Opera in Vietnam

Vietnamese opera has appeared since the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but the formation and development of Vietnamese vocal music in general and opera in particular only began in the second half of the 20th century. Over the years, opera art in this country has achieved certain achievements.

In the North, under the Socialist path, many operas were composed, staged and performed alongside famous operas in the world. A team of artists and lecturers was gradually formed for professional vocal training. In the South, under the Republic of Vietnam government, the appearance of opera in the curriculum and training was also recorded, along with efforts to spread and compose opera from the North.

In modern times, opera in Vietnam still faces many obstacles and problems in its development from composition, staging, performance to teaching. Investment in this art form has not been paid much attention. The physical condition of Vietnamese people simply cannot meet the requirements for opera, opera cannot stand firm in the light music market, or the difficulty in staging and composing costs to perform an opera are also notable issues. In Indochina, the French colonial government was interested in the mission of civilizing and building three large theaters. The Saigon Opera House was completed in 1897. The Hai Phong Opera House was built in 1904 and inaugurated in 1912. When the French moved the capital to Hanoi in 1887, the largest theater was built there in 1901, although it was not inaugurated until 1911. France made it the colonial mission to build great theaters and finance their seasons, which involved contracting and inviting opera troupes from France to perform in the colony.

Opera has been present in Vietnam since the French colonial period through performances at Catholic churches and some theaters. During the 1860s and 1870s, Saigon had many French art performances, mainly ballet and opera, sponsored by the Saigon government. The first Western classical opera to be performed in Saigon was Jacques Offenbach's Les deux aveugles, shortly after the French arrived in Saigon in 1864. Each year, the city council set the budget and other requirements for the season, and had to choose a director, who was responsible for inviting singers and musicians from France to perform. The operas were chosen "rather conservatively," but in 1894, of the 12 purchased operas, 7 were newly performed in Paris.

Since 1898, the Saigon City Council required "at least 5 comedies and 5 operettas that have not been performed in Saigon in the past 3 years" or "famous and newly premiered works in France". Initially, when there was no theater, these performances had to be temporarily performed at the Admirals' Palace near Dong Ho Square (today the Dong Khoi intersection). In 1894, the new building that later became the Ho Chi Minh City Theater was built based on the design of Eugène Ferret in the architectural style of the Third French Republic. In 1932, the San Carlo Opera Company, which had been active in the first half of the 20th century in the US, toured Saigon and Hanoi. Although the tour only lasted 8 days, the troupe received "welcome" from the public. During the Indochina War, Saigon newspapers often referred to art forms such as tuong and cai luong as "opéra".

Given the importance of the performing arts in European culture, French music and drama arrived in Hanoi almost in parallel with colonial rule. Newsreels were gradually performed there as early as 1884, and French performers touring Asia soon began to make Hanoi a stop on their tours.

The Hanoi Opera House is also a large project built by the French colonial government in the early 20th century. After its completion, the theater was used as a venue for performing Western classical art forms such as chamber music, drama, including opera, serving mainly the upper class of French mandarins and a few wealthy Vietnamese. Some of the operas performed at the Hanoi Opera House when it was first inaugurated in 1911 include some famous works by Franz Lehár, Gustave Charpentier, Georges Bizet, Charles Gounod, etc.

During the interwar period, the Indochina government's sponsorship of performances declined and its interest in them diminished, but opera continued to be performed until the Japanese coup d'état against French Indochina. Some European classical operatic forms were popularized in the late 1950s and 1960s through the Russian productions of Evgeny Onegin and the Korean productions of Let the Forest Speak Out. However, opera's presence in the country dates back to the early 20th century, including choral activities in Catholic churches and performances in some major theaters.

Vietnamese Opera is considered a product of the Vietnamese people, absorbing the quintessence of music in general and opera art in particular of Europe on the basis of traditional music. With the first opera "Tuc luy" composed in 1943 by Luu Huu Phuoc, opera and opera scenes developed more richly during the Indochina War, Vietnam War and had an influence on the birth of Vietnamese opera.

In addition, the level of performers and the audience were also factors that could not meet the requirements for the birth of opera at this time. For a purely Vietnamese opera genre to be born, Vietnamese music had to have all the elements such as the level of composers, the level of performers, and even the level of music appreciation of the audience. It was not until the Vietnam War that the country's music met the requirements for the birth of opera art. After a long time, opera art composed by Vietnamese people has achieved certain achievements. Many operas were written, staged and performed alongside famous operas in the world. This helped to form more performers and teachers for professional vocal training.

However, since Vietnam experienced two major wars, the new music scene gradually shifted to the trend of opera, causing opera compositions to almost disappear for a long time. The reason is said to be due to the change in historical and social circumstances leading to a change in creative perspectives. Another reason is also pointed out that investing in opera is very expensive due to the "massiveness" of a play. After North Vietnam gained power in 1954, the performance of plays, ca canh, ca drama, tuong, cheo, and cai luong was a source of further encouragement for opera performances in Vietnam.

Performance activities were also reflected in international cooperation programs. The performances of foreign operas gave Vietnamese singers and musicians more motivation for opera. In 1961, the Central People's Song and Dance Troupe, together with the Vietnam Music School and the Voice of Vietnam Symphony Orchestra, with the help of a Soviet vocal expert, staged and performed Tchaikovsky's opera Evgeni Onegin. In 1964, the Vietnam National Opera and Ballet performed the Korean opera Mountain Forest Speak Up. Onegin was performed by Quy Duong and Gremil by Tran Hieu, with the participation of Ngoc Dau, Tran Chat and many others. This was considered the first step of integration of the Vietnamese people into opera, and became the premise for the process of building a long-term strategic opera art. In addition, many other plays were staged and performed but were not recorded, thereby no documents are preserved to this day.

In the context of the fierce Vietnam War, there was an effort from North Vietnam to spread opera to the South but encountered many difficulties in terms of conditions and means to stage an opera. The opera recorded to have been born in this context was Bong Sen by Hoang Viet, composed in 1967, shortly before his death on the battlefield. Although performed, Bong Sen was converted from an opera genre to a small musical form to serve the arts. After the event of April 30, 1975, the South of Vietnam adopted the culture and classical music of the North. The unification of the North and South of Vietnam and the Doi Moi policy also led to the revival of Western opera in Hanoi, including the event of a French cultural dissemination organization called Alliance française sponsoring 14 million USD for the restoration of the Hanoi Opera House.

In 1978, the French composer of Vietnamese origin Nguyen Thien Dao composed an opera called My Chau - Trong Thuy, marking his name in the field of contemporary classical music in the world. This is considered the first Vietnamese musical to be known to the world as a work "with a unique national voice and new expressive techniques". By the 1990s, Vietnamese opera was performed to the public thanks to the support of international organizations such as Sweden, the British Council... but at this time, purely Vietnamese operas seemed to not appear, only foreign works. In the context of traditional music and classical music being overshadowed by youth music, opera was only staged "sporadically" with symphonies and choruses.

Vietnam still does not have favorable opportunities for opera to develop. Therefore, composing and performing opera has become a "luxury" in Vietnam, making this genre almost absent. In order for opera to develop in this country, a number of competitions have been held but are still considered to be ineffective. According to a source from the Hanoi Music Association, staging a musical in Vietnam is "a big challenge", requiring investment in expertise, human resources, funding and a long time, and must ensure 3 basic issues: Content (the work being staged), Performance and Organization. European directors have had artistic creations in the process of staging the world's classical opera works in.

Vietnam today, bringing this art form closer to the reception of modern Vietnamese audiences, while still popularizing the artistic values of this musical genre. On the contrary, in stage staging, the staging style of opera is also proposed by a study to be exploited to apply to the country's traditional art forms such as cheo. With the open cultural exchange, many international artists and conductors have come to Vietnam to work with the Symphony Orchestra, collaborating with Vietnamese artists in cross-Vietnam performance programs.

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