Saburō Moroi came from a family of industrialists, the Chichibu Cement Company LTD., which was later headed by his brother Kanichi Moroi. He initially studied music at the University of Tokyo with piano lessons from Willy Barda and Leonid Kochanski .
In 1930, with fellow Japanese composers fascinated by modern Western art music, Moroi founded the Surya Group, dedicated to the performance of works by contemporary composers. To this organization later came young writers known mainly to students of modern Japanese art history; Tetsutaro Kawakami , Hideo Kobayashi , Chuya Nakahara , Tatsuji Miyoshi, Hidemi Kon , Shohei Ooka and Nakajima Kenzo. From 1932 to 1934, Moroi was able to travel to study composition at the Musikhochschule in Berlin with Leo Schrattenholz, Max Trapp and Walther Gmeindl. Upon his return to Japan, Moroi’s monumental 2nd Symphony, composed during World War II clearly shows the influence of large scale late-romantic German music, such as Bruckner, Mahler and Richard Strauss and yet is also endowed with a clear-cut Japanese aesthetic and a sense of tragedy. The piece, though rarely played, remains his masterpiece.
After the war, Saburō Moroi played a major role in Japanese music education. From 1965 to 1976 he was also director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra as well as head of the music department of the University of Kawasaki. He composed five Symphonies, a Sinfonietta, Concertos for piano and cello, chamber music and art songs. His music is colorfully orchestrated and often graced with bold dramatic gestures. Some of his works also show the influence of jazz.
