Beauty is forever
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East and West have many things in common. Westerners know Helen was "the face that launched a thousand ships" and set off the Trojan War. China has the legend of Xi Shi, who was so beautiful that when she washed silk in a stream even the fish looked away. Xi Shi helped her country win a war.
About 494 BC, the King of Yue was imprisoned after being defeated by the State of Wu, and Yue became a dependent state. Secretly planning revenge, Yue's minister Wen Zhong suggested training beautiful women to seduce the King of Wu. Minister Fan Li found Xi Shi and Zheng Dan and gifted them to the King of Wu.
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A scene from opera Xi Shi |
Bewitched by the two beauties, the King of Wu forgot all about State affairs and killed his best advisor and general, who tried to persuade him not to indulge in women and pleasure. The State of Wu dwindled and in 473 BC the King of Yue launched his strike and put the Wu army to rout. The King of Wu committed suicide.
Last year, the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) commissioned a team of leading artists to adapt this tale into the opera Xi Shi, which premiered in October.
"It is a rare good example of telling a typical Chinese legend for a Western opera," says playwright Zhou Ling, whose credits include the popular TV production of Chinese classic A Dream of Red Mansions.
"A Western art form must have Chinese content, and must combine in smart ways, explaining that this is the only way it can survive in China. The opera Xi Shi is a good example in this sense," Zhou says.
"This opera Xi Shi amazed me," says actor Zhang Tielin. "You can figure out some Chinese tunes but they are combined well in the overall composition. Zou Jingzhi's lyrics read like poems. Soprano Zhang Liping is wonderful."
It is the NCPA's first opera production since it opened in 2007. Deng Yijiang, deputy-president of NCPA says, it took time to decide on the story.
"Through operas we've known many famous women, from Carmen to Turandot, from Cio Cio San to Tosca. Now we want to introduce to the world a legendary Chinese woman," Deng says.
For its first opera the NCPA gathered A-listers including composer Lei Lei, playwright Zou Jingzhi and soprano Zhang Liping.
The 57-year-old Zou has many acclaimed productions under his belt, from Zhang Yimou's movie Riding Alone, to popular TV series such as Emperor Kangxi Travels Incognito, and the theater play I Love Peach Blossom.
"But few people know my childhood dream was to be an opera tenor. I took vocal lessons for a time but it turned out that, for me, it's easier to write lyrics," Zou says.
In 1998, he created his first opera Night Banquet composed by Guo Wenjing, which won wide acclaim in Europe.
At first, Zou was not sure whether to accept NCPA's commission because the end of the story - Xi Shi ends up with Fan Li on a fishing boat on Taihu Lake - was a cliched happy ending.
But Zou did some research and in Zhuji, Zhejiang province, found records in the book written by Mo Zi (Micius, or Mo Tzu) (470-391 BC) that Xi Shi was thrown into the sea by the Queen of Yue, in a jealous rage.
"This is a tragic ending for the noble beauty who sacrificed herself for the country but was killed cruelly by a jealous woman. The power of the tragedy is so great and sharp to travel through space and time," Zou says.
It is composer Lei Lei's first opera, though she had done a lot of work on movies and for television.
"I spent around a year writing Xi Shi, every day from 8 am to 12 pm. I lived the tragic life of Xi Shi, but interestingly, I enjoyed the grief and my sad moods. Hopefully, my sad feelings turned into heart-wrenching melodies," Lei says.
Soprano Zhang Liping says she loves the role and her arias.
"It's hard to describe the music in language. As soon as I got the score and hummed the tune, I was taken by it. Lei's composition combines a Western vocal style and Chinese women's softness," she says.
NCPA will hold five performances of Xi Shi from April 15 to 19 to kick off its second Opera Festival. Zhang will take the lead role with tenor Dai Yuqiang and Wei Song singing the King of Yue in turn, and soprano Wu Bixia playing Zheng Dan.
In the following two months, Beijing's opera fans will have a lot of choices, including Bizet's Carmen, Verdi's La Traviata, Donizetti's L'Elisir D'Amore. Teatre Regio Di Parma will perform Rigoletto and the Bolshio Theater will bring the classic Eugen Onegin.
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