Shon Iksung

Shon Iksung (1846-1904) was a Metzettan composer, conductor and cellist. Considered the country's first great classical musician, he penned many firsts for the nation; Metzetta's first symphony was particularly noted as a milestone achievement. He is also notable for having composed the score for the national anthem, Atop Mount Riwa in 1883 under the instruction of Emperor Daeku. His works have been extensively recorded, particularly by the Hanzeong Symphony Orchestra of which he was the conductor from its 1885 until his death.

His musical style was considered direct and unornamented, with simple melodies underpinned by deceptively complex harmonies.

Early life
Iksung was born in Inyang. During his teenage years, western musical instruments began to trickle into Metzetta. Intrigued by these new sounds he took up the cello and wrote some pieces for the instrument. In 1871, at 25 he attended Metzetta's first symphonic performance and vowed to create a symphony Metzetta could call its own; doing so took an entire year of work.

Early works
Iksung had written several short pieces of cello music in his late teens, among the first pieces of Metzettan music written in the western idiom. His 1868 suite for string quartet with accordion and clarinet proved successful by virtue of being one of only a few high-quality native works available at the time. As one of the country's only serious classical musicians he was selected by Emperor Daeku to travel to Levantia to study for a year starting in the spring of 1869; he spent time in Burgundie, Yonderre and Anglei learning from various composers and returned to the country in time to witness the 1871 symphonic premiere in Hanzeong. Immediately after he began work on his own symphony, which debuted in the same concert hall in 1872. The symphony was an immediate hit and a source of much national pride, incorporating several traditional Metzettan folk melodies into the closing movement. The symphony still sees regular performances today and is perhaps the most recorded Metzettan symphony of all.

Golden period
The symphony's publication is considered to have kickstarted Shon's "Golden period" which was a highly productive time for the artist. Following the first symphony Shon composed a slew of concertos, string quartets and short orchestral works, but longed to pen a second symphony. After finishing his only work for organ in 1875 he began writing early drafts for his second symphony, trashing many attempts that were not up to his standards. He would work almost exclusively on this project for nearly two years, publishing very little until the second symphony was ready to debut in 1877. Once again the premiere was well-received, however the stress of the creation led Shon to never again compose a full symphony, focusing on other kinds of music for the rest of his career, though he kept this decision to himself at first. For the remainder of the decade, Iksung invested himself heavily in the writing of operas, penning 4 between 1877 and 1880. Though not the country's first operas, especially if traditional analogues are counted, they were still warmly received by the press, though notably not as strongly as his symphonies had been. Pressure was mounting for a third, but Shon would not relent and continued writing what he felt passionate about rather than subjecting himself to the pressure of another monumental task.

In 1881 Iksung wrote several vocal pieces and piano etudes, as well as returning to his beloved cello sonatas. The next year he wrote another opera, which garnered only lukewarm praise and seemingly killed off the composer's operatic ambitions; he did not write another for over ten years. In 1883 he was commissioned by the Emperor to compose the music for a new national anthem, a prestigious task for the nation's now most famous classical musician. Atop Mount Riwa was highly praised by the imperial family and immediately adopted as the official song of the nation. Though his passion had been dampened by his opera's lacklustre reception the success of the anthem reinvigorated the artist, and he wrote prodigiously throughout 1883 and 1884. In 1885 he became the conductor of the Hanzeong Symphony Orchestra, leading the group in performance, composing material for them and deciding the artistic direction and repertoire they would pursue. He would hold this position for the rest of his life. Being busy with the orchestra slowed his output, but cello pieces were still published regularly in addition to his orchestral songs.

Later works
In 1887 Iksung returned to string quartets, a genre he had not visited in some time, also penning an unusual wind octet. In 1888 and 1889 the composer was so busy with various orchestra tours around the nation he found little time to write, only publishing sporadically. Starting in 1890 he began to feel the need to write another opera, to prove he could do it right, and started sketching ideas. He also began to write for the traditional tanso flute, a Metzettan instrument rather than a western one, which lead to writing several other pieces for native instruments, with some definite influence from the western style he was comfortable with. In 1893 he debuted his newest opera; Dalrae and Byeol, which vindicated the artist and became his most beloved opera. He arranged several of his older pieces for performance by a full orchestra and arranged several foreign piano pieces for performance by the HSO too, in an attempt to expand their repertoire with unique works that other orchestras would not already be performing. In 1895 he scored his first ballet, an experience he reportedly enjoyed and felt energised by.

Final works
Having been considered a "safe" artist for most of his career, Shon began to compose darker, more somber music, including a litany of elegies. In 1898 he scored his second ballet, and in 1900 composed perhaps his final "great" score, The Magnolia Waltz, a patriotic and vigorous piece which would remain a mainstay of HSO performances until the present day. In 1901 an obsession with canons began to take hold of him, with increasingly complex canons being written right up until his death; indeed the final score he published before he died was for a canon which, if correctly performed, would take hundreds of years to complete. It is considered an early work of avant-garde music.

Legacy
Shon's impact on the music of Metzetta cannot be overstated; his fusion of western music with traditional Metzettan sounds paved the way for all who followed him. His national anthem has not been altered since he composed it and much of his music remains regularly performed; all of it is available on recordings. Since 1982 a computer at Galko University has been performing his Constructed Canon, and will likely never finish it.

He married Kino Isugu and fathered two children; his daughter Shon Mina was born in 1885 and named after the character from the famous Istroyan play by Koripides and his son Shon Nim was born in 1886, and went on to become a composer and conductor himself.