明清时期的《琵琶记》接受

Audience Acceptance of The Story of the Lute in Ming and Qing Dynasties

明清时期的《琵琶记》主要以案头和场上两种形式活跃于不同的受众群体之中。直接的《琵琶记》场上接受材料虽然不多,但从文人的各种笔记、日记以及小说、诗文等著述中,可以管窥到许多相关的《琵琶记》演出资料。此外,在不少留存至今的各类戏曲选本中,后世不仅可以看到场上之《琵琶记》所受的欢迎程度,而且还可以大致体味到这部著名作品的舞台面貌。至于《琵琶记》的案头接受情形,仅从其现知的各种版本就可以约略推测出它的受众群体的概貌及其所受到的欢迎程度。值得注意的是,在明清两代各个受众群体的接受视野中,《琵琶记》已然出现了正解和误解两种不同的接受观念。很多受众虽然错误地解读了这部作品,但不少误解却切实可信地指出了《琵琶记》的真实创作动机。

The Story of the Lute in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was mainly presented actively in written form as well as stage performance. Though there exist few records on audience acceptance of its presentation on stage, various kinds of writings including notes and journals of scholars, novels, poems and essays still provide a glimpse of its stage performance. Moreover, with quite a few remaining xiqu (traditional Chinese opera) anthologies, the later generations can not only see its popularity on stage, but also restore its scenic appearance. As to audience acceptance of the written form, we can generally figure out the audience profile and degree of its popularity from the several versions of the story. It is noteworthy that two different kinds of audience perceptions such as understanding and misunderstanding have appeared in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Many audiences of the time interpreted the story incorrectly, but some misinterpretations pointed out the real creative motives in a truly credible way.