Toshiro Mayuzumi (黛敏郎 ''Mayuzumi Toshirō'' ; 20 February 1929 – 10 April 1997) was a Japanese composer known for his implementation of

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretica ...

instrumentation alongside traditional Japanese musical techniques. His works drew inspiration from a variety of sources ranging from

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

to Balinese music, and he was considered a pioneer in the realm of

musique concrète Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic, wit ...

and

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electro ...

, being the first artist in his country to explore these techniques. In the span of his career, his works included

symphonies A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning co ...

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form ...

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

s, and

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

s, and was the recipient of an

Otaka prize The Otaka prize (尾高賞 Otaka-shō) is a prize annually awarded since 1953. It is named after the Japanese composer and conductor Hisatada Otaka, the prize is given to Japanese composers, and is awarded by the NHK Symphony Orchestra. Awardees in ...

by the

NHK Symphony Orchestra The is a Japanese broadcast orchestra based in Tokyo. The orchestra gives concerts in several venues, including the NHK Hall, Suntory Hall, and the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall. History The orchestra began as the ''New Symphony Orchestra'' on ...

and the Purple Medal of Merit.

Biography

Born in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

, Mayuzumi was a student of Tomojirō Ikenouchi and

Akira Ifukube was a Japanese classical and film music composer, best known for his works on the ''Godzilla'' franchise. Biography Early years in Hokkaido Akira Ifukube was born on 31 May 1914 in Kushiro, Japan as the third son of a police officer Toshimi ...

at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music immediately following the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, graduating in 1951. He then went to Europe where he attended the Paris Conservatoire national supérieur de musique, studying with Aubin and becoming familiar with the new developments of

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century. His m ...

and

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music. Born in Mo ...

, as well as with the techniques of

He was initially enthusiastic about avant-garde Western music, especially that of Varèse, but beginning in 1957 he turned to pan-Asianism for new sonorous material. A prolific composer for the cinema, he composed more than a hundred film scores between ''Waga ya wa tanoshi'' (It's Great to Be Young) in 1951 and ''Jo no mai'' in 1984. The best-known film with a score by Mayuzumi is probably '' The Bible: In the Beginning...'' (1966), for which he was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

and a

Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score is a Golden Globe Award presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), an organization of journalists who cover the United States film industry, but are affiliated with publications ...

. He also wrote many pieces for wind band that have been recorded by the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra. Mayuzumi was the recipient of a

Suntory Music Award The , previously known as the , designed to promote Western music in Japan, has been given by the Suntory Music Foundation since their establishment in 1969. The award is presented annually to individuals or groups for the greatest achievement in ...

in 1996. He died in

Kawasaki, Kanagawa is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, one of the main cities of Greater Tokyo Area and Keihin Industrial Area. It is the second most populated city in Kanagawa Prefecture after Yokohama, and the eighth most populated city in Japan (includin ...

in 1997.

Works

Operas

*''Kinkakuji'' (''Der Tempelbrand''; ''The Golden Pavilion'') (1976, Berlin) *''Kojiki'' (''Days of the Gods'') (1996, Linz)

Ballet

*''

Bugaku is a Japanese traditional dance that has been performed to select elites, mostly in the Japanese imperial court, for over twelve hundred years. In this way, it has been known only to the nobility, although after World War II, the dance was ope ...

'' (1962) *''Olympics'' (1965) *''The Kabuki'' (1986) *''M'' (1996)

Orchestral works

* ''Rumba Rhapsody'' (1948) * ''Symphonic Mood'' (1950) * ''Bacchanale'' (1954) * ''Ektoplasm'' (1954) * ''Tonepleromas 55'' (1955) * ''phonology Symphonique'' (1957) * ''Nirvana Symphony'' for male chorus and orchestra (1958) * ''Mandala Symphony'' (1960) * ''Echigojishi'' (1960) * ''Music with Sculpture'' (1961) * ''Textures'' for wind orchestra (1962) * ''Samsara'' (1962) * ''Essay in Sonorities (Mozartiana)'' (1963) * ''Essay'' for string orchestra (1963) * ''Fireworks'' (1963) * ''Ongaku no tanjō'' irth of Music(1964) * Concerto for percussion and wind orchestra (1965) * Concertino for xylophone and orchestra (1965) * ''Shu'' ncantation(1967) * ''Tateyama'' (1974) * ''ARIA in G for Solo Violin and Orchestra'' (1978) * ''Capriccio for Solo Violin and String Orchestra'' (1988) * ''Mukyūdō'' erpetual Motion(1989)

Ensemble/Instrumental works

* ''Sonata, for violin and piano'' (1946) * Twelve Preludes, for piano (1946) * ''Hors d'œuvre'', for piano (1947) * Divertimento, for 10 instruments (1948) * String Quartet (1952) * Sextet, for flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, horn, trumpet, and piano (1955) * ''Pieces'', for prepared piano and string quartet (1957) * ''Mikrokosmos'', for clavioline, guitar, musical saw, vibraphone, xylophone, percussion, and piano (1957) * ''Bunraku'', for violoncello solo (1960) * Prelude, for string quartet](1961) * ''Metamusic'', for saxophone, violin, and piano (1961) * ''Shōwa Ten-pyō Raku'', for gagaku ensemble (1970) * ''Rokudan'', for harp (1989)

Electronic music

*''X, Y, Z for musique concrète'' (1953) *''Boxing for Radio Drama'' (1954) *''Music for Sine Wave by Proportion of Prime Number'' (1955) *''Music for Modulated Wave by Proportion of Prime Number'' (1955) *''Invention for Square Wave and Saw-tooth Wave'' (1955) *''Variations on Numerical Principle of 7'' (1956; with

Makoto Moroi (17 December 1930 – 2 September 2013) was a Japanese composer. Biography Makoto Moroi was born in Tokyō, and is the son of Saburō Moroi. He studied composition with Tomojirō Ikenouchi at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and ...

) *''Aoi no ue'' (1957) *''Campanology'' for multi-piano (1959) *''Olympic Campanology'' (1964) *''Mandala'' for solo voice and electronic sounds (1969)

Film scores

* ''Waga ya wa Tanoshi'' (1951) * '' The Woman in the Rumor'' (噂の女 Uwasa no onna) (1954) * '' Street of Shame'' (1956) * ''

The Balloon ''The Balloon'' (Swedish: ''Ballongen'') is a 1946 Swedish comedy film directed by Göran Gentele and Nils Poppe and starring Poppe, Marianne Löfgren, Ingrid Borthen and Inga Landgré.Klossner p.32 The film's sets were designed by the art direct ...

'' (1956) * ''

Enjō is a 1958 Japanese film directed by Kon Ichikawa and adapted from the Yukio Mishima novel '' The Temple of the Golden Pavilion''. Its English title is ''Conflagration''. Synopsis Told in an intricate flashback structure, ''Enjō'' dramatizes ...

'' (1958) * ''

Stolen Desire is a 1958 Japanese film directed by Shōhei Imamura. It was Imamura's debut as a director. Cast * Osamu Takizawa as Taminosuke Yamamura * Shinichi Yanagisawa as Ezaburo Yamamura * Hiroyuki Nagato as Shinichi Kunida * Kō Nishimura as Kanji Ta ...

'' (1958) * ''

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs is a 1960 Japanese drama directed by Mikio Naruse. Plot Keiko (called " Mama" by the other characters), a young widow approaching 30, is a hostess at a bar in Ginza. Realizing she is getting older, she decides after talking to her bar manager, K ...

'' (1960) * '' The Warped Ones'' (1960) * '' Black Sun'' (1964) * ''

Tokyo Olympiad ''Tokyo Olympiad'', also known in Japan as , is a 1965 Japanese documentary film directed by Kon Ichikawa which documents the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Like Leni Riefenstahl's '' Olympia'', which documented the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berli ...

'' (1965) * ''

The Pornographers is a 1966 satiric Japanese film directed by Shōhei Imamura. It is based on the novel ''Erogotoshitachi'' by Akiyuki Nosaka. Plot ''The Pornographers'' tells the story of porn filmmaker Mr. Subuyan Ogata, whose business is under threat from thi ...

'' (1966) * '' The Bible: In the Beginning...'' (1966) * '' Reflections in a Golden Eye'' (1967) * '' Thirst for Love'' (1967) * '' Profound Desires of the Gods'' (1968) * ''Jo no Mai'' (1984)

References

Sources * * * * * * *

External links

"Overtones of Progress, Undertones of Reaction: Toshiro Mayuzumi and the Nirvana Symphony"
by Peter Burt
Music of Toshiro Mayuzumi
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mayuzumi Toshiro 1929 births 1997 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century Japanese composers 20th-century Japanese male musicians Ballet composers Concert band composers Japanese classical composers Japanese film score composers Japanese male classical composers Japanese male film score composers Japanese opera composers Male opera composers Monument Records artists Tokyo Music School alumni