Music and Oppression: Korean art song based on poetry from the Japanese Occupation Period (1910-1945)

Abstract

The first Korean art song was composed in 1922 during the period of Korean history that has now come to be known as the Japanese Occupation Period (1910-1945). This project focuses on art songs which were based on poetry written during the Japanese Occupation Period, and on the compositions of various Korean composers who integrated both western music and Korean poetry into a European-established genre that has existed for hundreds of years.

Three poets: Jeong Ji-Yong (1902-1950?), Kim Sowol (1902-1934) and Yun Dong-Ju (1917-1945) who were all active during this period have been selected. Their poetry was set to music by thirty-nine Korean composers from different generations with the years of composition ranging between 1927 and 2017. Most art songs based on Jeong’s poetry were composed from 1933 and a significant number of Kim’s poems were set to music with Korean traditional music influences between 1937 and 1979. Yun was recognized as a poet posthumously, but his works are continually chosen by contemporary composers in Korea whose works display some of the traits of modern Korean art song compositions. Using the compositions based on poetry written under political oppression, this study will trace the development of the art song genre in Korea.