Composing for an Ancient Instrument That Has Lost Its "Tradition": Lou Harrison's Set for Four Haisho and Percussion

COMPOSING FOR AN ANCIENT INSTRUMENT THAT HAS LOST ITS “TRADITION”: LOU HARRISON’S SET FOR FOUR HAISHO AND PERCUSSION TOSHIE KAKINUMA OU HARRISON OCCUPIES a unique place among the American composers who have cross-culturally incorporated non-European music into their compositions. What particularly distinguishes him is not only the geographical extent of his intercultural or “trans-ethnic”1 music–– from medieval Europe to the Middle East, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Latin America––but also the extent to which he studied the music of these regions. His trans-ethnicity is not limited to surface features, such as borrowed rhythms or melodies or hybrid instrumentation; it is an organizing principle that he adapted to his unique musical style. L ¯ ¯ Lou Harrison's Set for Four Haisho and Percussion 233 Few studies have attempted to discuss the structural principles pertinent to the non-European music on which Harrison relies. A notable exception is Bill Alves’s paper, which clarifies the structure and melodic configurations in Harrison’s gamelan works by focusing on kembangan , an intricate melodic figuration that characterizes Javanese gamelan music (Alves 2001). This study examines one of Harrison’s works written for a musical instrument of ancient East Asia that was discovered at the Imperial Depository in Nara, Japan, to uncover a structural or organizational principle that he adapted to his composition and to consider his attitude toward the tradition. We begin our discussion by reviewing a project conducted by the National Theatre in Tokyo to reconstruct and revive the ancient instruments that have been preserved— presumably for over a thousand years—in the Depository. 1. THE PROJECT AT THE NATIONAL THEATRE IN TOKYO From 1975 to the early 2000s, the National Theatre in Tokyo conducted an interesting project of reconstructing ancient musical instruments discovered at the Shosoin Imperial Depository in Nara and of commissioning contemporary composers to write new works for these instruments. Discovered in the nineteenth century, the instruments , which can be traced back to the eighth century (the Nara period), include such rarities as the ancient Chinese angular harp, the konghou (Japanese kugo); the five-stringed lute decorated with motherof -pearl inlay; and the long-necked lute, the genkan, among others.2 With these intriguing instruments, the project also undertook to perform existing contemporary music, including works by Toru Takemitsu, Toshi Ichiyanagi, and John Cage.3 Given the name reigaku to distinguish the project from traditional gagaku, the ambitious undertaking included the creation of music for forgotten but preserved ancient musical instruments. The project involved “reworking aspects of traditional music based on primary materials” (i.e., the instruments faithfully replicating the originals), while overcoming “the constraints of the conventions associated with these traditional instruments today.” Because “it is a project of the modern day and not an imitation of romantic antiquity,” the instruments were given neither surface ornamentation nor painting, and performers wore standard concert attire (The National Theatre of Japan 1994, 3–5). As an effort toward new creations rather than the reconstruction of lost traditions, and as an attempt to highlight modern 234 Perspectives of New Music aspects of the music rather than pretending to be traditional, the project can be distinguished from an “invented tradition,” a tradition that is fabricated by fictitiously establishing continuity with the past.4 Among the composers from whom the National Theatre commissioned new works was an American, Lou Harrison,5 who in 1992 composed Set for Four Haisho and Percussion.6 The piece premiered in 1993 at the National Theatre with seven performers, including one American (see Example 1). Harrison’s career is rich in experimentations with ancient and reconstructed instruments as can be observed in the instrumentation for Canticle No. 3 (1942) that includes the Aztec teponaztli,7 or in the replica of the Greek reed instrument, aulos, which he built by referring to the book on the instrument written by musicologist Kathleen Schlesinger. Nevertheless, the commission by the National Theatre was unusual even for the experienced composer, because he had to “create a tradition” for the haisho, one of many instruments discovered in the Depository that had lost its tradition. 2. THE HAISHO The haisho is a panpipe or panflute and is known as an instrument...