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Fantasy on a Japanese Folk Song

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Samuel Hazo

Samuel Hazo


General Info

Year: 1997 / 2005
Duration: c. 5:40
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Hal Leonard
Cost: Score and Parts - $85.00    |   Score Only - $15.00


Instrumentation

Full Score
Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Contralto Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Harp
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV-V-VI, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Glockenspiel
  • Gong (or Tam-tam)
  • Ocean Drum
  • Suspended Cymbal
  • Tubular Bells
  • Vibraphone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Fantasy on a Japanese Folk Song tells the story of a Japanese girl who is given a music box by her mother and father when she is just a child. This music box played the Japanese doyo (child's song) "Sunayama". As a young girl, this music box always provided a sense of comfort and solace during her trying times. When she becomes an adult, she falls in love with an American and faces the choice of staying in her Japanese village, or marrying and going back to America with him. She is so much in love with hi, that she chooses to leave. However, she later realizes the need to feel close to her culture, and part of her always wonders if there was a life for her in her native Japan. As time goes by, this sense of conflict, which was more easily suppressed in the beginning, surfaces with more intensity, proving that only in a woman's heart can there exist an inner-love and an inner-war simultaneously. Balancing her love for her husband with her love for the culture she left behind gives way to painful episodes. During these moments, her only method of coping with her circumstance is to lock herself away, open the music box give to her as a child, and at the sound of the very first note, to cry.

- Program Note by composer


American composer Samuel Hazo (b. 1966) has composed for the professional, university and public school levels in addition to writing original scores for television, radio and the stage. Featuring exotic sounds and emotional design, this major work from Hazo is based on the hauntingly beautiful Sunayama, a story of the inner conflict of a Japanese girl who falls in love with an American. She is torn between a life with him in America and her longing for the culture of her childhood. From time to time she plays a music box given to her by her parents (the Sunayama theme), bringing a flood of homeland memories. The composer has woven a tapestry of sounds and moods as the piece builds to a climax of musical drama and power.

- Program Note from Hijiyama (Japan) Girls Junior & Senior High School Wind Orchestra concert program, 11 February 2016


Media


State Ratings

  • Indiana: ISSMA HIGH SCHOOL BAND GROUP II
  • Louisiana: IV
  • Maryland: IV
  • Mississippi: MS Band Class 5A
  • North Carolina: IV
  • Oregon: REQUIRED BAND LIST 4A
  • South Carolina: IV
  • Tennessee: IV
  • Texas: IV. Complete


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project


Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources

  • Harris, Timothy. "Fantasy on a Japanese Folk Song." In Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 6, edit. & comp. by Richard Miles, 355-361. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2007.
  • Hazo, S. (2005). Fantasy on a Japanese Folk Song [score]. Hal Leonard: Milwaukee, Wisc.
  • Perusal score
  • Samuel R Hazo website Accessed 13 September 2017
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