Born in Tokyo, Yamada started his music education at
Tokyo Music School in 1904, studying there under German composers and
Heinrich Werkmeister. In 1910, he left Japan for Germany where he enrolled at the
Prussian Academy of Arts and learnt composition under
Max Bruch and
Karl Leopold Wolf before returning to Japan in late 1913. He travelled to the United States in 1918 for two years. During his stay in Manhattan, New York City, he conducted a temporarily organized orchestra composed of members of
New York Philharmonic and
New York Symphony, short before their amalgamation. The beginning of his
Symphony in F major, "Triumph and Peace" (1912) has a
pentatonic theme G-A-D-E which reflects the Japanese national anthem based on
Gagaku. This symphony was the first complete symphony with four movements in Japan. His Sinfonia "Inno Meiji" (1921) includes Japanese instruments such as the , an ancient Japanese double reed wind instrument, and other Asian instruments. Yamada composed about 1,600 pieces of musical works, in which art songs (
Lieder) amount to 700 even excluding songs commissioned by schools, municipalities and companies.
Akatombo (Red Dragonfly) (1927) is perhaps his most famous song. His songs have been performed and recorded by many famous singers such as
Kathleen Battle,
Ernst Haefliger and
Yoshikazu Mera. Yamada's opera
Kurofune (black ships) is regarded as one of the most famous Japanese operas. His work was heard at the music section of the
art competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics. As a conductor, Yamada made an effort to introduce western orchestral works to Japan. He gave the premieres, in Japan, of
Debussy's ''
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune'',
Dvořák's
Symphony No. 9,
Gershwin's
An American in Paris,
Mosolov's
Iron Foundry,
Sibelius'
Finlandia,
Shostakovich's
Symphony No. 1,
Johann Strauss II's
An der schönen blauen Donau, and
Wagner's
Siegfried Idyll.
Jacques Ibert's
Ouverture de fête was dedicated to the Japanese emperor and government for the 2,600th
National Foundation Day in 1940 and premiered under the baton of Yamada. Yamada died at his home in Tokyo of a heart attack on December 29, 1965, and was survived by his wife, Teruko. ==Major compositions==