Isotaro Sugata (Japanese: 須賀田礒太郎 Sugata, Isotaro;

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

, 15 November 1907 – Tanuma, Tochigi, 5 July 1952) was a Japanese composer.

Biography

Sugata received his education with missionaries in

Kanto Gakuin University is a private university located in Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Japan. History It traces its roots to The Baptist Theological Seminary of Yokohama established by Albert Arnold Bennett, a missionary of the American Baptist Churches, American Baptist ...

. There he was influenced by listening to hymns and received lessons for piano, violin,

music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...

and singing. In 1927 he acquired

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

and then concentrated solely on his composition studies. From 1928 he studied with Kosaku Yamada and Kiyoshi Nobutoki, who had studied in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. Nobutoki taught him music theory in the German tradition. In 1931 he began studies with Meiro Sugahara, who believed that German music was not a good model for Japanese composers who wanted to compose in Western style with Japanese sensibility, on the principles of

Gagaku is a type of Japanese classical music that was historically used for imperial court music and dances. was developed as court music of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, and its near-current form was established in the Heian period (794–1185) arou ...

Buddhist music file:Left image detail, Kanjur Chinese Collection 196, inside cover Wellcome L0031389 (cropped).jpg, Tibetan illustration of Saraswati holding a veena, the main deity of music and musicians in Mahayana Buddhism Buddhist music is music (, ) crea ...

and

Kabuki is a classical form of Theatre of Japan, Japanese theatre, mixing dramatic performance with Japanese traditional dance, traditional dance. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily stylised performances, its glamorous, highly decorated costumes ...

music. He considered French, Italian and Russian music more appropriate for the Japanese mentality, because it offers more flexible sounds by using

Whole tone In Western music theory, a major second (sometimes also called whole tone or a whole step) is a second spanning two semitones (). A second is a musical interval encompassing two adjacent staff positions (see Interval number for more deta ...

and Japanese scales. Sugahara gave the advice to Sugata that composers such as Shiro Fukai were better than the works of

Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

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and

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (, ; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His composition ...

to study. As a result, Sugata wrote two major orchestral works in a style that can be described as "Oriental Stravinsky", namely "Yokohama" (1932) and "Symphonic Fantasia" SAKURA "(Cherry Blossoms)" (1933). In 1933 he returned to German-tinted music and studied with Klaus Pringsheim Sr., a teacher in the neoclassical style and a former pupil of

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic music, Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and ...

, who at the time was a professor at the

Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music or is a school of art and music in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Kitasenju and Adachi, Tokyo. The university has trained artists in the fields of painting, sculpture, crafts, inter ...

. From then on he studied German music from

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith ( ; ; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German and American composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advo ...

and was interested in

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...

and his atonal music. In 1935 his piece ''Japanese Picture Scroll'', won a composition competition held by the

Imperial Household Agency The (IHA) is an agency of the government of Japan in charge of state matters concerning the Imperial House of Japan, Imperial Family, and the keeping of the Privy Seal of Japan, Privy Seal and State Seal of Japan. From around the 8th century ...

. The following year he also won a competition held by the (

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

) with his work ''Festive Prelude''. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he left for Tanuma, where his grandparents lived. He wanted to compose further, but his illness made working difficult for him. He died on 5 July 1952. Most of his works were not published and his manuscripts were forgotten in their house in Tanuma. It was only in 1999 the manuscripts were found again and received public attention.

Compositions

Orchestral Music

* 1932 ''Symphonic Poem "Yokohama"'' * 1933 ''Symphonic Fantasia "SAKURA" (Cherry Blossoms)'' * 1935 ''Emaki Japan (Japanese Picture Scroll)'' * 1936 ''Festive Prelude'' * 1937 ''Symphonic Dances'' * 1938 ''Kanto and Tohoku'' * 1939 ''Symphonic Overture'', for orchestra, op. 6 * 1940 ''Peaceful Dance of Two Dragons'', for orchestra, op. 8 *# Jo (misterioso e gentile) *# Ha (con gravita e fastoso) *# Kyu (grazioso) * 1941 ''Anastasia'' * 1941 ''Sketches of the Desert – Suite in Oriental Style'', for orchestra, op. 10 *# Pilgrimage to Mecca *# A Caravan in the Desert *# The Patrol in the Desert *# Dancing Girl in the Orient (Allegretto con sentimento)''Dancing Girl in the Orient'' from the "Sketches of the Desert – Suite in Oriental Style", op. 18
/ref> *# Riding Arabs * 1942 ''Philharmonic Symphony No. 1 in C'' * 1944 ''Ouverture'' * 1949 ''Picasso painting'' * 1950 ''Japanese Dance Suite'' * 1950 ''The Rhythm of Life'', ballet music for orchestra, op. 25 *# Misterioso *# Andante – Moderato scherzando *# Lento – Presto capriccioso

Chamber music

* 1946 ''String Quartet'' * 1935 ''Sonata "Sonata Romantic"'', for violin and piano

Bibliography

* ''Japanese composers and their works (since 1868)'', Tokyo, 1972.

References

External links

Biography on the NAXOS website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sugata, Isotaro 1907 births 1952 deaths 20th-century Japanese classical composers 20th-century Japanese male musicians Japanese male classical composers Musicians from Yokohama 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Japan