The Complete Jataka Tales Piano Works Project
After finishing the composition of 48 Preludes & Fugues Op. 2 (Episode 1, 2, 3, 4), I was missing the feeling of working toward the completion of a canonical work. It was something that I could rely on, something that I looked forward to in each day. So on 20th April 2018, I decided to start a new canonical-style music composition project. The subject matter is Buddhism’s tales of past lives of the Buddha, before he was born as Gautama Buddha in around 500 BC. The text is called ‘The Jataka Tales’.
The Jataka Tales is one of the great literature in Buddhism, not because it merely accounts numerous past births of the Buddha, but because those accounts are all the portrayal of different virtues that one must have accumulated in order to be ready for the final life which attain enlightenment. Those virtues were mostly so great that one could only aspire to have, but it is those aspirations that are necessary for one to walk the path.
There are 547 stories in the complete Jataka Tales. While most of the artistic adaptation of the work focus on the last 10 great stories because they are the last 10 births of the Buddha, I intend to do them all. Now, if finished, this will be a set of 547 pieces of classical music for piano. This is around 12 times the number of pieces of Preludes & Fugues, which I spent one year to finish. So, if I compose at the same speed, it will take me 12 years to finish.
And that was how it begun. I am doing this as a personal project. Your comments are very welcome.
May I have the time and strength to complete it!
The Jataka Tales is one of the great literature in Buddhism, not because it merely accounts numerous past births of the Buddha, but because those accounts are all the portrayal of different virtues that one must have accumulated in order to be ready for the final life which attain enlightenment. Those virtues were mostly so great that one could only aspire to have, but it is those aspirations that are necessary for one to walk the path.
There are 547 stories in the complete Jataka Tales. While most of the artistic adaptation of the work focus on the last 10 great stories because they are the last 10 births of the Buddha, I intend to do them all. Now, if finished, this will be a set of 547 pieces of classical music for piano. This is around 12 times the number of pieces of Preludes & Fugues, which I spent one year to finish. So, if I compose at the same speed, it will take me 12 years to finish.
May I have the time and strength to complete it!