RED BOAT TROUPES AND CANTONESE ... - University of Georgia

Chapter Five
The Music
Cantonese opera includes singing, acting, recitation, and kungfu (coeng zou lim da).
Most arias, recitatives, and oral utterances are delivered as solos and duets. Only on rare
occasions do more than two characters sing or deliver a speech in one scene. The librettist of an
opera receives the most credit for the texts. A successful librettist is careful to choose suitable
words to fit the plot and tone of the music. He sets the text into pre-existing tune types or
requests a musician to set his poem into an aria. Since sung music in Cantonese opera consists
of arias and recitatives, sometimes two tune types are separated by a recitative. A librettist also
writes recitatives and heightened speech. S/he knows how to modulate a passage from one tune
type to another, or set a recitative that is suitable for the play.
The Arias and Recitatives
Arias are performed solo or as duets. The arias are arranged from a large pool of pre-
existing tunes and new compositions. These tune types are in three main categories: boun
huang, siu kok, and narrative songs. Boun huang is short form for boun tze and er huang, the
main sung music used before siu kuk and local folk songs were introduced. Boun tze and er
huang originated from other operas north of the Guangdong province. Boun huang is
characterized by rhythm and tones determined by the natural pitch of the words. Since there are
nine tones in the six-pitch Cantonese language, words delivered determine the contour of the
melody. In singing boun huang, “Asking word for tone” (maan zi hung horn) is very special in
the nine-tone Cantonese language.
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