Steven Nuss
Music of Japan Today III: Tradition and Innovation
Abstract:
Music from the Right: The Politics of Toshiro Mayuzumi's *Essay for String Orchestra*
In the wake of its defeat in World War II, Japan of the 1950's and 60's was a
country undergoing a collective identity crisis. The new social order and
political system imposed on Japan by the United States during the post-war
period created confusion at all levels of Japanese society. Toshiro Mayuzumi
was a member of an unofficial yet influential post-war clique of Japanese
critics, intellectuals and artists whose remedy for this confusion was a
redefinition and preservation of what they believed to be the cultural and
spiritual soul of Japan. Mayuzumi with, among others, the novelist Yukio
Mishima, the politician Wataru Hiraizumi, and the poet Seiji Tsutsumi, were
outspoken critics of the Westernization of Japanese society. They appealed
to national pride by claiming the existence of a Japanese uniqueness or
"Japaneseness" that needed to be nurtured and defended, and to that end,
advocated what many regarded as right-wing, nationalistic policies.
As a composer, Mayuzumi's position was unique within this nationalistic
circle, for while his compatriots espoused their views in the printed and
spoken word, his principal vehicle of communication was the more abstract
world of musical sound. This paper examines ways in which Mayuzumi's social
and political views inform the musical language of his" Essay for String
Orchestra." Drawing on elements of semiotics, the concept of recomposition,
and a knowledge of the theory and practice of traditional Japanese noh, I
identify the source and musical language of the work's pervasive
"Japaneseness." My identification of the musical specifics of this
"Japaneseness" explains Mayuzumi's choice of the recompositional model for
"Essay", and shows the work to be a subtle yet powerful statement of
Mayuzumi's political agenda.
Steven Nuss
Formerly on the faculties of Seishin University and International School in
Tokyo and Hiroshima University, and Queens College of the City University
of New York, Steven Nuss is currently Assistant Professor of Music at Colby
College in Waterville Maine where he teaches music theory and an
interdisciplinary course in world music and religion. Mr. Nuss has a
long-standing interest in the traditional music of Japan and in 1994 was
awarded a Fulbright Grant for study at the Tokyo Music College and the
Kanze Noh Theater in Tokyo to pursue his studies of the connections between
the contemporary and traditional musics of Japan. He completed his Ph.D. in
1996 at the City University of New York Graduate Center. His dissertation
entitled "Tradition and Innovation in the Art Music of Post-war Japan"
combines his knowledge of the theory and practice of Japanese traditional
music, especially Noh and Gagaku, with western post-tonal analytic
techniques in studies of music by Toru Takemitsu, Minoru Miki, Toshiro
Mayuzumi, and Tokuhide Niimi.
In addition to his duties as a teacher, he is also active as a performer.
He is the conductor for the Locrian Chamber Ensemble in New York City, a
group dedicated to performing music composed in the last ten years. He is
also a member of the Kanze school of Noh actors in Tokyo and has performed
various roles throughout Japan including a performance at the Imperial
palace in Tokyo last summer. This is Steven's second visit to Hamilton
College.
Lecture: