Li Shifang

essential information

birth

(1921-1947), named Fulu, was born in Baotou, Inner Mongolia. Both parents are actors of Shanxi opera. In particular, Li Zijian, his father, is a famous actor with a wide range of theatrical skills, including Qingyi, Huadan, daomadian and Caidan. Since he was three years old, fro has been traveling with his parents in cities and towns, living an art life without settlement. When he was ten years old, his father settled down in Beijing, preparing to stop playing on the stage and concentrate on teaching his son.

On July 24, 1931, Fulu officially entered fuliancheng class and began his career as an artist. He was ranked in the "small world" section, specializing in green clothes, Huadan and Dao Ma, and was renamed Li Shifang from then on.

Li Shifang's teacher of kaimeng in Qingyi is Su Yuqing, who first studied cailoupei, tanhanyao, erjingong and other kaimeng operas in Qingyi, and then studied Huadan operas such as shuangshahe, shiyubangle and tiegongyuan with Xiao Lianfang. He also studied two knife circus, mukezhai and fanjiangguan. Li is not only diligent in learning opera, but also serious in practicing martial arts. He also practices the complicated martial arts skills such as "fighting". As a result of his hard work, he was able to perform on the stage in only one year. When he studied Arts in the science class, he was already famous, and he was a top student in the "world" class. The class rehearsed "Farewell My Concubine", "biyougong", "pansidong" and other plays, all starred by him.

begin to display one 's talent

In 1934, "Sheng" students graduated and left one after another. In order to show attendance, fuliancheng class invited Mr. Zhang Cailin to teach and rehearse some Dan drama. First of all, Huatian CuO and Taohua village were arranged. The young lady played by Li Shifang was very vivid, and she sang, read and did well. Chunlan of Mao Shilai and Lu Zhishen of Yuan Shihai also sang and read properly, which was praised by the audience. Li Shifang's artistic talent has come to the fore. Then, Coban rehearsed Li Zhu Meng for him. Because he felt that his voice and appearance were quite similar to Mei Lanfang's when he was young, he decided to rehearse the new drama of Mei school for him.

In the spring of 1935, farewell my concubine was premiered in guanghelou. His style of Mei school surprised four of them. For a time, all newspapers and periodicals in Beijing published articles praising him and gave him the good name of "little Mei Lanfang". The audiences who are infatuated with Mei Lanfang's art rush to guanghelou to see "Xiaomei". The spread of the name of "little Mei Lanfang" has attracted Mei Lanfang's good friend and Peking Opera researcher Mr. Qi Rushan's love for Li Shifang. Mr. Qi has taught Li Shi Shi's new ancient costume plays "Qingwen tearing fan", "Chang'e running to the moon" and "red thread stealing box". After that, Mr. Shang Xiaoyun was attracted. In addition to his love, Mr. Shang arranged four dramas for him, including tianhepai, Kunlun swordsman biography, JUANJUAN and jinpingnv. After more than a year of rain and dew, Mr. Shang has made great progress in art.

The story of Pear Garden

In 1936, Mei Lanfang returned to Beijing for the first time after his family moved to the south. He was very interested in "little Mei Lanfang" mentioned in his letter. Mei Shilian watched his two plays farewell my concubine and drunken princess, and decided to take Li Shifang as his apprentice. The ceremony was held at the "National Opera Association" in Rongxian Hutong. At that time, hundreds of famous pear garden hostels and newspaper reporters were present to congratulate the ceremony, which was unprecedented. At that time, the story of "Lao Mei" accepting "Xiao Mei" in pear garden was widely spread.

During this period, Mei Shi asked him to go backstage every day and teach him impromptu while making up. He was asked to watch and study in the box. After the performance, he was asked to listen to his voice or train him. Because of Mei Shi's busy performance, Wei Lianfang, his eldest disciple, was recommended to teach the new opera of Mei school.

The first of the celebrities

In the winter of that year, Li Shifang was elected "chairman of Tongling" with an absolute advantage of more than 5000 or 6000 votes.

In 1939, Liyan daily in Beijing accepted the readers' suggestions, followed the example of selecting the "four famous Dan" in the 1920s, and hosted the activity of selecting the "four famous Dan" from the young rookies. Finally, Li Shifang, Mao Shilai, Zhang Junqiu and song Dezhu are listed as the "four xiaomingdan". At this time, Li Shifang had already left fuliancheng and was in the period of voice change and "warehouse turnover". He had neither formed nor set up a class. He had been raising his voice and learning drama at home. Although he has not performed in public for a long time, he is still regarded as the first of the "four little celebrities", which shows how charming and popular his performing arts are.

Stage Entrepreneurship

After three years of hard work and hard work, Li Shifang's voice recovered. He chose Liang to form a class called "Chengfang club" and began his stage entrepreneurial life. He once again cooperated with Yuan Shihai in farewell my concubine and cosmofront. He performed the plum school drama Xi Shi and hate for life and death, rehearsed Princess Baihua, added a fight in Jinshan Temple, and arranged an art treasure Mulan join the army His performances in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Jinan and other places were unprecedented, which made Li Shifang famous and "Chengfang society" prospered and entered its heyday.

On September 24, 1944, the 50th birthday of Mei Shi, Li Shifang suspended his performance and went to Shanghai with his new wife Yao Baolian to celebrate her birthday. During this period, Mei taught Kunqu masterpieces such as "a dream in the garden", "Jinshan Temple", "broken bridge" and so on. He also eagerly watched the performing arts of drama and got enlightenment from them. After returning to Beijing, he created "daughter of the kingdom of heaven", and the audience warmly applauded for the innovative singing and posture. The use of drama techniques in the opening of the play also makes the audience feel novel, moving and highly praised. At this time, Li's artistic creation has a considerable sense of the times, which is his deep understanding of the innovation spirit of Mei school.

die young

At the end of 1946, Li Shifang came to Shanghai alone for nearly half a year. It's time for him to go home for the new year. On the new year's eve of 1946 and the new year's day and the second day of 1947, master Mei specially worked with his disciples on the same stage to work together on "Jinshan Temple" and "broken bridge" for a 20% discount, so as to prepare for his disciples' journey home. I don't think these three plays are the last performances of Li Shifang's Jue.

On January 5, 1947, flight 121 of Beijing Shanghai flight was passing over Qingdao. Because the plane was hit by fog, it was destroyed and people died. The famous actress Li Shifang, who was only 26 years old, went away like this. Unfortunately, he died young and had only a short stage career of less than ten years.

The death of Li Shifang shocked the Beijing Opera circle in Qingdao and caused grief in the pear garden circle. Li Zijian, Li Shifang's father, and his friend Zheng Qishan went to collect the corpse. The corpse was indistinct and could not be identified. It was numbered 30. The bodies of the victims were wrapped in white cloth, only one side was exposed, and all the bodies were covered with a large cloth, and they were parked in Tianhou palace. The cold candle swayed in the palace, and there was no end to the sad sound

The cold candle flickers and shines on the wreckage, and the sound of sorrow in the palace after heaven. Without the true face of the famous actors, the fragrant soul will stay on the red carpet forever.

Later, Li Shifang's body was sent to luzu temple on Jiaozhou Road for a funeral ceremony. More than 40 people from all walks of life attended the ceremony.

After Li Shifang's body was transported back to Beijing, famous Peking Opera actors Ye Shenglan, Ma Fulu, Shang Xiaoyun and Tan Fuying went to mourn. The name of the couplet is "four couplets of life and death" in the mirror, which is to send people to the temple. In the first couplet, "life and death hate" is the Mei school drama that Li Shifang often performed during his lifetime, while "Jinshan Temple" is the last play that Li Shifang and Mei Lanfang co performed.

After Mei Lanfang returned to Shanghai from Nanjing, she was deeply saddened to hear the news of Li Shifang's death, so she stopped performing for several days. He knew that Li Shifang had parents, his wife and three daughters, and he had no means of living. So he launched two relief dramas and sent all the income to Li Shifang's family members. Chang Baokun and Zhang Junqiu also held benefit performances for Li Shifang's family members.

Weng Dianhong once wrote a poem to mourn:

I still remember that when I was a child, I was able to see the plum blossom. Before and after leaving, Mei was all right, and Li Yizhi of Meiyuan was broken.

artistic characteristics

Li Shifang has a broad voice, beautiful timbre and pure tone. He has a deep singing ability. He is very good at using his own conditions, especially after receiving the careful instruction of Mr. Wang Shaoqing, the master of Mei Qin, he can sing the pure charm of Mei school. His vocalist can be said that although there is no high pitched voice, there is a lingering sound. If he can live in the world, he will have a greater development and contribution to the art of singing, and he will win the world with charm.

Chinese PinYin : Li Shi Fang