• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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• no.32
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• pp.31-70
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• 2016

Jongmyo Jeryeak [Royal ancestral shrine music] is a precious cultural heritage, which has been played till now since two great kings Sejong and Sejo who made it. But going through Japanese occupation, Jongmyo Jeryeak has been changed into a music totally different from the music the two kings intended. And the changed Jongmyo Jeryeak is being played these days. The original Jongmyo Jeryeak, which was made by the two kings, remains in old music scores. Therefore there is a need to investigate the differences between the original and current Jongmyo Jeryeak by interpreting the old music scores and recovering the original. This paper recovers the origianl Jongmyo Jeryeak from the music score Daeakhubo and compares it with the current Jongmyo Jeryeak. The results are as follows. The origianl Jongmyo Jeryeak is a set of common songs made with Hyangak and Gochiak to sing the verses which extol royal ancestors' virtues. All of the musical elements are matched with the verses so that the meaning of the verses is transmitted naturally. Jangdan musical time musical structure are matched with the structure of verses, and the musical motif of the songs is matched with the meaning of the verses. The music, which is easy and expresses the meaning of the verses well, demonstrates King Sejong's talent as a musician. The current Jongmyo Jeryeak is a set of special songs in which Sigimsae is emphasized rather than the meaning of the verses. The melodies are broken into pieces inconsistently, the meaningless word 'ae' is added thoughtlessly, and Jangdan musical time musical structure are unrelated to the verses. Therefore the meaning of the verses is not transmitted at all. These changes, which were made during the period of Japanese occupation, seem to desecrate the verses of the original songs. The melodies, which are broken into pieces inconsistently, revive into the current mysterious ritual music through Sigimsae. But in order to be a proper ritual music, some corrections have to be made to convey the meaning of the verses.