Yun, Isang

▪ 1996

      Korean-born German composer (b. Sept. 17, 1917, Tongyong, Korea [now Chungmu, South Korea]—d. Nov. 3, 1995, Berlin, Germany), used contemporary Western techniques to express an Asian sensibility in more than 150 musical works, including four operas and five symphonies. Although he was notable in music circles in Japan and Germany, his name became more widely known in 1967 when he and his wife were abducted from their home in West Germany by the South Korean secret police. They were taken to Seoul, where Yun was tried for treason as a communist and sentenced to life in prison; his wife received a three-year prison sentence. Protests by the West German government and by a group of high-profile musicians led by Igor Stravinsky helped to bring about their release in 1969. The son of a poet, Yun began composing at the age of 14 and, in the early 1940s, studied music in Japan at Osaka and Tokyo. Returning to Korea, he was active in the resistance movement against the Japanese during World War II and afterward taught music in Tongyong, Pusan, and Seoul. In the late 1950s he pursued further study in Paris and in Germany in Darmstadt and Berlin, where he eventually settled. His musical style matured in the 1960s with such chamber pieces as Loyang (1962), Gasa (1963), and Garak (1963). With Réak (1966) he established his pattern of dividing the orchestra into three parts: softly played strings, aggressive brass, and fluttering woodwinds. This is exemplified in Piri (1971), in which a lonely oboe wanders between the gentle tones of the strings and the hard sounds of the brass. In addition to illustrating the precepts of Taoist philosophy, he wrote in the idiom of protest, such as in the cello concerto of 1976, which drew upon his imprisonment, and in his 1981 orchestral memoriam to the victims of the Kwangju massacre. His later works helped develop his concept of Haupttöne ("main notes"), in which sweeping movements pivot on a central melodic tone.

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▪ German composer

born Sept. 17, 1917, T'ongyŏng, Korea [now in South Korea]

died Nov. 3, 1995, Berlin, Ger.

      Korean-born German composer who sought to express a distinctly Asian sensibility by means of contemporary Western techniques.

      Yun began composing at the age of 14 and studied music in Japan in Ōsaka and Tokyo. He returned to Korea, where he was active in the resistance movement against the Japanese during World War II and afterward taught music in T'ongyŏng, Pusan, and Seoul. He later went to Europe for further study, first in Paris (1956–57) and then as a pupil of Boris Blacher in Berlin (1958–59). Following imprisonment (1967–69) in South Korea as an alleged communist, he began teaching in Berlin, becoming a German citizen in 1971.

      Yun's main purpose in his compositions was to develop Korean music using East Asian performance practices but with European instruments and other techniques. His operas derive inspiration from Taoist and yin-yang philosophy. He also wrote in the idiom of protest, recalling his time in prison in a 1976 cello concerto and remembering the victims of the 1980 Kwangju massacre in an orchestral memoriam in 1981. Other works included Loyang (1962), Réak (1966), Piri (1971), and Engel in Flammen (1994).

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