• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.659-671
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• 2013

Through Korean traditional opera (changgeuk) Medea, composer Hwang Ho-jun showed eclectic music idiom by 1) writing music (jakchang) on manuscript paper and score, 2) introducing the "song-through" format, 3) including various solo melodies, 4) maximizing the effect created by a singing narrator (dochang) with the chorus master and a mixed chorus, 5) seeking an interplay of tension and release by using both discord and chord, 6) achieving the effect of kil-bakkum, the Korean traditional method of modulation, through modulation and borrowed chord of Western music. In Medea, instrumentalists adopted suseong-banju (Korean traditional accompaniment) which does not spoil the voice of singers. Hwang adopted song for the way how singers express various hidden sides of play among song, aniri (narration) and balim (gesture) and introduced the Sung-through format in which the play is comprised entirely of song. In Medea, oral sounds expressing wail, lament, cheer, sneer and scream are often used and various solo melodies appear that fit for personalities of characters, clearly showing what bunchang (singers' singing songs divided according to characters) is all about. And discord and chord are effectively used according to the development and mood of play. Hwang also achieved successfully the effect of kil-bakkum by abandoning the traditional modulation method and boldly introducing modulation and borrowed chord of Western music.