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.
Sweet Sana-oo
Hurry Back to My Bamboo Shack
Come Back to Bamboo Land (To Your Lonely Little Mi Mio San)
My Princess of the Willow Tree
Yokohama Charmer (1905)
Japanese Sandman Shimmy et Fox-Trot (1920)
Japanese Brigade (1906)
Yokohama Love (1919)
Cherry Blossom (1917)
Where the Lanterns Glow (1919)
Mister Butterfly (1917)
Japanese Moon (1922)
Hi-Lo (1920)
Yosan, a Japanese Intermezzo Two Step (1904)
Yosan (1919)
For the Flag of Old Japan (1904)
Yama San (1902)
Japansy (1927)
Little Japan (1904)
Lotus Bud (1910)
Najimi (1929)
In a Japanese Garden (1929)
Tea Leaves (1921)
That Tango Tokyo (1913)
Suki San (Where The Cherry Blossoms Fall) (1917)
So Long Oolong (1920)
Rose of Japan (1919)
Remember Pearl Harbor (1941)
Poppy-Time in Old Japan (1915)
Poor Little Butterfly is a Fly Girl Now (1919)
My Rose of Old Japan (1919)
The Little Jap (1905)
The Japanese Sandman (1920)
Japan and Uncle Sam (1945)
In Old Japan (1917)
Japanette (1918)
In Japan with Mi Mo San (1915)
Glow Little Lantern of Love (1921)
Cho Cho San (1921)
Chinatown My Chinatown (1910)
When the Cherry Trees are Blooming in Japan (1918)
All O'The World a Home (1926)
Midnight in Japan (1916)
Madame Butterfly (1904)
Johnny Zero (1943)
The Mayor of Tokio (1905)
Poppies: A Japanese Serenade (1904)
Karama (1904)
Meet Me Where the Lanterns Glow (1909)
Japanese Sailor (1922)
Ti-O-San (1920)
So Long Oolong (1920)
I Want to Go to Tokio (1914)
Japan's Triumphal March: Two Step (1904)
Miss Cherry Blossom or A Maid of Tokyo (1917)
Moon of Japan (1924)
You're a Sap, Mr. Jap (1941)
A Japanese Fan Dance (1898)
Yokohama Maid (1917)
In Tokio, A Japanese Love Song (1904)
Lotus San (1908)
The Japskys (1904)
Battle Hymn Written by the Mikado of Japan and Sung by the Japanese Armies on the Battle Field (1904)
Japanese Love Song (1900)
Die Geisha, Musik für Alle (1909)
I'll Never Say Goodbye Again (1944)
The Mikado: Gems on Airs from Gilbert & Sullivan's Opera (1885)
