Abstract:
The purpose of this study is to document the compositions of Jae Eun Ha and to analyze his works, specifically focusing on his organ compositions. One of the greatest living Korean composers, Jae Eun Ha, was born in 1937 in South Korea. He studied in the United States at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Case Western Reserve University for his D.M.A. and at the University of Tennessee for his M.M. He has taught in the U.S. at Mississippi Valley State University and Westminster Choir College and in South Korea at Yonsei University. Ha's musical compositions can be divided into three time periods: 1) tonal composition technique (1965-1971); 2) atonal composition technique (1972-1989); and 3) tonal composition technique (1990-present). In his works, he combined Korean traditional music idioms with Western music forms. Ha has composed approximately fifty pieces in the following categories: orchestral (8), chamber music (11), solo instrumental (5), dance music (1), solo vocals (6), hymnal organ arrangements (4), and choral pieces (14). Three of his solo instrumentals are for organ: Triptych (1980), Organ Variations Based on a Theme "Now Thank We All" (1989-1990), and Toccata and Fugue on Ein feste Burg (1994). In his works, Ha combined Korean traditional music idioms, especially Nong-Ak, with atonal Western compositional technique for Triptych. He returned to tonal composition technique later in his career because he became interested in church music. His desire was to help church congregations that do not understand atonal technique; so he used traditional Western music forms such as variation, toccata and fugue for two other organ works: Organ Variations Based on a Theme "Now Thank We All" and Toccata and Fugue on Ein feste Burg. In this document, I present a theoretical analysis of Ha's principal organ works and make recommendations for performance practice. As publications on Ha and his music are virtually non-existent, my principal sources are interviews with the composer.
