Composers Datebook

One of the preeminent figures in 20th century Japanese concert music was a composer named Toshiro Mayuzumi, born in Yokohama in 1929. The range of his music reflects a curious turn of mind. He wrote pieces in a neo-Romantic mode, experimented with electronic music and jazz, composed aggressively avant-garde works, and scored music for theater and both Japanese and American films. In 1958, he composed a "Nirvana Symphony," inspired by the haunting sound of Japanese temple bells. "For the past few years," wrote Mayuzumi, "I feel as if I have been possessed by bells. I wonder why it is that, no matter how splendid a piece of music may be, it sounds totally faded and worthless when set beside the lingering resonance of a temple bell." The "Nirvana" Symphony of 1958 was followed up with another orchestral work inspired by Buddhist themes, a "Mandala Symphony," which premiered in Tokyo on today's date in 1960. Mayuzumi collaborated on a number of projects with the nationalistic writer, Yukio Mishima, who, to protest what he considered the weakness of contemporary Japanese society, committed ritual suicide in 1970. Mayuzumi's 1976 opera, "Kinkakuji," or "The Golden Pavilion," is based on a novel by Mishima, which, thanks to a New York City Opera production in 1995, became the first Japanese grand opera to be staged in the U.S. Toshiro Mayuzumi died in 1997, at the age of 68.