The Oboe Works of Isang Yun

Isang Yun (1917-1995), a Korean composer who lived most of his professional life in Germany, was a musician who pursued his art in the face of political, cultural, and personal turmoil. His solo, chamber, and orchestral works represent an enormous contribution to the oboe repertoire, although these pieces are barely known to most American oboists. This paper analyzes Yun's oboe works in terms of tonal language, formal construction, historical genesis, relationship to East Asian musical thought, and European contexts. Yun wrote music in a Western idiom which was deeply colored by East Asian aesthetics and philosophy. Drawing upon a central idea of Korean traditional music, Yun's treatment of musical tones as living entities developed into a practice he called Hauptton technique. Adeptly fusing this technique with European twelve-tone procedure, Yun produced music of great intensity and richness. Works examined in detail include: Piri (1971); Trio for Flute, Oboe, and Violin (1973); Rondell (1975); Sonata for Oboe, Harp, and Viola (1979); Images (1968); Festlicher Tanz (1988); Blaserquintett (1991); and Quartet for Oboe and Strings (1994). Exploring a total of twenty compositions, this paper is intended to serve as a comprehensive resource for oboists performing Isang Yun's works.

Name thesis:degree_name

A.Mus.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Music

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Fraker, Sara E.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dee, John

• Music

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3362786

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/85812