Place and music: Institutions and cosmopolitanism in 'shenqu', shanghai traditional local opera, 1912-1949

Abstract

The local opera of Shanghai (shenqu or tanhuang, now huju) underwent significant expansion and change in the first part of the twentieth century, often explained as its Golden Age, as it transformed from balladstyle, seated performances of traditional dramas given by small troupes to fully acted operas by large ensembles based on contemporary news stories and foreign films. These changes are assessed from the twin perspectives of the rise of new, competitive, and industrialized institutions of entertainment in the modern city of Shanghai (for instance, multistage entertainment centres, Westernstyle theatres, and radio stations) and of the cosmopolitan character of Shanghai itself. This approach, which rests on archival research and interviews with elderly performers in Shanghai, reverses the analysis of the musical construction of place found in much current ethnomusicology, suggesting how, in this case, the specifics of place have acted to shape musical style and performance. © Oxford University Press.