Born in Tokyo, he spent his boyhood in Toyama and Oita due to his father's transfer as a government official. He developed an interest in music from an early age, and in 1894, at the youngest age of 16, he entered the Tokyo Music School (now Tokyo University of the Arts). He quickly distinguished himself, studying piano and composition under the German-Russian Kōber and Professor Nobu Kōda, who had returned from studying in Europe. In 1901, he went to study at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Leipzig, Germany, as a student dispatched by the Ministry of Education, but developed pulmonary tuberculosis two months later and returned to Japan a year later. He passed away in 1903 at the young age of 23 while recuperating in Oita. He was the first Japanese composer to create original works, following German classical and romantic traditions, during the early period of Western music's reception in Japan. Many of his masterpieces are in the field of lieder (songs), such as "Hana" (Flower) and "Kōjō no Tsuki" (The Moon Over the Ruined Castle).

Reference: Piano Works MADE IN JAPAN Series, Vol. 1 "Japan's First Piano Piece"

Rentarō Taki: A Pioneer of Western Music in Japan

Rentarō Taki was the first composer in Japan to attempt to write works using Western music theory. He was born in Tokyo on August 24, 1879. His father, Yoshihiro, was a bureaucrat at Naimushō (Ministry of Home Affairs) and his frequent transfers led Rentarō to migrate to Yokohama, Toyama, and Oita during his childhood. Taki played various instruments, including:

• accordion
• harmonica
• violin
• shakuhachi
• reed organ (in higher elementary school)

In Oita, Taki studied music under Yoshio Gotō. After moving to Tokyo, he was tutored by Sakunosuke Koyama, who was famous as the composer of “Natsu ha kinu (Summer has come)”.

Education and Early Career

In 1894, Taki was admitted to Tokyo Higher Normal Music School, which eventually became independent as Tokyo Ongaku Gakkō (Tokyo Academy of Music, now the Faculty of Music at Tokyo University of the Arts) in 1899. He studied piano and composition with:

• R. v. Koeber (from Russia, well-informed about philosophy and music)
• Nobu Kōda (who had just returned from a stay in Europe)
• Sakunosuke Koyama

Taki’s first concert performance at Tokyo Academy of Music was in 1896, where he played J. Rheinberger’s “Ballade”. A description of the concert written by Taki exists, which reads as follows: ‘On December 12 in the year of Meiji 29, I played this piece during a concert at Tokyo Ongaku Gakkō and it was my first public solo performance’. Comparing with the records of concerts in Tokyo Academy of Music, we know that Taki performed the following pieces between 1897 and 1899:

• L. v. Beethoven’s “Egmont Overture”
• R. Schumann’s “Fröhlicher Landmann”
• M. Clementi’s “Sonata”
• J. S. Bach’s “Italian Concerto”

In 1897, the scores of three pieces by Taki were printed in the magazine ‘Omugaku (Music)’:

• “Nippon Danji (Japanese Man)”
• “Haru no Umi (Sea of Spring)”
• “Sampo (Walk)”

From 1898, Taki was enrolled in the graduate course of Tokyo Academy of Music, and in the following year, he began to assist in teaching at the school.

Study Abroad, Illness, and Legacy

In 1901, the Japanese government’s Ministry of Education sent Taki to Germany where he entered the Leipzig Conservatory. He frequently visited Leipzig’s concert halls, such as the Gewandhaus, and lived a life full of music during his stay in Germany. However, two months after entering Leipzig Conservatory, Taki contracted pulmonary tuberculosis and left for Japan in 1902. Taki died at the young age of 23 on June 29, 1903, while recuperating at his home in Oita.

The posthumously published work of Taki is the piano piece “Urami (Grudge)”. This small piece, written in D minor and in six-eight time, modulates to F major in the middle section, but broken chords in D minor stir up strong feelings towards the end.

Notable Works

Taki’s most famous pieces include:

• “Hatopoppo (Pigeon)”
• “Oshōgatsu (New Year)”
• “Kōjō no Tsuki (Moon at a Desolate Castle)”
• “Hakone Hachiri (Hakone 32 Kilometers)”
• “Shiki (Four Seasons)”

“Hato-poppo” and “Oshōgatsu” both consist of poems written by Kume Higashi set to music, and were included as songs in the ‘Yōchien-shōka (Kindergarten Songs)’ published in 1901. “Hakone Hachiri” and “Kōjō no Tsuki” were printed in the ‘Chūgakushōka (Junior High School Songs)’, which was compiled by Tokyo Academy of Music in the same year. As for “Kōjō no Tsuki,” it is known that the score written by Taki did not have any instrumental accompaniment, and Kōsaku Yamada therefore composed this accompaniment later, adding an accidental to one sound of the melody. ‘Hana (Flower)’, whose opening lyrics are ‘Haru no urara no’, is a well-known song loved by many Japanese people today and represents one of the pieces in “Shiki”. In the score of “Shiki” published in 1900, Taki attempted to move beyond the imitation of Western music and to draw people’s attention to an awareness of ‘art song’ created by a Japanese composer.