Osamu Shimizu


Osamu Shimizu was a Japanese composer.

Biography

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.
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 introduced in the late 1950s sponsored by the Hongwanji Temple in Hawaii. 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.
Shimizu's opera Shuzenji Monogatari is considered a part of the standard repertoire, and was performed at the New National Theatre, Tokyo in 2009.
Regarded as a pioneering 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.

Compositions

Works for orchestra

Dance Suite Flowers SetaruIndia Melodic - Four Movements
  • ''Symfonieën nr. 1-3''

Works for chorus

  • 1940 Song of the Plateau
  • # The summer wind
  • # Apple fields
  • # Birch
  • 1945/1967 Flowers Japan Chorus
  • # Wilderness wild chrysanthemum
  • # Bellflower
  • # Rhododendron
  • # Usuki Minoru
  • # Flower Tea
  • # Fuji
  • # Pear flower
  • # Grass Mizuhiki
  • # Crape myrtle
  • # Sesame flowers
  • 1948–1949 Chorus Pierrot and Moonlight Suite, for male chorus - lyrics: Horiguchi Daigaku
  • # Moonlight
  • # Autumn Clown
  • # Piero
  • # Piero grief
  • # Pierrette and Pierrot in the moonlight and arabesque
  • 1950 Sohran Bushi - 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

Ainu No Upopo - Song of Past Days - lyrics: Chuya Nakahara

Gathas (Buddhist music)

Nembutsu
  • ''Ondokusan II''

Chamber music

Music for the Poem "Extract Keiko Tomo", for koto, flute, clarinet, violin, altviolin, cello and permissionString QuartetThe Crab-Continent, for tenor saxophon and piano

Work for traditional Japanese instruments

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