Ding B. Semantic functions of female images in the dramaturgy of Chinese opera

The dissertation is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of the interpretation, performance and semantic variety of female characters in Chinese traditional opera, in particular in the most popular in the country Peking Opera and Yue Opera, in the pro-European operas of the composers of the Celestial Empire of the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries, as well as the peculiarities of women’s performance of men’s parts in Yue’s opera. The relevance of the topic is due to the wide popularity of Chinese traditional and modern opera art not only in the homeland, but also throughout the world, the appearance of numerous examples in the genres of traditional and pro-European operas, where female characters play a leading role in the drama of such works, and, at the same time, insufficient attention of researchers to the analysis of the semantic functions and significance of women’s parts in this important for China and the world area of musical art. The object of research is Chinese traditional and modern opera art. The subject is the specificity of the semantic functions of women’s parts in the dramaturgy of Chinese traditional and pro-European operas of the 19th and early 21st centuries. The purpose of the study is to identify and generalize the semantic features of female characters in Chinese traditional and modern pro-European operas. In the dissertation, for the first time in Ukrainian musicology: - the multifaceted roles/sub-roles and images of heroines in traditional and modern pro-European Chinese operas are revealed; - the almost two-century evolution of the growth of acting skills of male actors – performers of female roles in traditional operas is traced; - the evolution of Yue’s opera is analyzed and its current state is determined; - the peculiarities of the audience’s perception of the performance of male parts by the actresses of the Yue opera were revealed; - a literary and musicological analysis of the operas ―Mulan Psalm‖ by Guan Xia and ―Sunrise‖ by Jin Xiang was made, the figurative and semantic characteristics of the main characters of these works were provided; - a corporate analysis of various stage versions of these operas was carried out; - comparing the two stage images of women in the operas ―Regret for the Past‖ by Shi Guangnan and ―Sunrise‖ by Jin Xiang and emphasizing the characteristic features that unite these two dissimilar characters. The study of the evolution of Chinese opera art in the 19th and early 21st centuries has gained further development in the context of the growth of the leading role of female characters in traditional music and theater genres (Peking Opera and Yue Opera) and pro-European works of the composers of the Celestial Empire. The understanding of the directions of inheritance of historical, cultural and musical traditions in the stage embodiment of female images on the opera stages of China has been improved. The meaning of the semantics of stage clothes, shoes, hairstyles, and a number of accessories, movements in a deeper understanding and interpretation of the content of plots and specific actions in traditional opera performances is clarified.