Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

A Musical Time Capsule from Java

1993; University of California Press; Volume: 46; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/831966

1547-3848

Benjamin Brinner,

Theater, Performance, and Music History

Transcriptions of Central Javanese gamelan melodies published in England in the early nineteenth century by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles and John Crawfurd are recognizably similar to compositions performed today and offer an opportunity to gauge change in an oral tradition. Comparison with modern concordances shows considerable stability in modal practice and the idiom of the rebab, provides evidence of changes in specific pieces, raises questions regarding regional variants and the significance of melodic register, and supports the viability of early repertory lists from other sources as a basis for historical research.