Yamada, Kōsaku : Les Petit-Poemes
Work Overview
Instrumentation：Piano Solo
Genre：pieces
Total Playing Time：17 min 50 sec
Copyright：Public Domain
Commentary (1)
Author : Imazeki, Shiori
Last Updated: April 13, 2018
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Author : Imazeki, Shiori
In January 1914, Kosaku Yamada returned to Japan from Germany, where he had been studying abroad. Although he initially intended it as a temporary return, his planned re-visit to Berlin was, according to Yamada, thwarted by the outbreak of World War I. Forced to remain active in Japan, Yamada emerged as an innovator of Western music in Japan. He organized the orchestral section of the Tokyo Philharmonic Society, Japan's first orchestra, held subscription concerts, and even performed Japan's first symphony, "Kachidoki to Heiwa" (Triumph and Peace), which he had composed himself in Berlin in 1912 as his graduation work. However, the orchestra disbanded in less than a year. Consequently, Yamada's next chosen domain for creative activity was the piano. The three years leading up to his departure for England in 1917 are often referred to as the "Piano Period" in his creative career, during which many piano pieces were composed and premiered at his own concerts.
A series of short piano pieces, collectively known as "Petit Poèmes (A Page from a Diary)" (literally translatable as "Small Poems"), were composed by mid-1916. The French word "petit" evokes a sense of "random" or "casual," and given that the pieces are dated (and sometimes titled), it can be inferred that they were created from musical ideas that came to mind in daily life. Indeed, each of the 15 pieces is largely spun from a single motif. It should be noted that the collection was compiled as "Petit Poèmes" starting from the old complete works published in 1931.
Movements (11)
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