Huju: Traditional Opera in Modern Shanghai

by Jonathan P. J. Stock

Overview

Stock's study offers the first book-length account of Huju, a Shanghai operatic tradition which blends music and acting with portrayal of the lives of ordinary people. Richly informed by first-hand accounts, the book follows the genre as it develops in China's largest city from rural entertainment to urban ballad, revolutionary drama, and contemporary opera. An innovative combination of urban and historical ethnomusicology, the book will engage the historian of China and general scholar of music alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780197262733
Publisher:	British Academy
Publication date:	06/19/2003
Series:	British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship Monographs
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Jonathan Stock lectures in music at the University of Sheffield where he establishd the ethnomusicology programme, and is past Chairman of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology.

Table of Contents

IntroductionThe Rise of Local Opera form in east China, up to 1920Female roles and the Rise of Actresses, 1915-c.1950Place and Music: Local Opera in Shanghai, 1912-49Huju and the politics of revolution, post-1949Ethnomusicological Research in an Urban Setting

Editorial Reviews

"Jonathan Stock has made a valuable contribution to the field of Chinese music studies in particular and to musicology in general." —Music and Letters

"This richly descriptive book with a uniquely critical analysis of the huju music is the first book that has ever been written in English or perhaps in any Western language on the subject.... Stock's book is a pioneering effort in the study of huju in Western languages and offers a refreshing model for both Chinese and Western scholars of music and theatre in writing about less studied local music-dramas in China. His work deserves warm commendation and emulation."—Wenwei Du, The World of Music

From the Publisher