Dawn Prayers / 後朝の歌 (2012)
Genre / ジャンル
Quartet / 四重奏
Instrumentation / 編成
high voice, 13-string koto (with voice), viola, piano
高い声、13絃箏（声）、ヴィオラ、ピアノ
高い声、13絃箏（声）、ヴィオラ、ピアノ
Duration / 演奏時間
16 minutes / 16分
Text / テクスト
Anonymous text in Japanese
日本語の無名著テクスト
日本語の無名著テクスト
Other information / 他の情報
Premièred 25 October 2012, Unitarian Church, Tokyo, by Masumi Yoshikawa, Naoko Kikuchi, Yoshiko Hannya, Kaori Ohsuga
2012年10月25日、同仁キリスト教会に於いて、吉川真澄氏、奈緒子菊地氏、般若佳子氏、大須賀かおり氏によって初演されました
2012年10月25日、同仁キリスト教会に於いて、吉川真澄氏、奈緒子菊地氏、般若佳子氏、大須賀かおり氏によって初演されました
Not yet published. Contact the composer for further information.
See also the 2011 and 2013 versions (with different instrumentations).
See also the 2011 and 2013 versions (with different instrumentations).
Programme Note
The texts for this piece are taken from a famous 14th century Buddhist story Aki no Yo no Nagamonogatari (A Lengthy Tale for an Autumn Night). They tell of the 12th century monk Sensai (sung by the singer), who fell in love with Prince Umewaka (sung by the koto player). They exchanged love letters and spent one night together before Umewaka was spirited away by a demon. This provoked a war between Sensai’s temple and some rival ones which resulted in many deaths and the burning of many temples. In the end, Umewaka is returned to this world by the demon, but upon seeing the destruction caused by his disappearance, he writes one last regretful poem to Sensai and then throws himself into a river. The final poem of the piece was written by Sensai to honour Umewaka’s memory.
As with all my recent music, the harmonic relationships are governed by quasi-serial matrices, in this case made up of numbers derived from the calligraphy of the original poems. Sensai and Umewaka have different matrices derived from their respective poems, so the melodic and harmonic content of their musics are different. At different times, one matrix or the other is used (mostly following the narrative structure of the poetry), but sometimes the two matrices are in counterpoint. The overall structure of the piece, in five large sections, exactly mirrors the traditional Japanese poetry syllabic structure: 5-7-5-7-7.
As with all my recent music, the harmonic relationships are governed by quasi-serial matrices, in this case made up of numbers derived from the calligraphy of the original poems. Sensai and Umewaka have different matrices derived from their respective poems, so the melodic and harmonic content of their musics are different. At different times, one matrix or the other is used (mostly following the narrative structure of the poetry), but sometimes the two matrices are in counterpoint. The overall structure of the piece, in five large sections, exactly mirrors the traditional Japanese poetry syllabic structure: 5-7-5-7-7.
解説
この作品で用いられているテクストは、名高い14世紀の仏教説話である《秋夜長物語》から採られた。これは瞻西上人(＝声楽家)と、上人が恋い慕った稚児の梅若(＝箏曲家)の話である。二人は恋文を交わし、ほんの一夜限りの契りを結ぶのであったが、やがて梅若は天狗に攫われてしまう。梅若が突然姿を消したことが引き金となって、三井寺(山門)と叡山(寺門)の間で争いが始まり、京の寺々は焼け落ち、多くの死人が出た。その後、龍神によって天狗から助け出された梅若は、この無残な市中の有様を見て、瞻西上人に辞世の歌を遺し、みずから川に身を投げたという。最後の歌は、上人が梅若の思い出に捧げたものである。