Letter to Isabella Stewart Gardner from Seattle
correspondent
Okakura Kakuzo
(Yokohama, 1862 - 1913, Akakura)
Date24 March 1913
Place MadeSeattle, Washington, United States, North America
MediumInk on paper
ClassificationsManuscripts
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberARC.004300
eMuseum ID729349
EmbARK ObjectID30258
Previous NumberU3n132
Other NumberU3n29.1-38
TMS Source ID13840
Last Updated8/9/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryArt historian and philosopher Okakura Kakuzō adapted the Japanese legend of Kuzunoha into a libretto for an opera, “The White Fox.” He dedicated it to Isabella who commissioned composer Charles Martin Loeffler to write the music. In this letter, Okakura is rejecting Loeffler’s suggestions to reduce the libretto’s three-acts to two and to realize it as a pantomime. Although Isabella later gave Loeffler carte blanche to edit the text, he never completed the composition, attributing his lack of progess to Okakura’s inflexibility.
BibliographyNotesAdam Haliburton, "The Elusive White Fox by Okakura Kakuzō," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 19 December 2023, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/elusive-white-fox-okakura-kakuzo
MarksNotesMarked in pencil (page 1 recto, upper left): 36
Object/Correspondence
