Biography

Kōsaku Yamada (山田耕筰, Yamada Kōsaku, 9 June 1886 – 29 December 1965) was a Japanese composer and conductor. Born in Tokyo, Yamada started his music education at Tokyo Music School in 1904, studying there under German composers August Junker and Heinrich Werkmeister. In 1910, he left Japan for Germany where he enrolled at the Prussian Academy of Arts and learnt composition under Max Bruch and Karl Leopold Wolf and piano under Carl August Heymann-Rheineck, before returning to Japan in late 1913. He travelled to the United States in 1918 for two years. During his stay in Manhattan, New York City, he conducted a temporarily-organized orchestra composed of members of New York Philharmonic and New York Symphony, short before their amalgamation.

The beginning of his Symphony in F major, "Triumph and Peace" (1912) has a pentatonic theme G-A-D-E which reflects the Japanese national anthem based on Gagaku. This symphony was the first complete symphony with four movements in Japan.

His Sinfonia "Inno Meiji" (1921) includes Japanese instruments such as the hichiriki, an ancient Japanese double reed wind instrument, and other Asian instruments.

Yamada composed about 1,600 pieces of musical works, in which art songs (Lieder) amount to 700 even excluding songs commissioned by schools, municipalities and companies. Akatombo (Red Dragonfly) (1927) is perhaps his most famous song. His songs have been performed and recorded by many famous singers such as Kathleen Battle, Ernst Haefliger and Yoshikazu Mera.

Yamada's opera Kurofune (black ships) is regarded as one of the most famous Japanese operas. His work was heard at the music section of the art competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics.

As a conductor, Yamada made an effort to introduce western orchestral works to Japan. He premiered in Japan of Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, Gershwin's An American in Paris, Mosolov's Iron Foundry, Sibelius' Finlandia, Shostakovich's Symphony No. 1, Johann Strauss II's An der schönen blauen Donau, and Wagner's Siegfried Idyll.

Jacques Ibert's Ouverture de fête was dedicated to the Japanese emperor and government for the 2,600th National Foundation Day in 1940 and premiered under the baton of Yamada.

Yamada died at his home in Tokyo of a heart attack on 29 December 1965, and was survived by his wife, Teruko.