August Junker (musician)
August Junker (born January 28, 1868 in Stolberg near Aachen , † January 5, 1944 in Tokyo ) was a German musician.
Junker became known in particular through his work in Japan at the beginning of the 20th century, where he made a significant contribution to the development of western classical music alongside Rudolf E. Dittrich and other German and Austrian musicians. For 13 years he taught at the Tōkyō Ongaku Gakkō , the first western music academy in Japan, promoted German songs and instrumental lessons and created the first Japanese orchestra based on the western model.
His students Rentarō Taki and Kōsaku Yamada are considered to be the founders of the Japanese art song , which combines Western (German) compositional technique with Eastern (Japanese) poetry .
life and work
His father, a glassblower, taught him the violin at an early age ; As a ten-year-old he played with him to dance on weekends. At the age of 13 Junker came to the Cologne Conservatory , where he was trained as a violinist . As the best student he was allowed to play in front of Johannes Brahms . At the age of 17 he became a student of Joseph Joachim in Berlin. In 1890 he joined the Berlin Philharmonic and was appointed concertmaster by Hans von Bülow .
From 1891 to 1897 he was the first violist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra ; In 1897 he traveled through Egypt and Southeast Asia to Yokohama in Japan. There he found work in a music shop and got to know many foreigners who lived in Japan and made music in their free time. He put together an orchestra and performed with them at charity concerts. So one became aware of him and in 1899 offered him a position at the Tokyo Music Academy , the Tōkyō Ongaku Gakkō . Junker himself trained the strings and took over the choir. The winds came from the court orchestra. This was taught by Franz Eckart, a German military bandmaster who made European military music known in Japan.
In just a few years, August Junker had inspired so many students and made them learn the most varied of instruments that a Japanese orchestra was formed. He caused more and more German musicians to come to Japan. He also encouraged Japanese music students to go to Germany to study and made contacts for them.
He was honored for this commitment. He was appointed "Royal Music Director" and "Prussian Professor" by the Prussian government and received the Order of the Holy Treasure (瑞宝 章, Zuihōshō) and the Order of the Rising Sun (旭日 章, Kyokujitsushō) from the Japanese Emperor .
In 1912 he returned to Germany with his Japanese wife Nobu Kamada and two daughters and settled in his native Stolberg. He gave concerts and taught. The couple had a daughter and a son who died of diphtheria as an infant .
22 years later, in 1934, he went back to Japan with his wife, where he and his daughter Marion Kayser, nee. Junker who gave concerts. He directed the Shôchiku Orchestra and taught at the Musashino Music Academy in Tokyo. He died in Tokyo on January 5, 1944.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Christa Jansohn: Eta Harich-Schneider. LIT Verlag Münster, ISBN 3-643-10936-9 , note p. 177/118
literature
- Paul Mies: August Junker (1868-1944). A pioneer of German music in Japan . In: Communications of the Working Group for Rhenish Music History. Volume 44, 1974, pp. 49-51.
- Monthly Die Musik. 29th year, issue 10, July 1937.
- OAG News No. 67 (German Society for Nature and Ethnology of East Asia) - Tokyo 1944.
- Kurt Meissner: Germans in Japan. 1639-1969 . OAG, Tokyo 1961
- Genkichi Nakasone: The introduction of western, especially German music in Japan during the Meiji period. LIT Verlag Münster, 2003, ISBN 3-8258-6415-4
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Junker, August |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 28, 1868 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Stolberg , North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 5, 1944 |
| Place of death | Tokyo |