Fumio Hayasaka was born in Sendai in 1914. When he was four years old, he moved to Hokkaido with his family. From the time he was a junior high school student, he became familiar with the piano and the organ, and then decided to be a composer at the age of 15. However, because of the circumstances of his family, he could not go to music school. He went out into the world immediately after graduating from a junior high school and learned music by himself.
In 1934, Hayasaka met with Akira Ifukube and Atsushi Miura, and formed “New Music League” in Sapporo. They were influenced by French music such as Satie’s, bringing new inspiration to the Japanese music world which was influenced a lot by German music. After that, Hayasaka’s early orchestral works, “Futatsu no Sanka e no Zensoukyoku (Prelude to Two Hymns)” (1935) and “Kodai no Bukyoku (Dance Antique)” (1937) won awards. In 1936, Hayasaka studied composition with Alexander Tcherepnin when he came to Japan. In the following year, the piano song “Nocturne” (1936) was published.
In 1939, Hayasaka went to Tokyo, headhunted by a president of Toho Corporation. As a music director, he joined Toho Corporation and produced a lot of film music such as “Rashomon” and “Seven Samurai”, which were both directed by Akira Kurosawa. He also produced “Ugetsu Monogatari”, directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. His film pieces received Mainichi Film Awards several times, and supported the golden age of Japanese film. In 1941, Hayasaka became a lecturer at Nihon University Arts Department and gave lectures in newly established ‘Film Music’ courses.
On the other hand, Hayasaka became a committee member of Japan Music Culture Association, Japan Society for Contemporary Music and others. He also energetically worked on concert pieces while having work presentations often at the “New Composition Association” that he formed with Yasuji Kiyose, Akira Ifukube and others in 1947. Hayasaka’s music style was Oriental that was inspired by Japanese traditional music, Gagaku and Noh. He advocated ‘pan-orientalism’ and gave efforts to change the framework of music from Western to Oriental. His attempts gave guidelines to younger composer including Tōru Takemitsu, Yasushi Akutagawa and others, while having a great impact on the following Japanese contemporary music world.
Hayasaka’s major works include “Ancient Dances on the Left and on the Right” (1941), “Transformation for Orchestra” (1953), and his posthumous work “Yukara” (1955). He composed piano pieces over his lifetime, which include “Five Movement for Piano” (1940), “Piano Album in Pentatonic Scale 1st, 2nd” (1940), “Poetry Song” (1947) and “Piano Concerto” (1948). Among his piano pieces, in “17 Piano Pieces for Camber” (1941), Hayasaka’s desire to express Japanese culture appeared both musically and philosophically.
Due to his chronic disease of tuberculosis, he died at the age of 41 in 1955. After his death, he was awarded the Mainichi Film Special Music Award and the Art Encouragement Prizes.
