''Eclipse'' ( ja, エクリプス) is a composition for

shakuhachi A is a Japanese and ancient Chinese longitudinal, end-blown flute that is made of bamboo. The bamboo end-blown flute now known as the was developed in Japan in the 16th century and is called the .

and

biwa The is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. The is a plucked string instrument that first gained popularity in China before spreading throughout East Asia, eventually reaching Japan sometime durin ...

by Japanese composer

Tōru Takemitsu was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu was admired for the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre. He is known for combining elements of oriental and occidental ph ...

. It was composed in 1966.

Composition

Before Takemitsu started to compose ''Eclipse'', he was reticent to use Japanese traditional instruments, because, as he puts it, their sound "always recalled the bitter memories of war". He started to use these instruments in 1962

Masaki Kobayashi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, best known for the epic trilogy ''The Human Condition'' (1959–1961), the samurai films ''Harakiri'' (1962) and ''Samurai Rebellion'' (1967), and the horror anthology ''Kwaidan'' (1964). ''Senses ...

's ''

Harakiri , sometimes referred to as hara-kiri (, , a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honour but was also practised by other Japanese people ...

''. Since this first collaboration, Takemitsu started using these instruments more often, as seen in Shinoda's ''

Assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...

'' and

's ''

Kwaidan is a Japanese word consisting of two kanji: 怪 (''kai'') meaning "strange, mysterious, rare, or bewitching apparition" and 談 (''dan'') meaning "talk" or "recited narrative". Overall meaning and usage In its broadest sense, ''kaidan'' refer ...

''. He finally composed ''Eclipse'' in 1966 and premiered it that same year with

Kinshi Tsuruta was a Japanese musician. As a Biwa player Tsuruta specialized in the ancient pear-shaped plucked lute called biwa, and also sang. She developed her own form of the Satsuma biwa, which is sometimes referred to as Tsuruta biwa. This biwa differs ...

at the

and

Katsuya Yokoyama was a Japanese musician who played the ''shakuhachi'', a traditional vertical bamboo flute. Early life He was born in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1934 and studied Kinko-ryu and Azuma styles of music with his father, Rampo Yokoyama, and grandfather ...

at the

. The premiere took place in the

Nissay Theatre The is a theatre in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is located in the Nissay Hibiya Building, designed by the architect Togo Murano. It was completed in 1963 and opened with a performance by the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Since then it has been used to s ...

in Tokyo, on May 4, 1966. It is published by

Éditions Salabert Francis Salabert (born François-Joseph-Charles Salabert, 27 July 1884 – 28 December 1946) was an innovative and influential French music publisher (sheet music), music publisher, who was the head of Éditions Salabert in the first half of the ...

and has received a catalogue number W43 by James Siddons. When

Seiji Ozawa Seiji (written: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , or in hiragana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese ski jumper *, Japanese racing driver *, Japanese politician *, Japanese film directo ...

played

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

a tape of ''Eclipse'', Bernstein suggested combining the instruments in a composition with the western orchestra. From this recommendation, Takemitsu eventually composed ''

November Steps is a musical composition by the Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu, for the traditional Japanese musical instruments, ''shakuhachi'' and ''biwa'', and western orchestra. The work was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic on the occasion of i ...

'', to which this composition is strongly associated. This composition was originally performed by the same biwa and shakuhachi performers and, therefore, ''Eclipse'' is regarded as a forerunner to ''November Steps''.

Structure

This composition is in only one movement. According to the score, it takes 21 to 22 minutes to perform. However, some performances take only around 11 minutes. ''Eclipse'' is structured into several musical episodes. In between there are long silences in which the poetry of

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

may be recited. In the score of this composition, the notation system is slightly different and has special symbols to cover the different possibilities of the two instruments, for they are normally used only in traditional musical context and had been rarely used in concert pieces before. The score of the biwa consists of a special

tablature Tablature (or tabulature, or tab for short) is a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering rather than musical pitches. Tablature is common for fretted stringed instruments such as the guitar, lute or vihuela, as well as many fr ...

system which is enhanced with pitch alterations, attack qualities and the like, whereas the shakuhachi player has to read lines and shapes on a time axis. Therefore, some expressive freedom is given to the performers.

Recordings

* The two performers on the premiere, Kinshi Tsuruta and Katsuya Yokoyama, have recorded the composition at least twice: first, on September, 1975, which was released by

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family o ...

, and again, in August 1990, which was released by

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president. ...

References

{{Authority control 1966 compositions Compositions by Tōru Takemitsu