The Model Operas

The model operas were eight works in jingju, ballet and symphonic form, confirmed in 1967 and scored for mixed Chinese-Western bands

Related

JinghuViolinBanqiang Form

Time and place

The model operas took shape after the 1964 festival of modern Peking opera and were named as a group of eight in 1967, centred on Beijing and Shanghai. The eight were the jingju plays The Red Lantern, Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy, Shajiabang, On the Docks and Raid on the White Tiger Regiment; the ballets The Red Detachment of Women and The White-Haired Girl; and the symphonic Shajiabang. More were added later.

What happened

In the 1960s, experiments in modern jingju applied traditional aria to contemporary subjects. After Jiang Qing intervened, teams of writers, composers, directors and performers revised the works into fixed versions. Creation stressed the Three Prominences: among all characters the positive, among positive characters the heroes, and among heroes the principal hero. The works circulated through radio, film, stage and amateur singing, among the few public arts of the period.

Musical features

The model operas use the jingju pi and huang system, keeping original, slow and fast boards of xipi and erhuang, but composers now designed the arias and added leitmotifs, harmony and orchestration. The band mixes Chinese and Western instruments, with jinghu, jing erhu and yueqin beside Western strings and percussion. Heroes sing bright, high lines with upward leaps; villains get narrow ranges and odd colours, so music guides judgement of character.

What to listen for

Hear the shadow-play tune, whose banqiang upper and lower phrases underlie an aria. Then hear Hebei Bangzi Hao, its high northern delivery close to the heroic manner. Finally hear Beijing Huagu, a local skit tune, for the theatrical base. None is a model opera, and the library has no jingju recording, so only the banqiang frame can be sampled.

Common misunderstandings

The model operas are often treated as all jingju. The term was a political label, not a genre name. Five of the eight are jingju; two are ballets and one is symphonic. Others assume they had nothing to do with traditional opera, though they borrow pi and huang metre and gong patterns heavily. Nor are they only political slogans; aria design, orchestration and staging were specialised craft.

Sources

• 1967年5月《人民日报》关于八个样板戏的报道 — 剧目名单核对，未引用
• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., entry "China" — opera history checked, not quoted

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.