Japanese National Anthem for Voice & Piano 君が代 - KIMIGAYO

By: John William Fenton, Yoshiisa Oku, Akimori Hayashi, Franz Eckert
For: Solo Soprano + piano
page one of Japanese National Anthem for Voice &  Piano 君が代 - KIMIGAYO

Buy this score now

Japanese National Anthem for Voice & Piano 君が代 - KIMIGAYO

$4.50

(+ VAT when applicable)
PDF icon

Instant download

You are purchasing high quality sheet music PDF files suitable for printing or viewing on digital devices.
Composer
John William Fenton, Yoshiisa Oku, Akimori Hayashi, Franz Eckert
Arranger
Year of arrangement
2023
Difficulty
Easy (Grades 1-3)
Duration
1 minute
Genre
World music
License details
For anything not permitted by the above licence then you should contact the publisher first to obtain permission.

An arrangement for Piano with lyrics of the Japanese National Anthem. I have versions for Brass, Recorders, String & Symphony Orchestra in my store. Many of my anthems for orchestra have been recently recorded by The Orchestre national d'Île-de-France for Nomad Player, which will be released in 2023.

John William Fenton (12 March 1828 – 28 April 1890) was an Irish musician of Scottish descent and the leader of a military band in Japan at the start of the Meiji period. He is considered "the first bandmaster in Japan" and "the father of band music in Japan." Fenton is best known for having initiated the process through which Kimi ga yo came to be accepted as the national anthem of Japan.

Fenton is considered Irish because he was born in Kinsale, County Cork, in Ireland in 1828. He may also be considered Scottish because his father John Fenton (1790–1833) was born in Brechin, and because he lived in Montrose around 1881. His mother, Judith Towers, was probably English. Journalistic writing on Fenton typically considers him a Briton.

Bandmaster in Japan:   

Fenton, bandmaster of Britain's 10th Regiment of Foot, 1st Battalion, arrived in Japan in 1868. The regiment had been sent to protect the small foreign community in Yokohama during the transitional period at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate and the early years of the Meiji restoration.

Japanese naval cadets overheard the brass band rehearsing; and they persuaded Fenton to become their instructor. The central band of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force traditionally considers this first group of cadet musicians as the earliest of Japan's naval bands. In due course, Fenton ordered instruments from London for his Japanese students.

When Fenton's battalion left Japan in 1871, he remained for an additional six years as a bandmaster with the newly formed Japanese navy and then the band of the imperial court.

Japan's national anthem:

In 1869, Fenton realised that there was no national anthem; and Japan's leaders were convinced that a modern nation state needed a national anthem. Initially, Fenton collaborated with Artillery Captain Ōyama Iwao, who was the son of a samurai family of the Satsuma han domain and an officer of the Satsuma military forces. Ōyama was well versed in Japanese and Chinese literature, and agreed to find a suitable Japanese poem that could be set to music. Ōyama chose a 10th-century poem that prayed for the longevity of the Lord, usually assumed to be the Emperor. These words became the anthem's lyrics.

The lyrics are said to have been chosen for their similarity to the British national anthem. Fenton had stressed the words and music of this specific anthem as illustrating what a Japanese anthem would also need.

Ōyama is said to have asked Fenton to make the melody for it, but some later complained that there was too much similarity with a Satsuma lute tune. The melody was composed and was performed before the Emperor in 1870. As it happened, Fenton had only three weeks to compose the music and a few days to rehearse before performing the anthem to the Emperor.

Fenton's music was only the first version of Kimi ga Yo. Fenton's version is performed annually at the Myōkōji Shrine in Yokohama. This shrine is near where Fenton was based as a military band leader.

In 1880, the Imperial Household Agency adopted a modified melody attributed to Hiromori Hayashi. Although the melody is based on a traditional mode of Japanese court music, it is composed in a mixed style derived from Western hymns. Some elements of the Fenton arrangement are retained. In 1879–1880, a German musician and foreign advisor (Oyatoi gaikokujin) adapted the melody using Western style harmonies. The version developed by Franz Eckert using Fenton's and Hayashi's themes became the second and current version of Kimi ga Yo.[The harmonisation and orchestration of Kimi ga Yo is the combined work of these influential bandmasters.

Later years:

Fenton's regiment left Japan in 1871, but he stayed for a further six years as a bandmaster with the newly formed Japanese navy and then the band of the imperial court. The cost of his salary during this period was shared by the navy and by the Imperial Palace Music Department (Gagaku bureau).

Fenton's first wife, Annie Maria, died in 1871 aged 40. Her grave is in Yokohama Foreigners' Cemetery. He remarried Jane Pilkington and left Japan in April 1877, sailing to San Francisco.

In 1881, census records locate Fenton, with his American-born wife Jessie P. Fenton and daughters Jessie and Maria, living in Montrose, Angus, Scotland; but at some point, he returned to California where he died on 28 April 1890. He is buried in Santa Cruz,

To purchase this score, please add it to your cart above. To purchase music not currently available on Score Exchange or for extended license requests, please contact the publisher directly.
Japanese National Anthem for Symphony Orchestra (L'orchestre national d'Île de France), Indian National Anthem for Symphony Orchestra (KT Olympic Anthem Series), Malawian National Anthem for Symphony Orchestra (Kt Olympic Anthem Series), Samoan National Anthem The Banner of Freedom-“O le Fu’a o le Sa’olotoga o'' for Brass Quintet, Canadian National Anthem ''O Canada'' for Symphony Orchestra (KT Olympic Anthem Series), Vatican State National Anthem - Inno e Marcia Pontificale “Pontifical Anthem” “Hymnus Pontificius” for Brass Quintet (MFAO World National Anthem Series), Icelandic National Anthem ("Ó Guð vors lands") for Symphony Orchestra, Omani National Anthem of Oman ''Nashid as-Salaam as-Sultani'' “نشيد وطني عماني” for String Orchestra, Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Anthem (Canada), Anguillan National Anthem & Song ("God Bless Anguilla")for Brass Quintet, Indonesian National Anthem for Brass Quintet (MFAO World National Anthem Series), Jamaican National Anthem for Symphony Orchestra, Irish National Anthem (Amhrán na bhFiann) for Flute & Piano , Iranian National Anthem for Symphony Orchestra, German National Anthem ("Deutschlandlied") for Symphony Orchestra with Double Woodwind, Internationale (The ) Soviet Russia 1918-22 for Brass Quintet & Percussion MFAO World National Anthem Series, Bhutanese National Anthem for Symphony Orchestra ( “The Thunder Dragon Kingdom”), Italian National Anthem for Symphony Orchestra (KT Olympic Anthem Series), Armenian National Anthem "Mer Hayrenik" for Concert Band (MFAO World National Anthem Series), Greek & Cypriot National Anthem for British Brass Band (Imnos Eis Tin Eleftherian-Hymn to Freedom) , Bougainville Regional Anthem (The Australian Song) for Brass Quintet, Saba Regional Anthem for Brass Quintet & Percussion, Nagorno-Karabagh Regional Anthem, French National Anthem ''La Marsellaise'' for Symphony Orchestra + Double Woodwind, German National Anthem ("Deutschlandlied")for Symphony Orchestra (Joseph Haydn Version), French National Anthem (Hymne des la Marseillais) Hector Berlioz version, African Union Anthem(Let Us Unite and Celebrate) for Brass Quintet & Snare Drum, Japanese National Anthem for SATB Kimigayo (君が代), Saint Helena Local Anthem ''My Saint Helena Island'' for String Orchestra, Australian National Anthem (“Advance Australia Fair”) for Symphony Orchestra (KT Olympic Anthem Series), British National Anthem for Symphony Orchestra (KT Olympic Anthem Series) God Save the King, Slovenian National Anthem for Symphony Orchestra, Serbian National Anthem (Bože pravde) for Symphony Orchestra, Kenyan National Anthem (Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu-Oh God of All Creation) for Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand National Anthem for Symphony Orchestra, Japanese National Anthem (Kimigayo) for Violin & Cello, Thai National Anthem for Brass Quartet, State Anthem of the Chechen Republic (Іожалла я маршо) Shatlak's Song for Brass Quintet, Romanian National Anthem (Deșteaptă-te, române!) for Brass Quintet and 1V. Pie Jesu (Pious Jesus) for Solo Soprano/Boy Treble with SATB & Orchestra from Requiem to the Earth

Reviews of Japanese National Anthem for Voice & Piano 君が代 - KIMIGAYO

Sorry, there's no reviews of this score yet. Please .