Credits:

Takuo Yuasa

Description:

Ksaku Yamada was a giant in the history of modern Japanese music. He was not only a prominent composer of art songs and childrens songsincluding Karatchi no Hana, Kono Michi, and Akatonbobut also an outstanding opera composer, orchestral composer, and teacher. After a difficult childhood, he entered the Tokyo School of Music, where he was blessed with excellent teachers and patrons. In 1910, he went to study in Berlin, where he studied composition under Bruch at the Royal Academy of Arts in Berlin. There, he thoroughly studied Western musical orchestration and counterpoint, and composed the Overture in D Major, the first orchestral work by a Japanese composer. Eight months later, he composed Victory and Peace, the first symphony by a Japanese composer. This piece, which contrasts and harmonizes a joyful hymn to victory with a quiet prayer for peace, is also a development of the paired musical me