UMS Concert Program, October 24, 26, 29, 1966: Fifth Annual Dance Festival --

Season: Eighty-eighth
Concert: First
Complete Series: 3529
Hill Auditorium

1966 Eighty-eighth Season 1967
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Charles A. Sink, President Gail W. Rector, Executive Director Lester McCoy, Conductor
Fifth Annual Dance Festival
THE HOSHO SCHOOL OF NOH
CITY CENTER JOFFREY BALLET
{Formerly Robert Joffrey Ballet)
JAVIER DE LEON'S
FIESTA MEXICANA
October 24, 26, 29, 1966
Hill Auditorium Ann Arbor, Michigan
First Program Complete Series 3529
ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS
A PROGRAM OF NOH
by
THE HOSHO SCHOOL OF NOH
Tokyo, Japan
presented in co-operation with
The Japan Society of New York The Society for International Cultural Relations (KBS) of Tokyo
and The Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan
Monday, October 24, 1966, 8:30 p.m. (Twentieth Anniversary, United Nations Day)
CAST
Shite: Fusao Hosho
Tadahiro Matsumoto Izumi Mikawa Akira Takahashi Fusataka Homma Atsuo Mikawa
Waki: Kan Hosho
Musicians:
Fue (flute)--Hisayuki Isso
Kotsuzumi (small drum)--Toshihiro Sumikoma
Otsuzumi (large drum)--Tadao Kamei
Manager: Ralph Courtney Special Assistant: Yuichi Ejima Interpreter: Toshiyuki Takamiya
? A program, "Our Community Looks at UNESCO'S Twenty Years of Achievements," will take place next Sunday, October 30, at 2:00 p.m., in Rackham Lecture Hall, as the week's climax to Ann Arbor's recognition of this United Nations Anniversary.
PROGRAM
Introductory remarks.......William P. Malm
Professor of Musicology, University of Michigan
?Sumidagawa
(For translation and interpretation see accompanying libretto)
INTERMISSION
Ebira (A han-noh sequence)
A han-noh ("Half-No") means a performance only of the second part of a Noh play. Generally, a "half-no" is presented in order to keep an evening's performance from becoming too long, but sometimes also the second half of the play, with its climactic dance, is the only part of great interest to the spectators.
Ebira means a quiver. This name was given to a certain plum tree because some warriors, on the way to battle, each plucked a spray of flowering plum and thrust it into his quiver. A wandering priest asks about the history of the tree, and a villager tells him this story. He goes on then to describe violent battle in the war between the Minamoto and the Taira clans at the end of the twelfth century. The priest asks the villager his identity, and learns that he is the ghost of Kajiwara Kagesue, a famous Minamoto warrior. In the second part of the play, performed here, the ghost of Kagesue, this time in his true appearance as a warrior, appears before the priest. He carries a quiver decorated with a branch of flowering plum. He begs the priest to pray for him, so that he may be delivered from the tortures of hell which assail him every time he recalls the agonies of battle. After re-enacting a violent battle, the ghost of Kagesue again disappears, beseeching the priest to pray for his salvation.
The musical accompaniment to a Noh play is provided by a flute and by a variety of drums. The musicians, like the actors, belong to different schools, each with its proud traditions.
The flute is the closest to a Western musical instrument, though the tone is quite dissimilar. It is played at the beginnings and ends of the play and at moments of special tension. The melodic line does not follow that of the actors' song, but serves instead as a kind of comment on it.
The kotsuzumi is shaped like a diabolo and played by holding it with the fingers and palm of the left hand on the right shoulder, and striking with the fingers of the right hand. The quality of the sound depends on the tension of the cords grasped by the left hand, and the place on the skin (coltskin) struck.
The otsuzumi, a larger drum of similar appearance, is covered with horsehide, producing a quite different sound. It is grasped in the left hand by the cords and held on the left knee, where the drummer strikes it with the fingers of his right hand. The index, middle finger and palm of the hand are protected by leather coverings against the smart from the taut skin, but a performance of Noh is probably a greater physical strain on the otsuzumi player than anyone else.
The drummers not only beat their instruments but utter cries intermittently. The variety of the cry and the strength of the beat give character to the rhythm. There are four basic varieties of cry--ya, ha, iya, and yoi--meaningless sounds in themselves, but essential in marking the rhythmic patterns and stressing points of special tension. Each cry which is used at a particular place in the rhythmic line is noted in the score. Although performances differ according to the actors and the masks employed, nothing is improvised, even to the last cry.
? Sumidagawa has been used as a basis for an opera by Benjamin Britten, under the title "Curlew River," which has been recorded by London Records.
THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
THE FIVE ANNUAL DANCE FESTIVALS
FIRST Annual Chamber Dance Festival--1962
Kovach and Rabovsky Dance Company
Phakavali Dancers from Thailand
Jose Molina Bailes Espafioles SECOND Annual Chamber Dance Festival--1963
Svetlova Dance Ensemble
Shanta Rao and Company (India)
Bihari (Hungarian Ballet) THIRD Annual Chamber Dance Festival--1964
Paul Taylor Dance Company
Destine, Haitian Dance Company
First Chamber Dance Quartet FOURTH Annual Chamber Dance Festival--1965
AlbaReyes Spanish Dance Company
Paul Taylor Dance Company
Little Angels (from Korea) FIFTH Annual Dance Festival-1966
Hosho Noh Troupe (from Tokyo)
Robert Joffrey Ballet
Fiesta Mexicana
OTHER DANCE GROUPS PRESENTED BY THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
1961 Mazowsze Dance Company from Poland Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company
1962 American Ballet Company Ukranian Dance Company Uday Shankar Hindu Dancers National Ballet of Canada
1963 San Francisco Ballet
Suzushi Hanayagi (with Kimeo Eto) Koutev Bulgarian National Ensemble Ballet Folklorico of Mexico
1964 Mazowsze Dance Company (Poland) Sahm-Chun-Li Dancers from Korea Chicago Opera Ballet
Ballet de Paris
Antonio and Spanish Ballet
Raduga Dancers from Russia
1965 National Ballet of Canada Grand Ballet Classique de France
1966 Rumanian Folk Ballet
National Ballet of Washington, D.C. American Ballet Theatre
1967 Royal Winnipeg Ballet
Jose Greco and Spanish Dance Company
In 1962 the University Musical Society inaugurated a "Chamber Dance Festival" with three presentations within three consecutive days, of special dance programs in Rackham Auditorium. An extended stage, constructed by the University, together with special curtains and lighting provided by the Tobins Lake Studios, made this possible. For four years this pattern con?tinued along with the presentation of other larger companies in Hill Audi?torium, creating new interest and a wide response to many dance forms. This year the Festival requires the larger facilities and capacity of Hill Auditorium, using the temporary proscenium and orchestra pit. The audiences this year are the largest to attend the annual Dance Festival. With this kind of encourage?ment and support the University Musical Society will continue its endeavors in the presentation of the finest dance groups available.