Yūzuru
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Yūzuru |
| Original title: | 夕 鶴 |
| Shape: | Opera in one act with two acts |
| Original language: | Japanese |
| Music: | Dan Ikuma |
| Libretto : | Yūzuru by Junji Kinoshita (based on the stage work 鶴 女 房 ) |
| Literary source: | Folk tale "The grateful crane" ( 鶴 の 恩 返 し ) |
| Premiere: | January 30, 1952 |
| Place of premiere: | Osaka , Asahi Kaikan |
| Playing time: | approx. 1 hour 50 min. |
| Place and time of the action: | a mountain village in ancient Japan |
| people | |
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Yūzuru ( Japanese 夕 鶴 , roughly: "The Silver Heron", literally: "Evening crane") is an opera in one act with two acts by the Japanese composer Dan Ikuma based on a play by Kinoshita Junji . The opera was written after the premiere of Kinoshita's play Tsuru Nyōbō ( 鶴 女 房 ) in 1949. The play itself goes back to the older folk tale "The Grateful Crane" ( 鶴 の 恩 返 し , Tsuru no ongaeshi ). Ikuma began in 1949 with the musical arrangement, which he completed in 1951 under the condition of Kinoshita to translate the piece into music "word for word". The first performance of this first version of Yūzuru took place on January 30, 1952 in the Asahi Kaikan in Osaka.
After the premiere, Ikuma revised the opera. The second revised version was premiered at the Zurich Festival on June 27, 1957 in collaboration with the Fujiwara opera troupe and under the direction of Ikuma. In 1994, on the occasion of the 600th performance, a live recording was made with the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Ikuma. To date, the opera has been performed more than 800 times in 15 countries, including for the first time in 2005 in Seoul with the Korean Prime Philharmonic Orchestra and the children's choir PBC.
action
The action begins in a small village, isolated somewhere in the snow-capped mountains of ancient Japan. The act that began was preceded by the simple-minded farmer Yohyō rescuing a crane that had been injured by an arrow. When he was saved, he met the beautiful wife Tsū, with whom he fell in love, whom he married and with whom he had two children. As a satisfied family, they live together in a simple hut in the mountain village, without Yohyō noticing that the crane he rescued had assumed human form in his wife Tsū.
Tsū, who loves her husband and seeks to make the simple and meager life more bearable, secretly weaves a splendid overcoat ( haori ) from her crane feathers in the hope of being able to sell it dearly on the market. The two insidious villagers Sōdo and Unzu, driven by greed, recognize their chance to gain wealth and prosperity by selling the precious overcoat. They talk to the simple-minded Yohyō, who then forces his wife Tsū to weave more clothes. Tsū, on the other hand, wonders why the man cannot be satisfied with a life filled with love and why he always strives for wealth instead. She therefore rejects Yohyō's request for more clothes, knowing that it would be disastrous to give in to her husband's insistence.
Exhausted from the inner struggle and the tragic circumstances in which she brought Yohyō's demand, she passes out in the snow. Yohyō finds them and brings them to the warming fire. Tsū questions her husband again and realizes that he is caught in the clutches of greed. She decides to give in to his demand and to weave another piece of clothing, but she makes it a condition to do it alone in her room without anyone watching her. The two curious villagers Sōdo and Unzu, however, break the promise and secretly peek into the room while the weaving is in progress. They are amazed to see how a crane sitting on the loom weaves its own feathers into the garment. In doing so, they unintentionally reveal Tsū's secret.
After the work is done and Tsū leaves the chamber completely exhausted, she can no longer live with Yohyō in human form due to the disclosure of her secret. She changes her form back to the crane that Yohyō saved and flies away at dusk. Yohyō, who remains with the precious dress in his hand and looks after her, realizes that he has lost Tsū's unconditional love and irretrievably lost it.
Orchestral line-up
2 flutes (2nd piccolo), 2 oboes, 1 clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba, percussion (timpani, cymbals, triangle, tam-tam , small and large drums), harp and string orchestra (1 and 2nd violin, viola, cello and double bass)
Productions
- March 20, 1977, Kanagawa Prefecture People's House ( 神奈川 県 民 ホ ー ル )
- 9-11 November 1979, Nissay Theater, Chiyoda , Tokyo
- July 9, 1991, Mori Art and Playhouse Dream Hall , in Fuchū , Tokyo
- February 19, 1996 Shinjuku Cultural Center , Tokyo
- October 5, 1996 Great Hall of the Aichi Prefecture Art and Drama Theater
- December 10, 2000, at the Aubade Hall of the New National Theater Tokyo
- Further productions with details of the cast can be found in the online database “Opera Information Center” of the Showa Music Academy
Recordings and CDs
- 1959: Ikuma Dan; Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra with the Toshiba Singing Angels, Toshiba-EMI
- 1994: Ikuma Dan; Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra ( 東京 シ テ ィ ・ フ ィ ル ハ ー モ ニ ッ ク 管弦 楽 団 ), live recording of the 600th performance
Yumiko Sameshima - Tsū
Kazuo Kobayashi - Yohyō
Noboru Hisaoka - Unzu
Kunio Nakamura - Sōdo
Municipal Children's Choir Kagoshima
2 CDs - 1997: Hiroshi Wakasugi ; Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Victor Entertainment
literature
- Kinoshita Junji: Yūzuru . In: J. Thomas Rimer, Van C. Gessel (Eds.): The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature: From 1945 to the present . tape 2 . Columbia University Press, New York 2007, pp. 475-490 (Japanese, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed April 21, 2011]).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c 夕 鶴 . Art-Sprout Classical Music Group, 2010, accessed April 23, 2015 (Japanese).
- ↑ 夕 鶴 . New National Theater Tokyo, 2014, accessed April 23, 2015 (Japanese).
- ↑ Luciana Galliano: Manfred Gurlitt and the Japanese Operatic Scene 1939–1972 . In: Japan Review . No. 18 . Venice 2006, p. 229 (English, nichibun.ac.jp [PDF; accessed on April 23, 2015]).
- ↑ オ ペ ラ 「夕 鶴」 、 韓国 で 初 演 へ 故 團 伊 玖 磨 氏 氏 の 遺志 実 現 . Asahi Shimbun Online, December 1, 2005, accessed April 23, 2015 (Japanese).
- ↑ a b Suminobu Kishi: 新 プ ロ ダ ク シ ョ ン 《夕 鶴》 へ の 期待 . Japan Arts, accessed April 23, 2015 (Japanese).
- ↑ 日本語 と 歌 ・ オ ペ ラ . In: 国立 音 楽 大学 附属 図 書館 広 報 委員会 (Ed.): Japan Review . October 17, 2007, p. 3–4 (Japanese, kunitachi.ac.jp [PDF; accessed April 23, 2015]).
- ^ Opera Information Center. Showa University of Music, 2015, accessed April 23, 2015 (search term: 夕 鶴 or Yūzuru).