17 Facts About Hisatada Otaka

Hisatada Otaka was a Japanese composer and conductor.

Hisatada Otaka was the conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra from 1942 to 1951.

In 1940, Hisatada Otaka moved back to Japan where he took the role as conductor for the NHK Symphony Orchestra, become a music teacher and compose most of his significant works such as his Symphony and Cello Concerto, however his life came to an abrupt end at the age of 39, leaving an unfinished Flute Concerto rewrite which one of his students, Hikaru Hayashi, would take on and complete.

When Hisatada Otaka died he left behind three children, all of whom play his work regularly particularly the youngest son Tadaaki Hisatada Otaka.

Hisatada Otaka had written one of the first Japanese cello concertos and the first Japanese flute concerto, the latter being played regularly as Hisatada Otaka's most famous work.

Hisatada Otaka was born in Tokyo on 26 September 1911, the youngest of 11 children, he was the 6th son of Jiro Otaka, a Japanese banker, businessman, however Jiro Otaka would die in 1920, when Hisatada Otaka was 9 years old.

Hisatada Otaka studied at the Tokyo Prefectural Fifth Junior High School.

However, this too was short as he moved back to Vienna in 1934 to study composition with Joseph Marx, and conducting with Felix Weingartner, from his 6-year stay in Vienna, Hisatada Otaka would be an active conductor and composer.

In 1937, Hisatada Otaka won a Japanese-European music competition for his first Japanese Suite, he was awarded by Felix Weingartner.

In 1942 Hisatada Otaka became a conductor of the orchestra, alongside Rosenstock, and Kazuo Yamada.

Hisatada Otaka was highly respected as a conductor until his sudden death in 1951, after which, he was succeeded by Kurt Woss.

Besides conducting, Hisatada Otaka composed prolifically, and had taught Hikaru Hayashi, Kan Ishii, and Kikuko Kanai.

On 16 February 1951, Hisatada Otaka died at the age of 39, from what Andrzej Panufnik says was overwork.

Atsutada Hisatada Otaka, the elder son, is a musicologist and a composer.

When Hisatada Otaka died in 1951, the couple's children were still very young, and therefore Misao was left as a widowed mother.

The most popular of Hisatada Otaka's work is his flute concerto, which is played and recorded commonly, and was supported among his peers.

Hisatada Otaka's style reflects much of his teachers in the 1930s, showing Viennese and German styles.