Another History of Modern Japanese Music: Reevaluating the Creative Performing Activities of Female Musicians in the Taisho and Early Showa Periods

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K00155
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 01050:Aesthetics and art studies-related
• Research Institution: Kobe College
• Principal Investigator: TSUGAMI Motomi 神戸女学院大学, 音楽学部, 教授 (20212053)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 邦語歌唱運動 / 原語歌唱 / 永井郁子 / 宮城道雄 / 堀内敬三 / 芸術歌曲 / 日本歌曲

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The aim of this research was to clarify the contribution performers made for establishing the western music genres in the musical world of modern Japan. The focus was on the creative performing activities by female musicians, especially the soprano singer, NAGAI Ikuko (1893-1983). She inaugurated the “Singing in Japanese Movement” in 1925 to show the appropriateness of the Japanese language for the words in the art song. She sought to encourage new compositions of artistic song in Japanese. Her performing activities ranged all over Japan and continued to 1941 in no fewer than thousand recitals. The facts of her performing activities, her collaboration with translators, traditional Japanese musicians, and sponsors, and their influences on the society have been reported in ten separate papers, three international conference presentations, and two chapters in a book in English to be published in January 2023.

Free Research Field

音楽学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、従来の大きな音楽史が演奏家よりも作曲家、女性音楽家よりも男性音楽家を中心に記述されてきたことに対するアンチテーゼとして、もう一つの日本近代音楽史を構築する一つの階梯となることを目指し、具体的な事例として邦語歌唱運動（1926-1941）を日本全国津々浦々で実施して社会的反響を呼んだソプラノ歌手永井郁子の活動実態を明らかにした。中でも訳詞者の堀内敬三や邦楽家の宮城道雄らとの協働を、またレート化粧料本舗平尾賛平商店のバックアップで全国展開した先駆的な冠コンサートの実態を解明することによって、日本の近代化の中で日本語による芸術歌曲が成立・発展した一つの系譜を明らかにすることができた。