| Program
Notes This work is a setting
of a poem by Song Sammun (1418-1456). He was one of the scholars commissioned
by Korea's famous king Sejong to devise the Korean alphabet. He was also a great
loyalist who was put to death by the usurping king Sejo for attempting to replace
the ousted boy king Tanjong on the throne. In his book The Bamboo Grove
(University of California Press, 1971), Korean scholar Richard Rutt writes: “It
(the poem) makes a statement . . which is essentially symbolic, based on the oriental
cliché of the pine tree as a symbol of the upright heart. The subject of
the poem is not, as the western reader might suppose, a declaration of a belief
in immortality, but a protestation of loyalty, a declaration that the poet’s
steadfastness will be remembered forever as an inspiring example.” The Mt.
Pongnae or Pongnae-san refered to in the poem has two meanings – the name
refers to the the traditional oriental fairyland Pongnae, and it is also the name
given to the the famous and spectacular Diamond Mountains of Korea in the summer,
because the meaning of Pongnae-san suggests abundant foliage. Rutt writes “The
use of “white snow” at the beginning of the last line is, therefore
a dramatic change from the category of summer images to that of winter hardship,
while the final pine-tree image, though appropriate to winter (as an evergreen),
retains the tree imagery implied in the name of Pongnae-san.”
The
sijo (pronounced “shee-jo” or in the International Phonetic Alphabet,
Si dJo) is a traditional Korean lyric of three lines or verses, each line made
up of four phrase-groupings with a major pause after each grouping. Extremely
elastic in form, the sijo differs from Chinese and Japanese verse forms in that
it does not adhere to a strict syllable count. The theme is stated in the first
line, developed in the second and an anti-theme or twist is introduced in the
third, which rounds off the whole in terms of resolution. The word sijo consists
of two Sino-Korean characters meanting “time” or “period”
and “rhythm” or “harmony.” The term sijo refers not only to
a poetic form but also to a type of vocal art music, with the singer accompanied
by a changgo or hourglass drum.
This work was written while I was living
and teaching music in Korea (1983-85). Rather than being an attempt to write Korean
music for western performers, Sijo is more a reflection of my own experiences
with Korean music, and with it I have tried to capture a bit of the spirit of
Korea's rich musical tradition. |
