粤乐“八大曲”初析:戏曲清唱、珠江河调、广东汉剧

The “Eight Masterpieces” in Cantonese Musical Tradition: “Pure Singing”,“River Tune”,and “Waijiang Opera”

"八大曲"是指八首古腔粤曲曲目。这一系列清唱粤曲,约在清代同治年间,流行于广州菊部曲坛。上世纪五十年代,香港粤乐名宿潘贤达提倡复兴"八大曲",1954年发表《粤曲论》讨论"八大曲"美学,同时区分粤乐曲艺的四种演唱风格,分别是:戏班、八音、"玩家"(意即业余乐师)和河调。本文特别强调,"玩家粤乐"是实践"八大曲"的表述载体,"八大曲"美学特点呈现于"玩家粤乐"之中,二者紧密契合,不能分割。另外,"八大曲"本身虽非场上演剧,但其唱本曲文,保留了同治光绪年间粤剧唱词形式。本文尝试从"戏曲清唱"、"珠江河调"和"广东汉剧"三个方面,论述"八大曲"在的历史地位。并通过比较"八大曲"和"外江戏"剧本唱段,窥探早期"粤剧"和"外江戏"的历史联系。

The 'Eight Masterpieces'( Badaqu) refers to eight pieces of Cantonese opera song which were popular in the Tongzhi period of the Qing dynasty. In the 1950 s the eminent Cantonese music artist Pan Xianda of Hong Kong was determined to revive Badaqu. In his article 'Discourses on Cantonese operatic song'( 1954),Pan differentiates four performing styles of Cantonese operatic singing,that is,by the opera actors,by the Bayin musicians,by the amateur artists,and by the courtesan singers. Pan evaluates highly the refined accompanying style of the 'amateur artist'( wanjia) music,which,to him,defines the aesthetic identity of the 'Eight Masterpieces'. Moreover,Badaqu are adapted from Cantonese opera plays of late Qing; thus serve as important source materials in studying the history of early Cantonese opera,particularly its connections with the Waijiang opera during that period.