Etenraku (越天楽) is a gagaku musical program. The dance is the only extant part of the music. It is the most famous piece of music in gagaku. There are mainly eight types of instruments, which are divided into three categories: wind, string, and percussion instruments.
The original melody was transmitted by the works of the emperor of the Chinese Western Han dynasty. There is a theory that it was originally created by Zhang Liang, a strategist for Emperor Gaozu of Han. However there are also theories that it was created in Japan, so its true place of origin is not fully known. As for current etenraku in the old chromatic scale, it has been compared to old Tang-era Chinese music, and similarities have been found. However, it may have been arranged into a different scale, and it is said that this may have killed off the original melody.
Contemporary etenraku music with lyrics is called etenraku imayō (越天楽今様). The most popular song in this style is Kurodabushi (黒田節), which is often performed at wedding ceremonies. It is often dedicated to miko and accompanied by urayasu no mai (浦安の舞), a dance. A more modern version of this song is called toyosaka no mai (豊栄の舞).
In 1931 Hidemaro Konoye arranged an orchestra version of the piece, and it was later picked up by Leopold Stokowski.
In 1951 Yoritsune Matsudaira created a piece called "盤渉調越天楽の主題によるピアノと管弦楽のための主題と変奏". The piece changed the melody to use the third note of the ancient chromatic scale. Other versions of the melody, such as twelve-tone technique and boogie-woogie were tried, and at Herbert von Karajan's direction, Yvonne Loriod performed a solo of the song. With this, the melody became internationally valued.
A ballet orchestration was created by Akira Ifukube, but it was an original composition with creative aim.
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