Note: As
the book opens the choir is singing (in German) the "Ode to Joy"
from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Same tune as "Joyful, Joyful,
We Adore Thee," for you churchgoers out there. It’s the song that Ringo
whistles to keep the tiger from eating him in the movie Help. It’s
also the tune for one of the numbers Kagome’s middle school choir sings in
one of the anime filler episodes (no. 128)—except the words are about the
power of the Shikon no Tama! (Which forces us to ask: Just how oblivious
was Kagome? OK, she ignored all the little legendary stories written
all over the shrine for her entire life. But does this mean that she was the
only person in Tokyo who didn’t know about the SnoT? Were all the other
kids carrying Inuyasha lunchboxes and she just never noticed?)
There are
midis available for anybody not familiar with the tune (but you'll know it
when you hear it).
The Virtual
Sheet Music site:
http://www.virtualsheetmusic.com/score/OdeJoyFree.html
The Christian
Classics Ethereal Library Hymn Tune Archive:
http://www.ccel.org/cceh/0000/x000031.htm
8notes.com
http://www.8notes.com/scores/435.asp
Ludwig
van Beethoven’s Website
http://www.lvbeethoven.com/Oeuvres/Music_OdeToJoy.html
I found several
midis for Thomas Morley’s madrigal, "Now Is the Month of Maying."
Each line is repeated immediately after it’s sung. Yamura might well have
tortured Koinu by having him repeat each line, but I wasn’t willing to be
quite that cruel to my readers.
The Waimea
Consort Midi Collection
http://www.iesoaps.allwebco.com/WCMidi.html
Musica
Viva: The Free Sheet Music Archives
http://www.musicaviva.com/ensemble/choir/music.tpl?filnavn=morley-now-is-the-month
Laymusic.org
http://www.laymusic.org/music/sp/html/pieces/29.html
The Woodshed
Madrigal Page
http://www.channel1.com/users/gsilvis/wsmadrig.htm
(This last
page also has a humdinger of a midi: The Battle Hymn of the Republic,
the version with the bugle calls. Doesn’t have anything to do with The
Hero, but it’s really cool. Actually, we have a mess of cool sites here.
Damn, I love the Web!)
