Biography
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Born
19 August 1914
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Born In
Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
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Died
15 October 1955 (aged 41)
Fumio Hayasaka (早坂文雄 August 19, 1914 - October 15, 1955) was a Japanese composer of classical music and film scores.
Hayasaka was born in Sendai on the main Japanese island of Honshū. In 1918, Hayasaka and his family moved to Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaidō.
He was a church organist as a young man and wrote his first original composition, Prelude for Two Hymns, in 1936. Other early works include a Nocturne (1936) for piano and the orchestral Ancient Dance (1938).
In 1939, Hayasaka moved to Tokyo to begin a career as film composer. After the Second World War, he began a celebrated (though short-lived) association with the pre-eminent Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. Among the films Hayasaka scored for Kurosawa are Stray Dog (1949), Rashomon (1950) and The Seven Samurai (1954).
During his time in Tokyo, Hayasaka also wrote several notable concert works including Ancient Dances of the Left and on the Right (1941), a Piano Concerto and the orchestral suite Yukara (1955).
Hayasaka served as a musical mentor to both Masaru Satō (佐藤勝) and Tōru Takemitsu (武満徹).
In 1955, Hakasaka died of tuberculosis at the age of 41.
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