Symphonic Poem for Band, "Gloriosa"
(Gururiyoza)
Yasuhide ITO (b.1960)
This work
was commissioned and first performed in 1990 by the Sasebo Band of the Maritime
Self-Defence Force, which is stationed in the city of Sasebo on the island of
Kyushu.
Gloriosa
is inspired by the music of the “hidden Christians” of Kyushus, who
continued to practice their faith surreptitiously after Christianity
which had entered Japan through Kyushu in the mid-16th century
was proscribed in 1614 by the isolationist authorities in Edo
(present-day Tokyo). The composer explains: “Nagasaki continued to accept
foreign culture even during the seclusionist period, as Japan’s only window to
the outer world. After the proscription of Christianity, the faith was preserved
and handed down in secret in the Nagasaki and Shimabara areas of Kyushu. My
interest was piqued by the way in which the Latin words of Gregorian chants were
gradually ‘Japanized’ during the two hundred years of hidden practice. That
music forms the basis of Gloriosa.”
The
Gregorian chant “Gloriosa” pronounced
“Gururiyoza” by the hidden Christians as
preserved in the Nagasaki area during the centuries of persecution begins with
the words “O gloriosa Domina excelsa super sidera que te creavit provide
lactasti sacro ubere.” The first movement of Gloriosa, “Oratio”,
opens with bells rendering the hymn’s initial phrases. The movement as a whole
evokes the fervent prayers and the suffering of the hidden Christians.
The second
movement, “Cantus”, a brilliant blend of Gregorian chant and Japanese
elements, opens with a solo passage for the ryuteki, a kind of Japanese
flute. The theme is based on “San Juan-sama no Uta” (The Song of So Joo), a
17th-century fold song commemorating the martyrdom of a number of Kyushu
Christians, including whose basptismal name was Joo, one killed in 1622 and the
other in 1623.
The third
and final movement, “Dies Festus”, takes as its theme the Nagasaki folk
song, “Nagasaki Bura Bura Bushi”.