Konoe Hidemaro

Konoe Hidemaro (1960)

Konoe Hidemaro ( Japanese 近衛 秀 麿 ; born November 18, 1898 in Tokyo ; † September 4, 1973 ibid), out of date: Konoye Hidemaro , was a Japanese conductor of symphonic orchestras who was also successful as a composer of classical music.

Life path

Konoe Hidemaro was the second son of Konoe Atsumaro († 1904), the head of the important noble family of the Konoe . Because of this, he held the rank of count. His older half-brother was the future Prime Minister Fumimaro .

With his wife Yasuko (née Mori) he had four children, daughters Yuri (* 1924) and Mauri (* 1927) and two sons Hidetake (* 1931) and Takeshi '(* 1936). They lived in Tokyo’s Yodobashi-ku (now Shinjuku ) in the 1930s .

After he had attended the aristocratic school ( 学習 院 , gakushūin ), he enrolled in the literary faculty of the Imperial University of Tokyo , which he left without a degree. Privately he studied music theory and composition with Yamada Kōsaku . He went to Germany from 1922-25, where he studied music under George Schumann . He was also an assistant to Erich Kleiber .

After his return he was a co-founder of the "New Symphony Orchestra" ( 新 楽 楽 団 , Shin Kōkyō Gakudan ), today's NHK Symphony Orchestra , whose direction he took over until 1935. In 1930 he went on a European tour and was a guest conductor in Germany several times until 1945.

In 1932 he was given the seat in the manor house ( Kizokuin ), which he was entitled to due to his noble birth . He gave up this mandate after a few years in order to devote himself to music.

Konoe Hidemaro composed several symphonies, an accession cantata (1928). He is mainly known for his orchestral arrangement of the variation work Etenraku (originally for the traditional Japanese court orchestra), based on the transnotation of his brother Naomaro.

Shortly after the end of the war he founded the Toho Symphony Orchestra and the Konoe Institute for Music Research. Later in his life, training young musicians became a matter close to his heart.

In the 1950s he made several appearances as a guest conductor in New York and Philadelphia.

literature

• Short biography: Oscar Thompson: International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians . 1964
• Obituary in: Musical Times . Sep. 1973, p. 934

swell

• Berend Wispelwey (Ed.): Japanese Biographical Archive . Fiche 167, KG Saur, Munich 2007, ISBN 3-598-34014-1

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ramming; Japan Manual; Berlin 1940

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Konoe is the family name, Hidemaro the first name.