著者

塚原 康子

出版者

東京芸術大学

雑誌

東京藝術大学音楽学部紀要 (ISSN:09148787)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.29, pp.79-95, 2003

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This thesis examines the musical activities of the Gagaku Department, Bureau of Ceremonies in 1878, the year previous to the establishment of the Music Investigation Committee (Ongaku Torishirabe-gakari). The founding of a new tradition of modern gagaku was a result of the substantial revisions to the tradition following the establishment of the Gagaku Bureau (Gagaku-kyoku) in 1870. In addition, as the musicians of the Gagaku Department started to study Western music in 1874, the musical activities of the Gagaku Department diversified more and more. From 1877 to 1878, the Gagaku Department dealt with the following new projects: (1) composition of hoiku shoka (literally 'nursery song', from which various song types later developed); (2) participation in the Paris Exposition through the exhibition of music, a reference book and paintings of gagaku; (3) the first public concert of gagaku in the Gagaku Rehearsal Hall (Gagaku Keiko-jo). These projects amounted to important experiments, enabling the musicians of the Gagaku Department to realize their new state. The various musical activities of the Gagaku Department in 1878, which were undertaken prior to the establishement of the Music Investigation Committee, should be remembered as a significant step in the development of modern Japanese music.