An Afternoon of Music and Literature: Please Join!

/ Life of a Pianist, Music History, Nikkan San "The Way of the Pianist", Reading, Upcomings / By /

This is the English translation of my Japanese article for Nikkan San, a part of my bi-weekly column, “The Way of the Pianist” to be published on April 30th, 2023.

In 1889, 100 years before I moved to the States to start my studies at Juilliard, the very first Japanese musician to study abroad left the port of Yokohama. Her name was Nobu Koda (1870-1946). She studied violin, piano, and composition at the conservatories in Boston and Vienna, before returning back to Japan in 1895. Japan had just won the Sino-Japanese War, and welcomed Nobu back with open arms as the symbol of the new era. She started teaching at the Tokyo University of the Arts, and nurtured the first international musicians from Japan, such as the soprano Tamaki Miura singing Cio-cio-san all over the world, and Kosaku Yamada, composer.

Nobu, right before her sailing off to the States, age 19.

Last week, I performed her second violin sonata (1897). Compared to the very classical first Sonata, written during her studies in Vienna, her second sonata is more romantic with its emotive melodies. It inspired my thoughts to think about her life and background.

Sonata No. 2 by Nobu Koda with Dallas Noble, violin. From 18 min 45 sec in this video, but queued up here.

Nobu, voted as one of the top sixteen notable women in a newspaper survey during her studies abroad, started being taunted by the media and her colleagues around the time she became the second highest earning woman in Japan in 1909. Eventually, she saw no other choice but to resign from her post. This could have buried her to obscurity, especially because she remained unmarried throughout her life. However, her brother was one of the top three most highly respected writer of the time, Rohan Koda (1867~1947). And Rohan’s daughter Aya (1904~1990), Aya’s daughter Tama (1929~) and Tama’s daughter Nao (1963~) all became award-winning authors. Each of them wrote her personal accounts of the family history, including many mentions of Nobu.

On Saturday May 6th, at the Little Tokyo Library Branch in Downtown Los Angeles, I will be giving a presentation on works by the various members of the Koda family as a way to reconsider the very beginning of Westernization in Japan. It will be a part of their AAPI Heritage Month celebration! Please come and join me!