A Combination of Asian Language with Foundations of Western Music: An Analysis of Isang Yun's Salomo for Flute Solo or Alto Flute Solo
This dissertation introduces a Korean composer, Isang Yun (1917-1995), who embraced European traditions but retained Asian characteristics in his compositions. Attending the 1958 summer course in Darmstadt in Germany, Yun was strongly influenced by the avant-garde style of Boulez, Stockhausen, Nono, and Cage. In addition to his work as a composer, Yun distinguished himself, as one of the most important Asian composers to blend Eastern and Western music; and although his musical training focused on Western music, he continued the pursuit of Eastern sounds and philosophies throughout his musical life. Imprisoned in 1967 by the South Korean government, Isang Yun's music, particularly in later life, incorporates his beliefs on social and political issues together with musical ideas. Although his love of country was deep, Isang Yun was not allowed to return to South Korea, and he lived in Germany for the remainder of his professional life. In this study, my purpose is to investigate the development of Yun's musical ideas from his acceptance of Taoism four structures in the world: the Tao, heaven, earth, and man. The presence of both Western and Eastern influences in Yun's music provides the basic of his musical style, and analysis of Salomo fur Altoflote oder Flote is included in this dissertation.
Philosophical Approaches to Compositional Technique in Isang Yun's Works for Solo Flute
Philosophical Approaches to Compositional Technique in Isang Yun’s Works for Solo Flute Mirim Lee As modern composers draw on an ever-widening source of inspiration from musical traditions and practices around the world, the music of twentieth-century Korean composers deserves greater recognition and increased performance within Western culture. This is especially true of the works of Korean-German composer Isang Yun (1917-1995), a prolific composer whose output is largely unknown in Korea. This research paper will examine selected works for solo flute by Yun with particular attention to Sori (1988). Isang Yun studied composition under Tony Aubin (1907-1981) and Pierre Revel (19011984) at the Paris Conservatory from 1956-1957. He also studied in West Berlin at the Musikhochschule Berlin (today the Berlin University of Arts) under Boris Blacher (1903-1975), Josef Rufer (1893-1985), and Reinhard Schwarz-Schilling (1904-1985). In 1958, Yun participated in the International Summer Courses of Contemporary Music in Darmstadt, and began his European career with premieres of Music for Seven Instruments (1959) in 1961 and Reak (1966), both of which brought him international recognition. Yun's works reflect his interest in Eastern philosophy, as studied early in his career and combined with the avant-garde style he developed during his years teaching and studying in Germany. The influences of Taoism, Yin and Yang, Stillness in Motion, and Humanism are prevalent throughout his compositional output. Yun works with these ideas in novel ways and also applies them techniques of other composers, including Haupttontechnik (main tone technique), Hauptklangtechnik (main-sound technique), Tonkomplex (tone complex), Klangfarbenkomposition (sound-color composition), and Umspielung (replay, playing around, or rounding), to create his own unique compositional style. This paper explores in detail his use of these Eastern philosophical concepts as applied to works for solo flute, specifically Sori.
Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist
This classic is the benchmark against which all modern books about Nietzsche are measured. When Walter Kaufmann wrote it in the immediate aftermath of World War II, most scholars outside Germany viewed Nietzsche as part madman, part proto-Nazi, and almost wholly unphilosophical. Kaufmann rehabilitated Nietzsche nearly single-handedly, presenting his works as one of the great achievements of Western philosophy. Responding to the powerful myths and countermyths that had sprung up around Nietzsche, Kaufmann offered a patient, evenhanded account of his life and works, and of the uses and abuses to which subsequent generations had put his ideas.Without ignoring or downplaying the ugliness of many of Nietzsche's proclamations, he set them in the context of his work as a whole and of the counterexamples yielded by a responsible reading of his books. More positively, he presented Nietzsche's ideas about power as one of the great accomplishments of modern philosophy, arguing that his conception of the "will to power" was not a crude apology for ruthless self-assertion but must be linked to Nietzsche's equally profound ideas about sublimation.He also presented Nietzsche as a pioneer of modern psychology and argued that a key to understanding his overall philosophy is to see it as a reaction against Christianity. Many scholars in the past half century have taken issue with some of Kaufmann's interpretations, but the book ranks as one of the most influential accounts ever written of any major Western thinker.