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Gender Roles In Peking Opera

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The relationship between the music and the drama – the story – is the essence of what any opera is. Both the West and China have produced numerous operas in many different traditions and genres. As a much-cherished traditional art form in China, Peking Opera was formed through the combination of various music and performing techniques. Having a history of 160 years, Peking opera was formally created in 1790 through the merging of several regional styles in China that have their roots in the 13th century. It has created many 'firsts ' in Chinese dramas, such as the abundance of repertoires, the number of artists and opera troupes. Western opera, on the other hand, originated from Greek Drama, arose at the beginning of the 17th century. It is …show more content…

Each role has its own particular singing style, and many other different singing patterns can be distinguished in each category. The ‘Sheng’ acts the main male role in Peking opera, uses the real voice. 'Dan ' acts the feminine positive role, uses mainly falsetto. 'Jing ' acts the supporting role of greathearted masculine and 'Chou ' acts as a lively, humorous, quick-witted masculine. Classified by voice types and genders, Western opera has base singers, baritones, tenors, altos, mezzo-sopranos and sopranos. It is up to the composer which vocal range he chooses for each character. Besides the gender of the performers, the characters’ makeup plays a huge part in specifying their identity throughout the performance. The theatrical makeup in both operas seeks to create the illusion of a visually striking scene by enhancing the dramatic value using brilliant colors on stage. The 'mask-like facial makeup ' (lianpu) that the Peking opera puts on the actor’s face, vividly depicts the traits of each character, while harmonizing with the gestures used in that particular role. Good men are usually painted with simple designs, while the faces of villains or robbers bear more intricate ones. The military clowns (wuchou) wear white patches of make-up around their eyes and noses. There was not a need for the classification of colors to indicate the nature of the characters in Western opera. With Shakespeare, the giveaway for a clown can be someone who is digging a

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