UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
Date:______
I, ______, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: in:
It is entitled:
This work and its defense approved by:
Chair: ______
Survey of Choral Music
By
Selected Twentieth - Century Korean Composers
A thesis submitted to the
Division of Graduate Studies of the University of Cincinnati
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting
in the College-Conservatory of Music
Committee Chair – Dr. John Leman
2005
by
Young Ju Choi
B.M., Chung Ang University, Seoul, 1981 M.M., University of Cincinnati, 1990 M.M., Univercity of Cincinnati, 1995
i
Abstract
My thesis, “Survey of Choral Music by Selected Twentieth-Century Korean Composers,” will deal with the choral works by seven twentieth-century Korean composers: Byung-Chul Choi(B.1935), Byung-Dong Peik(Boo-Ki Chung's work “Jub Dong Bird" Boo-Ki Chung's work “Jub Dong Bird" In- Young La(B.1936), Young- Jo Lee(B.1943), Dong-Hoon Lee(B.1945), Jung-Sun Park(B.1945), Boo-Ki Chung(B.1954) and Sun-Kyo Lee(B.1960). These composers, well educated or trained in the styles and idioms of their native Korean musical tradition, all studied Western styles and procedures of composition in the United States or Europe, and combine in their works element Jung-Sun Park(B.1945), s of Korean and Western musical forms, styles, and procedures. Although Western music was introduced in Korea only about 120 years ago, it has developed rapidly. A survey of choral compositions by the seven composers selected will show the use of Korean traditional styles in their Western-inspired music. Following are the compositions included: Byung-Chul Choi(B.1935) Boo-Ki Chung's work “Jub-Dong Bird," In-Young La's “Ka Si Ri," Young-Jo Lee's work “Kyung," Jung-Sun Park(B.1945). The Conclusions Chapter summarizes the main characteristics of the choral music of each composer and provides some suggestions for further research, evaluation, and to make it better known. The format of the thesis is in two volumes: the first volume includes the content of the research and a catalogue of choral pieces by the selected composers; the second volume includes some music scores.
ii iii Acknowledgements
Let all the glory be with God who has led me to complete this thesis. I specially thank Professor and Dr. John Leman, who has taught me with heart and soul and patience. In addition, I thank Professor and Dr. Earl Rivers and Professor and Dr. Elmer Thomas for their great teaching and advice. I am also deeply grateful and special thanks to Dr. In-Gi Min for his dedicated assistance in this thesis. Finally, I thank my lovely wife Young-Mi and two sons for their encouragement, love, and patience which I know I cannot ever repay.
iv Table of Contents
Volume I vi
Chapter 1. Introduction 1 Chapter 2. Summary of Korean Musical Development from the 4 middle of the Nineteenth Century to the Present. Chapter 3. Survey of Choral Music by Selected Korean Composers: Bung-Chol Choi 29 Byung-Dong Paik 34 In-Young La 44 Young-Jo Lee 55 Chung-Sun Park 62 Dong-Hoon Lee 74 Boo-Ki Chung 83 Chapter 4. Conclusions 94 Bibliography 99
Appendix. Catalogue of Musical Works 102
v
VOLUME I
vi Introduction
Korean choral music has a short history of about 60 years. It has developed rapidly and has produced a large amount of high quality choral music that has been influenced by both Korean traditional music and
Christian music.
Christian music is a crucial element of Korean choral music. At the end of the nineteenth century, in 1885, Horace G. Underwood of the
Northern Presbyterian Church and Henry G. Appenzeller of the Northern
Methodist were sent to Korea from the United States as missionaries. They spread hymns and established schools, hospitals and churches. This was the beginning of Western music in Korea. The Korean choral movement was realized from the development of Western music at that time.
My thesis, “Survey of Choral Music by Selected Twentieth Century Korean
Composers,” will deal with choral works by seven twentieth-century
Korean composers: Byung-Chul Choi (b.1935),
1 In-Young La (b.1936), Byung-Dong Paik (b.1936), Young-Jo Lee
(b.1943), Dong-Hoon Lee (b.1945), Jung-Sun Park (b.1945), and Boo-
Ki Chung (b.1954). These composers, well-educated or trained in the styles and idioms of their native Korean musical tradition, all studied Western styles and procedures of composition in the
United States or Europe, and combine in their work elements of
Korean and Western musical forms, styles, and procedures.
Although it has only been about 120 years since the introduction of
Western music to Korea, it has developed rapidly. A survey of choral compositions by the selected seven composers will show the use of Korean traditional styles in their Western-inspired music.
My thesis consists of two major sections. The first will deal with the history of Korean music and the ways in which Western musical ideas have been introduced to and adopted by modern
Korean composers of choral music. The second section will deal with specific examples of choral works that show a combination of
Korean and Western musical idioms. For each composer I shall provide a brief biography followed by a discussion of the
2 composer's choral work, stressing the ways in which Korean and
Western styles are combined.
The content of this investigation appears in two volumes. The first volume includes: a title page, acknowledgements, table of contents, four chapters containing the introduction, a summary of
Korean musical development, a survey of choral music by selected
Korean composers, and the conclusion. There follows the bibliography and a catalogue of choral music by the selected
Korean composers. The second volume contains the examples of choral compositions studied in this survey.
3 Chapter 2
Summary of Korean Musical Development
From the Mid-Nineteenth
Century to the Present
The choral movement in Korea began after the introduction of Western music in 1885. The first choral concert was performed by the Women's choir of E-Hwa Hakdang (presently known as E-
Hwa Women's University) which was founded by American missionaries in 1909. At the concert they sang "Hallelujah" from
Handel's Messiah, and it became the origin of the choral movement. 1 American missionaries had greatly influenced the
Korean society in politics, culture, economics, and not to mention the choral movement as well. Since Western music which they introduced had a profound influence on the choral movement in
1 Young Jae Kim, A History of the Korean Church (Seoul, Korea: The Korean Society for Reformed Faith and Action, 1992), 51
4 Korea, I believe it is an important aspect and it will be explained in this chapter.
During the mid-nineteenth century, the Americans prepared for missionary work in Korea. At that time, political circumstances in Korea were not peaceful and it was very unsettled due to external influences from countries surrounding Korea. By the end of 18th century, Catholic churches from France had already begun their mission work in Korea. The missionaries, however, had to go through deep sufferings and many of them became martyrs. About
800 Christians were killed and 12 out of 24 missionaries were killed due to their faith.2
Although there was serious oppression, Korea was forced to conclude amity and treaties of friendship with the United States of
America in 1882, England, Germany, Italy and Russia in 1884, and
France, Austria, Belgium and Denmark in 1886.3
The first missionary to Korea after the establishment of the
Treaty of Friendship was Horace N. Allen, an American who
2 Ibid., 59 3 Ibid., 63
5 arrived on September 20, 1884. At that time, although there was a serious oppression for the Catholic Church, he came to Korea as a medical doctor of the American Consulate. With permission from the Korean king, he founded "Kwang-Hae Won", the first hospital in Korea, on February 25, 1885. Later, this hospital experienced great developments and became The Severance Memorial Hospital, which today is known as the YonSei University Hospital.4
Since the treaty of amity was concluded between Korea and
United States, churches in America showed great interests for missionary work in Korea. Following the arrival of Allen, who was in Korea for medical services, Horace G. Underwood from the
Presbyterian Church , and Henry G. Appenzeller and his wife from the Methodist Episcopal Church also entered Korea as missionaries on Apr. 5, 1885. Missionaries Dr. W. B. Scranton from the Methodist Church and Dr. John H. Heron from the Presbyterian
Church also entered Korea.5
4 Ibid., 67 5 Yoo Sun Lee, A History of Western music in Korea (Seoul, Korea: Eun Ak Chun Cha Sa, 1985), 26
6 At first, they began with medical, educational and mission work. For educational work, Appenzeller introduced Western style education from the end of 1885, at Baejae Hakdang, which is called
Baejae High School at present. Hakdang meant “school” in Korean at that time. Mrs. M. F. Scranton founded E-Hwa Hakdang and it became the present day E-Hwa Women’s University. In 1886,
Underwood founded Kyongsin Hakdang and it is now known as
Kyongsin High School.6
As missionaries founded schools throughout the nation,
Koreans became enthusiastic about education and the number of schools in the country increased to 60 in 1910.7 As a result of missionaries establishing these schools, they included music as a subject. This may be called the beginning of Western Music.
Actually, the music class was important as a regular course.
However, more importantly, it was used as the center of the
Protestant Church.
6 Sung Jun Kim, A History of the Korean Church (Seoul, Korea: The centers of Education of Korean Church, 1980), 53 7 Mahn Youl Lee, The Cultural History of A Christian movement in Korea (Seoul, Korea: The Christian Literature Society, 1987), 203
7 Missionaries built churches at numerous places, and introduced the Western culture through worship, mission work and education. Foundation and growth of the church had great effects for Western music, and development of church choirs became a start for the development of choral music.
Horace G. Underwood built the first church, Sae-Mun-An
Church, in Kwang-Hwa-mun, Seoul, and he built more churches in other locations as well. Henry G. Appenzeller built the first
Methodist church, Jeong-Dong Methodist Church, in Jeong-Dong, close to the Sae-Mun-An Church, in 1887, and he built more churches in other places.8 By the end of 1907, there were 989 churches and worshipping places, and the number of Protestants in
1910 was about 167,000.9 As these churches were built, Christianity was developing rapidly. One of the most important aspects in the growth of the church was church music. The missionaries translated hymns that were used for worship along with their
8 Sung Jun Kim, A History of the Korean Church (Seoul, Korea: The center of Education of Korean Church, 1980), 75
9 Young Jae Kim, A History of the Korean Church
8 mission work. For this, they needed the publication of translated hymns and Bibles. This publication also helped the development of Western culture and Western music. In Korea various hymns have been published since 1892 until today. Most of them were foreign hymns translated into Korean. At first, Horace G.
Underwood published hymns with only words and no music for the Presbyterian Church, and then published hymns with music in
1894. Henry G. Appenzeller also published hymns with only words for the Methodist Church in 1892, and published hymns with music, called "Chan-Mi-Ga" in 1895.
In 1908, the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches jointly published hymns called "Hap-Dong".10
The musical education and publication of hymns by missionaries contributed greatly to the introduction of Western music to Korea. Korean Christians loved to sing translated hymns and musically, they loved triple or 6/8 music, similar to Min-Yo-Zo
(Seoul, Korea: The Korean Society for Reformed Faith and Action, 1992), 121 10 Hee Jun Choi, “ The Survey of Korean Church Music” (Yon Sei University, 1975), 59 MM. diss.,
9 (folksongs style). Therefore, Korean Christians and missionaries wanted to have hymns with traditional melodies. Missionary J. S.
Gale organized the "Cho-Sun-Em-Ak" study group in 1917 and worked hard to enable people to sing hymns with traditional melodies11. After 1945, church music composers Sang-Su Kwak,
Un-Young La, Su-Chul Chang and Dong-Hun Lee tried composing hymns. However, most of them were imitations of Western style music.
At that time, Korean traditional melodies in church music, common music and new music had almost disappeared because it was greatly affected by Western music. Since the composers were educated with Western music throughout elementary school, they could not easily disregard Western-style music. Among hymns published by missionaries, there are many which used opera music and common Western style music after changing the lyrics. Korean
Christians just sang them and thought they were sacred music. In
1967, the "Kae-Pyeon" hymnal was newly published. Among 600
11 Un Young La, “ The Modernization of Korean Church Music” , (June 1967) : 63
10 songs in the hymnal, only 30 were composed and written by
Koreans. Among them, Korean traditional folksong-style music was included and they used Korean-style rhythm "Kut-Keu-Ri-
Jang-Dan", which is a rhythm from the popular Korean belief,
Shamanism. Since the rhythm came from Shamanism and
Christians did not like it, traditional melody and rhythm had a hard time being accepted in church music.
These hymns of the Protestant Church enabled Western style music to settle in Korea, and the spread of <"Ae-Kuk-Ka" (Patriotic
Hymn) movement> and <"Chang-Ga" (Sing a Song) movement> became a start for Nationalism in Korea. Moreover, <"Shin-Mun-
Hak (New Literature) movement>, Korean Lied and Popular Music was the motive for modern culture in Korea. The origin of
In the beginning of the twentieth century when sovereignty was taken by Japan and missionaries spread Christianity, popular music came from hymns and
11 which cried out for independence. Music containing popular aspects that came from a popular movement is the new Western music
With this circumstance in the flowering time, another motive for development of Western music was the foundation of the Brass
Band. At that time although Korea was in a financially difficult circumstance, they introduced the Western style Military Brass
Band and invited a foreign instructor. Hwan-Sung News reported the following on December 18, 1900:
Today, the government invited German instructor Franz Eckert with three years contract for 300won. Eckert will leave Germany and arrive at Korea to instruct Brass Band belong to the government. Eckert instructed the Brass Band of Japanese army while staying in Japan for 20 years. He will resign and come to Korea.12
Franz Eckert, who greatly contributed to the development of Korean music, was born at Germany in 1852 and died in Korea in 1916. He was born as a son of a judge in Silezien and graduated from the Dresden Music School. He accomplished his military
12 Yoo Sun Lee, A History of 100years Western Music in Korea (Seoul, Korea: Eun Ak Chun Chu, 1985), 26
12 duties in the Army Brass Band and worked as a band-master in the navy. In 1879 at the age of 28, he was invited to Japan. After that, he worked as a music teacher at Tokyo Music School and a military music teacher for the Japanese navy. He greatly contributed to
Japanese music, and after 22 years, he was invited to Korea.13
With his great passion, he contributed in establishing the foundation of Western music in Korea in all areas including music theory, composition, Brass Band training etc. He was especially interested in Korean traditional music, and studied Sizo14 or folk songs whenever he had time. Moreover, he composed many songs based on a theme or motive. He trained many Korean pupils. In
1901, he arrived in Korea with musical instruments. The instruments he brought were good enough for present day regular military music. The instruments for the Concert Band were an epoch-making event in development of Western music in Korea.
13 Hea Koo Lee and Sung Tae Kim, The Great Dictionary of Music (Seoul, Korea: Mido Munhwasa, 1977), 941 14 Korean traditional Poem
13 The type and number of musical instruments Eckert brought are as follows:
Piccolo 1,
Flute 2,
Oboe 2,
B-flat Clarinet 7,
E-flat Clarinet 1,
Soprano Saxhorn,
Flugelhorn 1,
Alto Clarinet 1,
Bass Clarinet 1,
Bassoon 2,
Trumpet (B-flat, G) 5,
Bugle,
B-flat Cornet 2,
F, E-flat Horn 4,
Tenor Trombone 3,
Bass Trombone 3,
Bass Trombone 1,
Bass Tuba 3,
Sousaphone 1,
14 Bass Drum 1,
Side Drum 1,
Cymbals 1,
Triangle 1,
Tambourine 1,
Castanets 1,
Bell, Lyre15
Eckert brought a total of 52 musical instruments. Filled with passion and will, he began inviting applicants for members of the military band as soon as he arrived and chose fifty applicants and began training them. With a training schedule of more than six hours a day, he taught score reading, sight reading, theory, playing technique and breathing, etc., starting at the beginning of April,
1901. He gave the first concern in September. The program was divided into five stages as listed below.
1st stage
15 Yo Youl Nam Kung, The Korean Music of an Enlightened Age (Seoul, Korea: Sae Kqang Publication, 1987), 55
15 National Hymns
*Korea, Japan, England, America, France, Germany, Russia,
Austria, Philippines and Italy
2nd stage
Marches
Korean March composed by Eckert
Japan, German, America and Austria
3rd stage
Lied
* Korea, Japan, China, German, France, Italy and Spain
4th stage
Dance Music
* England, German, Italy and France
5th stage
Folksongs from Korea and Japan.16
16 Hea Koo Lee and Sung Tae Kim, The Great Dictionary of Music (Seoul, Korea: Mido Munhwasa, 1977), 961
16 The first military band actively introduced Western music to
Koreans and also enabled them to have hope and a new sense of value by giving them courage and comforting those who were feeling hopeless and depressed during the colonial period.
Following are a few Korean musicians who greatly contributed to Korean music by developing Korean music with missionaries following their encounter with Western music:
The first Korean, who was educated by missionaries and became a music teacher, was In-Suk Kim.17 In-Suk Kim (1885-
1963) was born in Pyongyang, a northern region of Korea, the year missionaries came to Korea for the first time, and he studied music at Soong-Tuck School. While he was studying at Soong-Sil Middle
School, he was taught vocal music, the organ and violin by the missionaries. After he completing his education, he taught music at Chung-Ang, Jin-Myung, Kyung-Sin, and Bae-Jae schools. In 1910,
17 You Sun Lee, A History of 100yeras Western Music in Korea (Seoul, Korea: Eun Ak Chun Chu, 1985), 91
17 the first music department was established at E-Hwa Hack-Dang
(presently known as E-Hwa Women’s University) and the first conservatory also established in Korea at that time was Cho Yang
Ku-Rak-bu. Among his many pupils were Sang-Jun Lee and Lan-pa
Hong, who are known as Schubert in Korea. In-Suk Kim organized a choir at the Y.M.C.A, where he was teaching, and he also began a choir movement. At first, he organized a male choir which later became a mixed choir. The name of choir was Kyung
Sung Chorus and they practiced at Chong-Kyo Church located in the Kwang Hwa Moon area. This choir was the start of the choir movement in Korea. He translated Handel's Messiah into Korean and held a concert. Moreover, he worked with missionaries in the translation of hymns. With these translated works and the Messiah concert, he is considered to be an excellent pioneer of the choir movement in Korea.
Young-Hwan Kim (1893-1978) was a music teacher. He learned organ from missionaries and went to Japan to study music.
18 He learned to play the piano at Dong-Yang Music School, located in Tokyo. Later, he worked as a professor at Yon Hee Jun Moon
School (YonSei University at present). He played in almost all concerts at that time, and he was the first musician who had studied abroad and contributed to the development of Korean music.18
Dr. Eli M. Mowry was an American missionary who came to
Korea in 1909. His contributions to education in Korea were great.
At first, he opened his mission work with teaching biology and
English at Soong-Sil School. Later, he organized and instructed a church choir at Chang-Dae-Hyun Church, which was the oldest church in Pyong-yang. Moreover, he organized a male choir and a female choir at the church. The female choir was the first in Korea.
Through the female choir, many great Korean musicians would be born.
With great talent and a passion for Korean music, Dr. Mowry brought a pipe organ from America and installed it in the Chang-
18 “ I want to tell some story" Chung Ang Time 19 April 1974, P6.
19 Dae-Hyun Church. As for musical instruments, he purchased them from his country and organized a brass band at the church, which was the first church band in Korea. Moreover, he established a string department at Soong Sil College, where he worked and organized an orchestra, the first orchestra in Korea. Dr. Mowry was even arrested under the rule of Japan for helping the independence movement of Koreans. This was an important anti-
Japanese movement in Korean history which took place in 1919. 19
Lan-Pa Hong (1898-1941)
The first Korean violinist and Korean lied composer, he was an important musician in the history of Korean music. Moreover, he was the first music critic who published a specialized music magazine. He studied at Cho-Yang-Ku-Rak-Bu , a musical institute which was established in 1913, and learned to play the violin from In-Suk Kim in the first specialized musical institute,
Institute of Cho-Sun-Chung-Ack, Western Music Department,
19 Kyung Bae Min, A History of the Korean Christian Church (Seoul, Korea: Youn Sei University press, 1982), 319
20 which was established in 1915. In 1933, he moved to America and studied at Sherwood Jewish School in Chicago. Upon arrival in
Korea, he began work at Kyong-Sung Broadcasting Company and was arrested by the Japanese police in 1936. The reason for the arrest was that while studying in Chicago he composed music for
Koreans who were participating in the independence movement.
In 1941, he died at the age of 44 from diseases caused by the torturing he had received while in prison.
Je-Myun Hyun (1902-1960)
Je-Myun Hyun was graduated from Soong Sil College, located in Pyong Yang, with a major in Literature. However, he had a deep passion for music which was carried out in his participation in choir activities as well as by playing the piano while in school. Je-Myung Hyun established a close friendship with Mr. Rody Heaver, who was a music publisher and president of Rainbow Record in Chicago, while he was visiting Korea.
Through the friendship, he was able to study music at Moody Bible
21 School in Chicago. When he returned to Korea in 1928, he taught music at Yon-Hee College, which is presently known as Yon-Sei
University. His pupils are amongst the most successful musicians who are participating actively in Korea today. After the liberation of Korea, Hyun organized the Koryo Symphony and established the music college at Seoul National University, the national university of Korea. This played a great role in the development of
Korean music. Hyun also composed many Korean Lied while working in the field of music education as well. He put old Korean stories such as Chun-Hyang Jun and The Prince of Ho-Dong, into musical dramas.20
Tae-Jun Park (1900-1987)
Tae-Jun Park was born at Tae Koo City in Southern Korea, in
1900, and graduated from Soong Sil College, located in Pyung Yang.
He composed many Korean Lied in 1922, and composed many
20 , A History of Youn Sei music 55 years. (Seoul, Korea: Youn Sei University press, 1974), 36
22 Korean children songs, "Dong-Yo", which expressed the national sorrow experienced under the rule of Japan at that time. Tae-Jun
Park obtained his master’s degree in Choral Conducting at
Tusculum University and Westminster College in the United States.
After his return to Korea in 1936, he worked as a professor at Soong
Sil College and put all his efforts in choral movements and church music activities. With the liberation of Korea in 1945, he organized the Oratorio Chorus with sixty members and had the first concert in which they performed the entire Handel's Messiah on
Christmas day. Since then, the concert is still held once a year and has included major works of composers such as Beethoven, Mozart,
Bach, Mendelssohn, and Haydn.
Such achievements under difficult circumstances effecting
Korea were made possible through his passion for music and the education he had received in the United States. In 1948, he became a professor at Yon-Sei University and directed choir activities as well. Tae-Jun Park went on to receive an honorary master’s degree in music from Wooster University in 1952. In 1955, he established a
23 Church Music Department at the theological college of Yon-Sei
University and became the first head professor of the Church Music
Department. In 1964, as the Church Music Department was separated from the Theological College, he became the first dean of the college of music.21
Tae-Jun Park greatly contributed to Korean church music while working as the president of the Korean Church Music
Association from 1960 to 1965. Most major choral conductors, actively performing at present, are his pupils. He began to bring an epoch-making development for Korean choral music.
With the increasing growth of churches, the number of church choirs has increased. In 1975, there were over ten thousand churches in South Korea alone and based on the number of churches, there were about seven thousand church choirs. In addition, if all school choirs, specialized choirs, and broadcasting choirs are counted, it is possible to see that the choir movement has
21 You Sun Lee, A History of 100yeras Western Music in Korea (Seoul, Korea: Eun Ak Chun Chu, 1985), 23
24 been progressing very rapidly. Following is a list of important choruses, their conductor, and the year in which they began:
1941' Seoul Chorus Hee-Nam Choi Conductor
1941' Pyung-Yang Chorus Yoo-Sun Lee Conductor
1945' Korea Oratorio Chorus Tae-Jun Park Conductor
1945' Sion-Sung Choir Dong-Hun Lee Conductor
1950' Korea Chorus Heung-Yeol Lee Conductor
1950' Si-Ro-Am Chorus Du-Hae Koo Conductor
1950' Korea Male Choir Su-Jun Sea Conductor
1950' Baek-Jo Chorus Tea-Hyun Park Conductor
1950' Chung-Hun-Music Department Chorus
1953' Dea-Han Chorus Eun-Young La Conductor
1953' Sung-Jong Chorus Sang-Su Kuak Conductor
1953' A-Nel Chorus Jae-Hun Hwang Conductor
1953' Seoul Chorus Sung-Duck Chang Conductor
1958’ Korea Male Choir 1958 Su-Jun Seo Conductor
1959' Agape Chorus Du-Hwan Kim Conductor
1966' Colleage Academy Choir Hun-Cha Chae Conductor
25 If we look at from the beginning of the choir movement in
Korea, the Professional Chorus, Women's Chorus and Children's
Choir were actively performing in 1980's and 1990's in about ten cities with support from the government. Even now, the number of choirs in each city and town has been increasing. Until the 1960's, specialized choirs were organized in churches and sang mostly sacred music. At present, numerous schools organize choirs while elementary schools and middle schools have choral festivals each year and choirs in music colleges sing high quality music.
Dr. Bob Piers organized the Sun-Myung-Hae Children’s
Choir. After the Korean War, Dr. Bob Piers established World
Vision in Korea. While he was supporting orphans, he organized a choir with the orphans. The English name of the choir is World
Vision Children's Choir, and it was founded along with World
Vision of Korea. The choir did a great job representing Korea after the Korean War with their worldwide tours and their concerts in
America. Many great directors have instructed the choir, such as
Su-Chul Chang, Jae-Hun Park, Hyo-Juk Baek, Hak-Won Yoon, Si-
26 Won Choi, Young-Ju Choi and again Hak-Won Yoon. This choir represented the Orient in performances with the Vienna Boy's
Choir. In 1988, they held concerts in 15 cities in Europe as a messenger, informing the public about the Seoul Olympics. At that time, Hak-Won Yoon and Young-Ju Choi jointly directed the choir.
Another outstanding world level children's choir is the Korean
Little Angels. This choir is well known with conductor Byung-Mu
Yoo, and also toured world-wide. They included Korean traditional dances to the programs, which was a new idea.
In Korea, Symphonic Orchestras were organized by missionaries, and at present, about 15 cities have a symphonic orchestra, such as the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and Korean
Broadcast Station (K.B.S) Symphonic Orchestra. Other than that, there are about 10 private orchestras, and many high school and university orchestras are actively performing. Moreover, through many music competitions, such as Cho-Sun-Il-Bo, Chung-Ang-Il-Bo,
Em-Ak-Chun-Chu, Em-Ak-Journal, Han-Kuk-Il-Bo, and Dong-A
27 Concours, the most authoritative concours, many talented musicians are introduced.
28 Chapter 3
Survey of Choral Music by Selected Korean
Composers
Bung-Chul Choi (1936 - )
1. Biography
Bung-Chul Choi was born in Seoul on December 8, 1936. He studied composition at the College of Music of Seoul National
University, and graduated in 1960. He also received a Master‘s degree from the graduate school of Michigan State University in 1969.
In 1961, he received an award from the First Korean Musical
Dong-A Competition, which is the most important competition in Korea. He is a Catholic and serves as the director of the Catholic
Church Music Association. He also is the president of the Korean Oratorio Society for Research, the director of the Korean
Bung-Chul was the president of the Choral Federation of
Korea and the director of the Pu-Chun City Choir since 1988. He continues to compose and conduct and is a professor at Catholic
University.
29 He has composed music in various genres. For example
Korean lied, requiem, mass, piano works, choral music as well as music for other instruments. He has composed two cantatas: Cantata Korea in 1992, and a cantata to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of
Catholic University in 1994. In addition, he has contributed to many musical publications by translating numerous texts and educational books.
While directing the Pu-Chun City Choir, he has contributed greatly to the development of the city and its culture. Each year, he has performed choral/orchestral works with the Seoul Oratorio Chorus. Moreover, as the director of the Catholic University Choir, he directed the Commemorative Concert for the two hundredth anniversary of the Korean Catholic Church in 1984. In the same year, he directed during the worship service when Pope Johannes Paulus II visited Myung-Dong Cathedral in Seoul.
2. His representative choral work
“The chimney “
This unpublished music is for female choirs with piano accompaniment. It was premiered in 1982 by the Korean World
Vision Children's Choir in 1986.
30 The following is the pronunciation and translation of the
Korean Poem:
Korean Pronunciation Translation
산골짜기 Sahngolzzagi Country side
오막살이 O mak sari Small Hud
낮은 굴뚝엔 Nazun Gultuken From the chimney
몽기몽기 웨인연기 Mongi mongi wein Smoke appears like Yonki clouds in the sky
대낮에 솟나 Dae Naze Sot na At noon
감자를 굽는 게지 Kam za rul Kup nun Where children gezi gather to
총각 애들이 Chong gak Ae Duli Wait for potatoes to be cooked in the fire
깜빡 깜빡 Kam pak Kam pak Trinkle the eyes
검은 눈이 모여 Kum eun Nuni They (those who has Moyo anza soe the black eyes) sit
31 앉아서 together
입술에 꺼멓게 Yip sul e Kumok ge Only to be blackened
숯을 바르고 Sut eul Barugo Their lips from the ashes
옛 이야기 Yet Yi Ya gi Many old stories
한 케리에 감자하나씩 Hankerie Kamza hanasik As a basket full of potatoes
살랑살랑 솟아나네 Salang Salang The smell of Sosnane, Kam za rul potatoes being 감자를 굽는내 Gupnun ne cooked
This music suggests a country view of Korea. The text describes the joyful image of children eating roasted potatoes in the peaceful countryside, where billows of smoke come out from the chimney. The form is A, B, A', B' including the piano Prologue.
32 Part A is expressed quickly and part B is expressed slowly. Part A uses the rhythm 5/8, which is characteristic of this music. However, 5 is written as 2+3 and it is repeated continuously.
Therefore, it has a special rhythmic quality. This unique rhythm expresses an image of children playing and running around innocently, free from tension and full of life. The interesting feature is that the piano has parallel 4ths for the right hand, while the left hand plays a series of arpeggios. Another interesting aspect of this music is that it uses a pentatonic scale in D minor, which combines western style and oriental style nicely.
Part A (bar 1-8, accompaniment section) is rhythmical, and the beginning is dominated by eighth notes. In parallel Perfect 4th at 16th note, the descending and ascending motion at bar 8, the tempo and style changes which follow part B to make the connection smooth and natural.
Part B (bar 9-24) still contains Pentatonic Scale in D minor and provides changes by moving onto D minor. A meter change in this
33 music, and continuous repetition of triple and quadruple are considered as the same technique, duple and triple meter are continuously repeated in part A. Only, because part B is melodic and slow, it is contrasted with a rhythmical section in part A. Parallel 4th in part A and parallel 3rd in part B are major characteristics of this music, however, basically using minor mode can be considered as the appeal of this music.
It uses D minor for the melodic part. The smooth connection without a leading tone makes listeners think back to their childhood and to the pure country scenery. A' and B' are progressed as A and B at the beginning. Gestures, which naturally end without strong cadence at the end, are the motive of enabling to remind more of kids in the countryside.
The part connected to bar 56, 57 are the climax of this piece. It is progressed to the Coda part while moving from D minor to G minor. Like the highest note ‘G’ with octave for tessitura, it is descended to the middle ‘G’, therefore the atmosphere is kept cool.
34
Byung-Dong Paik (1936 - )
1. Biography
Born in Manchuria in 1936, Paik was acquainted with music through scores, and records which he purchased from a secondhand shop during the Korean War. While listening thousands of times to those records and reading the score repeatedly, he became aware of the many styles of music and the fundamental techniques of composition. With fine musicality and enthusiasm, he was led to the composer's path.
After graduating from the School of Music at Seoul National
University, he held several concerts containing his own work, which gave him an increase in confidence as well as the desire to study abroad. After studying with Isang Yun at Hanover
Hochschule in Germany, he became a professor at Ewha Woman's
University in 1971. Following his path as a professor, he has been teaching at Seoul National University since 1976.
35 Through his experiences in Europe, he began to realize that
European contemporary music was filled with melodies inspired by techniques, and with bare sounds which lack humane feeling. Becoming conscious about his native tradition, he set out to seek sonority with warm feelings which may be called lyricism of sonority. Basically, his work is founded upon the oriental style that is Korean, treatment of tones filtered through his natural instinct and lyricism.
In his work, every single note is full of life. A whole piece is organized by two contrasting materials which sometimes cooperate with each other or interfere with each other at times as in the dual principle of the negative and the positive, horizontal and vertical, expansion and aggregation, extension and reduction, ascending and descending, tension and release, strong and weak, figurative and structural notes, and long and short notes. Thus, even though details of the Korean traditional music do not appear on the surface of his music, the sprit of the Korean music always animatedly flows in his work.
36 His main work, which totals about 100 works, includes pieces for orchestra, chamber ensemble, solo instrument cantata and opera. Also he wrote approximately thirty songs and other work for Korean traditional instruments.
Being one of the most active composers as well as a devoted teacher, he received the first New Artistic Prize, the Korean
National Composer's Award, the Seoul City Cultural Prize, etc.
2. His representative choral work
“Dae-Sa Du-Dum-Ki”
This music was played for the first time at Mr. Paik's
Composition Recital, on March 12, 1975. On October 11, 1975, the
Korean National Chorus, directed by Young-Soo La, performed this music "Dae-Sa Du-Dum-Ki" (it means “stemmer”) for fifteen people. The texture of this music is composed of five-voice parts, each voice is divided into 3 parts ; Tenor . . , Soprano . . ,
Baritone . . , Mezzo Soprano . . and Bass Baritone . . .
37 This music is remarkable, as it is played with added partial choreography, and can be considered as stage music. The text of this music was written by Young-Tae Kim. About 30% of his other poems are related to music, and the music is well contained in his entire works. Since his poems contain many realistic critical aspects and deal with the inner psyche, they are very difficult to understand. Poet Young-Tae Kim wrote this poem "Dae-Sa Du-
Dum-Ki" when the political condition was such that, there was no freedom or hope under military junta. During this time, the Korean people found their situation very difficult to express therefore their injustice was spoken silently, in their hearts. Therefore, Nonsense syllables, which are voiceless consonants ( p, t, k, ts ) and voiced consonants (b, d, g ), are used for stemmering expressions. This music may be divided into three movements based on its tempo and musical inflection, and each movement is also divided into small sections with rhythm, text and voice.
First movement :
38 The first movement is divided into five parts according to text and singing nonsense syllables. The first section is an introduction with rhythm of 3/ = 72, which is 3/4 rhythm.
Baritone and Bass Baritone sing vowels ( a e i o u ) in pianissimo with correct pitch and are mostly minor 2nd intervals.
Soprano Group and Mezzo Soprano are strong sprech stimme of consonant voice and they are sharply contrasted.
Baritone Group sings in harmonic intervals of D, C, A mixed with minor 2nd and minor 3rd, and Bass Baritone Group has harmonic gestures of F, E, D in minor 2nd and minor 3rd. It sounds like harmonic number 0, 4, 5 and 0, 1, 2 of set theory from the music of
Expressionism of Second Viennese School. Vowel sounds have horizontal melody and consonants are rhythmical as if they are mocking the world.
In the second section, Soprano sings "Mahl-Zhang-Hahp-Ni-
Dah" with the same rhythm from bar 13, and M. Soprano follows with a complicated rhythm, and then is followed by Bass. The
39 Bariton follows with a polyphony rhythm. After that, Soprano becomes the harmony with horizontal melody intervals of D ,E, F in minor 2nd and minor 2nd harmony along with major 3rd interval.
The third section, unlike section 1 and 2, has no designated tempo. It uses a time mark like a ‘second’ unit of music, out of the regular tempo mark. It has aleatory aspects along with changes in notation. It comes back to the tempo of 3/ =72 after 18-22 seconds.
Baritone sings with intervals of D, Eb, F# and Bass does with intervals of G#, A, Bb like a tone cluster, it sustained with long notes. At the same time, Soprano and Mezzo Soprano are formed as canons with their polyphony and chromatic melodies. It eventually changes to Sprechstimme from bar 23.
In the fourth section, in bar 26, the vowel sounds of Soprano and Mezzo Soprano sing with a long note. Bar 26, 30, 32 use ornamentation, which comes from the Korean singing style "Nong
Yo,” which is an traditional ornamentation of Korea. Soprano and
Mezzo Soprano form correct pitches with the combined sounds of
40 vowel (a e i o u) and consonants (ja, hi, ho, bu) sounds. Tenor is connected with Tremolo and bar 35-43 connects the Hocket Style melody.
The fifth section has four groups with the same rhythm.
Tenor I, III, Baritone II and Bass Baritone I, III maintain long note of
"m" sound, and Baritone I, III maintains "f", and Ten. II and Bass
Baritone II form a strong rhythm with no pitch for "p". Soprano and Mezzo Soprano are Sprechstimme and they finish the first movement together with other vocal parts.
2nd movement :
All the parts have one line notation (there in no staff, just for the rhythmic indications), which has no bars, and is played with
Sprechstimme with no pitch.
Mostly it is sung with the alternation of solo and chorus.
Moreover, this movement includes various dramatic aspects. The ending finishes off with mp-mf-ff dynamics, and the players leave
41 the stage. The text demands emotional instruction and motional expressions.
Leaving the stage is expressed as an escape from reality.
Moreover, when the players return to the stage after leaving, it expresses that they recognized and participated in this reality.
3rd movement :
Beginning with the composer's comment of "Da-sih-hap-sih- da" (Let's do it again) the 3rd movement is divided into four sections according to rhythm, notation, text and tempo. The 1st section is sung with simple rhythm. At the moment in which the Baritone solo starts singing, the Soprano, in pitches of C, D, E, and Mezzo
Soprano, with D, F, B, begin singing at the same time.
The male parts sing after the female parts to create an echo effect. The text, which describes the nihilistic world, expresses this senseless life by repeating the same text.
The 2nd section uses 3 line notation instead of 5 line from bar
9. It is then divided into three vocal parts: high, middle and low
42 group, instead of correct pitch. The Tenor sings a complicated rhythm, and Baritone and Bass Baritone sing a simple rhythm. In bar 13, senza tempo comes out and forms the climax with a crescendo in forte, for the ca. 16"-18".
The male and female vocals alternate, Soprano and mezzo
Soprano repeatedly sing "Itda" (There is) and "Upda" (There isn't), until finally, the males finish the section in fortissimo.
The 3rd section uses 5 line and 3 line both from bar 21. Bass
Baritone maintains a low pitch of F in unison, and Baritone and
Tenor repeatedly sings different texts with snapping and whispering. It makes the music sound like talking and it moves on to the next section.
The beginning of the 4th section, until bar 29, overlaps with the ending of the 3rd section, as well as containing one line, three line and five line notations. For one line, Soprano and Mezzo
Soprano sing with consonant sounds (k, t, p, t, k). For three line,
Tenor and Baritone sing with Sprechstimme in a strong rhythm.
43 For five line, Bass Baritone forms harmonic intervals major 3rd and minor 2nd. At the end of this section the Soprano and Mezzo
Soprano, with sforzando, create echo effects with Bass Baritone in the bar 31.
This music expresses the dark political reality of the time it was composed, through poetry and music. We can find new and similar musical attempts based on Young-Tae Kim’s works, which create the same dramatic aspects.
In Yong La (1936- )
1. Biography
In-yong La was born in 1936, at Yesan, in the province of
Choongchungnamdo. His father was an official of the local government and his mother was a devout Christian. In his early years, he found himself attracted to the sound of music, peasant bands who played on festive occasions, and as he was raised in a
44 Christian family, he was naturally introduced to Western music through religious services at church.
During his days in high school, he was in an uncomfortable condition, mentally and physically. However, he earnestly set to work to realize his aspirations in life. He began to learn to play the piano and study the art of musical composition. Then, he was admitted to the College of Music at Yonsei University. There he made more substantial studies and began to write pieces of music.
These pieces, written during his early stages, may be regarded as no more than practices in adjusting to the styles of different periods. At this time he was greatly influenced by
Professor Un-young La. Each work of his period was an attempt at new possibility and the desire to create a new form which drove him to explore the unknown world.
At the beginning of 1970, La went to the United States to further pursue his studies at the graduate school of the University of North Carolina and stayed there until 1972. It was an
45 opportunity for him to study the new musical techniques of the
West and the languages of a great master. With an intimate new knowledge thus acquired, he has developed his own musical languages.
During his visit as an exchange professor to the University of
Wisconsin and the University of Minnesota between 1979 and 1980, which was arranged under the sponsorship of the Korean-
American Fulbright Educational Commission, he had an opportunity to give students special lectures on Korean, as well as,
Western music. His intensive studies of Western music and preparations for the lectures at the American universities greatly helped him find answers to the questions he had had in the 1970s.
In consequence, he wrote an orchestral work, “The Superior Lake", in 1980. It was then that he launched into his third period.
Since then, he has continued to produce pure works of various genres. At the same time he has written quite a few works for practical religious and social use. In the latter half of the 1980s,
46 he decided to make a deliberate attempt to ascertain the fundamental nature of modern music which stemmed from traditional European music. Europe, where modern music has originated, would be the best place for such an attempt.
At the invitation of Klaus Huber, Director of the Institute for
Modern Music Research, affiliated with Freiburg i.Br.College of
Music, he went to Europe in 1987 and stayed in Germany for a year. There, he sought to find a way to delocalize the provincial tradition of a certain area and create a work of universal character.
In his works written before 1987, the inner world of philosophy serves merely as a passive medium, while concrete ideas and sophisticated techniques play the active role as the essential element. In his later works, however, the functions of philosophy and technique are reserved. That is, philosophy now constitutes the essence in his musical expression, with technique playing only the subservient part. Thus, the past tradition characterized by visible audible outer appearance has been
47 overcome and a new global universality has been created. A good example is an excellent orchestral work, “Tae", which he conceived in 1987 and completed in the following year. Though he has never mentioned his fourth period, his tour de force, “Tae", certainly demarcates another new period.
Since his return from Germany in 1988, he has put major efforts into the composition of chamber music. It may well be accounted for by his inclination due to his taste, and not by any deliberate plan to diversify the sorts, or extend the scope, of his work. In-yong La, one of the representative composers of Korea, has written over a hundred works in the past 30 years, and he is certain to produce more in the days to come.
2. His representative choral work
“Ka-Si-Ri “
KaSiRi (Farewell), composed by In Yong La, is published for a female choir version (SSA) and mixed choir version (SATB). In
1978, the Korean World Vision Children's Choir received the Gold
48 Prize at B.B.C. Choral Competition in England with this music and three other pieces of music. Generally, this music may be divided into two parts.
The first part follows Korean traditional melody style with text. The style is similar to the traditional song " Si-Zo". Si-Zo is a popular Korean song which is easy to sing, enabling anyone to sing although they have no musical talent. Si-Zo is a poem sung with fixed intervals in a syllabic singing style. This gives the song a minor harmonic mood.
2nd part has no text and uses nonsense syllables. The singing style simulates the sound of the Korean traditional musical instrument "Ga-Ya-Gum" through the human voice. "Ga-Ya-Gum" is one of the three traditional Korean string instruments. The others are Geo-Mun-Go and Bi-Pa. Geo-Mun-Go was an aristocratic instrument and Ga-Ya-Gum was a popular instrument. It is made out of powlounia trees and has 12 strings on the sounding board.
49 The origin of Ga-Ya-Gum is that Ga-Sil, King of Ga-Ya-Guk, ordered musician U-Ruk to manufacture it in 1450 22
This music is especially influenced by Ga-Ya-Gum San-Zo, which is solo music for the Ga-Ya-Gum. The melody and tempo of this music are very similar to Ga-Ya-Gum San-Zo. 23
Ga-Ya-Gum San-Zo begins playing at a slow tempo called
Jin-Yang-Zo and it eventually gets faster and faster following the
Jung-Mo-Ri, Jung-Jung-Mori and Hui-Mo-Ri. Finally, it finishes with Dan-Mo-Ri, however there might be some differences in tempo depending on the players.」
From the beginning to mm21, it uses slow tempo =66.
After that, there are rhythm changes with the text. From 3/4, 5/4,
4/4 mm22, the tempo changes to =75 and gets exciting. From mm29, it gets even faster with =95, and uses nonsense syllable
"Tun". This sound is the expression of Ga-Ya-Gum through the
22 En-AK. Dae Sa Jun . Mido Munhoa Sa . 1977 P. 42
23 En-AK. Dae Sa Jun . Mido Munhoa Sa . 1977 P. 43
50 human voice. As the rhythm changes to Triplet (8 notes), mezzo
Soprano sings another nonsense syllable "Tung" in quarter notes.
From mm33, they sing with "Tung-Tang" and it has a lot of tempo changes, such as 5/8, 3/4, 5/8, 3/8, 3/4, 5/8, 2/4, 5/8, 2/4, 5/8 etc.
From mm45 to mm53, the tempo changes with the text. Again, it seems to use slow tempo =45, however, you will feel like it moves on quickly because they sing in 16th notes and in double meter. The music is sung with nonsense syllable and text together, until mm60.
From mm61, the tempo is =75, however, the music will feel slow and peaceful because it uses long notes. From mm75, it has tempo
=45 and because of the 16th note, it is played very busily.
Likewise, until mm89, it changes to a slow tempo at Da CaPo and the piece finishes.
The text is very simple and it expresses a very sorrowful scene of two lovers who have to leave each other. The text is as follows:
Kasiri Kasiri Kasiri Ko
Nanam burigo Kasiri Ko
51 Nanam wejung Jul ga
Tea Pyung Sung Dae
Like the Korean traditional song, "Arirang," it portrays the sorrow of separation and the heart wishing to hold a lover who has to leave.
If we look at the style of the melody, the first three bars begin with long notes and uses fast 8th notes from mm2 and again uses relaxed long notes. On the music, it looks like F minor, but Ab is more likely the decorating sound. In another words, it expresses the Korean traditional melodic style by adding decorating sounds of Ab to the melody C F G F C F, right before G.
It uses an imitative technique at the beginning, and a homophonic style in the finishing phrase. The unison in mm21 is a well organized part, located right before the next complicated structure comes. The harmony in mm11 is D, F, C, which uses D minor 7th a lot. mm12 uses mingled D major 7th and minor 7th. By using major 2nd harmony a lot at various places, it positively
52 expresses the sorrowful heart. In mm22, the changing phrase from polyphony to homophony is another character of this music. It uses triplet a lot to emphasize the text. For the melody in mm29,
Soprano sings in linear motion, and mezzo Soprano sings in skipping motion with half-notes and quarter-notes. While the singing proceeds, the music gathers the power by using strong homophonic gesture with light polyphony like in mm36.
As it is in Ab decorating intervals in d minor harmony for the melody at the beginning, the accidental notes in mm56 and 57 are word painting effects, which Renaissance composers used to use. This music expresses the sorrow and sadness for a lover, who is leaving, by using Ab pitch (mm14.25.28.55.60.66 etc.) This music uses decorating intervals in several places, which is a Korean traditional playing technique, "Nong-Yo," which is a kind of decorating interval like Trill.24
24 Kuk-AK-Tong-Non, Chung Sa hun, Jung En Sa 1979 P.27
53 From mm61 to 69, it mostly uses long notes to express hocket style, which is similar to the Klangfaben Melody, Anton Webern at
Second Viennese School, often uses. This part forms the next section in 16th notes and contrast by expressing calmness, which is the opposite of the later part. mm27 uses rest notes to express the meaning of blandness in oriental art.
Through the discussion of this music, oriental aesthetics must be addressed as well. mm1～3 and mm70～73 at the beginning may be considered as blank. The depictions of sorrow, loneliness and elegance through monotones are the beauty you can find in oriental aesthetics. Moreover, simple harmony with no various colors also considered the view of oriental aesthetics. The emptiness, in someway, is the intentional harmony. The last section in =45 uses 16th notes nonsense syllable "Tun Tun Tun" and "Tung-Tang-Tung". For the climax, Alto and mezzo sing in forte from mm77, and Soprano and mezzo sing forte in perfect 4th from mm85. The perfect 4th used several times in this music, adds the sorrow and oriental feeling to whole music. From mm87, the
54 rhythm changes to 4/4, and diminuendo is used with f-m f-p, and it goes back to a slower tempo like the beginning of the piece. mm89 is sung with D interval, which gives a very lonely atmosphere. The last quarter note Eb" is sung by Sop. and they sing in minor 2nd interval. Mezzo. goes back to the beginning with
C" interval and finishes it with an interesting harmony of major 2nd
+ minor 3rd in C, D, F at mm10. The music expresses the sorrow of letting a lover go.
Young Jo Lee (1943 - )
Young Jo Lee was born in 1943 in Seoul, Korea. Since he was born, he grew up in an influential musical environment. His father was a representative composer, also listed in this paper, in Korean modern history and a musical educator. The great achievements of his father are listed in Chapter II of this paper, and his name is
Heung Youl Lee.
55 Young Jo Lee learned piano and fundamental music theory from his father, and learned musical theory and composition from composer Dong Jin Kim, who was a friend of his father. While he was studying at YonSei University, College of Music he received a
Bachelor and Master's degree and also learned composition from
Un Young La. While he was studying at YonSei University College of Music, he was strongly influenced about harmonizing Korean traditional music with western music. After he graduated from
YonSei University Graduate School, he went to Germany to study at Munich National Music College. He strictly studied German modern music under Professor Carl Orff and Wilhelm Kilmyer.
After he came back to Korea, he worked as a professor at YonSei
University, and received a doctor's degree at the American
Conservatory in Chicago, United States.
After that, he worked as a professor at the American
Conservatory and returned to Korea. He is working as the principal of Korean National Arts Institution, which educates talented Korean musicians.
56 Kyung
Kyung is the Buddhist Scriptures composed for male choir.
It is penitence part among Buddhist Scriptures. This piece gives listeners the image that within a temple in a quiet forest, Buddhist monks are chanting sutra. This gives the piece a mysterious deep atmosphere. Chants of Sutra, read by many Buddhist priests, create heterophonic effects, as well as, give an empty feeling. It uses three Korean percussion instruments, which are Mok-Tak,
Zing and Buk (Drum). Mok-Tak is a wood block Buddhist priests use when they pray. Zing is made of metal and it is a traditional percussion instrument that creates a long lasting echo when struck.
Buk (Drum) is a traditional instrument, which is a kind of drum.
The music uses these three percussions and piano forte for accompaniment. This music may be divided into three parts based on its structure. The following is a diagram of the structure and vocal power:
Section measure vocal structure
57 power
simple counter point with long
A mm1～57 T.T.B.B note
Homophonic gesture
Double Complicate counter B mm58～72 T.T.B.B point with short note T.T.B.B
simple counter point with long note C mm73～131 T.T.B.B Homophonic gesture
and Heterophonic motion
A section is for T.T.B.B male voice and it begins with rolling in tremolo of Buk (Large Drum), until the 6th bar. Generally, the
Buk (Drum) is used at Buddhist temples and is usually placed outside of the temples. These days, the Buk (Drum) is played on the left side of the stage in a concert.
58 From mm6, it begins with piano forte accompaniment, however, it is more like a gesture to create dramatic effects instead of being just an accompaniment. In mm11, the interval does not change and is simple at a low pitch with dynamic changes.
Moreover, fff-ff-f-mp-pp begins from Bass II to Bass , then to Ten and finally to Ten . At the same time, a traditional melody Sijo
Style song begins to play. Sijo is a type of traditional Korean lyric song. 25 Sijo is divided into three parts based on singing type.
Pyong Sijo, Chirum Sijo and Sasol Sijo.
8th note ornament in mm12 is an ordinary Korean traditional playing style which has two types: Nong Hyum and Toe sung.
26Nong Hyum is a decorating interval which has 4th or 5th intervals at a certain pitch, and is ascended. Toe sung is the descending of a certain pitch with 2nd or 5th intervals.
25 KuK Ak Tong ron, Man Young Har and Sahun chang, Hnakuk Kuk Ak hoe. 1975. P.145 26 Kuk Ak Tong ron. ______
59 These two methods are often used as a playing technique for
Korean traditional instruments or vocal music. The triple and the trill with 3rd degree intervals in mm13 and mm17, are ornaments, which is also a Korean traditional playing technique. Ten . in mm23 and 27 use perfect 4th, and gives a religious atmosphere where by using chromatic technique, as well. In mm26, percussion
Zing adds a mysterious feeling to the religious atmosphere. In mm31, new notation is attempted. This can create heterophonic effects, making any pitch in about 5th interval.
Section B uses Bass . . . and Bass . . . . Moreover, the Bass separates into two parts, as well as using imitation counter point, overall. Furthermore, this section has a special complicated polyphonic structure with two fixed patterns and . You can think of the patterns as one of the series technique. Bass . . . always plays and Bass . . . always plays .
This B section is played with only Mok-Tak (similar to a wood block) with no accompaniment. They are individually
60 scattered, like stepping up stairs, in half-steps when the text repeats in new notation at mm67 and 68. This section also gives heterophonic effects, and like Part A, it finishes with Zing.
In Section C, A pitch, of simple quarter-notes in piano forte, is continuously played in T.T.B.B, similar to Section A. The Tenor sings Sijo like Section A, but Bass starts with different patterns, and , as in Section B. As Ten. and Bass continue to sing complicated intervals, a simple piano accompaniment is contrasted to maximize the effects of Heterophony. From mm97, it changes into a double male choir in T.T.B.B. T.T.B.B, and uses mobile notation technique, which American contemporary composer
George Crum used. In mm105, each part is scattered into individual rhythms. From mm110, the pitch is chromatically ascended with high pitches, and finishes with the rolling of drum at fff. Again in mm115, Mok-Tak is played, and then quarter-notes in piano forte are simply played. As it is played in Sijo singing style at pp in section A, it changes to morendo at pp. mm128 finishes the
61 music with the playing technique of Mok-Tak, which traditional
Buddhist monks play.
Chung-Sun Park(1945 - )
Jung-sun Park was born in the province of Wonju, Korea. He acquired a B.M. in composition from the College of Music at
Hanyang University, and an M.M. degree in composition from the
Eastman School of Music in the University of Rochester with additional studies at the School of Music in the Catholic University of America.
He was awarded “Best Musician of the Year (1990)," in the part of composition, given by the Association of Korean Musicians, the ninth Korean National Composer's prize(1998), the Howard
Hanson Orchestral Prize from the Eastman school of Music(1984), the grand prize at the Contemporary Music Society in the Seoul
(C.M.S.S) Contest, and second prize at the 19th Dong-A Daily News
Music Contest.
62 His compositions have been performed several times by the
Seoul Symphony Orchestra, Korean Symphony Orchestra and many other ensembles. Also his works were performed in the
Taipei, Tokyo, Paris, Helsinki, Bayreuth, Kiev, Dovrich, St.
Pestesburg, Australia, Canada and the U.S.A.
Particularly his choral pieces are works with a peculiar character written in a Korean style of contemporary music. They have been performed in several foreign countries, as well as, in the countryside tour with choruses that included Hankuk Male Chorus,
Seoul Ladies Singers Suwon Civic Chorale, World Vision Childrens
Choir, etc.
He is a member of the Contemporary Music Society in Seoul, the Asia Composers League (A.C.L) and the International Society of
Contemporary of Music (I.S.C.M). He is presently a professor of composition at the College of Music at Dankook University, in
Seoul.
63 In Cun Mass
In April 1996, this music was composed for the In Chun
Civic Choral. The choir played this music on their European Tour
Concert in 1996 and in the United States, in Atlanta, for the Atlanta
Summer Olympic Games, in 1996. The text of this music has 6 movements, that include, 1. Kryie, 2. Gloria, 3. Credo, 4. Sanctus, 5.
Benedictus, 6. Agnus Dei, which are used at Catholic Churches.
Vocal power is acapella with the mixed voices of Soprano,
Alto, Tenor and Bass.
1.Kryrie :
Korean traditional melodic style is often used for the melody line. The rhythm in mm2 came from Tahryung27, which is a Korean traditional song. Like Gregorian chant, mm3 may be considered as
Neumatic style.
27 Tahryung: Korean traditional folk song. It is improvised and sings freeiy
64 If we look at the structure, mm14 has polyphony style and mm15~19 is played homophonic, as well as, adding D intervals to
A minor. The characteristic of this music is the perfect 4th of
Soprano and Alto. In mm16~19, it uses chromatic style, and Alto and Bass maintain perfect 4th at mm17. mm22~23 is major 7th making the music very tense. In mm28~41, Tenor and Bass sing in unison, Soprano sings the same melody that was sung at the beginning of the piece, and Alto sings a simple melody. From mm59 till the end of the piece, Bass leads the melody, and Soprano,
Alto and Tenor harmonize with Bass in homophonic style. It has an alternating song style of solo and choir, similar to one of the
Gregorian Chant singing methods. At that moment, the melody of the Bass connects to the Korean traditional melody and rhythm the chorus tried at the beginning. D interval is added to diminished 7th in mm68, and it uses minor 7th in mm70, and 5th omitted minor 7 in mm80. In other words, he generally used the method of adding certain intervals to a simple harmony.
2.Gloria:
65 The beginning uses unison until mm20. The contrast between the duet and homophonic chorus, is its characteristic. In mm21, 22, 23, the rhythm uses short 16th notes, and Tenor and Bass use new notation using inexact pitches.
He tried to contain earnest meanings in his music by using text "Domine Deus" repeatedly. From mm27 to mm36, it forms polyphony structure by using a simple rhythm pattern. Quarter notes and Fermata in mm37 are used as a connection for the next structure. mm38 is processed very actively, and the text “Jesus” is expressed with triplet rhythm, and quarter notes are used for
"Christe". From mm38 to mm44, it starts to get complicated with the use of polyphony structure, however, from mm45, he used whole notes to make it feel relaxed. From mm48 to mm55, the melody used in Kyrie movement is used again and is contrasted with other parts. mm56 and mm57 use new notation. The contrasted structures between the Tenor solo and male choir, and of Soprano solo and female choir, create heterophonic effects. mm58 and 59 use Klang faben melody, used by 2nd Viennese
66 School composer Anton Webern. Each measure finishes with homophonic harmony. This part uses poly-chordal technique.
The female part uses minor 3rd, Bass uses perfect 4th, and Tenor uses minor 3rd to make it extremely tense. From "Jusu Christe" in mm73,
Bass starts to sing with heavy dissonance sounds of G, C, D, G, B, F, using a technique of tone cluster. The text from mm75 to mm83, is
"Cum sancto spirito,” and like all composers of the past, it uses a joyful and fast rhythm. Moreover, the structure naturally proceeds from homophony to polyphony. For the closing section, it uses a long crescendo and finishes with fff in mm92.
If we look at the harmonic characteristics of this movement from several bars, it changes from major 7th to major 3rd in mm17, from minor 7th to major 7th in mm68, and it uses perfect 4th for mm87. The dynamic characteristics of this piece are the subito crescendo in mm34, ff in mm46, and subito crescendo and ppp in mm47. They create very dynamic effects and fff in mm91 may be considered as the expression of strong faith.
67 3.Credo:
This whole movement can be divided into 177 measures, and they have two melodic lines. The motive of the first melodic line is
B, A, G, and the motive of the second melodic line is C, B, G. These two melodic lines have a strong minor character, since they especially use Korean traditional melodic lines.
The first melodic line is YukjaBagi, which is a traditional
song of the Southwest region of Korea constituted with 6 meters,
and the second melodic line is Tah-Ryung, which is also a
traditional song.
Their structure is contrasted between male and female parts.
Later, they get along together and become homophonic in tone.
For example, Tenor and Bass sing from mm74 to mm78, and
Soprano and Alto reply to the male choir.
Unlike Haydn and J.S Bach, who composed “Et Homo factus est” very quietly, Park used a strong expression ff and Hemiola rhythm. In “Crucifixus,” he used these two melodic lines at the
68 beginning. The first melodic line is sung by Tenor and Bass, and the second melodic line is sung individually by Soprano and Alto.
“Passus” is simple and emphasizes dissonant sounds by using crescendo from p to f. It has a strong expression until
“Resurrexit,” wherein a part plays a melody and the other parts reply to it, alternately. You can find that from mm94～98, mm121～131 and mm149～177.
The harmony mostly uses a minor style with added intervals.
In mm98, minor and major harmony continuously alternate, and in mm168 an interesting harmonic tone is created by adding F# to Bb major 3rd. For dynamics, it uses fff with accents, and finishes with subito p and ppp.
For cadence, it begins in G minor with added D interval, to A minor, and G major with added A interval. The melodic line gives a sense of loneliness.
4.Sanctus:
69 This movement uses the structure in which Bass Solo is added to SATB Chorus. The Bass solo uses Korean traditional melody, and the harmony is A minor with added B interval, in mm11. From mm27 to mm38, it uses the same method used in
“Passus,” and only Bass Solo is added. The Bass Solo often uses a chromatic technique. “Gloria tua” in mm23 uses Poly Chordal, which is B major and F minor sung at the same time, to create the expression, the sky is full of glory.
A-men at the ending is formed in dynamic ff with accent and diminuendo pp, in 5 measures. For pp, Sop, Alto and Tenor are added to create echo effects, and it finishes with ppp.
5.Benedictus:
Bass and Tenor proceed in perfect 4th in mm1～20, as well as,
Sop and Alto in perfect 4th. This progression is similar to Medieval organum technique with a slow tempo in quarter notes. From mm21 to mm32, they sing a simple 3rd harmony. Moreover, it
70 alternates between songs of Bass, Sop and Tenor. In mm30～32, the harmony is processed in G-F-E and Am-C-E. The end progression of the 3rd relationship, C-E, increases in mood with “Hosanna” 9/8 rhythm. Bass is connected with 8th note triplet, and the other parts are processed rhythmically with Hemiola rhythm. In mm40～49, the melody is sung in unison. Bass maintains a long A interval in unison, as a pedal tone. The interval between Bass and the other parts continuously maintain perfect 4th. In mm50～58, there are three different rhythms and melodies to create a counter point. Sop plays a short rhythm in 8th notes and quarter notes. Alto and Bass have dynamic movements with 8th notes, as well as, processing the same rhythm in different ranges. Tenor and Sop show similar movements, however, they move on to ending with very complicated and various structures using the same rhythm in different ranges. The remaining four bars give a wide feeling with long notes containing accents, and the last fff accent is a dramatic climax.
6.Agnus Dei:
71 This music is divided into four sections, A, A', A", A"', with coda and processed in variation styles. In section A, Sop Solo sings
8 bars. This melody was adopted from the Korean folk song melody, Chung Sun Arirang, and gives a very sad feeling. From mm9~mm17, Chorus Alto, Tenor, Bass and Soprano sing an alternating song. At the same time, interval of Sop 1st and 2nd form perfect 4th and the other parts form a harmony, in which major 2nd is combined with minor 3rd.
In section A', from mm18~mm25, and its structure is similar to that of section A. It uses Sop unison instead of Sop solo, and the harmony and interval in the chorus are sung a little differently.
Tessitura is a higher pitch than in section A. In the chorus, Bass and Tenor use Perfect 5th and Alto uses Perfect 4th, and together they form a harmony. In other words, the chorus F, B, C, in section
A is 8 bars, and section A' is 11 bars. It has a poly-chordal structure, processing Bass in Perfect 4th and Alto in major 3rd, at same time.
72 In section A", the first bar uses the same melody as in A and
A', however, it uses Descant of Sop. and Tessitura is higher.
In the chorus, Sop maintains high A interval, and the other parts, Alto, Tenor and Bass, are Double part. Perfect 4th of C, F for
Bass, Major 2nd of C for Tenor, and Major 2nd of C, C for Alto are played with accents, which sounds like yelling. The last variation
A'" is different from the previous sections. First, the melody of the
Solo form a mixed melody of Descant in A" and Sop. unison.
However, in mm53 and mm62 is processed under the effects of the previous melody. In mm13, the Sop solo and Alto, Tenor, Bass chorus are progressed with humming. The structure of the harmony is connected similarly to the previous sections.
In mm63~69, all 4 parts are double choir with previous rhythm patterns. Bass uses perfect 5th, Tenor uses major 3rd, Alto uses major 3rd and Sop uses perfect 4th along with major 3rd to make the part more poly-chordal as a whole.
73 When the choir sings “Amen,” coda is the last 5 bars.
Diminuendo is used at f", and it finishes quite ppp with C major chord.
Dong Hoon Lee(1945 - )
Dong Hoon Lee was born in Korea in 1945. He received his
Bachelor of Music, and M. M. degrees in Composition from the
College of Music at Hanyang University, studying with Professors
Kyung Sun Suh and Choong Hoo Park. From 1979 to 1983, he taught at both Hanyang and Sungshin Universities. In 1983, he moved to the United States and studied at Temple University in
Philadalphia, Pennsylvania. Clifford Taylor was his primary professor at Temple. He received his Doctorate (D.M.A) in composition in 1987. During the summer vacation while at Temple in 1985 and 1986, he studied choral music at Westminster Choir
College.
74 Dong Hoon Lee is an accomplished composer and conductor.
His major accomplishment is that he was the choir director of The
Little Angels. Among Dong Hoon Lee's compositions are
“Hansando" ,“Rainy Night", and various other compositions for chamber orchestras. He has performed these compositions in a number of locations around the world. After graduating from
Temple University, Dong Hoon Lee returned to Korea. He is currently an associate professor (Chairman of the Composition
Department) at the College of Music, in Dankook University, in
Seoul Korea. He is the director of the choir at Somang Presbyterian
Church in Seoul. He is also a member of the Asia Composers
League.
Korean Sanctus
This music was composed for Sahm Kwa Kum, meaning Life and Dream, Singers in June 1998, and was introduced by them. The
75 reason that the title of this music is Korean Sanctus instead of
Sanctus, from general Mass, is because of the accompaniment in the music. For the accompaniment does not use western instruments but rather, uses four percussion players, which is organized with
Korean traditional instruments called Sa-mul-no-ri. This accompaniment style was perhaps the reason for the title, Korean
Sanctus. It used the same ordinary Latin text of Mass, and he only composed the Sanctus. If we look at the meaning of Sa-mul-no-ri,
Sa means 4, Mul means some object that is percussion here, and
No-ri means playing. Therefore, it means “Four Percussions”
(Koeng-gwary-ri, Zing, Buk and Jang Go).
Koeng-gwary-ri is a small round metal percussion, the diameter of which is about 20 ㎝. It is played with a hard wooden mallet and in short notes. The sound is sharp and strong. Zing is a large metal instrument, which is four times larger than Koeng- gwary-ri but, resembles it in shape. It is played with a large soft mallet, and its sound has a loud and wide echo. It is mostly used for long notes.
76 The size of the Buk (Drum) is little larger than the Zing and it looks similar to a drum, but with leather on both sides. It is often used in Korean traditional music. Vocal solo Pansori, which is mono opera, uses the Buk (Drum) as an accompaniment to the instrument. It makes sounds when the leather is struck with a wooden stick. Jang Go has a light wood sounding board of about
70cm, and leather on both sides. To play this instrument, you must hit the leather on both the left and right sides, with long, thin bamboo sticks. It is mostly used in parts that have short notes with fast tempo. This music is divided into three parts. The following is a scheme of the form of the piece:
Text Sanctus Benedictus Hosana
Vocal power SATB SATB SATB accompaniment Samulnori acappella Samulnori
77 Sanctus:
If we look at parts one by one according to the text, the first
Sanctus part may be divided into three parts based on its tempo and text. Following is a scheme of movement of sanctus:
Tempo Adaggio =66 4/4
A Text Sanctus
Key center e minor
Tempo Andane =86 4/4
B Text Sanctus, Dominus, Sabaoth
Key center e minor / g minor
Tempo Moderato =102
C Text Plenisunt Coeliet terra
Key center e minor / e minor
In part A, the tempo is very slow. Sop. and Bass perform perfect 5th, and Alto and Ten. perform in 3rd parallel. The
78 beginning has no accompaniment, and the first bar begins in e minor, and has a very serious feeling to it. The Chorus part has a homophonic style. As the accompaniment and singing parts are harmonized, the accompaniment is played in harmony with two and four tutti, and is played with Solo and Bass from mm19.
In Andante part B, he uses long notes, however, it mostly forms a syllabic melody with a basic 8th note rhythm. The homophonic style in part A is contrasted with the polyphonic style in part B, by processing a short Fugatto style. The key signature in mm30 is G minor, but it also has a C minor harmony. As it maintains C minor with intervals A and C, without 3rd Eb interval, similar to A minor, it moves on to part C with Moderato. The key signature of this part is B minor, but it uses Eb minor. It is processed eventually faster and faster with a simple quarter note rhythm. It has five different rhythms, where homophony and polyphony are mixed, in syllabic. The Bass line in mm41, forms
Neumatic line, and it uses an imitation technique with the connection of Tenor in mm43, Alto in mm35 and Sop in mm47.
79 From mm53, meter 4/4 and 5/4 are repeatedly used, and it uses acapella with polyphony, from mm76 to mm91.
After that, Samulnori is used again and the chorus changes
to homophony. The Accompaniment decorates the ending with a
short rhythm of 16th notes, and only the chorus is sung in g minor
Sanctus, in Subito forte.
Benedictus:
This music is acapella and has five changing key signatures.
Tonality has a major mode and is processed in keys such as C major,
F major, A major, C major and G major. At the beginning, Tenor alone, forms a C major chord and simply sings Benedictus. Soon after, Ten and Bass reply with sub dominant. mm5 is repeated like the previous parts, where Ten and Bass reply with changing chord to A major. In mm15 and 16, 2nd inversion of C# major to F major with 3rd relation. In mm17, it changes to F major, and the Bass line and other parts, Sop, Alto and Ten, are connected like the responsorial psalmody between canto congregation or chorus of
80 psalm singing at medieval churches. mm. 36 uses G major 2nd inversion, and mm37 uses A major 1st inversion, which process without any modulation gesture. In mm37, between Sop + Alto and Ten + Bass, there is a feeling of pair imitation. As the meter changes from 3/4 to 4/4 in mm53~59, the Bass part proceeds smoothly from A major to C major with long notes in linear motion, while the other parts move with simple notes. mm. 84 modulates
D major as the dominant of G Major.
The key signature is G major but D major is continuously maintained. In mm104, it forms A major as the secondary dominant of V/V, and finishes simply with a relaxed and simple pentatonic scale, in mm109.
Hosanna:
This music is divided into two parts based on its text. It is divided into Sanctus and Hosanna. The key signature of Sanctus is
D major, however it overly gives a feeling of A major. Only
Samulnori at the beginning starts with a strong rhythm.
81 In this movement, the tempo, becoming faster from other movements, begins with Allegro = 120. The chorus in mm30 sings
Sanctus in dynamical A major.
Sa-mul-no-ri and chorus are alternated in an antiphonal singing style. In mm16, imitation technique is used with a polyphony texture. mm25 is played in a cappella without an accompaniment. All the voice parts sing a complicated text with a heterophonic rhythm. In mm51, as the rhythmical pattern is changed to a melodic pattern, Hosanna coming next, which has d minor, but the previous A major is considered to have a long dominant. The key center of this movement is D minor. In mm78, it is changed to F minor and has a modulation of major 3rd relation.
Again in mm92, there is a tempo change with simple rhythm in D
Minor. After the complicated tempo change, the chorus sings simply in quarter notes with the accompaniment of Sa-mul-no-ri.
82 Boo ki Chung(1953 - )
Boo ki Chung was born in 1953 in Bo Eun City, Chung
Chong Buk Do, which is located in central Korea. He studied composition at the Yon Sei University College of Music and studied composition at Karl Shuje National Music College Graduate School, in Germany. He learned composition from Eun Young La and In
Young La when he studied in Korea, and learned from Dref Venner
Velte when he studied in Germany.
He received an award for his composition at Dong-A
Concours, which is a very authoritative Concours in Korea.
Moreover, his works were performed in the Seoul Music Festival s and Contemporary Music Festivals. Among his many compositions, I would like to discuss Job Dong Birds' for which he received the Gold Award at B.B.C Choral Competition, in 1978.
A major characteristic of his music is that Korean traditional music is always included. Therefore, he found materials for his
83 music from Korean traditional folk tunes. We can easily find traditional playing techniques in his music. He is the composer with the most interest in Buddhist music among Korean musicians at present, and is taking an important part in modernizing
Buddhist music. For the most part, he uses oriental scales and focuses more on emotional parts.
Since Korean traditional music emphasizes more on melody than harmony, he tried very hard to create an appropriate harmony for Korean melody and rhythm. At present, he works as a professor at Chung-Ang University College of Music Composition
Department, and still has great interests in Buddhist music and is composing various types of music. The following is a pronunciation and translation of the Korean poem.
Korea pronunciation Translation
접동 Zub-Dong Zub-Dong
Zub-Dong Zub-Dong
84 아우래비 Auraby my brothers
접동 Zub-Dong Zub-Dong
진두강 가람가에 Zin Du Kang Karam Ka eh At the Zin Du river side
살던 누나는 Sal Dun Nuna Neun my sister who lives
by the
river side
진두강 앞마을에 ZinDu Kang Ap ma eul eh birds crying
near the village
와서 웁니다 Wa Seo um ni dah
옛날 우리나라 Yetnal urinarnh long time ago
in my
country
먼 뒤쪽의 Meon Dui Jok ui
85 진두강 가람가에 Jindu Kahng Karam Kae my sister who
lived by
the river died
from scorns
from her step
mother
살던 누나는 Sahl dun nuna nun
의붓어미 시샘에 ui But umi Sisame
죽었답니다 Juk u sum nida
누나라고 불러보랴 nu na ra goh bullu borah I want to cry to
call
오-오 불설워 oh-oh Bul Seo ruh my sister oh-oh my
poor sister
my sister
who died
from
86 시샘에 몸이 죽은 Sisameh moni Juken her step
mother's
jealousy
became
우리누나는 uri nuna nun a bird.
죽어서 접동새가 Juk uh su Jubdong Saegah
되었습니다 Doe u sumnidah
아홉이나 남아되는 Ahop Ynah Nahma Doe nun There were
nine
brothers
오랍 동생을 O rap dong sang eul
죽어서도 못잊어 Juk u Seo do Mot Yi jeo They never fogot
their sister
차마 못잊어 Chama Mot yi jeo never never
87 야 삼경 남 다 자는 Ya SamKyung namda janun When
everyone fell
into a
밤이 깊으면 Bam yi Kip u myum deep sleep
at night
이산저산 옮아가며 Yisan Jusan Olma gamyeo flying from place to place
슬피웁니다 Sul pi Umnida only to cry sadly
This music was composed in 1977. He used a basic pentatonic scale and organized this music with 8 scales with five basic intervals of C.D.E.G.A and adding three more intervals C#,
Eb, G#. For the form of this music, he used A-B-A' Ternary form with introduction, transition and coda. Especially, he used a speaking voice in A(a') B(b'), and it was used as a contrast aspect in
A'(a'). For notation, he used a modern notation technique.
88 Moreover, he also used several other methods. He tried to express the feeling by using Vibrato and Portamento of Nong Hyun28, which is based on Korean traditional music, and made a new attempt for notation by using three line notation. He also tried to use an aletory music technique for the Transition and Coda parts.
In the Introduction, the first four bars are processed with an imitation method, which expresses the birdcall of Zub Dong bird, and progresses in order of Alto - Soprano - Contra alto→Alto, with
Vibrato from f to p, to express the sorrow of Z.D Bird29 The rhythm always start from up beat to down beat, and expresses the birdcall of Z.D Bird with using short up beat 16th notes. At the same time, it uses 5 tone of A, C#, D, Eb, E, and maintains perfect 4th of A and D intervals in mm3, and it uses harmony minor 2nd and major 2nd of
C#, D, E to create a mysterious harmony, which gives a dark and heavy feeling by using vibrato.
28 Non Hyun: It means the banter of String Instruments, which is a plying technique for decorating interval 29 Z.D: The initial of Zub Dong Bird
89 Part A is divided into a + b, and uses small ternary form with sub parts of a and b. a part (mm5~mm18) uses a polyphony style until mm10 and uses homophony structure in mm11~mm14 while expressing Z. D. Bird in ff. mm14 uses Portamento and it expresses the exhausted singing Z.D Bird. For the basic scale in part a, it uses the contrast of 5 tones A, C, D, E, G and another 5 tones A, C#, D#,
E, G#. In mm14, he combined minor 2nd and major 2nd for expression. mm5~mm18 is similar to the introduction, but it expresses the exhausted singing Z.D Bird by using a low voice.
Mostly part b (mm19~mm28) uses a speaking voice, that is
Sprech-Stimme, however, it used fine tones of C, D, E, G, A in
Perfect 4th and 5th intervals, and 16 notes are used for rhythm. For structure, it uses a polyphonic gesture, and uses a homophonic structure in the ending. For dynamics, it uses a strong crescendo ending in fff and a diminuendo ending at mm28 in ppp to express the song of the exhausted Z. D. Bird. In Transition I, Soprano Solo and Contra-Alto Solo sing repeatedly talking to each other with a very sorrowful text.
90 Part b has the structure of c+Transition+d c: mm30~mm45
Trans: mm46~mm47 d: mm48~mm72
C part has a slow tempo = 60, and D part is contrasted with a faster tempo of =90. mm20 uses perfect 4th and major 2nd, and mm34 uses major 2nd and major 3rd, and Pentatonic is used for the scale. mm36 uses Eb and C#, and mm44 uses Ab and Gb. The ending of part C is cried out. mm44 uses minor 2nd + minor 2nd of
Gb+G+Ab with F+F#+G. mm45 uses Portamento again and the text is expressed well.
Transition is the connecting part of c and d. It has no intervals, however, it uses 3 line notation by dividing the pitch into
3 parts. The rhythm is divided according to syllable, and each singing part may begin differently according to the cue of the director. The sorrowful expression is expressed with slow Vibrato.
91 In the beginning of part D, the melody is distributed to each singer, just like Klanfaben melody of Anton Weben at the 2nd
Viennese School. This part forms the melody by adding Bb and Eb to the Pentatonic Scale. The structure changes from polyphonic to homophonic. In mm61~mm69, he used Sprech Stimme notation with a certain pitch. In mm69, Soprano sings A pitch. mm71~mm72 has the harmony structure of minor 2nd and major 2nd of E, F, G. In mm72, the decorating intervals create a Korean traditional folk style.
A' is a'+b' +
a': mm73~86
b': mm87~99
The tempo of part a' is Andante di molto =72, which is a little slow, and uses minor scale. Until mm81, Soprano Solo is added. For the Soprano Solo part, it is processed with imitation in
Low 4th. The pitch in mm77~78 maintains major 2nd, and mm81, 83,
92 85 have minor 2nd relation. For the climax in mm81, it uses the portamento.
From part b', it uses Pentatonic Scale, and two vocal groups,
Speaking Voice group and Correct Pitch singing group. They progress together with crescendo (mf-f-fff) while maintaining a constant tension condition. Moreover, F interval is added to the
Pentatonic scale. It has an appropriate unison, and the last chord in mm98, F, G, A, has the mixed harmony of major 2nd and major
2nd.
The Coda finishes naturally like it is giving up everything after having gone through all the passionate and complicated parts.
93 Chapter 4
Conclusion
If we consider that the foreign missionaries were the beginning of Western Music, the time of stable education and systematic structure in about 120 years of history may be considered later than the Korean War in 1950. The seven composers in this paper, although they may be old, have studied
Western music following the Korean War. Taking this into consideration, the actual history of the choral activity and movement is only fifty years. During this short period of time, religious faith and the seed of Western Music which came from foreign missionaries developed rapidly with the growth of churches in Korea.
In this foreign and educational culture, Korean Traditional music has been kept, and the Korean government and educational institute have also been trying to maintain and develop traditional
94 music through studies and musical activities at the Korean
Traditional Department or in many cities.
As each country has their own history and their own emotion, there are philosophies, feelings and moods specific to
Koreans. Sometimes, this mood cannot be understood by the younger generations, but generally, the sorrow called 'Han' found in Korean traditional music cannot be described in English. If described as a color, it is like a dark gray mood, which is sorrowful but is difficult to describe to others. Many Korean artists, such as dancers, fine artists, and musicians are trying to introduce the music to our younger generations. All the composers are especially interested in the traditional aspects of choral music and composing music in this mood.
The music I discussed in this paper also contains Korean traditional philosophy and artistic styles. The music of Boo Ki
Chung or Chung Sun Park expresses the beauty of emptiness. This beauty of emptiness is the mood commonly expressed in oriental
95 arts. In other words, when people draw a bamboo tree, orchid or
Japanese apricot tree, they draw on only 1/4 space of the whole white paper with black paint called "Mook" and leave the other space empty. The printing on the paper is beautiful, but the empty space also makes you feel the silence. We call this the beauty of emptiness. We can easily find the beauty of emptiness in Korean
Traditional Music.
The Vocal Music is sung in Solo with diminuendo, pentatonic, long pause, rest note, voice solo and percussion accompaniment. In most cases, the harmony is either simple or focuses on the melody. You can feel the emptiness in the parts of the songs with slow tempos. The traditional percussion group with four percussion, called Sa-mul-no-ri, in Korea Sanctus of Dong Hun
Lee and Korean traditional string instrument, called Ka-Ya-Kum, in
In-Yong La's music are used for expressing the life with sounds.
They used Wood Block, which Buddhists use, and other traditional musical instruments and tools, and composed the music, where
96 traditional aspects and techniques were well mixed with Western music.
However, although the traditional aspects and techniques are used in music, they may or may not be universal. I believe the composers in this paper tried to compose their music in a universal view. When they tried to compose a piece of music, they tried to compose it within the fundamental knowledge and common sense of Western music, and tried to provide new color by also adding
Korean traditional aspects. In addition, their goal was to challenge a certain rule, as well as, follow the rule. I believe good music is composed through numerous attempts, infinite imagination, the longing for new things, and a memory and flavor of old things.
Due to these reasons, I spent much time selecting the various music and composers.
Chimney, composed by Bung Chul Choi, and Ka si ri , composed by In Young La, and Zub Dong Bird, composed by Bu Ki
Chung, all received the Golden Prize at B.B.C Choral Competition,
97 in 1978. Moreover, I chose this music because I directed the Korean
World Vision Children's Choir, which performed at the competition with the composers, from 1985 to 1988, when I had to leave them to study at the University of Cincinnati. Since
Buddhism was widely spread before Christianity was introduced in Korea and Buddhist culture was taking a great part in Korean history, I added "Kyung", composed by Young Jo Lee, which tried to mix western music with Buddhist aspects. Moreover, I chose the
Dae Sa du dum gi, composed by Byung Dong Pack, for my paper because I believed that at least one piece of music containing the
Avant-garde style was required.
I assume there are some parts for critical evaluation and opinion. From the view of Traditional Western Music, there are some awkward parts. I believe that they could have incorporated more Korean traditional instruments, but they did not. In addition, they could have made more attempts with tone color, accent and technique in their actual playing techniques to create a more
Korean mood. I would like to conclude this paper with an
98 expectation for greater music, and an expectation for foreign composers with their traditional melody and mood.
99
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. The Korean Church and the Nevius Methods. New York : Fleming H. Revell, 1928.
. Religions of Old Korea. New York : Fleming H. Revell, 1932.
Han, Mahn Young, In Poung Chun. 동양음악. [The Oriental Music].
Seoul : Sam Ho Publications Inc., 1996.
Han, Mahn Young. 한국전통음악연구. [The Survey of Korean Traditional Music].
Seoul : Poong Nam, 1991.
Jin, Bong Kyu. 판소리. [Pan So Ri]. Seoul : Su S 대 Won, 1995.
101 Jung, Young Uk. 한국의 판소리. [The Korean Pan So Ri]. 2d ed.
Seoul : Jip Moon Tang, 1993.
Karkoschka, Erhard. Notation in New Music. New York : Praeger, 1972.
Kim, Hae Youn. 한국교회사. [A History of Korean Church]. 2d ed.
Seoul : Sung Kwang Publications Inc., 1997.
Kim, Sung Jun. 한국기독교사. [A History of Christianity in Korea].
Seoul : Christian Culture Press, 1993.
Lee, Kea Koo, Sung Tae Kim. 음악대사전. [ The Great Dictionary of Music].
S.V “Korean Music," Seoul : Mido Munhwasa, 1977.
Lee, Mahn Youl. 한국기독교 문화운동사.
[The Cultural History of Christian Movement in Korea]. Seoul : The Christian Literature Society, 1987.
. 아펜젤라. [Appenzeller].
Seoul : Youn Sei University Press, 1985.
Lee, Sun Ju. 한국의 민요. [The Korean Folk Song].
Seoul : Min Sok Won, 1996.
Lee, Sung Chun. 한국 한국인 한국음악. [Korea, Korean and Korean Music].
102 Seoul : Poong Nam, 1997.
. 국악사. [A History of Korean Music].
Seoul : Kuk Min Eum Ak press, 1976.
Lee, Yoo Sun. 한국 양악 100 년사. [A History of 100 Years Western Music in Korea].
Seoul : Eum Ak Chun Chu, 1985.
Lim, Dong kueon. 한국 민요사. [A History of Korean Folk Song]. 2d ed.
Seoul : Jip Moon Tang, 1986.
Min, Kyung Bae. 한국교회찬송가사. [A History of Hymn from Korean Church].
Seoul : Youn Sei University Press, 1997.
. 한국기독교회사. [A History of Korean Christian Church].
Seoul : Youn Sei University Press, 1982.
Nam Kung, Yo Youl. 개화기의 한국음악. [The Korean Music of an Enlightened Age].
Seoul : Sae Kwng Publication Co., 1987.
Pack, Poung Dong. 현대음악의 흐름. [ The Stream of Modern Music]. 2d ed.
Seoul : Su Moon Tang, 1995.
Yoo, Dong Sik, Young Sik Park, Eun Ki kim, Kyung Bae MIn, Jung Sun Park, and Donaled Clark, eds.
기독교와 한국역사. [A History of Korea and Christianity].
Seoul : Youn Sei University Press, 1997.
103
Yoo, Heung Youl. 한국천주교회사. [A History of Korean Catholic Church].
Seoul : Catholic Publications Inc., 1994.
ARTICLES and DISSERTATION
Chung, Ha Eun. “Eighty Years History of Korean Christian Social Ethics." Korea Struggles for Christ p.46f
Kang, Keun Whan “Mission of Korean Protestant."
신학과 선교. [Theology and Mission], ,2, 1974.
La, Un Young. “The Development of Korean Church Music." The Thought of Christianity (June 1967)
Yoo, Dong Sik. “The Christian Faith Encounters the Religions of Korea." The Thought of Christianity (February 1965)
MUSICAL SCORES
Chae, Dong Sun. Cantata “Han River". Seoul : Sea Kwang Publication Co., 1983.
Choi, Byung Chul. Mass g minor. Seoul : Catholic Publication Co., 1973. . Mass E Major. Seoul : Catholic Publication Co., 1965.
. Motet “Lord's Prayer". Seoul : Jong Kyou Muic Study Inc., 1983.
. 산수갑산. [San Su Kap San].
Seoul : By the Composer, Catholic University, 1977.
104 . 굴뚝. [A Chimney].
Seoul : By the Composer, Catholic University, 1977.
. 청부타령. [Chung Boo Ta Ryung].
Seoul : By the Composer, Catholic University, 1991.
Jung, Book Ki. Kuck Kuck. Seoul : Abraham Planning Co., 1989.
. 한오백년 주제에 의한 농요.
[Nong YO on a Theme of About Five Hundred Years]. Seoul : Abraham Planning Co., 1989.
. 농요(2). [Nong Yo(2)].
Seoul : Abraham Planning Co., 1989.
La, In Yong. 심판의날. [The Judgement Day].
Seoul : By the Composer, Yon Sei University, 1974.
. 가시리. [Kasiri].
Seoul : By the Composer, Yon Sei University, 1987.
. 고려청자. [Koryo Chung Ja].
Seoul : By the Composer, Yon Sei University, 1984.
. 고향. [The Hometown].
Seoul : By the Composer, Yon Sei University, 1987.
105 . 청산별곡. [Chungsan Byulkok].
Seoul : By the Composer, Yon Sei University, 1987.
La, Un Young. 산딸기. [The Wild Strawberries].
Seoul : Sae Kwang Publication Co., 1986.
. 가려나. [Will You Go?].
Seoul : Sae Kwang Publication Co., 1986.
. 여호와는 나의 목자시니. [The Lord My Shepherd].
Seoul : Young Lack Church Press, 1985.
Lee, Dong Hoon. Korean sanctus. Seoul : Dan Kuk University, 1998.
Lee, Soon Kyo. 사랑을 위해. [For Love].
Seoul : By the Composer, Sun Hwa Arts High School, 1997.
. 새야새야 파랑새야. [A Blue Bird].
Seoul : By the Composer, Sun Hwa Arts High School, 1994.
In, Young Jo. 엄마야 누나야. [Mother and Sister].
Seoul : By the Composer, Korean Composite Arts School, 1980.
. 소요유. [So YoYu].
Seoul : By the Composer, Korean Composite Arts School, 1981.
. 승무. [Buddhist Dance].
106 Seoul : By the Composer, Korean Composite Arts School, 1981.
. 월정명. [Woul Jung Myung].
Seoul : By the Composer, Korean Composite Arts School, 1982.
Park, Jung Sun. Three Choral Pieces on Korean Traditional Themes. Seoul : Dong Jin Music Publication Co., 1996.
. Chung-Ep Sa.. Seoul : Eum Ak Sa-Rang, 1973.
. Jung Gua Jung. Seoul : Eum Ak Sa-Rang, 1993.
. Four Mountain Song. S. Seoul : Dong Jin Music Publication Co., 1996.
107