CHINESE & KOREAN ORGAN &
HARPSICHORD MUSIC
Calvert Johnson
RCCO, Victoria BC, July 2010
CHINESE
(China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc.)
• The Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)
destroyed organs and Western music generally
• Since 1976, Western music has been
rehabilitated in China, composers have studied
in Europe and North America, and organs
installed in major concert halls (especially
Beijing, Shanghai)
• Major concert halls, churches, universities have
organs in Hong Kong and Taiwan
Musical Styles & Themes
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Traditional ChineseMusic
Christian Music
Western “abstract” instrumental music
Fusion of Chinese and Western musics
Pei-lun Vicky CHANG (Taiwan, b. 1966)
• DMA (organ), Cincinnati Conservatory
• Music Director, St. John’s Lutheran, Lancaster NY
• Suite for Organ (1995-2000)
– Cloudy Sky: based on Taiwan folk tune ‘Teanh-oh-oh’\
• Originally for clarinet and organ for performance at National
Concert Hall where audiences were unfamiliar with the organ
• Intro, statement of folk tune, ostinato pedal and
accompaniment, development
– Raining Night’s Flower: based on Taiwan folk tune
‘Woo-yah-hwui’
• Intro, choral style, development with triplets, trio in canon
CHAN Ka-Nin
(Hong-Kong-Canadian, b. 1949)
• BM (composition study with Jean Coulthard), U of
BC; DMA (composition), Indiana University
• Professor (composition/theory), U of Toronto
• Reflection and Promenade, 1992
– Commissioned by Toronto Centre of RCCO, 1992
– Reflection: lyric, contemplative piece climaxing near the
middle. Introduction and coda consist of high and low
notes, to suggest communion between heaven and earth
CHAN Ka-Nin
• Promenade: “describes a casual excursion of a youngster
who seems to find everything in sight interesting and
exciting. … The complexity of intricate rhythms and
mixed meter is offset by the simplicity of using only the
white keys of the keyboard.”
• Phantasmagoria: (a rapidly changing series of things), is a
fantasia. “The momentum of the horizontal
progression is akin to quantum molecular motion
where individual parts may seem to be moving
randomly, [but] the overall state of the matter is
gradually changing.”
WANG An-Ming
(Chinese-American, b. 1929)
• BA, Central China University; BA, Wesleyan
Conservatory; MA, Columbia University
• Mystic Moments (2009): world premiere TODAY
– Opening theme (a minor) accompanied by cluster chord,
and then by flowing melody and slower pedal
– Second theme (c minor) in parallel thirds
– Development: First theme inverted (g# minor)
alternating with Th 2
– New theme in quartal harmonies (g minor) and variant
of Th 1 in parallel 6/3 chords (c minor)
– Recapitulation of Theme 1 (a minor) as at beginning
Man-Ching “Donald” YU
(Hong Kong, b. 1980)
• BM, Baylor University; DMA candidate, Hong
Kong Baptist University; international career
• Style: intermingling of lyrical language of atonality,
Chinese color, and impressionistic elements
• Meditation: entirely from opening motive
– various tempi (and diminution), tonal centers
• Mystical Aria: derived from one motive
• (triplets, 16ths, 8ths, ending with augmented triad
• Toccata fantastique: 3-part form
– Calmer central section contrasts with perpetual 16ths
KOREAN
• Catholic missionaries (17th century) never particularly
successful—seen as anti-Confucian
• Protestant missionaries (19th century) allied with Koreans
against Japanese occupation
– About 7 pipe organs imported before 1950—all destroyed in
Korean War
• End of WW II, Protestant Christianity very popular
– Over 50% of Koreans are self-identified as Christian
– Following Japanese model, organs installed in concert halls,
universities, and churches
– Koreans avid about Western music, win performance competitions
– Korean composers up-to-date in all Western musical styles
Musical Styles & Themes
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Christian Music
Western “abstract” instrumental music
Fusion of Korean and Western musical styles
Korean characteristics/preferences
– Timbre: preference for raspy or buzzy sounds
– Tone: fluctuating, gliding, vibrating (wide), ornamented
– Rhythm: tempo is slow, based on breathing, and gradually
speeds up; triple meter prevails (but 5/8 common); rubato
– Expression: essential, especially for deep emotions
– Improvisation: essential, even in ‘fixed’ compositions;
spontaneity is typical--the same work might be longer or
shorter at different performances
Myung Whan “Johann” KIM (b.1959)
• Dentist, turned composer; BA, Musikhochshule,
Vienna; DMA, Southern Baptist Seminary (2010)
– Influenced by theory of Bell Harmonies
• Favors Christian music, hymn-based organ works
– George Beverly Shea’s revival hymn “I’d Rather Have
Jesus” builds from a mystic atmosphere into a set of
variations before returning to the opening mystical
material.
KIM Myung Whan “Johann”
• “O Steal Away Softly to Jesus”: an imitative organ trio
similar to 18th-century works by Bach and Krebs.
• “To understand this music properly, we need to
understand the meaning of the ‘Mystery of God’ …
This music has its own harmonic background … It is a
mixture of the instinct of the composer and [his] new
expanded interpretation of traditional harmony.” After
studying the harmonic and contrapuntal possibilities
inherent in the Gospel melody, Kim “developed it
according to the musical and spiritual principles, so that
both the player and audience go to Jesus nearly.”
LEE Young Jo (b. 1943)
• BM, MM, Yonsei University; composition study with
Carl Orff and Wilhelm Killmayer, Hochschule für
Musik und Theatre, Munich; DMA, American
Conservatory
• Professor, Dean, Korean National University of Arts
LEE Young Jo
• Style: Korean traditional emotional content
within German avant-garde approaches.
• Influenced by Messiaen, Poulenc, and Ravel.
• Zen: principle of yin (long sustained notes in
dissonant seconds) and yang (rapid chromatic
oscillating ornaments equal in importance to
main notes).
– Pentatonic scales with added chromatic pitches
CHAE Kyung Hwa (b. 1958)
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BA, MM (composition), Seoul National University
Graduate study, Karlsruhe Musik Hochschule
Professor, Yeung-nam University
Style: fuses Korean folksong with Western theory
Dara-Dara II: Korean folk song about the moon
– Expresses admiration of and harmony with the moon
– Various timbres and sound resources of the organ reveal
the mystery and beauty of the moon
– Slow beginning, rapid build-up of complex rhythms and
registrations; statement of folk tune; complexity, slow,
simple ending
Isang YUN (1917-1995)
• Studied composition in Korea and Japan pre WW II
• In 1950s, study at Paris Conservatoire; and at Berlin
Musikhochschule with Boris Blacher; attended the
International Courses at Darmstadt. Became
German citizen
• Professor: Hannover Musikhochschule (1969);
Hochschule der Künste in Berlin (1970-1985)
YUN Isang
• STYLE: post-Webern musical style is described as
“euphonious dissonance.”
• Combines Korean performance practices and idioms with
European instruments, using various avant-garde styles.
• From 1959 used 12-tone serial techniques, combining
elements of Korean traditional court music (glissandi,
pizzicati, vibratos, and ornamentation) to individualize
various melodic lines of his counterpoint.
• Often his main melodic motives are the tonal and structural
centers of his works.
YUN Isang
• Fragment: constructed as a large dynamic arch
– Begins softly at a low pitch, building gradually to a
fortissimo spanning the full range of the keyboards, and
retreating to an extremely soft high pitch.
– The durations are precisely notated, but have a
somewhat improvisational effect and haunting quality
not unlike that associated with Korean pansori.
– Recording: Calvert Johnson, concert 2001, Atlanta
• Tuyaux sonores is a study in densities, timbres, and durations,
similar to Ligeti’s Volumina but using Korean aesthetics
• Recording: Gerd Zacher, Wergo 6620-2.