Masashi Hamauzu
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person Template:Nihongo is a Japanese composer, pianist, and lyricist. Hamauzu, who was employed at Square Enix from 1996 to 2010, was best known during that time for his work on the Final Fantasy and SaGa video game series. Born into a musical family in Germany, Hamauzu was raised in Japan. He became interested in music while in kindergarten, and took piano lessons from his parents.
Hamauzu was hired by Square as a trainee, and his debut as a solo composer came the following year when he scored Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon. He has collaborated with friend and fellow composer Junya Nakano on several games.
After Nobuo Uematsu left Square Enix in 2004, Hamauzu took over as the leading composer of the company's music team. He was the sole composer for Final Fantasy XIII. He has also become a renowned pianist, arranging for several other composers. His music incorporates various styles, although he often uses classical and ambience in his pieces. In 2010, Hamauzu left Square Enix to start his own studio, MONOMUSIK.
Biography
Early life
Born in Munich, Germany, Hamauzu's mother was a piano teacher and his father, Akimori Hamauzu, an opera singer.<ref name="Biography">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He developed an interest in music while in kindergarten.<ref name="Biography" /> Hamauzu grew up in Germany and started to receive piano and singing lessons from his parents at very young age, and when he was in high school, he composed his first original music piece. After his brother, Hiroshi, was born, the family moved to Osaka. He enrolled in the Tokyo University of the Arts, where he joined a student ensemble as a pianist. Hamauzu met his wife, Matsue Hamauzu (née Fukushi), at the university, and they have two children. Matsue worked alongside Hamauzu on the soundtrack to Final Fantasy VII as a soprano and Sigma Harmonics as a scat singer; she was also a soprano for the score to Final Fantasy VIII & a lead vocalist in Final Fantasy XIII. After graduating from the university, he thought about becoming a classical musician, but he eventually found out that he wanted to work with game music instead.<ref name="Biography" />
Career
A fan of the Final Fantasy games,<ref>Uematsu, Nobuo; Hamauzu, Masashi; Nakano, Junya. Final Fantasy X Original Soundtrack liner notes. DigiCube. August 1, 2001. SQEX-10013. Template:Usurped. Retrieved on December 16, 2008.</ref> Hamauzu decided to apply for a job at Square, where Nobuo Uematsu hired him as a trainee in 1996.<ref name="Biography" /> His debut project was Front Mission: Gun Hazard with Uematsu, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Junya Nakano.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Later the same year, he created four tracks for another multi-composer game, Tobal No. 1.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Working with Nakano on these games, Hamauzu admired his musical style, and they became friends; they have later collaborated on several titles.<ref name="Biography" /> Hamauzu's first solo project came in 1997 with Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon.<ref name="Biography" /> Shortly after the title's release, Hamauzu and Yasuo Sako created Chocobo no Fushigina Dungeon Coi Vanni Gialli, an arranged album containing orchestral tracks from the game's music.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Both the soundtrack and Coi Vanni Gialli were praised. For Final Fantasy VII, Hamauzu was the synthesizer programmer for the rendition of Joseph Haydn's "The Creation", and provided bass vocals in the eight-person chorus for "One-Winged Angel".<ref name="Biography" />
In 1999, Hamauzu was assigned with scoring SaGa Frontier 2.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He spent some time conforming to the music Kenji Ito had established for the series before realizing that he wanted to use his own unique style. The project introduced him to synthesizer programmer Ryo Yamazaki, whom he has worked with on most of his subsequent soundtracks.<ref name="Biography" /> Hamauzu also released Piano Pieces "SF2" ~ Rhapsody on a Theme of SaGa Frontier 2, an arranged album featuring piano pieces of the game's music.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2001, Hamauzu and Nakano were chosen to assist Uematsu in the production of the score for the critically acclaimed Final Fantasy X,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> based on their ability to create music that was different from Uematsu's style.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hamauzu also contributed the Piano Collections arranged album of the game, which he described as his most challenging work, and the track named "feel", an arrangement of "Hymn of the Fayth", from the EP feel/Go dream: Yuna & Tidus.<ref name="Biography" />
In 2002, Hamauzu composed the music for Unlimited Saga, a game that would be received negatively by critics due to a variety of gameplay issues.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After Uematsu’s departure from Square Enix in 2004, he took over as the lead composer of the company’s music team. He incorporates various styles of music in his compositions, though most of the tune he uses classical and ambient tones in his pieces. In 2005, Hamauzu, Nakano, and the duo Wavelink Zeal (Takayuki and Yuki Iwai) scored Musashi: Samurai Legend, the sequel to the 1998 title Brave Fencer Musashi.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hamauzu composed the highly anticipated but critically unsuccessful Final Fantasy VII follow-up, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, in 2006.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Later the same year, he arranged the Sailing to the World Piano Score at the request of Mitsuda.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The album was well received by fans, and helped confirm Hamauzu's position as a leading piano arranger of video game music.<ref name="Biography" />
Hamauzu released a solo album, Vielen Dank, in 2007 after recording it in Munich, Germany. The album includes eleven piano pieces that he composed for personal pleasure after the creation of Piano Pieces "SF2" ~ Rhapsody on a Theme of SaGa Frontier 2 as well as 14 arrangements of his game compositions.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Two tracks from the album were performed at the 2007 Symphonic Game Music Concert in Leipzig.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2008, he composed the soundtrack to Sigma Harmonics,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with synthesizer programming by Mitsuto Suzuki rather than Yamazaki.<ref name="Biography" /> At the 2006 E3 event, a Square Enix press conference revealed that Hamauzu would be returning to the Final Fantasy series, scoring Final Fantasy XIII.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He left Square Enix on January 19, 2010.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He went on to form his own studio, Monomusik, which he described as a personal studio that did not include any other composers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Despite leaving Square Enix, Hamauzu was still hired to score various games by the company, including Final Fantasy XIII-2, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, World of Final Fantasy, and the high definition version of Final Fantasy X. Outside of the Final Fantasy series, Hamauzu also wrote music for games such as Half-Minute Hero: The Second Coming, The Legend of Legacy, and The Alliance Alive in the 2010s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He contributed arrangements to the Across the Worlds ~ Chrono Cross Wayô Piano Collection album alongside Akio Noguchi and Mariam Abounnasr.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Musical style and influences
Hamauzu composes music in a wide variety of styles, often using multiple styles throughout the various pieces of a soundtrack. He mostly creates classical and ambient music, and uses the piano predominantly as an instrument. He frequently uses dissonance to provide an atmospheric effect.<ref name="FFXOST">Template:Cite web</ref> In Unlimited Saga, for example, the style of his compositions mix classical marches, tango music, electronic ambiance, instrumental solos, bossa nova, and jazz.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
He cites animation composers Hiroshi Miyagawa and Ryuichi Sakamoto of Yellow Magic Orchestra and his father as major musical influences.<ref name="Biography" /> During his adolescence, he enjoyed listening to the works of Miyagawa and Sakamoto. While attending university, he developed an appreciation for classical music, especially the compositions of Ravel and Debussy.<ref name="Biography" />
Works
Video games
| Year | Title | Role(s) | Template:Abbr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Front Mission: Gun Hazard | Music with Nobuo Uematsu, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Junya Nakano | <ref name="Biography"/> |
| Tobal No. 1 | Music with several others | <ref name="Biography"/> | |
| 1997 | Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon | Music | <ref name="Biography"/> |
| 1999 | SaGa Frontier 2 | Music | <ref name="Biography"/> |
| 2001 | Final Fantasy X | Music with Nobuo Uematsu and Junya Nakano | <ref name="Biography"/> |
| 2002 | Unlimited Saga | Music | <ref name="Biography"/> |
| 2005 | Musashi: Samurai Legend | Music with Junya Nakano, Takayuki Iwai, and Yuki Iwai | <ref name="Biography"/> |
| 2006 | Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII | Music | <ref name="Biography"/> |
| 2008 | Oolong Tea Story | Music | <ref name="Biography"/> |
| Sigma Harmonics | Music | <ref name="Biography"/> | |
| 2009 | Final Fantasy XIII | Music | <ref name="Biography"/> |
| 2011 | Music GunGun! 2 | Music with several others | <ref name="Biography"/> |
| Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection | Arrangements with Junya Nakano and Kenichiro Fukui | ||
| Half-Minute Hero: The Second Coming | "Final Battle of Revolution" | <ref name="Biography"/> | |
| Final Fantasy XIII-2 | Music with Naoshi Mizuta and Mitsuto Suzuki | <ref name="Biography"/> | |
| 2013 | Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII | Music with Naoshi Mizuta and Mitsuto Suzuki | <ref name="Biography"/> |
| Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster | Arrangements with Junya Nakano, Tsutomu Narita, and Ryo Yamazaki | ||
| 2014 | Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U | ArrangementsTemplate:Efn | |
| Groove Coaster | "Shooting Star" | ||
| 2015 | The Legend of Legacy | Music | |
| Chunithm: Seelisch Tact | "The Ether" | ||
| 2016 | World of Final Fantasy | Music with Shingo Kataoka and Hayata Takeda | |
| 2017 | The Alliance Alive | Music with Ayane Hamauzu | |
| 2019 | Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers | "A Dream in Flight" | |
| 2020 | Final Fantasy VII Remake | Music with Mitsuto Suzuki | <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2022 | Sin Chronicle | "Anne" | <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2023 | Wild Hearts | Music with several others | |
| 2024 | Final Fantasy VII Rebirth | Music with Mitsuto Suzuki | |
| Ember Storia | Music |
Anime
| Year | Title | Role(s) | Template:Abbr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Good Luck Girl! | Music | <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2014 | Paulette's Chair | Music | |
| 2015 | Typhoon Noruda | Music | <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2016 | ClassicaLoid | Music | |
| 2021 | To Your Eternity | "Mediator" | <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
References
Template:Notelist Template:Reflist
External links
- Pages with broken file links
- 1971 births
- 21st-century Japanese composers
- 21st-century Japanese male musicians
- 21st-century Japanese pianists
- Anime composers
- Japanese lyricists
- Japanese male composers
- Japanese male pianists
- Japanese music arrangers
- Living people
- Musicians from Osaka
- Musicians from Munich
- Square Enix people
- Tokyo University of the Arts alumni
- Japanese video game composers