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Osamu Shimizu

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Osamu Shimizu (Japanese: 清水 脩, Shimizu Osamu) (4 November 1911, Tennōji-ku, Osaka – 29 October 1986, Tokyo) was a Japanese composer.

Biography

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Shimizu was a Japanese classical music composer in both the Japanese and Western Style. He was the son of a Gagaku-musician. He studied composition (music) at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in Tokyo from 1936 to 1939 under Kunihiko Hashimoto and music theory under Hosokawa Midori. In 1939, his "Hana ni yose taru butoh suite" was selected as the first prize winner in the composition section of the 8th Music Competition.[1]

In Japan, Shimizu is most known for composing operas, choral works and songs. He also composed for solo instruments including shakuhachi and koto. Among Pure Land Buddhists, both in Japan and in other countries, especially in Hawaii and California in the United States, he is known for his Gathas (Buddhist music) introduced in the late 1950s sponsored by the Hongwanji Temple in Hawaii. [2] A recording of Ondokusan II was released by Buddhist Churches of America, performed by the opera vocalist Mika Shigematsu with piano accompaniment by Rae Imamura for the BCA Shin Buddhist Service Book in 1994.[3]

Shimizu's opera Shuzenji Monogatari is considered a part of the standard repertoire, and was performed at the New National Theatre, Tokyo in 2009.[4]

Regarded as a pioneeing post-war domestic opera along with Dan Ikuma's "Yuzuru", it was conducted by Wakasugi Hiroshi of the NNTT. It was staged by Kabuki actor and designated Living National Treasure Sakata Tojuro.[5]

Compositions

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Works for orchestra

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  • Dance Suite Flowers Setaru
  • India Melodic - Four Movements
  • Symfonieën nr. 1-3

Operas

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First performance in Title Act Première Libretto
1954 修善寺物語 Tale of Shuzenji (Shuzenji Monogatari) (Also known as The Mask Maker's Story) 1 Act 4 November 1954, Osaka Kido Okamoto (1872-1939)
1956 炭焼姫 The Charcoal Princess 1 November 1956, Osaka
1956 青空を射つ男 The Man Who Shoots at the Blue Sky 26 November 1956, Osaka
1957 セロ弾きのゴーシュ Gauche, the Violoncellist 11 October 1957, Osaka
1962 歌う骸骨 The Singing Skeleton 15 March 1962, Osaka
1964 俊 寛 Shunkan 1 Act 18 November 1964, Osaka
1965 The Merciful Poet
1967 Sumiyaki-hime 19 December 1967, Tokyo, Toshi Center Hall
1968 婿選び Muko-Erabi (The Marriage Contest) 3 October 1968, Los Angeles, University of California - Berkeley
1970 大仏開眼 Daibutsu-Kaigan 2 October 1970, Tokyo
1971 生田川 Ikuta Gawa 10 November 1971, Tokyo
1973 Yokobue 15 June 1973, Tokyo, Yubin Chokin Hall (Nihon Opera Kyokai)
1973 吉四六昇天 Kitchomu Shoten 1973, Oita
1978 Shishiodori no Hajimari 4 October 1978 Tokyo, Yubin Chokin Hall (Nihon Opera Kyokai)
1979 Aozora wo Utsu Otoko 14 September 1979, Tokyo, Toshi Center Hall

Works for chorus

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  • 1940 Song of the Plateau
    1. The summer wind
    2. Apple fields
    3. Birch
  • 1945/1967 Flowers Japan Chorus
    1. Wilderness wild chrysanthemum
    2. Bellflower
    3. Rhododendron
    4. Usuki Minoru
    5. Flower Tea
    6. Fuji
    7. Pear flower
    8. Grass Mizuhiki
    9. Crape myrtle
    10. Sesame flowers
  • 1948-1949 Chorus Pierrot and Moonlight Suite, for male chorus - lyrics: Horiguchi Daigaku
    1. Moonlight
    2. Autumn Clown
    3. Piero
    4. Piero grief
    5. Pierrette and Pierrot in the moonlight and arabesque
  • 1950 Sohran Bushi (Fisherman's Work Song) - lyrics: From Hokkaido
  • 1950 Uta Cattle - lyrics: from southern Iwate Prefecture
  • 1950-1952 Frog Song - lyrics: Shinpei Kusano
  • 1951 Bluebird - lyrics: Horiguchi Daigaku
  • 1952 Ode Mausoleum - lyrics: Nagata Tsuneo
  • 1953 Reed Leaf Whistle - lyrics: Yoshio Yabuta
  • 1954 Ode Cloud - Eulogy of Cloud and Mist - lyrics: Yoshi Kiyoshi Kawakami
  • 1955 Solitary - Solitude - lyrics: Nagata Tsuneo
  • 1956 Lass Section - lyrics: from Akita Prefecture
  • 1956 Morning - Morning - lyrics: Nagata Tsuneo
  • 1956 Song of the Tribe Tsuuo Taiwan

Vocal music

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  • Ainu No Upopo - (Three Ainu Folk Songs)
  • Song of Past Days - lyrics: Chuya Nakahara

Gathas (Buddhist music)

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  • Nembutsu
  • Ondokusan II

Chamber music

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  • Music for the Poem "Extract Keiko Tomo", for koto, flute, clarinet, violin, altviolin, cello and percission
  • String Quartet
  • The Crab-Continent, for tenor saxophon and piano

Work for traditional Japanese instruments

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  • 1941 Muttsu no danshô - Six Fragments for koto (Variations)
  • 1958 Koto nimen no tame no shôhin - A Little Piece for two koto
  • 1981 Koto Dokuso no Tamenu - Muttsu no Dansho, for koto
  • Trios Esquisses, for two koto and jushichi-gen

Bibliography

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  • Hitoshi Matsushita: A checklist of published instrumental music by Japanese composers, Tokyo: Academia Music Ltd., 1989. 181 p., ISBN 978-4-870-17039-1
  • Robin J. Heifetz: East-West Synthesis in Japanese Composition: 1950-1970, University of California Press, 1984
  • Paul Frank, Burchard Bulling, Florian Noetzel, Helmut Rosner: Kurzgefasstes Tonkünstler Lexikon - Zweiter Teil: Ergänzungen und Erweiterungen seit 1937, 15. Aufl., Wilhelmshaven: Heinrichshofen, Band 1: A-K. 1974. ISBN 3-7959-0083-2; Band 2: L-Z. 1976. ISBN 3-7959-0087-5
  • Japanese composers and their works (since 1868), Tokyo: 1972

References

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  1. ^ : The International Shakuhachi Society
  2. ^ : English Gathas in Hawaii by Francis Okano
  3. ^ : BCA Music Committee
  4. ^ : The Japan Times: The first 'Japanese' opera? - Tojuro's 'Shuzenji Monogatari' adds kabuki to Western art form to create something new by Chiho Iuchi
  5. ^ : New National Theatre, Tokyo
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