☆ENGLISH ONLY☆コミュのThe 9th Symphony

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It may not be widely known out of Japan that Beethoven's
9th symphony is a seasonal event in Japan's December.

In December--the last month of the year--so many concerts
of Beethoven's 9th symphony are held in Japan.

In particular, in Tokyo, which is one of the major cities
of classical music in the world, Beethoven's 9th symphony
is performed somewhere almost every night. This is an annual
tradition. It is a very peculiar tradition in Japan.

The reason Beethoven's 9th symphony is performed so often
in Japan's December is not clearly known. It is said, however,
that this tradition is a postwar phenomenon and that this
tradition has its reason that Japanese orchestras began to
perform Beethoven's 9th symphony in December since they
needed money in December, when all Japanese need money to
prepare Nwe Years Days, after the war. There were not many
orchestras in Japan in late 1940s and 1950s. In the early
postwar era, there were not as many orchestras as there are
now. So, this tradition may have its origin in a particular
orchestra's tradition.


Concerning this tradition in Japan, I would like you
to know certain history. It is the history about the
first artists who performed this symphony--Beethoven's
9th symphony--in Japan.

They were German POWs of the World War I, who were
captured by the Japanese in Tsintao which was the
German territory in Shantao peninsula in Northern
China.

This may need explanation--Japan, who participated in
the World War I as the British ally, declared war
against Germany in W.W.I and occupied the small
German territory in Northern China, Tsintao.
There were Gernmans, and they were made Japanese
POWs of W.W.I. THen, they were taken to Japanese
southwestern island Shikoku and spent their years in
a camp there. And many of those POWs came to the
camp in Japan with instruments.

The relation between the German POWs and the Japanese
was quite good. And the friendship was even widened to
the local Japanese living around their camp.

In such human relationship, when the World War I ended,
those German POWs held a concert for the Japanese who
ran the camp in Bantoh POW camp in Shikoku on June 1st
of 1918. It was in this concert Beethoven's 9th symphony
was first performed in Japan.

There were no female singers, of course. And there were
no female choir group too. So, it was not a perfect
performance of the 9th symphony.
However, they performed Beethoven's 9th symphony in the
remote camp of Japan in 1918.
It is amazing those Germans could organize an orchestra
of whatever level and could manage to perform Beethoven's
9th symphony without female singers there in 1918.

This amazing history had been forgotten for many years.
It was in the mid-1970s that this amazing history of the
first performance of the Beethoven's 9th symphony was
told by a TV documentary in Japan and then many books
appeared about this history.

I was one of those who learnt this amazing history by
the TV documentary in 1970s and was deeply moved by
the figure of a few very old German ex-POWs who were
still alive and played part of the 9th symphony in the
TV documentary in the mid-1970s.--The 9th symphony in
Japan's December had such amazing history.


As in every December, I went to listen Beethoven's
9th symphony this year too.--I went to two concerts
this year.

And, as in every end of a year, I thought over
various matters about my life while listening
the symphony. To me, it is the moment to reflect
on my life in the music.

(I have been coming to at least two concerts of
Beethoven's 9th symphony in every December in the
last 10 years)

There is a part of the symphony--certain part of the
4th movement--where I am reminded of the German POWs
who performed this symphony for the first in Japan.
Whenever the performance comes to the part, I think
about those German POWs. I wonder what emotion those
Germen POWs held in their mind at the part when they
played this music. I imagine they thought about their
defeated homeland and their families and friends in
Germany, playing the part in front of many Japanese
who listened this symphony for the first time in
Japanese history.--And now, I am listening the same
music in this country.

This year was the 90th anniversary of the first
performance of Beethoven's 9th symphony in Japan.

Adiu 2008.



(I am sorry I could not find a good English web-site
about this rather unknown history of the first performance
of the Beethoven's 9th symphony in Japan.
But here is a web-site about this history in German.
If you can read German, please click and read this web-site.)
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http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kriegsgefangenenlager_Band%C5%8D