AKIRAIFUKUBE.ORG

BIOGRAPHY

Part 2

THE BIRTH OF A MUSICIAN

The blossoming Ifukube expanded his interest in music when he found an abandoned violin at a barber shop in Otofuke; he was intrigued by the instrument and began playing with it. Excited by this discovery, Ifukube convinced his parents to buy him his own violin. However, Toshizo was not very fond of music and he did not allow his son to receive formal violin lessons. This left Akira no choice but to teach himself the instrument.

During his self-tuition, Ifukube encountered a recording by the famed Austrian violinist Fritz Kreisler. This recording featured music by Dvorák, Cui and Tchaikovsky. Kreisler's interpretations of this music profoundly moved Ifukube and this led him to personally learn the pieces by ear.

From junior high school, Ifukube studied in Hokkaido's largest city, Sapporo. Here, he became definitively interested in composition upon hearing a radio broadcast of Igor Stravinsky's music from the ballet Petrushka (1911). This was a revelatory experience for Ifukube, making the young student want to become a composer himself. Indeed, Ifukube worshiped the Russian composer, delighting in his unconventional, sometimes "vulgar" orchestration techniques as well as his use of primitive, barbaric rhythms, especially in the ballet The Rite of Spring (1914).

Ifukube also felt a closeness to the music of Spain's most famous composer, Manuel de Falla. De Falla was fascinated by flamenco and other traditional Spanish folk idioms, and made ample use of them in his vibrant compositions. As a result, Ifukube began to think that it might be possible to compose for Western instruments based on Ainu or Japanese ethnic music and their aesthetics.

Igor Stravinsky (left) and Manuel de Falla (right)

However, the mainstream in the Japanese music world during that time was mostly concerned with introducing more "mainstream" European classical music into Japan. For example, two of the "founding fathers" of Japanese orchestral music, Kunihiko Hashimoto (1904-1949) and Hisato Ozawa (1907-1953) generally strove to imitate a "European" sound. Ozawa was heavily influenced by French composers such as Paul Dukas, Albert Roussel and Florent Schmitt while the versatile Hashimoto had an affinity for late-impressionistic music as well as more avant-garde, atonal idioms. For composers such as these, the writing of "Japanese" or ethnically-influenced music for a Western-style orchestra was, more or less, artistically undesirable.

Kunihiko Hashimoto (left) and Hisato Ozawa (right)

Thus, so-called "ethnic" composers were not in high demand which led Ifukube to hesitate on becoming a professional musician. As a result, he studied forestry at Hokkaido Imperial University where he completed a thesis on the acoustics of wood. After his graduation and up until the Second World War, he lived as a forestry officer and researcher in the remote forests of Akkeshi, making musical studies a sideline. During this period, Ifukube, living in a hut, would compose only at night by the light of an oil lamp.

The town of Akkeshi, Hokkaido in the early 20th century

During his student days in the early 1930's, Ifukube's interest in music had become mainly a hobby. Despite this, he remained active in his personal musical studies and had corresponded with several international musicians such as the American pianist George Copeland, Fabien Sevitzky (a Russian conductor active in the U.S.) and the Spanish composer Ernesto Halffter.

Akira Ifukube (far left) performs with the Sapporo Philharmonic String Quartet in 1933
(This was a student ensemble during Ifukube's high school years.)

However, a substantial musical turning-point came when Ifukube befriended fellow musicians Fumio Hayasaka and Atsushi Miura. All three being interested in the newest musical trends of the day, they established the Shin ongaku renmei (New Music League). This group sought to introduce modern western compositions into Japan as well as promote Japanese nationalistic music. Consequently, on September 30 ,1934, the Shin ongaku renmei held the Festival de musique contemporaine, a large-scale contemporary music festival in Sapporo where Ifukube and his colleagues performed various chamber works of Stravinsky, Ravel, Milhaud, De Falla, Ferroud, Nin, Gruenberg, Satie, Casella and Schulhoff . (Years later, Hayasaka composed for several Akira Kurosawa films and became a mentor to Toru Takemitsu. Miura became a music critic who played a key role in introducing Anglo-American music to Japan.)

Fumio Hayasaka

Promotional flyer for Festival de musiqe contemporaine in Sapporo (1934)

Despite these activities, what particularly determined Ifukube's reputation as a composer was the Tcherepnin Award in 1936. This award was promoted by Alexander Tcherepnin, a noted Russian composer, to invite contributions of orchestral works from Japanese composers. At this competition which was held in Paris, Ifukube submitted his Japanese Rhapsody and, competing against many professional composers (including Yoritsune Matsudaira), unanimously took the first prize. (Matsudaira took the second prize for his Pastoral.)

Subsequently, Tcherepnin visited Japan later in 1936 and taught composition to Ifukube for a short period at the luxurious New Grand Hotel in Yokohama's famous Bluff district.

New Grand Hotel in Yokohama, circa 1930

Akira Ifukube (center) with Alexander Tcherepnin (holding hat) in 1936

Akira Ifukube (far left) sits with his mother (4th from left) and Louise and Alexander Tcherepnin in 1936

Although Ifukube had garnered some international fame as a composer due to the Tcherepnin Award, he returned to the isolated life as a forestry officer in the mountains of Akkeshi. During this time Ifukube discovered a previously unknown type of cherry tree (Prunus sargentii f. Ifkubei). The discovery was first officially recognized by Hokkaido Imperial University.

The year 1940 marked another musical turning-point for Ifukube. By chance, he heard Concertino for Piano and Orchestra by Jean Françaix broadcast on the radio and thought "The world is advancing rapidly. If I continue a life in the mountains, it is unlikely that I will progress as a musician." That year Ifukube decided to return Sapporo. Upon returning to Hokkaido's capital city, Ifukube gained employment at his alma mater, Hokkaido Imperial University. There, Ifukube worked as a scientist at the university's Department of Experimental Agriculture.

Ifukube remained a "sunday composer" and began writting several ballets during this time. On July 7,1940, Ifukube personally conducted the premiere public performance of his first ballet, Etenraku. This performance was held in Tokyo to commemorate the 2600th anniversary of the founding of Japan. One of the dancers in the ballet was a young woman by the name of Aiko Yûzaki who was a student of the the famed Japanese dancer Takaya Eguchi. Ifukube and Yûzaki eventually fell in love and, in 1941, the two were married.

Aiko Ifukube

Aiko and Akira Ifukube in the early 1940's

Their marriage lasted 59 years until Ai's death in 2000 at the age of 82. During their marriage, the Ifukubes had three children, two daughters and a son.

Please use your browser's BACK button to return to the Biography main page

Copyright 2008 Erik Homenick. All rights reserved.