By: Padraic Costello Thesis Committee: Frederick Lau
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OPERA AS JAPANESE CULTURE: CREATIVITY, MODERNITY AND HETEROGENEOUS SOCIAL EXPRESSION IN JAPANESE-COMPOSED OPERA A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN ETHNOMUSICOLOGY DECEMBER 2016 By: Padraic Costello Thesis Committee: Frederick Lau, Chairperson Ricardo Trimillos Christine Yano Keywords: Padraic Costello, Japan, Opera, Appropriation, Modernity, Agency, Kata, Domestication, Hybridity, Globalization, Orientalism Table of Contents Abstract iii Acknowledgements v Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Significance 7 Methodology 8 Literature Review 11 Defining Opera – European Origins and Glocal Consumption 22 Chapter 2: Background, Framing, and tHe Historical Legitimation of Japanese Composed Opera 40 History of Pre-War “Japanese Opera” 46 Post-War Historical Legitimation of Opera 74 Chapter 3: Body, Kata, and tHe Domestication of Opera in Japan 83 Konnyakuza Exercise and the Physical Kata of Operatic Gesture 89 Konjikiyasha and Club Macbeth – Physical Gesture and Domestication in Konnyakuza’s Repertoire 104 Gendered Tropes and Post-War Identity in the Pacific War Operas of Saegusa Shigeaki 119 Chapter 4: Language, Sound-Symbolism, and tHe Cultural Diversification of Opera 133 Language Stress, Setting, and Identity 138 Henshin – Language, Diversification, and Decentering “Western” Opera in Hikaru Hayashi’s Works 145 Shiroitori and Joururi - Multi-Language Operas 162 Chapter 5: Musical Juxtaposition, Hybridity, and tHe Heterogeneity of Opera Creation 181 A Critique of Orientalism and Hybrid Third Space 186 An Actor’s Revenge – Cultural Contestation in a “Kabuki Opera” 191 Matsukaze - Sounding Noh Theater and Aesthetic through an Operatic Frame 209 Chapter 6: Conclusion 227 i Appendices 244 Appendix A: Transcriptions 245 A 1: Hikaru Hayashi’s Henshin 245 A 2: Minoru Miki’s Joururi 261 A 3: Minoru Miki’s An Actor’s Revenge 267 A 4: Izayoi seishin 285 Appendix B: List of Japanese-Composed Operas (incomplete) 291 Appendix C: Institutional Review Board Form 298 Appendix D: Bibliography 302 ii Abstract This thesis deals with the agency of Japanese composers who create and produce new opera, stemming from the European opera tradition, in both Japan and abroad. Specifically, I examine the creation of opera through four cultural processes. Opera creation can be understood as historically malleable within Japan, as domesticated through physical internalization and display, as altered through language into a decentered form open to multiple modes of cultural expression, and as crafted through the juxtaposition of opposing sound spectrums, suggesting the heterogeneity, rather than homogeneous collapsing, of available musical materials.. These processes are all intertwined, and position opera creation as a flexible method of expression that allows composers to embrace modernity while simultaneously challenging the dynamics of “Westernization” as a process of modernization in Japan. Historically, opera has been produced and enjoyed in Japan as one of several methods for certain Japanese audiences to embrace “Western” culture, in order to be modern and enhance social prestige. Although groups of Japanese consumers and producers of opera still engage with the genre as a means of participating in this prestige and Western modernization in the 21st century, I suggest that the creation of new opera by composers is a process of challenging opera as a predominantly “Western” mode of cultural expression, while articulating Japanese culture from within a globally engaged Japan. In the process of decentering opera from its European origins, composers challenge the dominant theoretical frameworks of Orientalism and hybridity as inadequate in considering iii musical and cultural interaction for Japanese creation. Writing opera is a process of actively shifting the cultural logic of opera, and of resituating traditional Japanese culture, society, and aesthetic within the context of modernity, rather than an either- or of rejecting tradition for modernity. The process of creating new opera in Japan can also be seen as an increasingly vibrant rejection of Orientalism and cultural homogeneity in favor of a growing, continually recoded, and diverse Japan, allowing for new possibilities of self-expression. Particularly in the post-war era, many composers have embraced myriad framings of “Japan” within opera, together constructing a kaleidoscopic imagining of Japanese identity. Through processes of historical framing, domestication, diversification, and cultural juxtaposing, composers claim ownership over opera as a means of social expression within the context of Japan. By considering opera creation by Japanese composers through these cultural processes, I argue that these new operas challenge dominant conceptions of opera as an inherently “Western” construction, while allowing composers to embrace and define Japan’s modernity for themselves. iv Acknowledgements This project on Japanese-composed opera owes a great deal of debt to many people. The seed for this project began in 2011, when Ricardo Trimillos suggested the topic as an end-of-semester paper for his Gender and the Performing Arts in Asia course. My advisor Frederick Lau actively encouraged my continued exploration of this topic, and I quickly found myself immersed in a subject that has developed into a real passion. Of course, I also owe much gratitude to my undergraduate faculty at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, particularly Wendy Miller, Alan Baker, and Faith Warner, for their extreme patience and flexibility as I juggled as many unconnected projects as I could and gleefully steered as far away from typical academic coursework as possible. Without this flexibility, I would not have been able to pursue many of the paths that I now find myself on. I also want to thank my family for their unwavering support and love from the very beginning, which has made all of this possible. I would like to especially thank faculty at the University of Hawaii for their encouragement over the course of my research. Fred Lau has been a constant source of knowledge, inspiration, and guidance over the course of my research, and I would not have made it to the end of this process without his aid (and patience!). Ricardo Trimillos and Christine Yano have also been instrumental in the development of this thesis, and I am extremely grateful for their support since beginning this project five years ago. I would also like to thank the voice faculty, particularly Maya Hoover and v John Mount, for their support, advice, and understanding as I worked jointly through both an MA Ethnomusicology and MM Voice Performance degree. This project would also not have been possible without the circle of informants, friends, colleagues, and mentors that has developed over the course of this project. Bonnie Wade offered many valued thoughts and helped connect me with several initial contacts in Japan, for which I am extremely grateful. Kimiko Shimbo, in addition to being one of my primary informants, has also become a dear friend, and I am eternally grateful for her excessive kindness and willingness to support this project. Several other composers and musicians have also been very gracious with their time, particularly Tokuhide Niimi, Shigeaki Saegusa, Yoko Sato, Kyoko Hagi, Rikuya Terashima, and the entire Konnyakuza company. I would like to deeply thank each of them for sharing their thoughts, works, and ideas. I would also very much like to thank Fuyuko Fukunaka at Tokyo University of the Arts (Geidai) for her expertise, advice, and time. Lastly, I would like to thank my family and friends for their support. In particular, I would like to thank Keiko Fukunishi for her immense encouragement, editing help, and advice over many sleepless nights. This thesis most certainly would not have been borne in its current state without her guidance. vi Note: All Japanese surnames are written last, in tHe Western manner. Transcriptions were made by myself from audio materials, except where otHerwise noted, and any errors in text or music setting are my own. vii Chapter 1: Introduction “Is this the right place?” my informant, Kimiko Shimbo, asked aloud as our taxi pulled into a seemingly abandoned parking lot structure in Noborito, Tokyo. After nearly fifteen minutes of driving through a residential neighborhood, we had arrived at what appeared to be a small grouping of warehouses. It was the afternoon of January 27th, 2016, and, on the invitation of Rikuya Terashima, pianist and assistant music director of the Tokyo-based opera troupe Konnyakuza, Kimiko and I were to attend a rehearsal for an upcoming performance of Hikaru Hayashi’s 2007 opera, Club Macbeth. I had had extreme difficulty in locating resources related to this opera troupe outside of Japan, but I had heard from several sources that this highly talented and unique group was very active throughout the year in producing new opera written specifically for the ensemble. The previous artistic director of the ensemble, Hikaru Hayashi, was an accomplished composer, and had written over 30 operas for the group during his lifetime, including the piece that Konnyakuza was currently preparing. Hayashi’s operas were typically conceived for performances within Japan, but many of his works have also subsequently been performed internationally. Despite this massive output of works and the respected international reputation of the composer, it was very difficult to locate much information