Opert’s Pioneering Aspects and Insights as a ‘Korean Music Critic’ introduced Western Music to Josen during the Its Opening Period

Abstract

German merchant Ernst Jacob Oppert(1832~1903), the mastermind of the “Opert Incident” (It refers to his theft of the royal family’s tomb) has been a rash aggressor and traitorous figure in Korean history. It has also been almost entirely negatively evaluated as a very ambitious merchant who tried to monopolize business by pushing through trade pressure and provided the Joseon government with the pretext of severe Catholic persecution. Unlike this previous evaluation, as a result of this study that analyzed Opert’s wrritten records of Korean music in his travelogue, the need for his re-evaluation as a music critic increased. His music writing was highly complete in both form and content levels, making it reasonable to define it as a “music review”. In particular, he praised Koreans’ own musical ear and music fondness, which seems to have demonstrated insight into their outstanding musicality and love for music, which is considered the driving force of the “Myth of K-pop success” among experts these days. The study illuminated his music historical value as the first Westerner to leave an unprecedented record of “Korean Music Criticism” just before the port opening era, which is expected that a new evaluation will be made only in the history of cultural exchange.