Yamada Kosaku

Born June 9, 1886, in Tokyo; died there Dec. 29, 1965. Japanese composer and conductor.

Yamada studied at the Imperial Academy of Music in Tokyo and and went on to study composition under K. Wolf and M. Bruch at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. He was the first Japanese composer to receive a European education and to work within the Western European tradition. Yamada, who taught in Tokyo, founded a symphony orchestra in 1914 and performed the works of Japanese composers on tours abroad; in 1930 and 1933 he toured the USSR.

Yamada’s six operas, all of which received their premieres in Tokyo, include Alladine et Palomides (after M. Maeterlinck, 1913) and the The Dawn (1940). Yamada composed two cantatas: Bonno-Koru (1931) and The Dawn of the Orient (1941). Other notable works are a symphony (1914), two symphonic poems, two ballet suites, the orchestral suite Kamikaze (1944), and numerous choral works and songs. Yamada also adapted Japanese folk songs.