NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Toru Takemitsu

Tōru Takemitsu (武満徹 Takemitsu Tōru, October 8, 1930 - February 20, 1996) was a Japanese composer of music, who explored the compositional principles of Western classical music and his native Japanese tradition both in isolation and in combination. October 8 is the 281st day of the year (282nd in leap years). ... 1930 is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... February 20 is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... Music is an art, entertainment, or other human activity which involves organized sound, though definitions may vary. ... Classical music is music considered classical, as sophisticated and refined, in a regional tradition. ...

Born in Tokyo, Takemitsu first became interested in western classical music around the time of World War II. He heard western music on American military radio while recuperating from a long illness. He also listened to jazz from his father's ample collection. Tokyo (東京; Tōkyō listen, literally eastern capital), is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu in Japan. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Jazz is a musical art form characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. ...

Takemitsu was largely self-taught in music. He was greatly influenced by the music of Claude Debussy and Olivier Messiaen. In 1951 he founded the Jikken Kobo, a group which introduced many contemporary western composers to Japanese audiences. Claude Debussy Claude Achille Debussy ( August 22, 1862 – March 25, 1918), composer of impressionistic classical music. ... Olivier Messiaen (December 10, 1908–April 27, 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist. ...

Takemitsu at first had little interest in traditional Japanese music, but later incorporated Japanese instruments such as the shakuhachi (a kind of bamboo flute) into the orchestra. November Steps (1967), a concerto for shakuhachi and biwa (a kind of Japanese lute) was the first piece to combine instruments from east and west. In an Autumn Garden (1973-79) is written for the kind of orchestra that would have played gagaku (traditional Japanese court music). Works such as Eclipse, (1966) for shakuhachi and biwa, Voyage (1973), for three biwas should also been mentioned as works that are decidedly derived from traditional genres. For many outsiders, Japanese music is associated entirely with cheap, disposable bubblegum pop, of which there is plenty. ... Shakuhachi, showing utaguchi (blowing edge) and inlay The shakuhachi (←八尺—) is a Japanese end-blown flute which is held vertically like a recorder instead of being held transversely like the familiar Western transverse flute. ... Orchestra at City Hall (Edmonton). ... Origin Etymology Concerto (from the Latin concertus, from certare, to strive, also confused with concentus), in its most general sense, is a name for a piece of classical music in which there are two distinct groups of instruments, one larger than the other. ... Shakuhachi, showing utaguchi (blowing edge) and inlay The shakuhachi (←八尺—) is a Japanese end-blown flute which is held vertically like a recorder instead of being held transversely like the familiar Western transverse flute. ... A biwa (琵琶) is a Japanese short-necked fretted lute, and a close variant of the Chinese pipa. ... The lute is a plucked string instrument with a fretted neck and a deep round back. ... Gagaku (雅楽) is a type of Japanese classical music that has been performed at the Imperial court for several centuries. ... Shakuhachi, showing utaguchi (blowing edge) and inlay The shakuhachi (←八尺—) is a Japanese end-blown flute which is held vertically like a recorder instead of being held transversely like the familiar Western transverse flute. ... A biwa (琵琶) is a Japanese short-necked fretted lute, and a close variant of the Chinese pipa. ...

Takemitsu first came to wide attention when his Requiem for string orchestra (1957) was accidentally heard and praised by Igor Stravinsky in 1959 (some Japanese people wanted Igor Stravinsky to hear some tape recorded music by Japanese composers and put the tape by the reverse side, and when they tried to take it out, Stravinsky didn't let them). Stravinsky went on to champion Takemitsu's work. Igor Fyodorovitch Stravinsky (Russian: ) (June 17, 1882 – April 6, 1971) was a Russian-American composer of modern classical music. ... Igor Fyodorovitch Stravinsky (Russian: ) (June 17, 1882 – April 6, 1971) was a Russian-American composer of modern classical music. ...

Takemitsu's works include the orchestral piece A Flock Descends Into the Pentagonal Garden (1977), Riverrun for piano and orchestra (1984, the title is the first word in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake), and the string quartet A way a Lone (1981, another piece inspired by Finnegans Wake). Chamber music such as Distance de Fee (1951) for violin and piano, or Between tides, for violin, cello and piano, are to be also mentioned. And such jewels of the piano music as Rain tree sketch (1982), Rain Tree Sketch II (1992), Les Yeus Clos (1979) o Les Yeus Clos II (1988) are considered to be amongst the finest works for the instrument written in the twentieth century. He also composed electronic music and almost a hundred film scores for Japanese films including those for Hiroshi Teshigahara's Woman in the Dunes (1964), Akira Kurosawa's Ran (1985) and Shohei Imamura's Black Rain (1989). His music for cinema rests deeply upon the concept that a new film needs a new sound colour, and is as much about taking out sounds as about taking them in. James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (February 2, 1882 – January 13, 1941) was an expatriate Irish writer and poet, and is widely considered one of the most significant writers of the 20th century. ... History Finnegans Wake is the last novel written by James Joyce. ... The resident string quartet of the Library of Congress in 1963 A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string instruments—usually two violins, a viola and cello—or a piece written to be performed by such a group. ... Electronic music - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... A film score is the background music in a film, generally specially written for the film and often used to heighten emotions provoked by the imagery on the screen or by the dialogue. ... Hiroshi Teshigahara (勅使河原宏 Teshigahara Hiroshi, January 28, 1927 - April 14, 2001) was an avant-garde Japanese film-maker. ... Akira Kurosawa Akira Kurosawa (黒澤明 Kurosawa Akira, also 黒沢明) ( March 23, 1910 - September 6, 1998) was a prominent Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter of films, many of which are considered highly influential worldwide classics. ... Ran (乱) (Chaos) is a film by Akira Kurosawa, based on William Shakespeares King Lear but set in Sengoku-era Japan. ... Shohei Imamura (今村昌平 Imamura Shōhei) (born 15 September 1926 in Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese film director. ...

Some of the formal concepts in Takemitsu's music depend deeply on visual imagery, taken from paintings, dreams, or his concept (about which he writes much) of the garden.

Takemitsu died in Tokyo on February 20, 1996. Tokyo (東京; Tōkyō listen, literally eastern capital), is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu in Japan. ... February 20 is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

He was posthumously awarded the fourth Glenn Gould Prize in Autumn, 1996. The Glenn Gould Prize is an international award bestowed by the Glenn Gould Foundation. ... 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

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