Hildegard
Behrens' concert tour of Japan in March 1999 with world-renowned conductor
Seiji Ozawa and the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra gives us occasion to
ponder the elevated status of western classical music in Japan and to appreciate
the genuine universality of music.
Classical music, first introduced from Europe and the United States in the
Meiji era (1868-1912), is one of the great beneficiaries of Japanese post-war
prosperity. Yes, the music of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Wagner enjoys
a popularity in modern Japan comparable to that in Western capitals. But
more importantly it has become so tightly woven into the fabric of modern
Japanese culture that it has held its own through the economic downturn
of recent times. Its fate in the next the next milennium is not a cause
for worry. And why not? One answer lies in the country's music education
program, which may well be the envy of music educators in America today.
Throughout Japan, instruction in Western classical music is a continuing
process which begins at the compulsory-education level and continues on
to the level of the colleges and the schools of music. In contrast, instruction
in traditional Japanese music is left largely to the initiative of private
organizations and individuals. This bifurcated system has succeeded in sustaining
a culture of music, both traditional and western, at the grass roots level.
Is it any wonder that recent decades have seen an emergence of world-class
musical talent from Japan (and other Asian countries such as China and Korea
which take music seriously)? Consider some musical facts*
about this country of 125 million - about half the US population living
in an area roughly the size of California:
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The
first symphonic performance in Japan took place on February 19, 1887
during the commencement exercises of the Tokyo Conservatory of Music
in which a chamber ensemble of strings and winds played the second
and third movements of Beethoven's First Symphony. |
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The
first professional symphony orchestra was founded on October 5, 1926
following the success of a Japanese-Russian 1924 goodwill concert
at the Kabuki Theater in Tokyo. First known as the New Symphony Orchestra,
it metamorphosed into the Japan Symphony Orchestra
in 1942, becoming in 1951 the NHK Symphony Orchestra, considered Japan's
preeminent
orchestra.
Today, there are 28 professional
symphony orchestras and
over
580 amateur orchestras. |
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Most
all major cities and prefectures have their own orchestras. But in
the metropolitan Tokyo area alone can be found
the largest number of professional orchestras of any city in the world.
Annually, about 4,000 professional
performances are offered in the Tokyo-Yokohama corridor - that's
more than 25 a day,
again more than in any other city in the
world!
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In
the 1990s, performances by foreign artists, ensembles and orchestras
accounted for about 25% of all classical music presentations in Japan,
the percentage rising or falling by a few points depending on the
economy. There were more than 1,000 such presentations in Tokyo in
1997. |
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Today,
the performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony ("Choral")
is a year-end tradition, accounting for a great number of concerts
- one Tokyo orchestra recently presented Beethoven's Ninth 29 times
during the year,
and in December alone there were 77 performances of the symphony by
local Tokyo area orchestras! So popular that the "Ode to Joy"
has become a favorite in sing-alongs. Handel's Messiah and
Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker are also very popular during the holiday
season. |
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Music
festivals are held regularly, of which the best known is the Pacific
Music Festival founded in 1990 by the late Leonard Bernstein to
foster international understanding through music. Held in Sapporo
every year, the festival offers concert performances by some of the
the world's most renowned musicians some of whom are engaged to conduct
educational programs in which talented young musicians, selected through
worldwide auditions, participate. In 1999, the festival takes place
over 25 days from July 10 to August 3 and the Artistic Director will
be Michael Tilson Thomas, Director of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.
(Among the festival's guest artists in 1997 were Fanfaire's featured
artists Hildegard Behrens and Jean-Yves
Thibaudet who returns in 1999.) |
And finally, is it any
wonder that Japan has an abundance of concert halls, possibly the greatest
number in the whole world? (The Tokyo area alone boasts of 150!) Many of
the concert halls completed in the last two decades are architectural masterpieces
incorporating the most advanced acoustic technology. It is in five of these
halls that Hildegard Behrens and Seiji Ozawa conducting the New Japan Philharmonic,
with alto Jane Henschel perform in concert (from March 20 to 29, 1999) excerpts
from Richard Wagner's Götterdämmerung. Click any item below
for a quick survey of five of Japan's, and indeed the world's, finest concert
halls.
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