Gagaku and the Emperor’s New Clothes 16th September 1985
Trevor Leggett was head of the Japanese Department of the BBC.
This is one of his broadcasts to Japan
Zubari for 16th September 1985
Hello listeners! We have last week had the Gagaku and Bugaku performing in London. These performances are successful in attracting appreciative audiences from the public, but the professional critics are uneasy.
The critic of “The Times” headed his review: FOSSIL FORM. And he began the review like this:
Criticize gagaku? One might as well try to knock spots off the moon. It is not just that the ancient music of Japan is wholly alien to our understanding, though it certainly is. It is not just that I have little experience with it, though that too is true. The problem is that gagaku has ceased to mean anything. It just is.
It was rather the same with the dancing. There were marvellous costumes, but the action had all been reduced to a kind of ceremonious stepping. Nobody seems very sure about what these dances might once have meant. Like the music, they have become pure form.
Well, the critic gave his judgement on these lines. But he is clearly rather uneasy. He is not sure, and he is а little afraid that perhaps he is revealing his ignorance. Eighty years ago, Western criticism had no hesitation in sweeping aside all Japanese and Chinese music as merely sounding like cats wailing and shrieking.
But today it is different. Some of our praised present-day Western music sounds like cats wailing. So, people today have become very hesitant about condemning anything, because in the past things which were once condemned have now become admired. Wagner ‘s operas were condemned by the most famous critics of the time, yet today everyone admits that they are masterpieces.
But today it seems that the proper conclusion has been turned round. The right conclusion is:
Though a piece of new music is condemned by critics, it may be a masterpiece. The new conclusion, completely false, is this: If a piece of new music is condemned by critics, it must be a masterpiece.
So, there is a great hesitation to condemn new or strange things. It is like the fairy tale by Andersen called “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. The emperor was fond of new clothes, and two tricksters decided to swindle him. They persuaded him that they were expert tailors, and he gave them a private room and a loom in the palace, with a lot of gold thread and so on. They did no work at all.
The emperor sent his old minister to see how the work getting on. When he got there, the two rogues pointed to the empty loom, and said, “Do you not agree that the colours are most beautiful?” The old man could see nothing there, but he thought: “I can see nothing there, so perhaps I am going blind. But if I say I can see nothing, people will realize I am going blind, and the emperor will dismiss me from my job”. So, he agreed that the new clothes were partially made, and very beautiful. When the next courtier came a few days later, he knew that the minister had said he had seen the clothes, and he did not dare to contradict the old minister. So, he confirmed it. Finally, all the others joined in, and the emperor too thought he must agree, or they would think him mad. He paraded in the streets in these new “clothes”, and the citizens applauded the “clothes”, for fear of being executed if they did not. Finally, a small child cried out: “But the emperor has no clothes on at all.”
I feel that music criticism today is something like this. In the case of gagaku, there is a very long tradition; so it must have real value. But some of the new music which is so praised – well, I long to hear some child ́s voice saying: “But this is TERRIBLE”.
As a matter of fact, though no one is actually saying this, the public do manage to convey it. They don’t go to concerts of modern music, but they fill up concerts of classical music. As Lenin said, “They are voting with their feet.”
© Trevor Leggett