Born in Tokyo, June 9, 1886
Died in Tokyo, Dec 29, 1965
- Yamada was a Japanese composer, orchestral conductor, and educator.
- Yamada attended at the Tokyo Music School, and then studied composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. His music shows a significant influence from late German romanticism.
- After his studies in Germany, Yamada sometimes used the somewhat Germanic name of Kósçak as a variation of his Japanese given name, Kōsaku.1
- Yamada founded the Tokyo Philharmonic Society Orchestra (which is a different organization than that which current operates under that same name) and directed this ensemble in Japan’s first-ever professional classical orchestral concert in 1915. In addition to his work in Japan, Yamada’s conducting career also took him abroad, including conducting a concert of his compositions at Carnegie Hall in 1918.
- Yamada composed more than 1600 works, including operas, tone poems, songs, and chamber works. As a composer, he was particularly interested in finding a musical language well suited to the rhythms of the Japanese language.
- Tragically, a large number of Yamada’s compositions were destroyed in the air raid that targeted Tokyo on May 25, 1945.2
Sources
- W.P. Malm, “Japanese music,” Encyclopedia Britannica (January 19, 2021), accessed November 16, 2021, https://www.britannica.com/art/Japanese-music.
- Masakata Kanazawa and Yo Akioka, “Yamada, Kōsaku,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed November 16, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000030669.