“堂会戏”考辨

The Textual Research of“Tang-hui Opera”

现知最早的关于“堂会”一词的文献记载出现在清嘉庆、道光年间,指代由私人或团体出资包场演戏的戏剧观演模式。堂会是晚清、民国时期重要的商业演剧类型,其源头可以追溯到宋元时期职业戏班的包场演剧。当今学界对于“堂会”的认识有颇多歧见,主要表现在:一、视堂会为厅堂或私宅等演剧场所派生出来的演剧形态,再将堂会溯源到汉代的厅堂演戏;二、将堂会限定为个人出资承办,不及团体出资;三、无视堂会的商业运营模式,将堂会认定为非商业演剧;四、将非商业演剧的“家乐”“宫廷演剧”纳入堂会范畴。产生以上歧见的主要原因在于概念界定不清,从而导致望文生义、以偏概全、以今律古等错误。今人对堂会的错误认知和随意解读,造成了戏曲史研究的混乱,因此有必要对其作全面考辨。

The earliest known documentary record of"Tanghui"appeared in the Jiaqing and Daoguang years of the late Qing Dynasty,which refers to the mode of theatre performance observation in which the private or group funded and arranged the performance.The congregation is an important type of commercial drama in the late Qing and Re-public of China,and its origin can be traced back to the privale theatre of the professional drama troupe in the Song and Yuan Dynasties.Nowadays,there are many different opinions on Tanghui"in academic circles,which are mainly manifested in the following aspects:First,regarding"Tanghui"as the drama form derived from the theater such as hall or private house,and then tracing the"Tanghui"to the hall performance of Han Dynasty;Secondly,lim-iting"Tanghui"to individual investment,not as much as group investment or the opposite;Thirdly,ignoring the busi-ness operation mode of"Tanghui",and identifying"Tanghui"as non-commercial drama;Finally,the"family mu-sic"and"court drama"of non-commercial drama are included in the category of the"Tanghui".The main reason for the above disagreement is that the concept is not clearly defined,which leads to mistakes such as taking the words too literally,taking the part and losing the whole,and judging the past by the present,etc.Today’s misunderstanding and random interpretation of the"Tanghui"have caused confusion in the study of the history of opera,and it is neces-sary to make a comprehensive examination of it.