JAPANESE MUSIC FORMS ARE MUCH USED BY WESTERN COMPOSERS

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6814, 18 January 1929, Page 12

JAPANESE MUSIC FORMS ARE MUCH USED BY WESTERN COMPOSERS

TOKYO. That modern Western music owes much to the music of Japan was the contention of Henry Eichheim, a violinist and composer, formerly of tho Boston Symphony Orchestra, in a receent address before the Asiatic Society of Japan here. Mr Eichheim, who for some time has been studying Oriental music for purposes of composition, said:

“Debussy, latest and greatest of the exponents pf sound beauty, was profoundly influenced by Japanese music, and much of liis work uses Oriental tonality. Tho Oriental tonal forms were perfected (500 years ago and have not been changed in the least since then. China had fully annotated_ music 1000 years before the Egyptians, who are often regarded as tho originators of written music.

- “Much Chinese music is tin written, being passed down from generation to generation, from teacher to pupil. It is impossible to make even the slightest changes in it without spoiling the whole effect. It was perfected so long ago that it has long since discarded our experimental methods. Tho ‘sheng’ or 'sho’ which gives a background of chords, was in use 900 years before Europe thought of chords. The weight and force of our music has long since been discarded in favour of the delicate line that ours lacks. Our musicians are too intellectual, too highly trained; those of the Orient blond inspiration and intellectuality so that neither is apparent. “The Oriental artist is constantly conscious of the artificiality of his work in contrast to our striving after natural effects. Our personal experiences are much more vivid and tragic than anything reproduced on a stage, and consequently our imitative art falls short. Purely artificial art escaped this, and I cannot help believing that they arc right and we are wrong. “I am sorry to see Japan .adopting our instruments and forms. Not only are they incapable of realising tho full use of them because of their different background, but their own are naturally superior in many respects. The elasticity of complex Oriental tonality is something that Western music acutely lacks and may some day have. ’ ’