UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE THE ACCEPTANCE OF WESTERN PIANO MUSIC IN JAPAN AND THE CAREER OF TAKAHIRO SONODA A DOCUMENT SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS By MARI IIDA Norman, Oklahoma 2009 © Copyright by MARI IIDA 2009 All Rights Reserved. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My document has benefitted considerably from the expertise and assistance of many individuals in Japan. I am grateful for this opportunity to thank Mrs. Haruko Sonoda for requesting that I write on Takahiro Sonoda and for generously providing me with historical and invaluable information on Sonoda from the time of the document’s inception. I must acknowledge my gratitude to following musicians and professors, who willingly told of their memories of Mr. Takahiro Sonoda, including pianists Atsuko Jinzai, Ikuko Endo, Yukiko Higami, Rika Miyatani, Y ōsuke Niin ō, Violinist Teiko Maehashi, Conductor Heiichiro Ōyama, Professors Jun Ozawa (Bunkyo Gakuin University), Sh ūji Tanaka (Kobe Women’s College). I would like to express my gratitude to Teruhisa Murakami (Chief Concert Engineer of Yamaha), Takashi Sakurai (Recording Engineer, Tone Meister), Fumiko Kond ō (Editor, Shunju-sha) and Atsushi Ōnuki (Kajimoto Music Management), who offered their expertise to facilitate my understanding of the world of piano concerts, recordings, and publications. Thanks are also due to Mineko Ejiri, Masako Ōhashi for supplying precious details on Sonoda’s teaching. A special debt of gratitude is owed to Naoko Kato in Tokyo for her friendship, encouragement, and constant aid from the beginning of my student life in Oklahoma. I must express my deepest thanks to Dr. Cherie Hughes, who read the manuscript and patiently helped clarify details, and went through every word with the care. Without her valuable suggestions this document would not appear. I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. Edward Gates, my academic advisor, for his careful reading of my document and for his invaluable suggestions concerning both scholarly and editorial matters. Acknowledgements are due to the following libraries: the Vassar College Libraries in Poughkeepsie, NY, St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music Library and the National Diet Library in Tokyo. Especially, I owe thanks to the staff of National Diet Library, who made it possible for me to gain access to original music magazines in the archive and allowed me to copy these originals. iv Finally, I should like to express my gratitude to my parents, the late Shigeko Mizuhara, who planted in me the love of music, and Dr. Shunji Mizuhara, an emeritus professor of Biochemistry at the Okayama University, who taught me the love of processing details meticulously. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... ix ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................. x INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 Background.................................................................................................. 1 Purpose and Need for the Study .................................................................. 3 Procedures ................................................................................................... 3 Design of the Study ..................................................................................... 5 Limitations ................................................................................................... 6 Review of Selected Literature ..................................................................... 7 PART ONE THE PERIOD OF ACCEPTANCE (1853-1928) Chapter I. FIRST WESTERN MUSIC AND NATIONAL SECLUSION ....................... 20 Western Music in the Japanese History (1549-1852) ................................ 20 The End of Tokugawa Shogunate and Opening the Country to the World ................................................................................................... 24 II. MEIJI RESTORATION AND MUSIC EDUCATION ................................... 28 Three Small Girls in the Iwakura Mission (1871) ..................................... 28 Sh ūji Isawa and Luther W. Mason ............................................................. 36 III. FOUNDATION OF YAMAHA PIANO ......................................................... 49 Torakusu Yamaba and the Organ ............................................................... 49 The First National Piano ............................................................................ 53 IV. ACCEPTANCE OF WESTERN MUSIC ....................................................... 57 O-yatoi Gaikokujin .................................................................................... 57 Shigeko Nagai and Piano Edication .......................................................... 59 Nobu K ōda and Franz Eckert .................................................................... 66 Rokumeikan ............................................................................................... 67 vi Musical Environment (1880-1900) ........................................................... 73 Educational System at the Tokyo Music School in the early 1900s .......... 79 Hisako Kuno .............................................................................................. 81 Audience in Meiji (1867-1912) and Taish ō Eras (1912-25) ...................... 84 The Tragedy of Hisako Kuno .................................................................... 87 PART TWO THE PERIOD OF CHALLENGE (1928-2004) Chapter Page V. TAKAHIRO SONODA: HIS BACKGROUND ............................................. 95 The Early Years to His Father’s Death (1928-35) ..................................... 95 Leo Sirota (1885-1965): His Career up to 1928 ...................................... 102 Sonoda, Sirota and the Golden Age of the Japanese Musical World ...... 115 VI. MUSICIANS DURING WARTIME ............................................................. 126 Politrical Isolation and Musical Globalization ....................................... 126 The First Globalization by New Media................................................... 126 Musical Globalization by European Musicians ....................................... 130 Before the Second World War (1931-41) ................................................ 136 Active Japanese Pianists .......................................................................... 141 Military Regulation of the Music World ................................................. 143 The Music World during the War (1941-45) ........................................... 145 After the War ........................................................................................... 151 VII. SONODA: CONCERT DEBUT AND STUDY ABROAD .......................... 153 The Tokyo Music School after the War ................................................... 153 Sonoda’s Graduation ............................................................................... 154 The Music Concert Organization by Workers ......................................... 157 Sonoda’s Official Debut .......................................................................... 158 Sonoda’s Reputation as a Pianist ............................................................. 160 To Europe ................................................................................................ 163 Sonoda’s Baptism in the Music in Europe .............................................. 164 Encounter with Marguerite Long ............................................................ 166 Concerts in Paris ...................................................................................... 170 The Long-Thibaud International Music Competition ............................. 172 vii Return to Japan ........................................................................................ 173 VIII. SONODA: EUROPEAN CONCERT TOUR (1957-68) .............................. 176 Berlin ....................................................................................................... 176 Paris Debut .............................................................................................. 181 Sonoda’s Piano Concerto Repertoire ....................................................... 184 Concert Tour to Italy ................................................................................ 186 Success in Berlin ..................................................................................... 188 Reunion with Sirota in America .............................................................. 189 Sergiu Celibidache ................................................................................... 191 Settlement in Baden-Baden ..................................................................... 193 IX. SONODA: ACTIVITIES IN JAPAN (1968-93) ........................................... 196 Professor for the Kyoto City University of Arts (1968-82) ..................... 196 Sonoda the Musician ............................................................................... 202 Sonoda the Judge ....................................................................................