A person who was active as a composer and conductor was Saburō Takata. He composed many sacred songs for ceremonies as well as instrumental music.
Takata was born on December 18 in 1913, and he grew up in a good environment which was close
to music. In his home was a record player, which was a novelty in those days, so he was able to listen to various records. His father studied Noh chant of the Hōshō school and his mother practiced sōkyoku (koto music) every day. He spent his elementary school days surrounded by his brother who played
the shakuhachi and friends who was fond of folk songs and biwa music. His brother and sister started to learn the piano, and Takata also began to study piano when he was in junior high school. There was a church near his house, so Takata got close to Christian hymns in the early part of his life.
In 1932, Takata entered the teacher course at Musashino Ongaku Gakkō (Musashino Academy of Music) and he learned the basics of harmony from Taijirō Gō. He was a pupil of Nobutoki and K. Pringsheim at Tokyo Ongaku Gakkō (Tokyo Academy of Music, now the Faculty of Music at Tokyo University of the Arts) and Takata graduated from the academy in 1939. “Hachijūsōkyoku (Octet)” was a graduation work and written under the influence of I. Stravinsky. He proceeded to the graduate course at Tokyo Ongaku Gakkō and finished the course in 1941, completing “Yamagata-minyō niyoru Fantasy to Nijyū-fuga” (Fantasy and twofold Fugas based on folk songs of the Yamagata region, later changed to “Yamagata-minyō niyoru Ballade (Ballade based on Yamagata Folksongs)”). Takata continued to study composition and conducting under H. Fellmer and J. Rosenstock, but he was forced to move to Nagano prefecture because the airstrikes were becoming increasingly serious. He started to compose the “Preludes for Piano” during his stay in Nagano.
After the Pacific War, Takata returned to Tokyo and trained the younger generation at Musashino Ongaku Gakkō from 1946 and at Kunitachi Ongaku Daigaku (Kunitachi College of Music) from 1953. Takata organized a composition group ‘Chijinkai’ with Kishio Hirao, Kōmei Abe, and Kiyohiko Kijima in 1948, and he took active part in this group until 1955, performing works of his such as “Sonata for violin and piano”. In 1960, Takata began to compose works for choir at the request of NHK. The first collaboration with a poet, Kikuo Takano, was in “Watashi no Negai (My Wish)” in 1961, and many great pieces were subsequently written by Takata and Takano which are now in the repertoire of numerous choirs. “Mizu no Inochi (Life of Water)” has in particular been sung in various formations since it was performed for the first time in 1964. The piece “Kokoro no Shiki (Four Seasons of Mind)” for mixed choir, which put a poem by Hiroshi Yoshino to music, as well as the cantata “Musei Dōkoku (Silent Wailing)”, the poem of which was written by Kenji Miyazawa, are also exceptional works that have left a deep impression on audiences since their earliest performances. In 1969, Takata was awarded the grand prize of the National Arts Festival for his composition “Kyōjō no Hito (A Man on a Bridge)”.
As a Catholic, Takata contributed with more than 200 pieces of liturgical choral works written in the Japanese language and in 1992 he received the Pontifical Order of Pope St. Sylvester from the Pope, J. Paul II. Takata passed away on October 22 in 2000.
The books written by Takata include “Kuina ha tobazuni (Water Rail don’t fly)”, published by Ongaku No Tomo Sha in 1988, “Koshi kata (Days done by)”, published by Ongaku No Tomo Sha in 1996 and “Hitasura na Inochi (Fervently Life)”, published by Kawai Shuppan in 2001.
