Expressions of Modernity and Nationality in Matsudaira Yoritsune’s Prewar Work

Matsudaira Yoritsune (1907-2001) is commonly recognized as one of the most influential Japanese composers of the twentieth century, and yet the work he completed prior to the Pacific War has remained virtually unaddressed in the scholarly literature. To compensate for this gap, this article discusses Matsudaira's prewar work, focusing on his two primary musical influences, Japanese folk songs and gagaku court music. As Matsudaira's aspiration was to fuse contemporary Western compositional techniques with elements from premodern Japanese music, his prewar work contributes to our understanding not just of the development of his own musical language but also of Japanese music in the 1930s in general.