A Study on Art Songs by Hong Nan-pa and Hyeon Je-myeong Using Lee Eun-sang's Sijo as Lyrics: Focusing on Poetic and Musical Forms

This study examines the correlation between the poetic structure of sijo and musical form, focusing on art songs composed by Hong Nan-pa and Hyun Je-myeong using the sijo poems of Lee Eun-sang from the 1920s and 1930s. Lee's modern sijo adheres to the traditional formal rules of classical sijo while incorporating modern sensibilities influenced by Western Imagism. During the formative period of Korean art song, Hong and Hyun, as representative composers, selected Lee's modern sijo as their textual basis, and the poetic form was closely linked to their musical structures. This study aims to investigate the interrelationship between poetic and musical forms through an analysis of the composers’ art songs. The analysis reveals that, in terms of the relationship between poetic rhythm and musical phrasing, both composers generally employed simple musical structures with regular phrases. However, deviations in phrasing and the use of expressive piano accompaniment at times created a deliberate mismatch between poetic and musical forms. Regarding the relationship between the structure of serial sijo (yeonsijo) and musical form, Hong Nan-pa adopted a through-composed form to express the intensification of poetic imagery, whereas Hyun Je-myeong employed a strophic form to reflect the changes in content across each stanza through musical variation. These findings demonstrate how the formal conventions of sijo influenced the structural approach of both composers and further reveal stylistic differences in their respective musical languages.