There are over 200 pieces of sheet music in the Re-Envisioning Japan Research Collection about Japan, inspired by Japan, or with some other relationship to Japan. These range from selections from “The Mikado” (Gilbert and Sullivan, 1885) and “The Geisha” (Sydney Jones, 1896) to World War II anti-Japanese propaganda. They include several songs celebrating Japan’s military triumphs during the Russo-Japanese War. In the spring of 2015, 46 songs in the collection were specially recorded under the direction of Dr. Philip C. Carli. Dr. Carli is a familiar figure for silent film scholars and enthusiasts, renowned worldwide for his live piano accompaniments for silent film screenings and his original scores for silent films. For the vocals he assembled colleagues and graduate students at the Eastman School of Music, including soloists Isaac Wenger, Lulu Cossich, and Peter Doyle. When you access an object in this category, you will see a grey bar above the sheet music's cover if a recording is available. Click on the arrow to the left of the bar to play the recorded song: for example, see the item "In Old Japan (1917)." The songs themselves, as well as many of the colorful covers, are fascinating examples of the extent to which Japan and the Japanese were characterized by orientalist trends in 20th century popular culture in the U.S. well into the 1930s.
A Japanese Fan Dance (1898)
A Japanese Lantern (1931)
A Japanese Sunset (1916)
All O'The World a Home (1926)
Battle Hymn Written by the Mikado of Japan and Sung by the Japanese Armies on the Battle Field (1904)
Cherry Blossom (1917)
Cherry Blossoms (1904)
Chinatown My Chinatown (1910)
Cho Cho San (1921)
Come Back to Bamboo Land (To Your Lonely Little Mi Mio San)
