本书是第一部全面、系统研究北方昆曲发展史的专著。明代戏曲音乐家魏良辅在流传于苏州民间的昆山腔基础上，创造出“水磨调”。新声腔在原“昆山腔”的基础上集中了南曲柔媚婉转的特点，同时又吸收了北曲慷慨激昂的唱腔，新腔演唱的戏剧在吴中大受欢迎。1421年明朝都城由南京迁往北京后，随着全国政治和文化中心的北移以及北京经济的繁荣，嘉靖时期始，南方新兴诸声腔，开始传入北京，改变了宫廷演戏仅以院本、北杂剧承应的情况，明末昆曲传入北京，主要以宫廷演出、家班演出、职业戏班演出三种形式存在。从明末到清中叶，昆曲在北方经历了一段辉煌的历史：宫廷大戏的编纂，家庭戏班、职业戏班演出繁盛，产生了《长生殿》《桃花扇》这样的经典之作。但是，明清时期昆曲在北方的流传与发展是不平衡的。明万历年间到明末，昆曲在北方除了在北京的流传和演出比较彰显外，天津、河北、山西也有昆曲的演出，但北方其他地区目前还未见记载。清代北京、天津、山西等地昆曲的演出比较繁盛，辽宁、内蒙古、宁夏、甘肃、新疆等地区也有昆曲演出。清朝后期到民国年间昆曲开始衰落，昆曲在北方的延续主要依靠王府昆弋班、河北民间昆弋班演出折子戏维持，20世纪40年代专业班社消失后，昆曲在文人的曲社活动中延续着。新中国成立以后，自20世纪50—60年代中期，中央政府对戏曲的政策经历了从“改戏、改人、改制”到“现代戏、传统戏、新编历史剧三并举”方针的转变，反映出意识形态对文艺事业发展的影响力。这两个时期昆曲界分别以浙江省昆苏剧团《十五贯》和北方昆曲剧院的《李慧娘》为突出标志。《十五贯》所引起的“一出戏救活了一个剧种”的效应，成立了包括北方昆曲剧院在内几个专业昆曲剧团。“文革”时期北昆的《李慧娘》从短暂的辉煌巅峰跌入被批判的深渊，甚至成为“文化大革命”的导火索之一。十年“文革”极“左”路线把艺术“政治化”推向极致，包括北方昆曲剧院在内的昆曲专业团体全部被解散，刚刚恢复生机的昆曲事业受到重创。“文革”结束后，各界拨乱反正，昆曲艺术如沐春风，北方昆曲剧院也恢复了建制。北方昆曲剧院在恢复传统老戏的基础上，挖掘了《牡丹亭》《西厢记》《琵琶记》等文学经典剧目，近几年又新排了《宦门子弟错立身》《陶然情》《续琵琶》《红楼梦》，尤其《红楼梦》的创排成为北方昆曲剧院发展史上新的里程碑。本书最后还对南北方昆曲的艺术风格以及北方曲社、学校对北方昆曲传播和教育作了探讨，对当代昆曲艺术生存与发展问题以及昆曲艺术的未来发展做了展望。最后的附录部分为笔者2011年在美国哥伦比亚大学东亚所做访文学者时的研究成果《纽约海外昆曲社对昆曲发展的贡献》论文。

This dissertation focuses on Kunqu of how to develop and spread in North China，and what changes to happen and why from Ming dynasty to present.Kunqu originated from kunshan aria，which was very popular in Suzhou atmid-Ming.This aria was also called‘Kunqu’，which was a mixture of south aria and north aria.With the Ming's capital'smoving from Nanjing to Peking，the political and cultural significance went to north China.Kunqu also went into Peking，spreading by performance in palace，theatre and at home.The economic blooming in Peking also contributed to the flowering of Kunqu.From end of Ming to Mid-Qing，Kunqu in north China experienced a flourishing daysmarked by editing of palace plays，increasing of home drama troupe（or lompany） and professional drama troupe，and giving birth of famous classic works，such as Changsheng Dian（Long-live Palace），and Taohua Shan（PeachFlowerFan），while there existed imbalance of developing and spreading of Kunqu in north China.Atend of Ming，Kunqu was very popular in Beijing，also in Tianjin，Hebei，and Shanxi，while there weren't literary record of performance of Kunqu in the other areas in history until Qing dynasty.There were frequent performance of Kunqu in Beijing，Tianjin and Shanxi，also in Liaoning，inner Mongolia，Ningxia，Gansu，also in Xinjiang.Therefore these performances contributed to the extending of Kunqu.But at end of Qing and beginning of Minguo（Republic of China），Kunqu existedmainly by zheziplay（excerpts），and performance in king palace and rural areas in Hebei.Drama troupes of Kunqu were nearly to disappear before liberation.New China's governmentgave reform and alteration to folk drama in 1950s and in 1960s in order to adapt them to ideology.Themain policies towards folk dramamarked by Three Reform（reform of play，reform of player and reform of institution） in 1950s，and Three Coexisting（modern play，traditional play，and new editing play）.The political effect on Kunqu at these two ageswas characterized by Shiwu guan（Fifteen guan） of1950s，which gave birth to Kunqu again，and Li Huiniang（Miss Lee） of 1960s，which brought a doom to The North Kunqu and Theatre after giving ephemeral glory to her.Li Huiniang was one of the fuse of causing ten years’‘Wen ger’（Cultural Revolution）．The ten years’Cultural Revolution put forward the politicalization of art to the extreme point under the direction of the‘extreme Left’policies，and clamped down all theatres and coupes of Kunqu.Since 1979，Kunqu was given rebirth by government. Key words：art extending；art change；drama art；northern Kunqu；Kunqu