Colletions of Western music in Japan: an introduction.
2009; Volume: 56; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2471-156X
Autores Tópico(s)Literature, Musicology, and Cultural Analysis
ResumoHistorical Background was introduced to Japan when Francisco de Xavier (1506-1552), a Jesuit missionary, arrived there in 1549 and asked leaders of the time, including Yoshitaka Ouchi (1507-51), Yoshishige Otomo (1530-87), Nobunaga Oda (1534-82) and Hideyoshi Toyotomi (1536-98), to support Christianity. As a result of this request, a choir was already active in Oita of Kyushu district by 1555, while lessons in vocal and instrumental were given at a seminario, or collegio, in Kyushu. In 1605, Manuale ad Sacramenta, the first publication of Christian liturgy with in Japan, appeared. Thus, the first introduced to Japan by the Jesuits was Christian liturgical supplemented by instrumental for lute, viols, winds and keyboard instruments. However any further development of was blocked by the gradual suppression and ultimately the prohibition of Christianity from 1612 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868, which ended the national isolation of the Tokugawa government and opened the country to culture. The only that managed to survive during the years of isolation was the secret tradition of the Kakure Kirishitan, or the Hidden Christian, which continued in the southern islands near Nagasaki. Early Kirishitan and the of the Kakure Kirishitan has been researched by Prof. Tatsuo Minagawa of Rikkyo University, and the results have been published with recorded examples on CD and DVD. (2) Following the Meiji Restoration and the opening of the country the government started to invite musicians from Europe and the United Sates. The first to be invited were experienced leaders of military bands such as John William Fenton (1828-?; arrived in Japan in 1868), Gustave Charles Desire Dagron (1845-1898?; arrived 1872), Charles Edouard Gabriel Leroux (1851-1926; arrived 1884), and others. During his four-year stay, Leroux served as an instructor for the Military Band of Japan, and the Nippon Kindai Ongakukan (Documentation Centre for Modern Japanese Music) preserves his collections, though not complete, and related documents. In 1880, the Meiji government introduced education within elementary schools under the leadership of Shuji Izawa (1851-1917) and Luther Whiting Mason (1818-1896) from Boston. The related documents have been preserved by the library of the Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku (Tokyo University of the Arts), the former Tokyo Music School. Subsequently, more musicians and teachers arrived from countries as an increasing number of Japanese started to study while others began studying abroad. Christian missionaries also returned, including those of the Russian Orthodox Church (to Hakodate in Hokkaido, the northernmost district of Japan, in 1861) and of Protestant Churches, who in 1874 published the first hymn in Japan, which in turn influenced the first published song book for elementary schools in 1882. Since that time collections of have been amassed by personal collectors or official organizations, and schools or foundations have often purchased such collections. (3) Important Issues Today It should be kept in mind that today for most Japanese people, the category refers to Western music, excluding traditional Japanese music. This situation poses a definitional problem today when many Japanese composers write using Japanese traditional instruments but with compositional techniques associated with the conventions of European art music; such compositions are, despite their cross-breeding, regarded as Western music in Japan. It is only in recent years that Japanese traditional has been included in educational curriculum as an obligatory component of study. In 1988, the IAML Conference was held in Tokyo, and a special volume of Fontes Artis Musicae was devoted to Japanese issues was published. …
Referência(s)