Harakiri

Scene with music

Commissioned by WDR, Cologne

Description

First performance: September 1973, Bonn, Germany
Tokk – Ensemble Tokyo

Language: japanese and homelanguage
Based on the libretto of István Bálint

Written in 1973, Harakiri is based on the libretto providing by a Hungarian poet: István Bálint. He wrote it when he heard about the harakiri committed by Yukio Mishima on 25 November 1970. He committed the ritual suicide crowning his oeuvre focusing on the unity of life and art after five years of preparation.
István Bálint combines the antecedents of the harakiri with a motif well-known from an Andersen tale: the story of the pea put under the mattresses. The main character getting prepared to die returns the seven mattresses to the key figures of his life. The trivial Hungarian sentences were translated into Japanese.

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The second layer of the piece is constituted by the strictly congruent parts of the two Shakuhachis (playable by bassclarinets, too). The composer marks the constantly changing relationship of the two players, which depicts all the basic cases of human communication, by systematically enumerating the German pronouns (INeinander, DURCHeinander, NEBENeinander, AUSeinander – in each other, through each other, next to each other, departing from each other, etc.)

The third layer of the piece has no rational connection to the musical process presented by the wind players and the recital: a lumberjack keeps on cutting wood with imperturbable calmness. The mercilessly repeated strikes of the ax measure the abstract time of the piece while also symbolizing the inevitable nature of the process unfolding on the stage. At the same time the strike of the ax carries a creepy reference to the final moment of the ancient suicide ritual.

Synopsis

Performances

9 Mar, 2019

Tokyo, Japan

Eötvös: Secret kiss, Harakiri

Tokyo Bunka Kaikan
Ryoko Aoki
9 March, Tokyo, Japan

19 May, 2017

Tokyo, Japan

Eötvös: Harakiri

Thomas Piercy / Storyteller
Christopher Yohmei Blasdel / Shakuhachi
Reison Kuroda /Shakuhachi
Go Mochizuki / Hyoshigi

9 Aug, 2016

New York, USA

Eötvös: Harakiri

Hidejiro, Honjoh, Thomas Piercy, Elizabeth Brown, Jun Ando
"Tokyo to New York" Concerts. NYC

22 Sep, 2015

Budapest, Hungary

Eötvös: Harakiri

The Japan Foundation
Budapest Music Center
Ryoko Aoki

24 Aug, 2015

Prague, Czech Republic

Eötvös: Harakiri

Prague Shakuhachi Festival 2015
Kuniyoshi Sugawara, Yuji Kikuo and Christopher Yohmei Blasdel

12 Oct, 2014

Budapest, Hungary

Eötvös: Harakiri

October 12, 2014

cafeBudapest
Contemporary Music Festival
Ryoko Aoki

14 Jul, 2014

Szombathely, Hungary

Eötvös: Two poems to Polly, Cadenza, Harakiri

Alter Ego Ensemble (Roma)
International Bartók Festival

21 May, 2014

Opera City, Tokyo

Eötvös: Harakiri

21 May, 2014
Ryoko Aoki

2 Nov, 2012

Paris, France

Eötvös: Harakiri

le Balcon ensemble
Musical Director: Maxime Pascal
Église Saint-Merry

4 Jul, 2012

Rheingau, Germany

Eötvös: Harakiri,Two poems to Polly, Natasha, Sonata per sei

Rheingau Festival
Ensemble Modern

8 Mar, 2012