Título: Tōru Takemitsu
Seção: Youth
Background: Toru Takemitsu (Wu Man  Che , Takemitsu Toru, October 8, 1930 - February 20, 1996) pronounced [takemitsW to:rW] was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu possessed consummate skill in the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre. He is famed for combining elements of oriental and occidental philosophy to create a sound uniquely his own, and for fusing opposites together such as sound with silence and tradition with innovation. He composed several hundred independent works of music, scored more than ninety films and published twenty books.

Conteúdo: Takemitsu was born in Tokyo on October 8, 1930; a month later his family moved to Dalian in the Chinese province of Liaoning. In 1938 he returned to Japan to attend elementary school, but his education was cut short by military conscription in 1944. Takemitsu described his experience of military service at such a young age, under the Japanese Nationalist government, as "... extremely bitter". Takemitsu first became really conscious of Western classical music during his term of military service, in the form of a popular French Song ("Parlez-moi d'amour") which he listened to with colleagues in secret, played on a gramophone with a makeshift needle fashioned from bamboo.  During the post-war U.S. occupation of Japan, Takemitsu worked for the U.S. Armed Forces, but was ill for a long period. Hospitalised and bed-ridden, he took the opportunity to listen to as much Western music as he could on the U.S. Armed Forces network. While deeply affected by these experiences of Western music, he simultaneously felt a need to distance himself from the traditional music of his native Japan. He explained much later, in a lecture at the New York International Festival of the Arts, that for him Japanese traditional music "always recalled the bitter memories of war".  Despite his almost complete lack of musical training, and taking inspiration from what little Western music he had heard, Takemitsu began to compose in earnest at the age of 16: "... I began [writing] music attracted to music itse

user: Was he interested in music from an early age?

assistant: Takemitsu first became really conscious of Western classical music during his term of military service,

user: How did his acquaintance of western music affect him?

assistant: he simultaneously felt a need to distance himself from the traditional music of his native Japan.

user: What other influence did western music have on him?

assistant: for him Japanese traditional music "always recalled the bitter memories of war".

user: How did he characterize western music?

assistant: he took the opportunity to listen to as much Western music as he could on the U.S. Armed Forces network. While deeply affected by these experiences of Western music,

user: What years was his military service?

assistant: his education was cut short by military conscription in 1944.

user: What did he do after leaving the military?

assistant: During the post-war U.S. occupation of Japan, Takemitsu worked for the U.S. Armed Forces, but was ill for a long period.

user: What sort of illness did he have?

assistant: CANNOTANSWER