 |
Gauche the Cellist (Sero Hiki no Goushu), also transliterated Gorsch the Cellist or Goshu the Cellist) is a short story by the Japanese author Kenji Miyazawa. It is about Gauche, a struggling small town cellist who is inspired by his interactions with anthropomorphized animals to gain insight into music. The story has been translated into English and Italian, and was adapted into a critically acclaimed animation in 1982 by Isao Takahata. It had previously been adapted to the screen several times.
|
 |
A Region 2 NTSC DVD was released in Japan in 2000 by Pioneer with English subtitles. Pioneer re-released for the Japanese market in 2003. Studio Ghibli and Buena Vista Home Entertainment re-released it as a double-disc DVD in 2006, the 110th anniversary of Miyazawa's birth (Ghibli released its adaptation of Kenji Miyazawa's Taneyamagahara no Yoru on the same date). The 2006 release contained Dolby Digital audio and English subtitles. |
 |
Gauche is a diligent but mediocre cellist who plays for a small town orchestra (The Venus Orchestra, (Kinsei Ongaku Dan) and the local cinema in the early 20th century. He struggles during rehearsals and is often berated by his conductor during preparations for an upcoming performance of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony (the Pastoral Symphony). Over the course of four nights, Gauche is visited at his mill house home by talking animals as he is practicing. The first night, a tortoiseshell cat came to Gauche and, giving him a tomato, asked him to play Schumann's "Träumerei." Gauche was irritated, as the tomato was from his garden outside, so he berated the cat and instead played "Tiger Hunt in India." This startled the cat and made it leap up and down in astonishment. The Cat ran away in fright. The second night as he was practicing, a cuckoo came to him asking to practice scales to Gauche's cello accompaniment. Gauche repeatedly played "cuckoo, cuckoo," accompanied by the bird. Eventually, he felt that the cuckoo's song was better than his cello. Gauche chased the bird away, causing it to fly into his window, hitting its head. |
 |
Gauche practicing with the tanuki, from Isao Takahata's 1982 animated adaptation The third night as he was practicing, a raccoon dog (Japanese: tanuki) came to him asking to practice the timpany to Gauche's cello accompaniment. As Gauche played "The Merry Master of a Coach Station," the tanuki hit the cello with a drum stick. The tanuki pointed out to Gauche that he played late despite trying to play speedily. The two left on good terms as the day broke. The fourth night as he was practicing, a mother mouse came in with her baby mouse, asking him to heal her sick son. When Gauche told her that he wasn't a doctor, she replied that the sound of his music had already healed a number of animals. Gauche put the sick little mouse into a hole of his cello and played a rhapsody. When Gauche was finished, the little mouse was able to run around. The mother mouse cried, thanked Gauche, and left. |
 |
The Sixth Symphony concert was a great success. In the dressing room, the conductor asked a surprised Gauche to play an encore. Upon hearing the applauding audience, Gauche thought he was being made a fool of and again played "Tiger Hunt in India." Afterwards, everybody in the dressing room congratulated him. When he came back to his house, he opened the window where the cuckoo had hit its head and felt sorry for his actions.The ending scenes shows the animals and Gauche at peace, playing to the music of the Pastoral symphony. |
| Isao Takahata (born October 29, 1935) is one of the most famous directors of Japanese animated films. Born in Ujiyamada (now Ise), Mie prefecture, Japan, he is a long-term colleague of Hayao Miyazaki and co-head at Studio Ghibli. His four animated films at Studio Ghibli have spanned a remarkable range of genres: war-film (Grave of the Fireflies), romantic drama (Only Yesterday), comedy (My Neighbors the Yamadas), and ecological adventure (Pom Poko). Of these Grave of the Fireflies, in particular, is widely considered one of the greatest animated films ever made. Graduating from the University of Tokyo French literature course in 1959, Takahata joined the newly-created T?ei D?ga animation company (Toei Animation) where a short time later he met Miyazaki, and also directed his first feature film Hols: Prince of the Sun. Ostracized within the company after the financial failure of the film (despite its artistic success), he and Miyazaki left in order to work together, and collaborated on many other films. Unlike most anime directors, Takahata doesn't draw and never worked as an animator before becoming a full fledged director. |
 |
(C)OH! Production
|
 |