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1 A disciple of Akira Ifukube, who is also known for composing music for the Godzilla movie series.
3 In his masterpiece “Nirvana Symphony”, the sound of actual bells is reproduced by an orchestra! ?
4 Mr. Mayuzumi also composed the entrance music for Giant Baba!
5 Secret story with Yukio Mishima: The feud over the opera “Minoko” and what happened afterward...
A disciple of Akira Ifukube, who is also known for composing the movie ``Godzilla'' series.
Born in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture in 1929, Toshiro Mayuzumi experienced the Manchurian Incident, the prelude to World War II, at the age of three, and the Sino-Japanese War at the age of eight. Even though it was during the war, Mayuzumi, a young boy who had wanted to become a composer, continued to maintain contact with music through piano and music theory lessons, as well as his school's drum and flute corps and wind band classes.
Then, in April 1945, while the damage from the Tokyo air raids had not subsided, he entered the current Tokyo University of the Arts, which was then a vocational school, at the age of 16, and spent his student life spanning the end of the war. His first teacher, Kunihiko Hashimoto, resigned after losing the war. Afterwards, he studied under composers such as Yujiro Ikeuchi and Akira Ifukube.
Akira Ifukube is a composer best known for the music for the special effects film ``Godzilla'' series, and this song is extremely famous.
Furthermore, the works that Mayuzumi composed while attending school were of a very high standard, and among them, his graduation work ``Divertimento'' was even made into an unusual record. At this time, Mayuzumi was 19 years old.
“Divertimento” 1948
He studied abroad in Paris at his own expense, but returned to Japan after one year. Reason for returning to Japan: ``I don't have anything to learn anymore''
Mayuzumi suddenly became a star in the classical music world around the age of 20, and was already earning a good income from work such as film music.In 1951, six years after the end of the war, at the age of 22, Mayuzumi went to study at the Paris Conservatory at his own expense. did. Around the same time, Sadao Betsumiya also went to France at his own expense, and Akio Yashiro went to France under the French government's study abroad program. In this way, three young composers from Japan set out for Paris, which was at the cutting edge of music at the time. However, Mayuzumi returned to Japan a year later in 1952, saying, ``I have nothing left to learn.'' In 1953, he released Japan's first musique concrète work, ``X・Y・Z''. In this way, they quickly introduced cutting-edge music to Japan.
*Musique Concrete: Music created by recording, processing, and reconstructing human and animal voices, noises emitted from railways and cities, sounds emitted from the natural world, musical sounds, electronic sounds, songs, etc. A genre of contemporary music created in France in the 1940s by Pierre Schaeffer.
In his masterpiece “Nirvana Symphony”, an orchestra reproduces the sound of actual bells! ?
For his masterpiece ``Nirvana Symphony,'' which won the 7th Odaka Prize in 1958, he recorded the sounds of various temple bells, analyzed the data, and tried to imitate them with an orchestra. The sound of the temple bell, which Japanese people are accustomed to hearing, actually has a complex overtone structure, so analyzing and reproducing it can be said to be an extremely difficult task. Additionally, since tape was used to record the song, which was the most advanced technology at the time, this song became a pioneer of tape music in Japan. After this song, Mayuzumi returned to his interest in Japanese themes, and later worked on the opera ``Kinkakuji'' and the movie ``Flame'' (a 1958 Japanese film based on ``Kinkakuji'', directed by Kon Ichikawa and starring: It developed into the music of Raizo Ichikawa) .
《Nirvana Symphony》
Mr. Mayuzumi also composed the entrance music for Giant Baba!
Giant Baba is a professional wrestler who is 209cm tall and is popular as a talent. The theme song that always plays when he steps into the ring, ``Sports March,'' is a work by Toshiro Mayuzumi. In addition to his activities that updated the history of music mentioned above, he also appeared frequently on TV and composed a lot of music that resonated even in the Showa era's "tea room." He has provided music for Hibari Misora, Yujiro Ishihara, Akihiro Maruyama (currently Akihiro Miwa), Sayuri Yoshinaga, and Frankie Sakai, and has released many popular songs into the world.
A secret story with Yukio Mishima. The feud surrounding the opera “Minoko” and its aftermath...
Lastly, I would like to share an interesting episode with Yukio Mishima, the original author of the opera ``Kinkakuji.''
The two first met when Mishima went to meet Mayuzumi while she was studying abroad in Paris. After returning to Japan, the two worked together in films and theater, giving the impression that they were a close pair, but when the opera ``Minoko'' was scheduled to be performed at the time and produced by the Nissay Theater, a rift appeared between the two. I end up putting it in.
The opera ``Minoko'' was supposed to be a large-scale production, but while Mishima finished writing the libretto quickly, Mayuzumi's composition progressed slowly, and in the end the delay was so great that it could not be completed in time for the premiere. Ta. Enraged by this, Mishima took away the composition rights from Mayuzumi and canceled the performance. As a result, Mishima's ``Minoko'' has not seen the light of day as an opera to this day. This incident also destroyed their relationship.
A few years later, I was commissioned by Germany's Berlin Opera to perform a Japanese opera, and Mayuzumi's music became a reality. Later, at director Zellner's request, the performance was chosen to be Mishima's ``Kinkakuji,'' so the two had an opportunity to meet face-to-face for the first time in a while. There, Mayuzumi asked, ``Can we turn Kinkakuji into an opera?'' Mishima agreed and promised to go see the premiere. Mayuzumi also tells them that she will do her best and they reconcile for the first time in several years. This is how the opera ``Kinkakuji'' came to fruition. However, the exchange between these two took place around 1968. The joy of reviving the famous duo was short-lived, but in 1970, the Mishima Incident occurred at Ichigaya Garrison. The opera ``Kinkakuji'' was premiered in 1976, six years later. Unfortunately, Mishima was unable to witness the premiere...
39 years after its premiere, "Kinkakuji" is back on stage!
Thirty-nine years have passed since its first performance, and Toshiro Mayuzumi's opera ``Kinkakuji'' will be performed for the first time in 16 years.It will be performed at the Kanagawa Kenmin Hall in Yokohama, Mayuzumi's hometown, to commemorate the 40th anniversary. This time's performance is a must-see as Japan's most representative young talents come together to create an immortal masterpiece in the history of Japanese opera that is full of various dramas!
For performance details and related plans, please see the list of related events below.
*This page was compiled under the responsibility of MAGCUL.NET, with reference to a lecture by music critic Morihide Katayama related to the opera "Kinkakuji" held on Saturday, November 7, 2015.
