Okuyama Ni (In the Mountains Deep) Words: Saramura Dayu from the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu Poetic Translation and Music: Ruth Morris Gray Pronunciation and Translation /o-­‐ku-­‐ja-­‐ma ni/ Okuyama ni Remote mountain in /mo-­‐mi-­‐dΩΩi fu-mi-wa-ke/
Momiji fumiwake Autumn leaves treading /na-­‐ku ßi-ka no/
Naku shika no Cry only /ko-­‐e ki-­‐ku to-­‐ki zo/ Koe kiku toki zo /a-­‐ki wa ka-­‐na-­‐ßi-ki/
Aki wa kanashiki Autumn In the mountain depths,
Okuyama ni 奥山に
Treading through the crimson leaves,
Momiji fumiwake 紅葉ふみわけ
The wandering stag calls.
Naku shika no 鳴く鹿の
When I hear the lonely cry,
Koe kiku toki zo Sad--how sad!--the autumn is. Aki wa kanashiki 声きく時ぞ
秋は悲しき © Copyright 2014 Elizabeth Pauly. All rights reserved. Background Okuyama Ni by Ruth Morris Gray is another song in her emerging body of works using poetry found in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu (a famous collection of poetry from 12th century Japan). Like previous works, including In This Ancient House and Hisakata No, Morris Gray combines the original Japanese text with English translations, and infuses each composition with characteristics of Japanese music, including pentatonic scales and delicacy of affect. About 100 poems by 100 poets (Ogura Hyakunin Isshu) "Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, also called Hyakunin Isshu, is an anthology of 100 poems by 100 different poets. The poems are all "waka" (now called "tanka"). Waka are five-­‐
line poems of 31 syllables, arranged as 5, 7, 5, 7, 7. The waka represented in Hyakunin Isshu were court poetry, which almost exclusively used the waka format from the earliest days of Japanese poetry until the seventeen-­‐syllable haiku came into prominence in the seventeenth century. "Hyakunin Isshu is said to have been compiled by the famous thirteenth-­‐century critic and poet Fujiwara no Sadaie (also known as Teika), though his son Fujiwara no Tameie may have had a hand in revising the collection. Teika also compiled a waka anthology called Hyakunin Shuka (Superior Poems of Our Time), which shares many of the same poems as Hyakunin Isshu. "The 100 poems of Hyakunin Isshu are in rough chronological order from the seventh through the thirteenth centuries. The most famous poets through the late Heian period in Japan are represented. "Hyakunin Isshu has had immense influence in Japan. In Donald Keene's phrase, the poems have "constituted the basic knowledge of Japanese poetry for most people from the early Tokugawa period until very recent times....This meant, in a real sense, that Teika was the arbiter of the poetic tastes of most Japanese even as late as the twentieth century." (Seeds in the Heart, p. 674; see Sources for full citation.) The influence of Hyakunin Isshu was particularly extended through the card game based on the collection, called uta karuta, played especially at New Year's. "Among foreign critics and translators there have been differing opinions about the value of Hyakunin Isshu. Arthur Waley thought that the collection "is so selected as to display the least pleasing features of Japanese poetry. Artificialities of every kind abound." (Japanese Poetry, The 'Uta' [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1919], p. 7.) Kenneth Rexroth is more temperate: "[It] is a very uneven collection. It contains some of the most mannered poetry of classical Japan, but it also contains some of the best." (One Hundred Poems, p. xviii.) Donald Keene offers this summary: "It can hardly be pretended that all the poems deserve the immortality Teika bestowed on them, but © Copyright 2014 Elizabeth Pauly. All rights reserved. many are fine poems, and his choices do no harm to his reputation as a critic." (Seeds, p. 674.)"1 Analysis Key: F# minor to Meter: 4/4 Structure: AA’BB’AA’BB’ Piano accompaniment: During A sections the piano relies heavily on the motive depicted in figure A. During B sections, the right hand of the piano frequently doubles the melody while the left hand holds a C# pedal. Figure A SECTION Intro A MEASURE EVENT AND SCORING 1-­‐4 Piano establishes motivic pattern; flute solo 5-­‐13 Theme A: sung by S first time, then by A with S/B support (some melody swapping at ms. 11 where S has it, and hands it back to A at ms. 12); Accompanied by a variation of the illustrated ostinato (see the first two beats of the measure in figure A), while left hand plays a descending line Interlude 13-­‐14 Piano only, see figure A Theme A 15-­‐24 A has melody, S supports with a countermelody variation at a larger rhythmic division; B moves homorhyhmically to A Theme B 25-­‐34 Contrasting musical idea; new scale (C# D E F# G B); sung in unison with phrases passed from voice to voice until harmony on final cadence – this musical idea is four measures long; it is stated once, then repeated – the fourth measure of the repeat is rhythmically altered to create a slower cadence Interlude 34-­‐37 Like introduction (1-­‐4) Theme A 38-­‐46 Theme A sung with canonic entrances, beginning with S, cadencing together on the S 4th 1
University of Virginia Library Japanese Text Initiative "Ogura Hyakunin Ishu".
http://etext.virginia.edu/japanese/hyakunin/intro.html. (accessed May 26, 2009).
© Copyright 2014 Elizabeth Pauly. All rights reserved. Theme A 46-­‐55 Theme B 56-­‐69 Coda 69-­‐72 phrase (2x) S/A like 15-­‐24; B moves homorhythmically with S; This is like 29-­‐34 with one exception – the musical idea is repeated 3 times, with the cadence described above happening on the 3rd time Rhythmic activity in piano slows, SAB sings a final “oo” on F#G#C# Recordings Publisher provided recording can be found here: http://www.jwpepper.com/sheet-­‐
music/media-­‐player.jsp?&type=audio&productID=10302841 © Copyright 2014 Elizabeth Pauly. All rights reserved.