Composer Kōsaku Yamada completed this work in 1914, just after he returned from studying in German.Yamada said that ‘himself ’ is alive in this work, that he had come to recognize his musical individuality.(Source: ‘Philharmonic recollection’ printed in “Symphony”).
“He and She” is classified as ‘dance poem’, for its attempt to join the music and dancing through rhythm to accomplish their artistic unification.Yamada began to use this name ‘dance poem” after the recital of his own works on January in 1916.Although this piece was composed as a musical poem, Yamada required not only element of musical sound but also of dance to his ‘poem’.
This piece develops over the stillness of music and the movement of dance.All seven pieces were each composed along different stories.The third piece, for instance, is written based on a plot that ‘He’ and ‘She’ realize that a song is echoing in each mind and it makes them agony to listen to.But then they get encouraged to overcome the mysterious song in their mind, from a sound of the temple bell from nowhere.In the sixth piece, there is a scene that ‘He’ and ‘She’ having fun in the fascinating sound in the country they admire, where they can hear classical minuet and mazurka.