The Institute for Chinese Studies Presents:
"'Taken Alive' ('Huozhuo'): A Kunqu Masterpiece for Chinese Ears, Eyes, and Hearts"
Joseph Lam
University of Michigan
Abstract: Kunqu, a classical genre of Chinese opera, tells sensational stories with literary lyrics, flowing melodies, and elegant dances, entertaining its aficionados (quyou) in diverse ways and at multiple levels. A prime example is the “Taken Alive” (“Huozhuo”), a kunqu show that presents the ghost of a murdered woman returning to earth to take her living lover to the underworld. To tell such a dramatic story, the show presents suggestive lyrics, mesmerizing melodies/singing, and sensational dances of flirting and dying--tenderly she strangles him. As such, the show is haokan (intellectually and visually entertaining), haoting (sonically and performatively pleasurable), and youyisi (expressive and meaningful), aesthetic ideals that kunqu performers strive to achieve, and performance expressions that aficionados thoroughly critique. This talk discusses the masterpiece's multimedia and multivalent expressions and their reception by kunqu aficionados.
Joseph S.C. Lam is Professor of Musicology at the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance at the University of Michigan. A musicologist and sinologist, Lam specializes in the musics and cultures of Southern Song (1127-1279), Ming (1368-1644), and modern China (1900 to present). Lam’s recent publications include: “Eavesdropping on Zhang Xiaoxiang’s Musical World in Early Southern Song China,” in Senses of the City (Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 2017); “Huaigu yinyue lilun yu shijian di yige chubu tian/ A Proposal on Music of Reminiscence: Theory and Practice,” Yinyue yishu/Musical Art (2019/2); “Zhang Dai’s (1597-1680) Musical Life in Late Ming China, in Ming China (Routledge, 2019); “Kunqu Cross-Dressing as Artistic and/or Queer Performance,” in Oxford Handbook of Music and Queerness (Oxford, 2022); and “The Southern Story of the Western Wing: Traditional Kunqu Composition, Interpretation, and Performance,” in How to Read Chinese Drama (Columbia, 2022). Lam’s Kunqu, A Classical Opera of Contemporary China, will be published by the Hong Kong University Press in late 2022.
