100 Greatest Films (2): Ace in the Hole, Audition, Babel, Basic Instinct, and Belle de jour

In this installment: (6) Ace in the Hole, (7) Audition, (8) Babel, (9) Basic Instinct, and (10) Belle de jour.

6. Ace in the Hole (1951)
Billy Wilder with Kirk Douglas.

This is one of the nastiest movies I have ever seen - although the acting by Kirk Douglas as Chuck Tatum is superb and the message is more relevant than ever. Kirk Douglas plays a cynical, disgraced reporter who will stop at nothing to regain his job at a major newspaper - even if he has to use some creativity to manufacture the news. The movie also shows how a gullible public can be manipulated by the press (and social media, I might add).

When a local man becomes trapped in a cliff collapse while collecting ancient Indian artifacts, Tatum senses a golden opportunity to manipulate the rescue effort for publicity. He convinces the unscrupulous local sheriff to give him exclusive access to the victim in exchange for a story that will guarantee the sheriff's re-election. Although the victim could be reached in about 12 hours, Tatum convinces the contractor to drill from above instead, which will take a week and keep the news rolling for Tatum. As disaster tourists flock to the site, turning it into one big carnival, even the victim's wife (eager to leave her husband and his struggling shop and restaurant in the middle of nowhere) goes along with Tatum's plan because it finally brings in money. The site is flooded with gawkers willing to pay an entrance fee to enter the site and buy souvenirs. Of course, it all ends in disaster, because this is a true film noir.

Unfortunately for Wilder, the film was also a disaster at the box office and even critics hated it. It is only in recent decades that opinion has changed and Ace in the Hole has come to be seen as the great artistic film that it is, dealing with some unpopular truths. The film is a scathing attack by the European-born Wilder on American superficiality, the turning of everything into a "business", and the one-sided interest in sleazy "human interest" tabloid stories (something that still goes on, day after day, on all the TV networks). Stories whose staying power is manufactured
Unfortunately for Wilder, the movie was also a disaster at the box office, and even critics hated it. Only in recent decades has the tide turned, and Ace in the Hole has come to be seen as the great artistic film that it is, and one that deals with some unpopular truths. The film is a scathing attack by the European-born Wilder on American superficiality, the turning of everything into a "business", and the one-sided interest in sleazy "human interest" tabloid stories (something that still goes on, day after day, on all the TV networks). Stories whose staying power is manufactured and stretched as long as possible simply because they are scary, scandalous, or sordid, and fill the airspace until the next bad story comes along. There is a lot of talk about "fake news" in the U.S., but of course this is the real fake news. And today it is not only served up by the networks, but also by Facebook, Twitter and other social media.

7. Audition(1999)
Takashi Miike, with Eihi Shiina and Ryo Ishibashi. Based on the novel by Ryu Murakami.

This visceral shocker about a middle-aged widower in search of the perfect, obedient, traditional wife serves as a reality check on patriarchy and male chauvinism (and Western men who, based on a cross-cultural misunderstanding, believe that Japanese women, who are less verbally aggressive than women from some other cultures, are all just obedient little wives).

The movie begins as a romantic drama in which a middle-aged widower (Ryo Ishibashi), with the help of a film producer friend, holds a mock audition to find a new, young wife. Through this act of deception, he thinks he has found his ideal partner in Asami, a beautiful former ballet dancer dressed in white, who seems to be the ultimate, traditional type of wife - stylish and polite. But behind her calm exterior lies a world of fear and terror, as the middle-aged lover discovers too late. The autobiographical details of his potential bride don't add up, and he learns that people in her life have a habit of disappearing. The moment of truth for the viewer comes when Asami, who has been waiting for his call for several days in an apparently bare apartment containing only a large canvas bag, smiles coldly as the bag suddenly convulses violently and swings across the floor. The final descent into a grotesque nightmare is absolutely stomach-churning - especially the ending is painful to watch.

Japanese director Takashi Miike's film critiques the power imbalance that allows men to "audition" beautiful young women in search of a fantasy combination of strength and servitude. Because Aoyama is ultimately a rather sympathetic character, the sadistic revenge that Asami takes is all the more difficult to stomach, but Aoyama's own complicity must be acknowledged.

This movie also shows that Japanese women are not the obedient little housewives that Western cultural fantasy and Japanese male expectations make them out to be. That Japanese women are "submissive" or "obedient" is a fiction created by the fact that they are less verbally aggressive than women from many other cultures, as is Japanese culture in general. But in their hearts, they know exactly what they want and how to get it. Of course, it would be silly to draw another comparison with the character of Asami in the movie, but it may be the necessary jolt to help us change our conservative view of Japanese women.

[Based on my article on Cult films]

8. Babel (2006)
Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, with Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael García Bernal, Koji Yakusho, Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi.

A film that emphasizes the interconnectedness of our ever-shrinking world ("When a butterfly flaps its wings in China...") and the need for mutual understanding. In the movie, Morocco, America, Mexico and Japan are connected by the thoughtless act of a child.

Inarritu has created a movie with three interlocking stories. A freak accident brings together people from different continents and cultures. Pitt and Blanchett play American tourists in Morocco. They are plunged into tragedy when Blanchett's character is hit by a stray bullet on a tour bus in the desert - two small Moroccan boys were just trying out a rifle recently bought by their father (a poor farmer who wanted the gun to shoot the wild animals decimating his herds), but now they are being hunted as terrorists.

In the U.S., the couple's Mexican nanny takes their children across the border for a family wedding when she cannot find a babysitter for the infants. When she returns to the U.S. with her Mexican nephew as her half-drunk driver, she is chased by the Border Patrol and gets lost in the desert.

Meanwhile, in Tokyo, a young deaf and mute Japanese schoolgirl, Chieko, is struggling to come to terms with her mother's suicide. Her businessman father (who was the original owner of the fatal rifle he gave to his local guide after a hunting trip in Morocco) is being questioned by the police, causing his daughter to become increasingly disturbed. The confused girl experiences such rage and frustration that she rips off her underwear and begins exposing herself to boys in a crowded restaurant. The father struggles to overcome the emotional distance that separates him from his daughter.

The movie can be harrowing at times when painful scenes are played too long. The director shot the movie like a documentary. At every turn, the barriers of language - but more importantly, the barriers of stereotypes and prejudice - lead to tragic results. Everyone tries to behave well, but is hampered by misconceptions or simply bad luck. Inarritu shows us that people, no matter where they come from, are trapped by circumstances, power relations, and cultural codes.    

9. Basic Instinct (1992)
Paul Verhoeven with Sharon Stone, Michael Douglas and Jeanne Triplehorn.

This neo-noir thriller offers a chilling glimpse into the depths of the human soul.

A police detective investigating the brutal murder of a former rock star becomes embroiled in a torrid and intense relationship with the beautiful and mysterious prime suspect. Sharon Stone is the perfect femme fatale, both in the mental and sexual games she plays with her interrogators. She is an ice-blonde, bisexual mystery writer, and Verhoeven and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas keep the tension at a boiling point throughout, even during the love scenes, which have a violent edge. The movie's most infamous scene, a police interrogation in which Catherine makes drooling idiots of her middle-aged male captors by revealing that she is not wearing underwear when she crosses her legs, became an iconic shot. There is also a strong sense of doom as we see Michael Douglas mentally disintegrating and slowly approaching the flame of the dangerous seductress.

Such a mix of perverse sexuality and bloodshed was not uncommon in European thrillers such as those of Dario Argento, and Verhoeven had made one himself in his excellent Dutch film The Fourth Man. Basic Instinct is a great "neo-noir" thriller that warns us not to let strong emotions lead us astray - at least a modicum of clear and rational thinking is required (which seems increasingly difficult in today's world).

[Based on my article about Neo-noir films]

10. Belle de jour (1967)
Luis Bunuel with Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel and Michel Piccoli. Based on the 1928 novel Belle de jour by Joseph Kessel.

An impeccable Parisian upper-class woman, dissatisfied with her married life, has sadomasochistic fantasies and starts working part-time in an exclusive brothel, satisfying the fetish whims of her clients... What, in the hands of another director, could easily have turned into a sleazy comedy, is transformed by Bunuel into something elegant and clean, with a philosophical theme: the difficulties that come from not being able to express who we are.

Belle de Jour is Catherine Deneuve at her classic best: beautiful, elegant, cold - and lustful. She plays an upper-class Parisian housewife, Séverine Serizy, whose porcelain perfection hides a fractured soul. We see this at the beginning of the movie, when her husband orders her to be tied up and whipped by two coachmen. Of course, this is not really happening, but just a perverse daydream - one of the many masochistic fantasies Séverine suffers from. Her husband Pierre is a diligent and kind-hearted surgeon, but the frigid Séverine is unable to feel any passion for him - even though she loves him dearly. And the spoiled lady has too much time on her hands...

To make her bondage fantasies more concrete, she begins to act them out by secretly spending her idle afternoons working in a boutique brothel. This, by the way, is what the movie's title refers to: "Belle de Jour" is a daylily (literally, "daylight beauty") that blooms only during the day, but the same French term can also refer to a prostitute whose trade is conducted during the day. So while Séverine remains chaste in her marriage, in the afternoons, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., she satisfies the bizarre fetishes of the men who patronize Madame Anaïs's high-class brothel.

Her clients include a fat industrialist, a professor who dresses up in role-playing costumes and then abuses her, and a duke who likes to perform a funeral scene in a coffin. But she also meets a mean-looking young gangster (Pierre Clementi) whose cruelty and ugliness she rather likes, and then things go horribly wrong: he falls in love with her and follows her home... Séverine used to be completely bottled up, which is shown in Deneuve's excellent performance (how she stands, where she looks), but the longer she works as Belle de Jour, the more we see her warming up and becoming more confident. This makes it all the sadder when it all comes crashing down.

Deneuve is the ideal actress for this complex study of female psychology. Though the character she plays revels in debauched desires, she retains a cool, inscrutable dignity, dressed as she is in the most chic Yves Saint Laurent.

This is the best and most iconic movie Bunuel ever made. It won the Golden Lion at the 1967 Venice Film Festival.

[Based on my previous article]

100 Greatest Films

Reading The Tale of Genji (29): An Imperial Excursion (Miyuki)

Miyuki

The Title

All four translators have somewhat different titles, but there are no major differences: Waley has "The Royal Visit", Seidensticker "The Royal Outing", Tyler "The Imperial Progress", and Washburn "An Imperial Excursion". In Genji's poem on which this title is based, "miyuki" is at the same time a wordplay on "snow."

Chronology

From the winter of Genji's 36th year to February of his 37th.

Position in the Genji

Emperor Reizei goes on a winter outing to Oharano, just southwest of the city. In Oharano stood one of the major clan shrines of the ruling Fujiwara family, the Oharano Shrine, which due to the marriage relations with the imperial family, was therefore also important to Japan's emperors (today, it is a sleepy shrine in Kyoto's outskirts; the major Fujiwara shrine is Kasuga Taisha in Nara).

[Miyuki, by Tosa Mitsunobu, Harvard Art Museums]

Synopsis

In the Twelfth Month, Emperor Reizei visits Oharano on a royal hunt, with princes and high courtiers in charge of the falcons and a jostling of carriages by the spectators. Genji does not take part, probably because it is uncomfortable to be seen in public with the emperor, his secret son. Tamakazura joins the party, hoping for the first time to catch a glimpse of her father, To no Chujo. She is however most of all fascinated by the handsomeness of Emperor Reizei, who looks exactly like Genji. Genji recommends Tamakazura's serving as Naishi no tsukasa (female palace attendant), as if he has seen straight through her.

In a separate episode, on the first day of the Second Month, Genji has a chance meeting with To no Chujo and they renew their friendship despite a long-standing rivalry. Later still, as Genji prepares Tamakazura for her presentation as a consort at court, his various ladies contribute gifts for her equipment, including rather old-fashioned clothing from the "Safflower Lady" Suetsumuhana.

While Genji hurries to prepare for Tamakazura's Mogi (coming-of-age ceremony for girls), he asks her biological father, To no Chujo, to act as koshi-yui (one who ties a band around the young woman's waist in the ceremony). To no Chujo, however, declines, citing the illness of his mother, Princess Omiya, as pretext. So Genji visits Princess Omiya, and he confesses to her and to To no Chujo who Tamakazura is. To no Chujo is now willing to take the role of koshi-yui, and on the day of the ceremony, the father and daughter finally meet each other. Before long, people find out the truth, and Omi no Kimi is ridiculed more than ever because she is envious of Tamakazura, who is beloved by all.

Genji-e
In the above illustration, spectators are waiting at a temporary bridge over the Katsura River for the procession of the emperor (who is not shown - we see the moment of anticipation before his party arrives), while snow has started to flutter down. One of the waiting carriages must be that of Tamakazura, perhaps the one at the top left with the bamboo blinds.

Reading The Tale of Genji

 

Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each): Poem 100 (Cloistered Emperor Juntoku)

   Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 100

Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)

when I see the "memory ferns"
growing on the old eaves
of the imperial palace
my longing grows the more I long
for the glorious rule of the past

momoshiki ya
furuki nokiba no
shinobu ni mo
nao amari aru
mukashi nari keri

百敷や
古き軒端の
しのぶにも
なほあまりある
むかしなりけり

Cloistered Emperor Juntoku 順徳院 (1197-1242)

A poem about the loss of imperial power, written in 1216. Also echoes the first poem that opens the Hyakunin Isshu, by Emperor Tenji: the opening poem of the collection shows us a benevolent emperor ruling over the people, but this one is filled with nostalgia for the past glories of the imperial house.

Notes

- momoshiki: an utamakura for palaces, here used independently: "the imperial court".
- nokiba no shinobu: a pun (kakekotoba). It means both "the memory ferns (shinobu) growing on the eaves" and "to long for the past (shinobu)."
- nao: here the same as "yahari", after all, all the same.
- amari aru: "shinonde mo shinobikirenai", "no matter how much I yearn for it, my yearning never ends."
- mukashi narikeri: "the glorious reign of old." -keri is an exclamation.

The Poet

Emperor Juntoku (1197 – 1242) was the 84th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1210 through 1221. He was the third son of Emperor Go-Toba (poem 99). In actuality, Emperor Go-Toba wielded effective power as a cloistered emperor during the years of Juntoku's reign. In 1221, Emperor Juntoku was forced to abdicate because of his participation in Go-Toba's unsuccessful attempt to displace the Kamakura bakufu with re-asserted Imperial power. This political and military struggle was called the Jokyu War. After the imperial side lost the war, Juntoku was sent into exile on Sado Island, where he remained until his death in 1242.

Juntoku studied poetry under Teika and was a frequent participant in the poetry events sponsored by Go-Toba. Juntoku has a personal poetry collection and 159 of his poems were included in imperial anthologies.

Visiting

(1) Mano Goryo Mausoleum, Sado Island. Sado Island is part of Niigata prefecture and can be reached by ferry from Niigata to Ryotsu. Emperor Juntoku was forced into exile on Sado in 1221, when he and his father, Go-Toba, lost the military struggle with the Hojo regents. After twenty-two years, he passed away in 1242, at the age of forty-six. His body was cremated the following day, and pines and cherry trees were planted on the site to mark the spot. His ashes were returned to Kyoto the following year, and buried in the imperial mausoleum of his father, Emperor Go-Toba. The cremation spot on Sado Island mound is handled as an imperial mausoleum under the management of the Imperial Household Agency. It lies in a beautiful grove. The nearby Manogu Shrine enshrines Emperor Juntoku. The Kuroki Gosho at Izumi served as the abode for the unlucky emperor for 22 years (10 km SW of Ryotsu). Mano was the center of government on the island from the earliest times to the Kamakura period and most of Sado's historical relics are scattered here. Other famous exiles to Sado were the priest Nichiren and the No master Zeami. See the Sado Tourism website.

(2) The Ohara Mausoleum near Sanzenin temple in Ohara, Kyoto, is dedicated to both Juntoku and his father Go-Toba, who both died after long years in exile.

References: Pictures of the Heart, The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image by Joshua S. Mostow (University of Hawai'i Press, 1996); One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each, by Peter MacMIllan (Penguin Classics); Traditional Japanese Poetry, An Anthology, by Steven D. Carter (Stanford University Press, 1991); Hyakunin Isshu by Inoue Muneo, etc. (Shinchosha, 1990); Genshoku Hyakunin Isshu by Suzuki Hideo, etc. (Buneido, 1997); Chishiki Zero kara no Hyakunin Isshu, by Ariyoshi Tamotsu (Gentosha); Hyakunin Isshu Kaibo Zukan, by Tani Tomoko (X-Knowledge);  Ogura Hyakunin Isshu at Japanese Text Initiative (University of Virginia Library Etext Center); Hyakunin Isshu wo aruku by Shimaoka Shin (Kofusha Shuppan); Hyakunin Isshu, Ocho waka kara chusei waka e by Inoue Muneo (Chikuma Shoin, 2004); Basho's Haiku (2 vols) by Toshiharu Oseko (Maruzen, 1990); The Ise Stories by Joshua S. Mostow and Royall Tyler (University of Hawai'i Press, 2010); Kokin Wakashu, The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry by Helen Craig McCullough (Stanford University Press, 1985); Kokinshu, A Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern by Laurel Rasplica Rodd and Mary Catherine Henkenius (University of Tokyo Press, 1984); Kokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1994); Shinkokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1995); Taketori Monogatari-Ise Monogatari-Yamato Monogatari-Heichu Monogatari (Shogakkan, 1994).

    Illustration: Wikipedia.

    Hyakunin Isshu Index

 

 

 

Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each): Poem 99 (Cloistered Emperor Go-Toba)

Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 99

Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)

people seem kind
and people also seem hateful
when in vain
I brood over the world
this self that broods over things

hito mo oshi
hito mo urameshi
ajiki naku
yo o omou yue ni
mono omou mi wa

人も惜し
人も恨めし
あぢきなく
世を思ふゆゑに
もの思ふ身は

Cloistered Emperor Go-Toba 後鳥羽院 (1180-1239)

A poem on "personal grievance", written as part of a hundred-poem-sequence in 1212.

Notes

- hito: this can be interpreted in various ways: (1) "hito," people, refers to all humans in general; (2) it refers to the same person, meaning that one person can have two sides; (3) there are both good and bad people in the world.
- ito: =itooshii, dear, adorable
- ajikinaku: vainly, futile
- yo wo omou: the world in general. As emperor, Go-Toba wants the world to be at peace.
- mono omou mi wa: I myself who broods about the world.
- mono omou: often thoughts of love, but here dejected thoughts in a more general sense.

The Poet

Emperor Go-Toba (1180 – 1239, r. 1183-1198) was the 82nd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. He was the fourth son of Emperor Takakura and put on the throne at age four, abdicating at nineteen. Go-Toba was a great patron of the arts and a dedicated poet who sponsored the compilation of the Shinkokinshu and worked closely with its editors. He and Teika eventually fell out over poetic matters. Politically, he rebelled against the Kamakura military government in what is known as the Jokyu Rebellion of 1221. Go-Toba's forces were defeated and he was exiled to the Oki islands, where he lived another eighteen years. During his exile, he continued to compose hundreds of waka. Go-Toba has 254 poems in imperial anthologies and his personal poetry collection is also extant. He was one of the greatest poets of his time.

[The Oki Shrine]

Visiting

(1) The Oki Islands. A cluster of remote islands in the Sea of Japan belonging to Shimane Prefecture designated as a location of exile during the reign of Emperor Shomu in 724. Noble exiles, among them two emperors, aristocrats and government officials were sent there to undergo their sentences. Oki was not only selected for this role due to its remoteness, but also because the islands were wealthy enough that exiled nobles could live there without suffering hardship (this had to do with the belief in vengeful ghosts, that the spirits of powerful individuals could come back to seek revenge for having been treated badly - so royal exiles especially were to have satisfactory living conditions). This was the reason that Nakanoshima Island, which has rich farmland, was selected as the location of exile for Emperor Gotoba in 1221. Other famous individuals exiled to the Oki Islands include Emperor Godaigo (1332, to Dogo Island)) and the poet Ono no Takamura (838 - see poem 11).

Nakanoshima is one of the Dozen Islands in the Oki archipelago and the third largest of the Oki Islands. The island is of volcanic origin, with a deeply indented coastline. This is where the Cloistered Emperor Go-Toba was exiled in 1221. He was never allowed to leave the island and died here in 1239. Oki Jinja was erected on the island in 1939 to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the death of Go-Toba. Festivals are held on 4/14 and 10/14 every year dedicated to the waka written by the Cloistered Emperor Go-Toba that include a special song and dance called “Jyokyugaku” which is exclusive to the Oki Shrine. Near the shrine is the Emperor Go-Toba Museum that displays the treasures of the Oki Shrine, centering around items related to the late emperor. In the surrounding area are the Residence Site and the Burial Site of Emperor Go-Toba, and the residence of the Murakami family that guarded the tomb for generations.

There are regular ferry services to the Oki Islands from Sakaiminato in Shimane prefecture, and also smaller ferries between the islands. See the Tourism Guide to the islands. The islands are not only rich in historical relics, but also in unspoiled nature. One famous visitor was Lafcadio Hearn, who visited the islands in 1892, spending a month there, and writing about his experiences in Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan.

[Ohara Mausoleum]

(2) Go-Toba's mausoleum can be found in Ohara, near Sanzenin temple. Designated by the Imperial Household Agency as the "Ohara no Misasagi," it is marked by a 13-story stone pagoda. After his death in 1239 on Oki, part of his ashes was brought to this official mausoleum, where they were interred together with the remains of another imperial exile, Emperor Juntoku.

References: Pictures of the Heart, The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image by Joshua S. Mostow (University of Hawai'i Press, 1996); One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each, by Peter MacMIllan (Penguin Classics); Traditional Japanese Poetry, An Anthology, by Steven D. Carter (Stanford University Press, 1991); Hyakunin Isshu by Inoue Muneo, etc. (Shinchosha, 1990); Genshoku Hyakunin Isshu by Suzuki Hideo, etc. (Buneido, 1997); Chishiki Zero kara no Hyakunin Isshu, by Ariyoshi Tamotsu (Gentosha); Hyakunin Isshu Kaibo Zukan, by Tani Tomoko (X-Knowledge);  Ogura Hyakunin Isshu at Japanese Text Initiative (University of Virginia Library Etext Center); Hyakunin Isshu wo aruku by Shimaoka Shin (Kofusha Shuppan); Hyakunin Isshu, Ocho waka kara chusei waka e by Inoue Muneo (Chikuma Shoin, 2004); Basho's Haiku (2 vols) by Toshiharu Oseko (Maruzen, 1990); The Ise Stories by Joshua S. Mostow and Royall Tyler (University of Hawai'i Press, 2010); Kokin Wakashu, The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry by Helen Craig McCullough (Stanford University Press, 1985); Kokinshu, A Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern by Laurel Rasplica Rodd and Mary Catherine Henkenius (University of Tokyo Press, 1984); Kokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1994); Shinkokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1995); Taketori Monogatari-Ise Monogatari-Yamato Monogatari-Heichu Monogatari (Shogakkan, 1994).

    Illustration: Wikipedia.

    Hyakunin Isshu Index

 

 

 

Music in G-flat Major

G-flat major is unusual, like C-sharp, but also a bit murky. It has a lighter quality than D-flat Major but doesn’t bring the austerity and weight of A-flat Major. Its color is brownish orange.

It is a key with G-Flat as root and consists of the pitches G♭, A♭, B♭, C♭, D♭, E♭, and F. Its key signature has six flats. Its relative minor is E-flat minor (or enharmonically D-sharp minor), and its parallel minor is G-flat minor, which is usually replaced by F-sharp minor, since G-flat minor's two double-flats make it impractical to use. Its direct enharmonic equivalent, F-sharp major, contains the same number of sharps as the G-flat major key does flats.

Here we reach a watershed in the Circle of Fifths where the flat and sharp keys overlap.

Like F-sharp major, G-flat major is rarely chosen as the main key for orchestral works. Some movements of larger works are, however, in G-flat: String Quintet in F major, III (Adagio) and Symphony No. 4, III (Trio) by Bruckner; or the Piano Quartet in E-flat major, op. 87, II and IV by Dvorak.

Chamber music works in G-flat Major are the Humoresque No. 7 by Dvorak which has a middle section in the parallel key (F-sharp minor), and Maurice Ravel's Introduction and Allegro for harp, flute, clarinet and string quartet.

This key is more often found in piano music, as the use of all five black keys allows an easier conformity to the player's hands, despite the numerous flats. In particular, the black keys G♭, A♭, B♭, D♭, and E♭ correspond to the 5 notes of the G-flat pentatonic scale. Schubert chose this key for his third impromptu from his first collection of impromptus (1827). Frédéric Chopin wrote two études in the key of G-flat major: Étude Op. 10, No. 5 "Black Key" and Étude Op. 25, No. 9 "Butterfly". Debussy used this key for one of his most popular compositions, La fille aux cheveux de lin, the eighth prélude from his Préludes Book I (1909–1910).

When writing works in all 24 major and minor keys, Alkan, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, and others used G-flat major over F-sharp major. Muzio Clementi chose F-sharp in his set of preludes, but G-flat for the final "Grande Exercice" which modulates through all the keys.

Here is a list of more instrumental works in G-flat Major.

Characteristic Music in G-flat Major

Franz Schubert, Impromptu No 3 in G-flat Major, from Four Impromptus D. 899

This serenade is a classic example of Schubert's outstanding lyrical facility, as well as his penchant for long melodic lines. There is little interruption in the fluttering harp-like broken triad accompaniment, creating a tense contrast with the spacious and languid melody—an anticipation of Felix Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words. With no repeats, the melody develops into a shadowy and frequently modulating middle section before returning to its relaxed flow.

Khatia Buniatishvili

Frédéric Chopin, Étude Op. 10 No. 5 "Black Key"

Étude Op. 10, No. 5 in G-flat major was first published in 1833 as the fifth piece of Chopin's Études Op. 10. This work is characterized by a rapid triplet figuration played by the right hand almost exclusively on black keys. This melodic figuration is accompanied by the left hand in staccato chords and octaves.

The so-called "Black Key Étude" is one of the composer's most popular. It has been a repertoire piece of pianists since Chopin's time and has inspired numerous exercises, arrangements and paraphrases. The piece is marked Vivace and written in 2/4 meter. Like all of Chopin's other études, this work is in ternary form ABA.

Yasuko Furumi

Étude Op. 25, No. 9 "Butterfly"

Étude Op. 25, No. 9 in G-flat major, known as the Butterfly étude, is a study of staccato – marcato alternations. The piece is marked Allegro assai and is written in 2/4 meter. It is the shortest of Chopin's études - it lasts under a minute. The melody is created by playing a detached octave, then two non-detached octaves. This makes a four-note group, the structure of which is used during the whole piece to convey the melody. This structure of rapid octaves can pose a challenge to the less technically experienced. Another difficulty is in the constant switching of solid octaves to detached octaves.

Szymon Nehring

Claude Debussy, "La fille aux cheveux de lin" in G-flat Major (from Préludes, Book I). 

"La fille aux cheveux de lin" is the eighth piece in Debussy's first book of Préludes, written between late 1909 and early 1910. The French title translates to "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair" and is named after a poem by Leconte de Lisle. The piece is known for its musical simplicity, a divergence from Debussy's style at the time. The prelude's central idea takes after its title – a girl with golden hair in a pastoral setting in Scotland. Thus, it is one of many examples of Debussy's Impressionist music, since it conjures up images of a foreign place. His utilization of pentatonic scales throughout the piece achieves this, and by blending this in with harmonizing diatonic chords and modal cadences, he creates a folk-like tune.

Played by Lang Lang,

Antonín Dvořák, Humoresque No. 7 in G-flat major

Humoresques Op. 101 is a piano cycle by the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák, written during the summer of 1894. These delightful miniatures show Dvorak's ever-fresh inspiration at its best. The seventh Humoresque in G Flat Major has become one of the most popular classical pieces in existence, and the publisher Simrock made vast amounts of money on it by publishing it separately in arrangements for all possible and impossible instruments and ensembles. Here it is played on the violin in an arrangement by Kreisler.

Augustin Hadelich and Charles Owen.

Maurice Ravel, Introduction and Allegro for harp, flute, clarinet
and string quartet

A short chamber piece by Ravel, which was commissioned in 1905 by the Érard harp manufacturers to showcase their instruments. It has been described as a miniature harp concerto. The premiere was in Paris on 22 February 1907.

The work is in G-flat major. The opening is marked Très lent and expressif. The 26-bar introduction presents three themes – the first two for woodwinds and the third for cello – which reappear in the allegro. The piece opens with a pianissimo duet for the flute and clarinet. The strings enter in the third bar, pianissimo, and the harp enters in the fourth with a wide-ranging arpeggio. The cello introduces a broad melody against the shimmering pianissimo of the violins, flute, and clarinet. After ten bars the time changes to 3/4 and the marking to "moins lent." The movement becomes faster and louder, and subsides to pianissimo again, bringing the introduction to its conclusion.

The allegro, in sonata form, follows without a break. It opens with a harp solo. The flute takes up the melody, to the accompaniment of the violins pizzicato and the other strings arco. The melody is passed from one instrument to another; the music gradually grows louder until a fortissimo climax is reached. The themes are further developed or compressed, with a cadenza for the harp, which precedes the recapitulation. The harp returns to the first theme of the allegro section, with the accompaniment of trills by strings and woodwinds. The melody passes from instrument to instrument, the music becoming louder and softer again, with short interludes for the harp solo. The principal melody is given in variation form in the harp, accompanied by pizzicato strings, leading to an animated and fortissimo conclusion.

Musicians from the Oslo Philharmonic, Harp: Birgitte Volan Håvik

[Incorporates parts of the relevant articles in the Japanese, German and English Wikipedia]

Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each): Poem 97 (Fujiwara no Teika)

   Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 97

Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)

longing for you
who do not come
I am like the salt-making fires
at dusk on the Bay of Waiting
aflame with longing

konu hito o
Matsuho no ura no
yunagi ni
yaku ya moshio no
mi mo kogare tsutsu

こぬ人を
まつほの浦の
夕なぎに
やくやもしほの
身もこがれつつ

Fujiwara no Teika 藤原定家 (1162-1241)

A poem of longing for a lover who never comes. Written at a poetry contest in 1216 hosted by Emperor Juntoku, the speaker in the poem is a woman. It is an allusive variation (honkadori) on a poem in the Manyoshu (6:935). The smouldering passion of the speaker is compared to the salt-making fires lighting up the shore at Matsuho Bay.

Notes

- Matsuho no Ura: the Bay of Matsuho ("The Bay of Waiting") on Awaji island, an utamakura. In the name of the bay "matsu" is written with the kanji for "pine tree", but in the poem it is also a pun on waiting (matsu) for the person who doesn't come (konu hito wo).
- yunagi: evening calm
- yaku ya moshio no: brine and seaweed were boiled down on the beach to make salt. (ya is an interjection without a specific meaning here).
- kogareru：to yearn for
- tsutsu: indicates that the speaker in the poem has waited night after night.

The Poet

Fujiwara no Sadaie, better-known as Fujiwara no Teika (1162 – 1241), is counted among the greatest Japanese poets. He was also an anthologist, calligrapher, and literary critic of note, whose influence was enormous. A member of a poetic clan, Teika was born to the noted poet Fujiwara no Shunzei (poem 83). After coming to the attention of the Cloistered Emperor Go-Toba, Teika began his long and distinguished career, spanning multiple areas of aesthetic endeavor. His relationship with Go-Toba was at first cordial and led to commissions to compile anthologies, but later resulted in his banishment from the cloistered emperor's court. His descendants and critical ideas on composing poetry would dominate classical Japanese poetry for centuries afterwards.

Teika was one of the editors of the Shin Kokinshu and later edited the Shinchokusenshu by himself. He collated and edited many of the classics of Japanese literature, such as The Tale of Genji. His personal poetry collection is extant and he has 465 poems in imperial anthologies. He is the compiler of One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each anthology.

Shin Kokinshu (Shin Kokin Wakashu

Shin Kokinshu (新古今和歌集, "New Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern"), the eighth imperial waka anthology. Together with the Man'yoshu and the Kokinshu, the Shin Kokinshu is widely considered to be one of the three most influential poetic anthologies in Japanese literary history. It was commissioned in 1201 by the Cloistered Emperor Go-Toba (r 1183-1198), who established a new Bureau of Poetry at his Nijo palace with eleven Fellows, headed by Fujiwara no Yoshitsune, for the purpose of conducting poetry contests and compiling the anthology. Despite its emphasis on contemporary poets, the Shin Kokinshu covered a broader range of poetic ages than the Kokinshu, including ancient poems that the editors of the first anthology had deliberately excluded. It was officially presented in 1205, on the 300th anniversary of the completion of the Kokinshu.

Although Go-Toba retained veto power over the poems included in the anthology as well as the order in which they were presented, he assigned the task of compilation to six of the Fellows of the Bureau of Poetry. These were Fujiwara no Teika (1162–1241), Fujiwara no Ariie, Fujiwara no Ietaka, Jakuren, Minamoto no Michitomo and Asukai Masatsune. The anthology was also given a preface in Japanese prose by Fujiwara no Yoshitsune and a preface in Chinese by Fujiwara no Chikatsune, in a manner reminiscent of the Kokinshu.

Poems included in Hyakunin Isshu: 2, 4, 6, 19, 27, 46, 54, 57, 79, 84, 87, 89, 91, 94 (total 14)

[Matsuho Bay on Awaji Island]

Visiting

Matsuho Bay lies on the north side of Awaji Island and refers to the coast here which faces the Strait of Akashi. A body of water with strong tidal currents, the Strait of Akashi links the Seto Inland Sea with Osaka Bay. It is also a key point for crossing the sea to the area around Kyoto. Awaji Island is where the Ama, with their superb seafaring skills, flourished in olden times. The Manyoshu already mentions that the Ama made salt here, and that Matsuho no Ura was used as an anchor ground for the crossing over the Strait of Akashi.

According to the creation myth in the Kojiki, Awaji was the first of the Japanese islands born from the union between the deities Izanagi and Izanami, and is dotted with famous places such as Izanagi Jingu and Onokorojima Shrine. The area around Matsuho Bay now is called Iwaya and you also find here the Iwaya Shrine which is associated with the Onokoro story of Japanese mythology. It is refreshing to stand on the coast here and see small skiffs with fishermen shoot through strait, followed by clouds of shrieking seagulls. You also see the world's longest suspension bridge, Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, which crosses the Strait here from Kobe. What you don't see are salt makers, for that occupation has long died out on Awaji. Despite the bridge, the nicest way to cross over to Awaji is the ferry from Akashi, the Jenova Line (the only ferry left after the bridge was built). It is quite frequent and convenient. See this website about historical sites on Awaji Island.

References: Pictures of the Heart, The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image by Joshua S. Mostow (University of Hawai'i Press, 1996); One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each, by Peter MacMIllan (Penguin Classics); Traditional Japanese Poetry, An Anthology, by Steven D. Carter (Stanford University Press, 1991); Hyakunin Isshu by Inoue Muneo, etc. (Shinchosha, 1990); Genshoku Hyakunin Isshu by Suzuki Hideo, etc. (Buneido, 1997); Chishiki Zero kara no Hyakunin Isshu, by Ariyoshi Tamotsu (Gentosha); Hyakunin Isshu Kaibo Zukan, by Tani Tomoko (X-Knowledge);  Ogura Hyakunin Isshu at Japanese Text Initiative (University of Virginia Library Etext Center); Hyakunin Isshu wo aruku by Shimaoka Shin (Kofusha Shuppan); Hyakunin Isshu, Ocho waka kara chusei waka e by Inoue Muneo (Chikuma Shoin, 2004); Basho's Haiku (2 vols) by Toshiharu Oseko (Maruzen, 1990); The Ise Stories by Joshua S. Mostow and Royall Tyler (University of Hawai'i Press, 2010); Kokin Wakashu, The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry by Helen Craig McCullough (Stanford University Press, 1985); Kokinshu, A Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern by Laurel Rasplica Rodd and Mary Catherine Henkenius (University of Tokyo Press, 1984); Kokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1994); Shinkokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1995); Taketori Monogatari-Ise Monogatari-Yamato Monogatari-Heichu Monogatari (Shogakkan, 1994).

    Illustration / Photo: Wikipedia.

    Hyakunin Isshu Index

 

 

 

Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each): Poem 96 (Fujiwara no Kintsune)

   Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 96

Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)

the blossoms lured to the garden
by the storm wind
are not snow that has fallen -
what withers and falls away
are the years of my life!

hana sasou
arashi no niwa no
yuki nara de
furi yuku mono wa
waga mi nari keri

花さそふ
あらしの庭の
雪ならで
ふりゆくものは
わが身なりけり

Fujiwara (Saionji) no Kintsune 西園寺公経 (1171-1244)

The blossoms that have been scattered (furi) by the storm wind like fallen snow, are in fact not snow, therefore they are not fallen (furi): the only thing that is falling and growing old (furi) is the poet himself.

Notes

- hana sasou arashi: "the (cherry-) blossoms lured by the storm"
- yuki: Kintsune plays with the hackneyed "elegant confusion" between blossoms and snow.
- narade: "-de" is a negation. "
- furiyuku: pun (kaketotoba) meaning both "to fall (of the snow/cherry blossoms)" and "to grow old (of the poet)." This also refers to Ono no Komachi's verse in the Hyakunin Isshu (poem 9) in which the same pun occurs.
- narikeri: "nari" is an assertion, "-keri" indicates an exclamation, as if the poet only now realizes he is growing old.

The Poet

Fujiwara no Kintsune was the progenitor of the Saionji family, and is therefore also called "Saionji Kintsune." He was on intimate terms with the Kamakura bakufu, as evidenced by his marriage to a niece of Minamoto no Yoritomo and eventually became the grandfather of the shogun Yoritsune. He was held in confinement by Cloistered Emperor Go-Toba during the Jokyu War, but managed to alert the bakufu of what was happening in advance, and thereby contributed to the bakufu's eventual victory. After the war, his bond with the bakufu became stronger than ever, so that in 1222 he was promoted to High Chancellor and raised to Juichi-i (Junior First Rank) the following year in 1223, until he, along with his adopted son-in-law, Kujo Michiie, controlled all the real power at the imperial court. He also worked as Kanto Moshitsugi, or Shogunal Liaison at Court, exerting himself to mediate between bakufu and court. Kintsune's granddaughter Kitsushi became Emperor Gosaga's Empress, whereby Kintsune became maternal relatives with Imperial Prince Hisahito (who later became Emperor Gofukakusa). With this, the Saionji family established their precedent of producing Empresses, and in addition, used this as the impetus to forge close ties between the Jimyoin imperial lineage (the genealogy beginning with Emperor Gofukakusa) and the bakufu. Kintsune had the rare honor of being the grandfather of the Shogun, the Emperor, the Empress, and the Sekkan.

The family name Saionji comes from the fact that Kintsune had a temple called Saionji built on the spot which later became Kinkakuji Temple in Kyoto. Starting with Kintsune, the Saionji family became hereditary holders of the Kanto Moshitsugi (shogunal liaison to court) position for the rest of the Kamakura period.

At the age of 60. Kintsune took the tonsure to study under the famous priest Myoe, leaving behind his busy political life. It is possible that the above poem as written around that time, in 1231.

Teika was married to Kintsune's older sister and received his patronage. Kintsune was active in court poetic circles and is the fourth best represented poet in the Shinchokusenshu, which Teika edited. He has 114 poems in the Shinkokinshu and other imperial anthologies.

Visiting

The garden of Kinkakuji Temple (of course without the Golden Pavilion!) goes back to Kintsune's Saionji and speaks of the wealth of this statesman.

References: Pictures of the Heart, The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image by Joshua S. Mostow (University of Hawai'i Press, 1996); One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each, by Peter MacMIllan (Penguin Classics); Traditional Japanese Poetry, An Anthology, by Steven D. Carter (Stanford University Press, 1991); Hyakunin Isshu by Inoue Muneo, etc. (Shinchosha, 1990); Genshoku Hyakunin Isshu by Suzuki Hideo, etc. (Buneido, 1997); Chishiki Zero kara no Hyakunin Isshu, by Ariyoshi Tamotsu (Gentosha); Hyakunin Isshu Kaibo Zukan, by Tani Tomoko (X-Knowledge);  Ogura Hyakunin Isshu at Japanese Text Initiative (University of Virginia Library Etext Center); Hyakunin Isshu wo aruku by Shimaoka Shin (Kofusha Shuppan); Hyakunin Isshu, Ocho waka kara chusei waka e by Inoue Muneo (Chikuma Shoin, 2004); Basho's Haiku (2 vols) by Toshiharu Oseko (Maruzen, 1990); The Ise Stories by Joshua S. Mostow and Royall Tyler (University of Hawai'i Press, 2010); Kokin Wakashu, The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry by Helen Craig McCullough (Stanford University Press, 1985); Kokinshu, A Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern by Laurel Rasplica Rodd and Mary Catherine Henkenius (University of Tokyo Press, 1984); Kokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1994); Shinkokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1995); Taketori Monogatari-Ise Monogatari-Yamato Monogatari-Heichu Monogatari (Shogakkan, 1994).

    Photos: my own work.

    Hyakunin Isshu Index

 

 

Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each): Poem 95 (Jien)

    Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 95

Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)


though I am unworthy,
shield the people
of this wretched world,
my ink-black sleeves,
as I now live on wooded Mt Hiei

okenaku
ukiyo no tami ni
ou kana
waga tatsu soma ni
sumizome no sode

おほけなく
うき世の民に
おほふかな
わがたつそまに
墨染の袖

Jien 慈円 (1155-1225)

The author, a high Buddhist priest, vows to dedicate his life to saving the people.

In that case the poem could have been written in 1192 when Jien became High Prelate of Enryakuji, the main Tendai temple on Mt Hiei. However, as the poem has been included in the Senzaishu which was compiled in 1188, such a dating is not possible.

Notes

- okenaku: "although I am inadequate", an expression of modesty.
- ukiyo no tami: "the folk of this wretched world"
- waga tatsu soma ni: Mt Hiei, literally "in these wooded hills," a quote from a poem by Saicho, the founder of Tendai Buddhism.
- sumi: a pun (kakekotoba), meaning both "to live" and "to dye one's clothes black" (as a priest).
- sumizome no sode: the black clothes worn by Buddhist priests.

The Poet

Jien (1155 - 1225) was the son of Fujiwara no Tadamichi (poem 76). His brother was the future regent Fujiwara no Kanezane. Jien became a Tendai monk early in his life, entering Shorenin at age eleven. He eventually rose to the rank of Daisojo or High Prelate, the leader of Tendai Buddhism. As waka poet, Jien took part in many poetic events sponsored by Emperor Go-Toba and was a member of the poetic circle of his nephew Yoshitsune (poem 91) and Teika. His personal poetry collection has been preserved and he is the second-best represented poet in the Shinkokinshu (after Saigyo). He has 267 poems in the Senzaishu and other imperial anthologies. He is also famous for his historiographic work, the Gukansho, in which he attempted to apply Buddhist principles such as "mappo" to the analysis of Japanese history. He held a pessimistic view of his age, claiming that it was a period of the disintegration of civilization.

[Enryakuji's main hall, Konponchudo, "on wooded Mt Hiei"]

Visiting

Enryakuji, the headquarters of Tendai Buddhism on Mt Hiei, to the northeast of Kyoto, is huge. It was founded in 788 as a simple meditation hut by Saicho (767-822), and from the beginning, was first and for all a center of scholarship. It brought forth a long line of famous priests and thinkers and also acted as the incubation center for most new types of Buddhism. Honen, Shinran, Eisai, Dogen and Nichiren all studied on Mt. Hiei, before discovering their own direction. The Light of the Law, symbolically kept burning in a lantern in Enryakuji's main hall, has been shining through the ages.

Saicho had studied the teachings of the Tiantai School, a Chinese Buddhist movement named after the mountain on which the main monastery is located, and in 804 he decided to make the perilous journey to China to apprentice with monks on Mount Tiantai. When he returned to Japan in 805, he possessed all the historical and philosophical knowledge of the Tiantai school. His hut on Mt Hiei grew into a large temple  from which he spread Tendai teachings and trained monks. When the Japanese capital was moved to neighboring Heiankyo, present-day Kyoto, in 794, it became the city's protective temple.

What Saicho introduced to Japan was not just the Tiantai doctrine, based on the Lotus Sutra and the idea that every person possesses the Buddha nature in embryo. He also taught elements of Zen, esoteric mikkyo, and vinaya. The tendency to combine elements of different movements was continued by Saicho's successors Ennin and Enchin.

Enryakuji consists of three precincts: the Toto or Eastern Precinct, where the main temple stands, and which includes the massive Konponchudo, Enryakuji's Main Hall, and the Daikodo or Great Lecture Hal as well as the temple museum; the more quiet Saito or Western Precinct; and the little visited Yokawa area, which is four kilometers further north. See the website of the Hieizan Biwako Panoramic Route for ways of access.

References: Pictures of the Heart, The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image by Joshua S. Mostow (University of Hawai'i Press, 1996); One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each, by Peter MacMIllan (Penguin Classics); Traditional Japanese Poetry, An Anthology, by Steven D. Carter (Stanford University Press, 1991); Hyakunin Isshu by Inoue Muneo, etc. (Shinchosha, 1990); Genshoku Hyakunin Isshu by Suzuki Hideo, etc. (Buneido, 1997); Chishiki Zero kara no Hyakunin Isshu, by Ariyoshi Tamotsu (Gentosha); Hyakunin Isshu Kaibo Zukan, by Tani Tomoko (X-Knowledge);  Ogura Hyakunin Isshu at Japanese Text Initiative (University of Virginia Library Etext Center); Hyakunin Isshu wo aruku by Shimaoka Shin (Kofusha Shuppan); Hyakunin Isshu, Ocho waka kara chusei waka e by Inoue Muneo (Chikuma Shoin, 2004); Basho's Haiku (2 vols) by Toshiharu Oseko (Maruzen, 1990); The Ise Stories by Joshua S. Mostow and Royall Tyler (University of Hawai'i Press, 2010); Kokin Wakashu, The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry by Helen Craig McCullough (Stanford University Press, 1985); Kokinshu, A Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern by Laurel Rasplica Rodd and Mary Catherine Henkenius (University of Tokyo Press, 1984); Kokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1994); Shinkokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1995); Taketori Monogatari-Ise Monogatari-Yamato Monogatari-Heichu Monogatari (Shogakkan, 1994).

    Illustration: Wikipedia. Photo Konponchudo: own work.

    Hyakunin Isshu Index

 

Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each): Poem 94 (Fujiwara no Masatsune)

   Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 94

Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)


the autumn wind blowing
from fair Mount Yoshino
deepens the night
and in the old capital, cold,
I hear the sound of beating cloth

miyoshino no
yama no akikaze
sayo fukete
furusato samuku
koromo utsu nari

みよし野の
山の秋風
さよふけて
ふるさとさむく
衣うつなり

Fujiwara no Masatsune 藤原雅経 (1170-1221)

[”Fulling cloth" by Katsushika Oi]

A poem on "fulling cloth," the practice of pounding fabric to bring out a glossy sheen. The poem was part of a 100 poem sequence composed in 1202 and is again a "honkadori" poem, drawing on both Chinese and Japanese examples to create a mood of autumnal melancholia. Poems alluded to are kanshi by Li Bai and Bai Juyi, as well as Kokinshi No 325 by Ki no Korenori.

Notes

- miyoshino: utamakura for Yoshino, the mountainous area south of Nara not only famous for cherry blossoms and ascetic priests, but also for being the location of the Rikyu palace of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jito.
- sayo fukete: as the night deepens, the autumn wind gets increasingly cold
- furusato: here "the old capital", i.e. the site of the palace of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jito.
- samuku (cold): a pivot word between "furusato" (old capital) and "koromo utsu" (beating clothes) - conveys the double sense of the cold of the evening and the chilly sound of the mallet.
- koromo utsunari: the sound of fulling blocks (kinuta) was also a sign of autumn in Sinitic poetry.

The Poet

Fujiwara no Masatsune (1170-1221, a.k.a. Asukai Masatsune) was a son of Nanba Yoritsune and the ancestor of the Asukai family, who were known for their skill at both poetic composition, calligraphy and kemari. He studied poetry with Shunzei (poem 83) and was one of the editors of the Shinkokinshu. He left a private collection, the Asukaishu, which was posthumously edited by his grandson in 1292. Twenty-two of his poems were included in the Shinkokinshu, and a total of 134 in the imperial anthologies.

[Mr Yoshino]

Visiting

Although you won't hear the interesting sound of cloth fulling anymore, Mt Yoshino is a fascinating destination, sitting on the crest of a ridge extending to the heart of the Yoshino mountains. Located in Nara Prefecture, Mt Yoshino is a major religious and literary site. Its peaks were once climbed chiefly for devotional purposes by "mountain ascetics." Several important religious and pilgrimage destinations are located on and around Mt Yoshino, including Kinpusenji Temple, with the Zaodo  whose principal image is Zao Gongen. The hall is the second largest wooden building in Japan (after the Daibutsuden of Todaiji) and possesses great architectural beauty. Other interesting temples in the area are Nyoirinji and Chikurinji. As shrines go, we have the Yoshimizu Shrine, the Yoshino-Mikumari Shrine (built in the Momoyama period), the Kinpu Shrine and the Kokeshimizu Shrine, which stands in the vicinity of the site of the hermitage of the famous 12th c. Buddhist priest and poet Saigyo.

The area is renowned for its more than 30,000 flowering cherry trees, which have inspired Japanese waka poetry for centuries, including the 10th century poetry compilation Kokinshu and the above-mentioned Saigyo. Yoshino's cherry trees were planted in four groves at different altitudes, so they would come into bloom at different times in spring. Find more information about Yoshino and ways to get there on the Visit Nara website.

References: Pictures of the Heart, The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image by Joshua S. Mostow (University of Hawai'i Press, 1996); One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each, by Peter MacMIllan (Penguin Classics); Traditional Japanese Poetry, An Anthology, by Steven D. Carter (Stanford University Press, 1991); Hyakunin Isshu by Inoue Muneo, etc. (Shinchosha, 1990); Genshoku Hyakunin Isshu by Suzuki Hideo, etc. (Buneido, 1997); Chishiki Zero kara no Hyakunin Isshu, by Ariyoshi Tamotsu (Gentosha); Hyakunin Isshu Kaibo Zukan, by Tani Tomoko (X-Knowledge);  Ogura Hyakunin Isshu at Japanese Text Initiative (University of Virginia Library Etext Center); Hyakunin Isshu wo aruku by Shimaoka Shin (Kofusha Shuppan); Hyakunin Isshu, Ocho waka kara chusei waka e by Inoue Muneo (Chikuma Shoin, 2004); Basho's Haiku (2 vols) by Toshiharu Oseko (Maruzen, 1990); The Ise Stories by Joshua S. Mostow and Royall Tyler (University of Hawai'i Press, 2010); Kokin Wakashu, The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry by Helen Craig McCullough (Stanford University Press, 1985); Kokinshu, A Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern by Laurel Rasplica Rodd and Mary Catherine Henkenius (University of Tokyo Press, 1984); Kokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1994); Shinkokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1995); Taketori Monogatari-Ise Monogatari-Yamato Monogatari-Heichu Monogatari (Shogakkan, 1994).

    Illustration: Wikipedia. Photo Mt Yoshino: own work.

    Hyakunin Isshu Index

 

Music in C-sharp Major

C-sharp Major is a key to bring out unusual characters and feelings. It has been called a "grimacing" and "leering" key. The color is brown to me.

C-sharp major consists of the pitches C♯, D♯, E♯, F♯, G♯, A♯, and B♯. It is enharmonically equivalent to D-flat major. Its key signature has seven sharps, making it difficult to read. People recognize this key more as D-flat Major, if you discount the fact that before keys were well tempered C-sharp and D-flat were two different keys. They still are in modern times, not on the piano but on string instruments like the violin. Most composers prefer to use the enharmonic equivalent D-flat major since it only contains five flats as opposed to C-sharp major's seven sharps. However, Johann Sebastian Bach chose C-sharp major for Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in both books of The Well-Tempered Clavier.

C-sharp Major is scarcely ever used in orchestral music - the only exception I know of is the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in C-Sharp Major by Korngold, written as a commission by the one-handed concert pianist Paul Wittgenstein in 1923. It is a remarkable work, but unfortunately there is no live performance available on YouTube.

For the rest, C-sharp Major is used in a handful of piano works. We will, of course, find the key of C sharp major in collections organized by key such as Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, where the lyrical potential of the key is demonstrated, and we also find it as one of Brahms’ 16 Waltzes, Op. 39. In Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6, Franz Liszt takes the unusual step of changing the key from D-flat major to C-sharp major near the start of the piece, and then back again to B-flat minor. Maurice Ravel selected C-sharp major as the tonic key of "Ondine" from his piano suite Gaspard de la nuit. The Allegro de concierto by Spanish composer Enrique Granados is also written in C-sharp major.

The above is a selection of the most well-known works in C-sharp Major for the piano. A larger list with works by Alkan, Scriabin, and others can be found here.

Characteristic works in C-sharp Major

Johann Sebastian Bach, Prelude and Fugue in C sharp Major, BWV 848

The third prelude and fugue in the first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier, a series of 48 preludes and fugues by the composer. The prelude is a lively 2 part texture, using a series of broken chords which swap between the hands. It is in a fast 3/8 time signature and is made up largely of semiquavers. Later on in the piece, the semiquaver line splits between the hands before ending with a short Coda in an improvisatory manner. The three-voice fugue is unusually void of the commonly used fugal devices, such as augmentation, diminution, inversion, pedal point or stretti. The cheerful subject is characterized by descending broken 6ths in light quavers. One of the counter-subjects is constructed with running legato semiquavers, whilst the other consists of longer note values. The fugue has an extensive sequential episode which develops through related keys before the reappearance of the three voices.

Listen to: Patrick Ayrton | Netherlands Bach Society

Johannes Brahms, Waltz Op.39 No. 6 in C# Major (for piano four hands)

A set of 16 short waltzes composed in 1865. These waltzes were written for piano four hands, and were also arranged for piano solo by the composer, in two different versions – difficult and simplified. The three versions were published at the same time, and sold well, contrary to the composer's expectations. The waltzes were written while the composer lived in Vienna, a city where he would permanently settle in 1872. They were intended as a tribute to the waltz dance form which had become especially fashionable in his adopted city.

The Alonso Brothers

Maurice Ravel, "Ondine" from Gaspard de la Nuit

Gaspard de la nuit is a suite of piano pieces by Maurice Ravel, written in 1908. It has three movements, each based on a poem from the collection Gaspard de la Nuit – Fantaisies à la manière de Rembrandt et de Callot completed in 1836 by Aloysius Bertrand. The work was premiered in Paris, on January 9, 1909, by Ricardo Viñes.

Written in C-sharp major and based on the poem "Ondine", an oneiric tale of the water nymph Undine singing to seduce the observer into visiting her kingdom deep at the bottom of a lake. It is reminiscent of Ravel's early piano piece, the Jeux d'eau (1901), with the sounds of water falling and flowing, woven with cascades.

There are five main melodies. The opening melody at bar 2 evokes a line of song and is similar in form and subject to the main theme in Sirènes from Claude Debussy's Nocturnes. This is interrupted by the second theme at bar 10 before opening up a longer melodic passage formed from the latter part of theme 1. Then a short simple melody first heard at bar 23 introduces shimmering harmonic side-shifting. The final distinct melody is a menacing short rising figure first heard at bar 45, which prefaces the menace of Le Gibet and which later provides a bridge to the main climax at bar 66. Ravel prioritizes melodic development to express the poetic themes, keeping subordinate the simmering coloration of the right hand. By contrast, Claude Debussy's works such as Reflets dans l'eau tend to treat melody more equally with harmonic and figurative impulsivity, and often position virtuosity more in the foreground.

Played by Alice Sara Ott.

Allegro de Concierto in C-sharp Major, Op. 46, Enrique Granados

A virtuoso showpiece for piano composed between 1903 and 1904. Its lyricism and technical brilliance, reminiscent of Franz Liszt, have made it one of the composer's most popular works.

The Allegro de concierto was submitted to a competition organized by Tomás Bretón of the Madrid Royal Conservatory in 1903, which awarded a considerable sum of 500 pesetas for the best "concert allegro" for solo piano. Twenty-four composers participated, among them the young Manuel de Falla, who received an honorable mention. The jury declared Granados the winner with an almost unanimous vote. The composition brought Granados to national attention.

The structure of the work is somewhat unusual for Granados, as it is in the traditional sonata form. It is reminiscent of Franz Liszt in its virtuosic piano writing, featuring rapid octaves and arpeggios that span the entire keyboard, and in its use of chordal melodies and forceful accompaniments. The work begins with a brilliant two-bar flourish, leading to the exposition that opens with the main theme in C-sharp major. Its added sixth introduces a sense of pentatonicism, though it is not distinctly Spanish. The lyrical second theme, in G-sharp minor (the dominant minor), is followed by a brief reprise of the first theme in G major, leading to a third theme. The development section begins with a new melody, marked "Andante spianato", over the arpeggiated main theme. A cadenza-like transition leads to the recapitulation in C-sharp major, though the second theme is held in C-sharp minor (the parallel minor). It is followed by a brilliant coda, based on the main theme.

Played by Fernanda Damiano.

Franz Liszt, Hungarian Rhapsody No.6 in C-sharp Major

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 in D-flat major is the sixth work of the 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies composed by Franz Liszt. This work was dedicated to Count Antoine of Appony and uses the form of a lassan (a slow dance) and friska (the fast section of the scardas) like many other of his rhapsodies. This piece was later arranged for orchestra.

The rhapsody is divided into three main sections: an Introduction (Tempo giusto – Presto), Lassan (Andante) and Friska (Allegro). In the introduction the left hand of the player plays a steady bassline made up of the chords in the D-flat major scale. Due to the overlapping of the melody over the bars, the piece does not sound as though it is in a 2/4 rhythm. This is because Liszt did not start the first chord of the piece as an upbeat. The melody of the first part is repetitive, ending with a long cadenza mainly using the black keys. The second part (presto) is in C-sharp major (which is simply an enharmonic version of the previous D-flat, not a modulation) and has a lively rhythm, leading to the lassan in B-flat minor. The lassan is played slowly, with a rhythm in improvisational style, again finishing with a large cadenza at the end, leading sequentially to the friska (Allegro) in B-flat major. The melody is played in semiquavers requiring the player to move fast in octaves. The bass line repeats the same strong quaver rhythms. The final part of the piece ends with chromatic scales in octaves moving in contrary motion, leading to B-flat major chords. The piece makes use of the gypsy scale.

Played by Martha Argerich (1966)

[Incorporates parts of the relevant articles in the Japanese, German and English Wikipedia]

Music in F-sharp Major

Music in F-sharp Major is the key of transcendence and radiance. It sometimes reminds me of a cold, sparkling spring. Or a futuristic icy coldness, a whimsical strangeness. This key is associated with frozen blue to me.

F-sharp major consists of the pitches F♯, G♯, A♯, B, C♯, D♯, and E♯. Its key signature has six sharps. Its relative minor is D-sharp minor (or enharmonically E-flat minor) and its parallel minor is F-sharp minor. Its direct enharmonic, G-flat major, contains the same number of flats in its key signature.

This is a rather difficult key to play in. Like G-flat major, F-sharp major is rarely used in orchestral music, other than in passing. The only two symphonies I know are Mahler's Tenth Symphony and Korngold's Symphony Op. 40. The key was however the favorite tonality of Olivier Messiaen, who used it repeatedly throughout his work to express his most transcendent moods, most notably in the Turangalîla-Symphonie (which, however, is not in any fixed key).

In chamber music we have Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 14. The key is more common in piano music. Some examples include the Nocturne in F-sharp major, Op. 15, No. 2 by Chopin, as well as his Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Op. 60. Among Grieg's Lyric Pieces we find the well-known "To Spring" Op. 43 No. 6 in F-sharp major. The Fourth Piano Sonata by Alexander Scriabin is also in F sharp. Liszt was apparently fond of F-sharp major, writing uplifting while meditative pieces like "Les jeux d'eaux à la villa d'este" from Anées de Pèlerinage III, S.163 and "Bénediction de Dieu dans la Solitude" from the set Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses S.173 in this key.

Characteristic Music in F-sharp Major

Frederic Chopin, Nocturne in F-sharp major Op 15, No. 2

Chopin's fifth nocturne is in A–B–A form, F-sharp major, 2/4 time. The first section, marked Larghetto, features an intricate, elaborately ornamental melody over an even quaver bass. The abundant use of arpeggios creates a sense of fluidity. The piano's abilities are freely employed, including the use of ornaments in a chromatic descending progression. The second section, in C-sharp major, labeled doppio movimento (double speed), resembles a scherzo with dotted quaver-semi quaver melody, semiquavers in a lower voice in the right hand, and large jumps in the bass. The final section is a shortened version of the first (14 bars rather than 24) with characteristic cadenzas and elaboration, finishing with an arpeggio on F-sharp major, falling at first, then dying away.

Many consider this nocturne to be the best of the opus, stating that its musical maturity matches some of his later nocturnes." "The return of the heavenly opening theme... touches one like a benediction." It is a piece that is played relatively frequently in concerts.

Played by Irene Veneziano

Frederic Chopin, Barcarolle in F sharp major Op. 60

The Barcarolle in F-sharp major was composed between autumn of 1845 and summer 1846, three years before Chopin's death. This barcarolle (a stylized "gondola song") is a typical salonesque genre composition written in a compellingly romantic and lilting style. The work is in a quiet 12/8 time signature. Technically, the piece consists of a constant continuous accompaniment in the left hand, with the large leaps from the bass note sometimes striking, an accompaniment depicting the swaying of the gondola, with the right hand playing the melody, with technically demanding variations. Many of the technical figures for the right hand are thirds and sixths, while the left features very long reaches over an octave. Its middle section is in A major, and this section's second theme is recapitulated near the piece's end in F-sharp.

This is one of Chopin's last major compositions, along with his Polonaise-Fantasie, Op. 61. It is often considered to be one of his more demanding compositions. Chopin played the work during his very last recital in Paris in 1848, (the year before his death in 1849).

Played by Aimi Kobayashi.

Franz Liszt, Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude

Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (Poetic and Religious Harmonies) is a 10-piece cycle of piano works written by Franz Liszt at Woronińce (Voronivtsi, the Polish-Ukrainian country estate of Liszt’s friend Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein) in 1847, and published in 1853. The pieces are inspired by the poetry of Alphonse de Lamartine. In Liszt’s engagement with this poetry there is a strong intensity and urgent earnestness that one doesn’t find in Liszt's other piano work. It forms a unique admixture of mysticism, exultation and contemplation.

‘Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude’, along with the fourth piece in the collection, is regarded as a masterpiece that symbolizes the religious and introspective side of Liszt. It is spacious, questing, yet disarmingly intimate. The piece has a beautiful and meditative F-sharp major theme that is transformed for a while, followed by a light D major and a gentle B-flat major section, and eventually ends with a passionate uplifting of the first theme that returns. In the concluding section, the motif's antiphonal form is interspersed with recollections, and then quietly disappears.

Played by Cyprien Katsaris

Alexander Scriabin, Sonata No. 4 in F-sharp Major, op. 30

For this work Scriabin wrote a program: a poem describing flight to a distant star. It reflects the startling new philosophies he was imbibing in 1903. The sonata consists of two movements, Andante and Prestissimo volando ("very rapidly, as if flying"), and is one of Scriabin's shortest piano sonatas. It is generally considered to be the beginning of Scriabin's middle period due to the newly mystical sonorities and tonal ambiguity of the first movement. It is one of the most performed of Scriabin's sonatas.

The sonata is written in a post-Romantic style, similar to Scriabin's other works of the time. The first movement, sensual in its languid expression, is monothematic (based on a single theme). The second movement, celebratory and climactic, starts attacca right after the Andante movement. A more Romantic idea is the use of cyclic form in restating the Andante’s main theme (dolcissimo) as the ecstatic climax of the Prestissimo volando movement (Focosamente, giubiloso).

Played by Kenny Broberg.

Gustav Mahler, Symphony No 10 in F-sharp Major

No 10 is Mahler's last, uncompleted symphony, and is often left out of recordings of the full symphonies. In the past, I developed the mistaken idea that Mahler just left a series of sketches. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Not only is there a complete draft score, Mahler also already scored movements 1 and 3. A draft score is not a final score - Mahler used to change many details while scoring - but close enough to say that what we have of the 10th symphony is true Mahler, and not Deryk Cooke (the musicologist who with several collaborators made the performing version which is usually played today). Moreover, the 10th symphony also is more positive than the "dark night of the soul" of the 9th Symphony. Instead of plunging farther into a preoccupation with death, Mahler was clearly moving again towards a more vitally creative attitude. The 10th Symphony has an extraordinary structural balance: two Adagios frame two scherzos, which themselves frame a sort of intermezzo called "Purgatorio." The symphony starts in death-haunted nostalgia, moves to forced happiness and unease, until finally achieving serenity in the finale.

1st movement. Andante - Adagio in F-sharp major, 4/4 time, free sonata form
The movement begins with a nihilistic and enigmatic introductory theme by the violas. The key signature is F-sharp major, but the viola melody is ambiguous and sounds like F-sharp minor. Soon, the adagio proper arrives, with a warm melody introduced by the violins. Mahler works through these two contrasting groups of material over the course of the movement, building to a grand climax - which in turn collapses into a dissonant orchestral shriek. The movement ends with an extended orchestral passage, inward, mysterious, and questing, bringing no more than temporary respite.

2nd movement Scherzo. F-sharp major in flat time. Free form in two parts.
The defiant, sardonic music of the scherzo - dominated by winds and brass - alternates with more relaxed, graceful Ländler passages introduced by the strings.
The movement ends in F-sharp major.

3rd movement Purgatorio (Purgatory). Allegretto moderato in B flat minor, 2/4 time, three part form
In Mahler's score, the words "Purgatorio (Purgatory) or Inferno (Inferno)" are written, and there is a mark where the "or Inferno" part was erased. It is said that Mahler named this movement Purgatorio, either based on a betrayal poem written by a friend of Mahler or on Dante's Divine Comedy. At about four minutes in brief three-part form, it is the shortest movement Mahler wrote, and some believe that it was intended to be expanded further. This short, pastoral movement has the important function of introducing the theme of the last two movements.

4th movement. Allegro pesante (Without haste) in E minor, 3/4 time.
Another powerful and intense scherzo, ABABABA, and the two parts intertwine. Mahler wrote on the first page of the movement, "The devil dances with me. Madness haunts me." It is in fact a sort of distorted waltz, which ends with a muffled drum stroke.

5th movement. Finale. Langsam, schwer.
A long, serene melody, introduced by the flute and then taken up by the strings, rises from the desolation. The drum strokes return, this time introducing a concentrated allegro that builds to a return of the lacerating dissonance from the first movement. Only out of the wreckage of this total collapse does Mahler achieve a sort of serenity. The flute theme returns and unfolds into a tranquil rhapsody, still tinged with sorrow.

Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Dmitri Shostakovich, String Quartet No 14 in F-sharp Major

The Fourteenth Quartet is held to be the most accessible of Shostakovich’s late quartets. The F-Sharp Major Quartet was begun at the home of Sir Benjamin Britten (a composer greatly admired by Shostakovich) during a visit to England in the summer of 1972, and was completed the following April in Copenhagen. Its key of F sharp major is traditionally associated with transcendence and radiance and this almost whimsical work is the most accessible of Shostakovich's darker late quartets.

The work consists of three movements of similar duration; two animated movements flanking an adagio movement reminiscent of Beethoven.

A clue to the work’s content is the fact that it is dedicated to Sergei Shirinsky, the cellist of the Beethoven Quartet. The Beethoven Quartet had premiered all of Shostakovich’s Quartets with the exception of the First. They were his "instrument" much as the Schuppanzigh Quartet had been Beethoven's in the presentation of his Quartets. Shirinsky was featured in the 14th by the numerous solo passages given to the cello; note the droll opening theme, as well as duets for cello and lst violin. In the third movement, Shostakovich quotes music from his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (1934). This was the work which, despite a successful two year run, became the focus of a hit piece in Pravda in 1936, precipitating the first of Shostakovich's serious difficulties with the Stalin regime. However, the work returned to the Soviet stage some twenty-five years later. The music quoted in this Quartet is the romantic theme associated with Katerina’s lover Seryozha, an affectionate form of the name Sergei.

Jerusalem Quartet

[Incorporates parts from the relevant Japanese, English, Dutch and German articles from Wikipedia]