Extreme Exoticism: Japan in the American Musical Imagination, by W. Anthony Sheppard

Abstract

W. Anthony Sheppard’s book Extreme Exoticism is a rich, encyclopedic account of influences on American creative artists from the moment when Commodore Perry’s gunboat diplomacy “opened” Japan to the wider world in 1854 through the ever-increasing absorption of Japanese music by composers in the United States after the turn of the twenty-first century. In his introduction he explains that “extreme exoticism” refers to the “extreme” foreignness of Japan’s music and culture, and not to the character of the influenced artifact. Included in his eye-opening discussions of the aesthetic imagery that characterizes the “musical imagination” of “America” are examples of classical and popular music, stage plays, and films. He explores how creative artists are influenced by direct contact with Japanese music or indirectly through literature and philosophy. His method is to draw conclusions about the changing and continuing attitudes of artists and audiences through analysis of exemplary works that illustrate the persistence and pertinence of representations of Japanese music and culture. A reader of this provocative and lengthy essay with an interest in intercultural relations will find ample rewards.Chapter 1 introduces a constellation of themes that emerge already in the nineteenth century and reemerge afterward as leitmotifs of the creative responses to an exotic and enigmatic culture of music making. Quotations illustrate the mystification of early travelers upon hearing music in Japan. An untoward first impression of Japanese music by Edward Sylvester Morse tapped his curiosity, and his lessons on singing the music of the noh theater led to an appreciation of its expressive qualities. Ernest Fenollosa’s extensive and detailed notes on noh were admired by Ezra Pound, and the novels and poems of his wife, Mary Fenollosa, established a genre of literature describing music in Japanese life and culture that was exploited by many writers. Lafcadio Hearn’s poetic and far-reaching stories and essays on Japanese life and the wonders of its natural environment, encapsulated in his diary Gleanings in Buddha-Fields (1897) and other writings, were to become inspirational resources. The work of musical missionaries Luther Whiting Mason and Edward H. House introduced Western music into Japanese educational institutions, thereby creating a cultural change that was to become problematic for later Western musicians who feared that traditional forms of Japanese music might be lost.In the period 1890–1930, cultural and musical japonisme assumed ever-growing prominence in the United States. A military victory in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 spawned the production of Japanese-inspired popular songs. Chapter 2 identifies “the particular features that served as Japanese ‘markers’ in the music, lyrics, cover art, and staging” (p. 56) of songs, and shows how these songs influenced American perceptions of Japan. In the rich tapestry laid out and stitched together in this chapter, Sheppard describes how prominent models of japonisme arrested the attention of the public and induced heightened activity among imitators. The “Japanese Festival Village” created by Isabella Stewart Gardner at her Boston mansion in 1905 was only one of many similar events in the first decade of the twentieth century. The Mikado and Madame Butterfly influenced Japanese-inspired operas and theater. Producers searched for means to present an “authentic” Japan, and authenticity became a value touted by critics. Composers appropriated Japanese melodies into their works. By the end of this period, the enthusiasm for “everything Japanese” began to be tempered by political realities. Sheppard’s nuanced treatment of all this activity gives his argument distinction.Representing Japanese character in songs and theatrical productions (opera, musicals, films) by archetypal elements of Japanese music was brought to the attention of producers by the success of classical composers, particularly those who, among the modernist tendencies developed early in the century, were drawn to the music of Japan as a refreshing source of musical color. Chapter 3 discusses works by Henry Eichheim (b. 1870) and Henry Cowell (b. 1897) that reflect the viability of Japanese melodies, modes, harmonies, rhythms, and even musical instruments as borrowed material in notable classical works. Commenting on Eichheim’s career as the first musical explorer in Asia to collect music and instruments to be used in his own compositions, Sheppard writes that his early Japanese works formed a montage of melodies and sonorities that established a pattern of representation for later composers. Yet close analysis of Eichheim’s manuscripts reveals a musical personality that offers more than mere quotation of exotic material. In an unpublished lecture, Eichheim stated that oriental melodies and instruments from many different ports of call are absorbed into a musical style that interprets his own artistic response to their musical qualities.1 An advocate of new music and a lifelong student of Japanese music, Cowell introduced harmonic clusters that resemble harmonies played by the sho in Japanese works and composed music for Japanese instruments, such as the koto. Sheppard quotes statements by Cowell insisting that melodies composed in Japanese modes are his own. Sheppard’s painstaking research has brought to light the work of other American composers interested in Japan early in the century, such as Emerson Whithorne, Charles Martin Loeffler, and Claude Lapham.Chapters 4 through 6 document recurring cultural stereotypes used to portray Japan in film and theater, with analysis of their “subtle and not-so-subtle reinterpretations” (p. 150). In chapter 4, Sheppard analyzes social stereotypes and cultural attitudes established through the incomparable success of Puccini’s Butterfly, which was reinterpreted in films and stage productions throughout the twentieth century (listed on p. 153). As Butterfly and Pinkerton return with varying and nuanced overtones in films, so the 1915 silent film The Cheat, in which an evil Japanese millionaire played by Sessue Hayakawa forces himself on a society wife, became the first orientalist film to be revisited on stage and in opera. Hayakawa enjoyed a long career playing the evil Asian male.In Chapter 5, Sheppard argues that racially insensitive stereotypes in films depicting an aggressive enemy, and music symbolizing these stereotypes, were designed as propaganda during the Second World War to persuade Americans to support the war. But for those aware of Japan’s imperialistic ambitions, beginning with the surprise attack on Russian forces at Port Arthur, China, in 1904, and continuing with various incursions into China and Korea during the 1930s that culminated in the Nanking Massacre in 1937, and finally with the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, such propaganda was unnecessary.After the war, Hollywood produced films designed to “transform American public opinion of Japan” by highlighting the performance of Japanese music “as evidence of the cultured and refined nature of the Japanese” (chapter 6, p. 241). The 1957 film Sayonara, based on the novel by James Michener, illustrates the issues faced by Hollywood producers wanting to endear American audiences to the beauty of Japanese music by “at first moving toward, but then turning away from actual Japanese voices and musical sounds” (p. 275). To be sure, audiences were introduced to Japanese melodies, instrumental sonorities, and references remembered from Puccini’s opera. A score composed by Franz Waxman, which successfully blended Japanese and Western music, contributed to the movie’s success.Chapter 7 is dedicated to the remarkable musical careers of two Japanese American composers and their unique perspectives on Japanese exoticism, Tak Shindo (b. 1922) and Paul Chihara (b. 1938). Because of his race, Shindo was sought by Hollywood producers to authenticate the Japanese music used in their films. He did not have to justify the Japanese authenticity of his own music and tended to draw on musical clichés of popular songs in his albums. Yet he complained near the end of his life for being known “just for Oriental music” (p. 303), even though he had enjoyed a long career composing a wide range of music for TV and commercials. A similar problem was faced by Chihara, who “embraced his Japanese heritage at various points in his career” and yet wanted “to participate in American music as an ‘American’” (p. 316).Sheppard’s analysis of japonisme throughout the book is framed in the context of political and cultural events (the Cold War, diplomatic relations, economic competition, the internment of Japanese Americans)—all of which contributed to the formation of attitudes in the American “musical imagination.” The 1961 Tokyo East-West Music Encounter, discussed in chapter 8, brought together scholars and composers from around the world who debated differences between Western attitudes toward the music of Japan and the values of Japanese creative musicians. While outsiders expressed concern over the loss of traditional forms of Japanese music, insiders promoted the creative development of modern Japanese music.In the final two chapters, chapters 8 and 9, Sheppard examines Japanese influences on major classical composers Messiaen, Xenakis, Stockhausen, and Boulez, who found in the music of the Japanese gagaku orchestras confirmation of an aesthetic stance developed from broader concepts of musical knowledge. For the uninformed reader, Sheppard delves into the rich vein of composers who were devoted mainly to intercultural issues: Alan Hovhaness, John Cage, Miya Masaoka, Richard Teitelbaum, and Roger Reynolds. As a cultural historian, Sheppard finds satisfaction in relating political events and cultural pursuits to the creation and aesthetics of music. Discussing the period from 1945 to 1980 in chapter 6, he draws connections among Cold War politics, Zen philosophy, experimental music, ethnomusicology, and the reception and influence of Japanese music on American composers. In the final chapter, he paints a panorama of “cross-cultural representations and influence in American musical japonisme” (p. 374) in the forty years after 1980, noting that interest in Japan is as lively and far-reaching as ever. Cultural pursuits dating back to the nineteenth century continue to haunt creative artists today as they study instrumental techniques, revisit cultural stereotypes set in motion by Madame Butterfly, critique creation of musical works based on Japanese music, and engage in dialogue with Asian Americans about issues of representation. Sheppard’s discussion of David Hwang’s play M. Butterfly analyzes in great detail an excellent example of Asian American attempts to bring to an end the continuing presence of offensive cultural stereotypes in American theatrical productions and films.Unlike his analysis of the role of Japanese music in texted works—songs, operas, musicals, films—which, by their very nature, concern recurring cultural and social issues, Sheppard’s criticism of intercultural instrumental compositions is treated from various different critical perspectives. Assessing the music of Shindo, he quotes the composer Gunther Schuller’s definition of “Third Stream” jazz, and critiques Schuller’s “implication that some forms of musical synthesis are more legitimate than others” (p. 304), in order to place value on the intercultural dimension of Shindo’s music. Elsewhere, Sheppard’s critical analyses of instrumental music discuss borrowed musical elements and concepts identified with Japanese music. Particularly striking is an example of pushback by a Japanese musician toward a Japanese-inspired instrumental composition. Henry Cowell was disappointed by Kimio Eto’s absolute refusal in the first performances of his Concerto for Koto to improvise cadenzas in the koto idiom of the work. Instead, Eto chose to demonstrate his mastery of the instrument by introducing melodies by Wagner and other Western composers. The topic of borrowing also extends to nonmusical phenomena. Sheppard’s expansive commentary on the music of Roger Reynolds focuses on the role of Japanese culture and landscape in shaping the form and structure of the music; he observes a structural relationship between a rock formation off the coast of Honshu and durational proportion in the first movement of Symphony (Myths). This work “reveals” a hidden relationship between landscape and music, an intention that illustrates Reynolds’s aphorism “I like art which is revelatory” (quoted p. 370).Sheppard supplies encyclopedic information on japonisme in a thorough survey and leaves the composer and critic intrigued by intercultural possibilities with an unanswered question: How might a music critic, whether Japanese, American, both, or none of the above, evaluate Japanese-inspired music? Pointing out musical relationships to an external influence is an essential aspect of criticism, and, for example, knowing that Messiaen was inspired to include a gagaku movement in his Sept haïkaï (1962) contributes to musical interest generated by the moment-by-moment experience of the music itself. The sonority and style of the entire work stands out as arresting for its individuality. What makes it appear so and how did Messiaen’s trip to Japan contribute to the final product? Although Sheppard begins to answer this question, one cannot expect that it should be fully discussed in the large picture painted by this book. Sheppard’s control of a massive amount of research lays out for his reader a myriad of analytical projects relating to a fascinating exotic influence.