髙田　三郎

Takata, Saburo

1913 - 2000

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)”.