan still clearly remembers the details of her interactions with this old artist.
Yue Opera Performing artist Yuan Xuefen
Intimate relationship with Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao
When he first entered the industry, he often had the opportunity to perform on the same stage with senior Yue Opera artists. The founders of those schools rarely regard themselves as masters and are kind and kind. Our younger boys also respect them very much. Among them, they are particularly familiar with Wang Wenjuan and Bi Chunfang . Teacher Bi Chunfang is from Ningbo . We call her "Em". When we meet "My sister Lin" Teacher Wang Wenjuan, we simply call her "Mum". Once, after hearing about it, Teacher Fu Quanxiang, he pretended to be angry and asked me what to call her. In desperation, he blurted out, "How can I call me 'mommy'?" Teacher Fu was immediately overjoyed. However, when she saw Teacher Yuan Xuefen, she was always respectful and never dared to joke because she had a kind of aura of being arrogant without anger, which made people feel awe and intimate. However, after several close contacts, her impression of Teacher Yuan Xuefen was greatly improved.
On a sultry and humid afternoon in July 1992, he followed the crew of "Drama Big Stage" to visit Teacher Yuan Xuefen's home in " Xinkang Garden " on Huaihai Middle Road, and listened to her remembrance and longing for the newly-deceased sister Deng Yingchao. According to teacher Yuan Xuefen's recollection, she and Sister Deng met in Shanghai. At that time, the establishment of New China was about to be established. Sister Deng came to Shanghai to welcome Ms. Soong Ching Ling and Ms. 2 to go north to discuss the founding plan. In her busy schedule, she also went to the theater to watch the performance of the "Snow Sound Theater" and had a cordial conversation with Yuan Xuefen after the performance.
949, Teacher Xuefen and Mei Lanfang, Zhou Xinfang and Cheng Yanqiu went to Beijing as representatives of the opera industry to attend the first meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference . During the meeting, at the invitation of Sister Deng, she also visited the West Flower Hall of Zhongnanhai. Premier Zhou and Sister Deng talked about art and life with him. During the exchange, Yuan Xuefen also learned for the first time that Premier Zhou had quietly entered the theater in Shanghai to appreciate his representative work "The Desolate Moon of the Liao Palace". Later, Premier Zhou personally developed Yuan Xuefen to join the Communist Party of China and encouraged her to communicate with her through letters, while Premier Zhou and Sister Deng took time to reply from time to time. Teacher Yuan Xuefen has collected dozens of letters written by Premier Zhou and Sister Deng, most of which are from Sister Deng. Speaking of this, Teacher Yuan took out the precious handwriting from the drawer and let us take pictures one by one.
Stills of "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", Yuan Xuefen plays Zhu Yingtai
Read carefully, you can find that Sister Deng's letters are simple and unpretentious, and she is rich in emotions, just like an elder's earnest teaching to her younger generation, and the lines flow with the warm current of love. For example, when learning that Yuan Xuefen was suffering from lung disease, Sister Deng comforted her: "...Lung disease is a troublesome disease, but it is not terrible. I have suffered from lung disease, but I also have the experience of fighting victory. As long as I don't suffer from acute disease and fight the disease with all my might, victory will definitely belong to you..." Sometimes, Sister Deng will also inform Premier Zhou of his work status, "He who cares about me the most is to fight for a rest after returning from abroad. But I think his work may not be very good. I live here for two days, and I am also busy with meetings and writing reports, and I leave as soon as the matter is finished. He is healthy and healthy, but he is just feeling tired, and has become white."Interestingly, Sister Deng will also talk about her views on love with Premier Zhou in the letter. "The most important condition that can be consolidated to this day is also an experience, that is, feelings and politics are mutually infiltrated, combined, and combined, and are mainly political, dealt with and developed..." Rubbing the yellowed letter paper and reliving the familiar handwriting, Teacher Yuan couldn't help but his eyes turned red and fell into infinite longing... After pondering for a moment, she turned from memories to reality, from Premier Zhou, Sister Deng's concern for the opera cause, and talking about the importance of opera to popularizing national culture, "Where does our common people's cultural knowledge come from? They (they) understand that Yue Fei is loyal, Qin Hui is traitor, Zhuge Liang is smart..." I have heard countless experts' explanations about opera, but Teacher Yuan's incisive insights on opera are still lingering in my ears.
947 Yue Opera Ten Sisters
Front row from left: Xu Tianhong
947 2. Fu Quanxiang, Yuan Xuefen, Zhu Shuizhao , Fan Ruijuan, Wu Xiaolou
Back row from left: Zhang Guifeng , Xiao Dangui, Xu Yulan , Yin Guifang
5 surname "Yuan" (Yuan), but people are not round
twelve years later, waiting for " Kefan to listen to " The broadcast started, and I had the fate to go to the Spanish-style building of "Xinkang Garden" again and visited Mr. Yuan Xuefen. The building where Mr. Yuan lives was divided into two floors, with a light green cement mortar wall, and the roof was red Spanish tiles. The upper and lower houses were independent in and out, and they did not interfere with each other. Teacher Yuan lives on the second floor, and the lower houses were oil painter Yan Wenliang. Teacher Yuan hung an oil painting of Yan Wenliang in the living room. According to Mr. Yuan, it took several years before he completed this painting, which was very precious. Because the balcony on the second floor of the small building is quite spacious, and two Ioni column type spiral columns were erected to decorate, the framing effect Very good, so we sat upright on the balcony and talked. Teacher Yuan Xuefen devoted her life to the reform of Yue Opera. She not only took the lead in introducing the director and screenwriter system, but also learned from others' strengths, integrating the realistic expression techniques of drama and film with the aesthetic style of opera singing and dancing, and also created a "simple tune" that was twisted and cried and complained, and gradually developed and improved it to make it one of the main tunes of Yue Opera. But Teacher Yuan seemed to be indifferent to the extraordinary achievements he had made in art, but his thoughts always returned to the Ma Zhanghua , which he collaborated with when he was young: "Ma Zhanghua and I cooperated with each other on the stage. She was beautiful and charming, and she was extremely intelligent, and she praised her countless audiences. She and her husband, but the theater owner often whirled her in an attempt to destroy her happy marriage. Later, the unscrupulous tabloid attacked her for no reason, and she died in depression, and her life stopped at a beautiful age of twenty-one. I was angry inside and spoke out for her, but I was powerless to resist. After she passed away, I vomited blood and could hardly take the stage... Until today, I will meet her in my dreams and sing on stage together..." An elderly man, who recalled his sixteen or seventeen-year-old friends, was still full of reluctance, which was really touching. During the interview, I asked two "sensitive" questions carefully, one was about marriage, and Teacher Yuan did not think it was offended. In her opinion, marriage life must love, respect, encourage each other, help each other, trust, understand each other, comfort and give in, but the emotional ballast is the outlook on life and the world, when this foundation is broken If bad, marriage will end. There is also the problem of "dominance". Teacher Yuan has been a leader in the Yue Opera industry for decades and has a lofty prestige, so a few people will privately discuss his "dominance". In response, Teacher Yuan Xuefen also bluntly said: "I am straightforward and always speaks firmly and will not turn around. Sometimes it may not respect others enough, but I have never domineered anything for fame and fortune. Some people advise me to be 'squared inside and round outside'. Sleekness may give people a good impression, but I am unwilling to sacrifice principles for this and cater to others. I always warn myself to be a clear conscience, not to flatter, and not to be arrogant, cherish yourself and cherish others."After hearing this, he was furious and joked, "Teacher Yuan's surname is 'Yuan' (Yuan), but he is not at all." The old man couldn't help laughing out loud. "That's true! That's true! ”
Yuan Xuefen (middle) and Bai Xianyong (right), Cao Kefan
Unful wish: to shape women of all generations
That is, in 2004, Xu Junh Director tml2 intends to bring Mr. Bai Xianyong's novel "Yuqing Sao" to the Yue Opera stage, and the actor of "Yuqing Sao" is locked in Yuanpai Huadan Fang Yafen . For this reason, Xu Jun, Fang Yafen and me also went to the rehearsal scene of Suzhou Youth Edition "HTML Peony Pavilion ". As soon as Mr. Bai Xianyong saw Fang Yafen, he was very excited: "Ah, it's like a Yuqing Sao." "I heard that Yafen was a disciple of the Yuan School, Mr. Bai talked about his relationship with Yuan Xuefen with great interest. It turned out that the location of the Yue Opera was originally " Baigongguan ", and Mr. Yuan's office happened to be Mr. Bai Xianyong's bedroom. " "Yuqing's Sister-in-law" was to be made into Yue Opera, which is good at expressing the love between men and women. Fang Yafen is a student of Teacher Yuan again, it’s really fate! "A few words made Yafen full of confidence. However, Teacher Yuan Xuefen had doubts about the character "Yuqing Sao" and had no opinion for a long time. Time didn't wait for anyone, so he went to ask for the opinions of He Saofei. He Saofei followed Zhang Yunxia , and Zhang Yunxia's " Zhangpai " was born from the "Yuan School". Although Saofei had left the Yue Opera stage for many years, he was eager to try the role of "Yuqing Sao" and quickly started rehearsal. Unfortunately, Saofei later had to withdraw from the crew due to health reasons. At this critical moment, Yafen stood up and expressed his willingness to save the scene, but needed to get the approval of Teacher Yuan. Knowing the whole story, Teacher Yuan did not hesitate at all, "The play is bigger than the sky, and saving the scene is like putting out a fire. Rehearse as soon as possible and there are no delays. "Not only that, the old man also advised Yafen to cancel the original plan to go to Ningbo to pay tribute to his mother: "Which is more important, you must think clearly. If you can create a successful role, your mother will be relieved to be in the sky. "Yafen said that the teacher's words made her feel warm. From this incident, you can also see Teacher Yuan's mind and character as a generation of art masters. A few days later, Xu Jun and I visited. At that time, Teacher Yuan was receiving treatment due to abnormal blood cells, but when he talked about Yue Opera, his spirit increased sharply. She said that the two Yue Opera reforms solved the performance problems of plays like "The West Chamber" and "Brief Zhu", but due to various obstacles, they failed to fulfill their ambitions to shape Chinese women in the past dynasties, especially those like Qiu Jin. She hoped that we could help Yafen fulfill her unfulfilled wish.
Yue Opera crew photo
Yue Opera "Yu Qing Sao" went through various difficulties and finally premiered at the Meiqi Grand Theater on November 1, 2005. On the day of the premiere, Mr. Yuan Xuefen personally attended the scene to supervise the situation. That night, Yafen and other actors cooperated tacitly to perform the whole scene with heart-warming, full of tension and rhythm. However, after all, it was the first performance, and all the staff members were nervous, but the sound was still slightly flawed. When "Jin Yanfei" was sung, the voice was light and sounding, and it was unstable. Teacher Yuan Xuefen quickly signaled to adjust it and strive to be perfect. After watching the performance, Mr. Bai Xianyong gave a high evaluation. Yang Huishan, the starring actor of the movie "Yu Qing Sao", also praised the actor's performance of the script. At the end of the curtain call, Mr. Yuan Xuefen walked to the center of the stage and greeted Mr. Bai Xianyong deeply: "Thank you for making a good show for our Yue Opera. "
Yuan Xuefen and her beloved disciple Fang Yafen
Teacher Yuan Xuefen went from Sheng County to Shanghai step by step, always remembering her father's teachings, singing opera seriously, and being innocent. I remember she once said to me: "I came from Cao'e River , through Qiantang River , and then to Huangpu River . After a hundred years, I must scatter my ashes into the Huangpu River and flow into the sea. I came in qingqing, and I also want to qingqing..."
Teacher Yuan Xuefen thought and did the same! (Cao Kefan)
