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"Nightingale" of Anderson Adapted into Peking Opera by a German Composer
Nightingale, the famous fairy tale by a Danish writer Anderson, has been recomposed in the form of Peking Opera. What carries weight is that this was redone by a German composer. Last night (January 15) saw the new version of Nightingale being staged in the theatre of the Cultural Palace of Chinese Nationalities in Beijing.
The composer has dexterously infused the creativeness of his own into the new opera without changing much the original features of the Peking Opera. He combined into the performance the traditional Chinese musical instruments such as flute, two-stringed Chinese fiddle, small drum for marking time and moon-shaped lute with the western musical instruments such as cello, viola etc. In this way he staged vividly the songs between the nightingale, a personified character and its counterpart, a mechanical puppet bird.
The composer has studied Chinese in China for one year only. With introducing Peking Opera to the western world in mind, he has specifically selected the fairy tale of Anderson for his re-composition, for it'll help the foreign audience to have a better understanding of the Peking Opera.
As reported, his new approach to Peking Opera has been recorded in the newly-published book, the History of China's Peking Opera.
By PD Online staff member Yin Zhili
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