Early Phonograph Records and Music Scores of Jingju: Materialization, Textualization, and Oral Transmission of Tan Xinpei's Arias

Abstract:Tan Xinpei 譚鑫培 (1847–1917) is an era-defining figure in the history of Jingju (Peking Opera) and also one of the first generation of Jingju actors who recorded arias, in 1907 and 1912. Widely sung during his lifetime, his arias were notated and published as music scores after his death. The recordings and notated scores (with commentary) are the subject of this paper, which explores their relationship to Tan's "flexible singing" on stage and their role in the dissemination and transmission of Tan's singing style to this day.