As record collectors, it is our obligation to preserve musical history for
ourselves and future generations. Unfortunately, that dedication often doubles
our workload, because we sometimes must start piecing history together nearly a
century after the fact! The recordings and biography of Japanese operatic
coloratura soprano Sekiya Toshiko (1904-1941, photographed above) are no
different.
Toshiko was one of the most outstanding Asian singers of the early 20th Century. She was
born in Tokyo at Tsubaki Goten, Camellia Palace. She
came from a notable, upper-class family lineage; her uncle was Kabuki actor
Ichimura Uzaemon XV (1874-1945) and her maternal grandfather was Charles
Le Gendre (1830-1899), American Foreign Policy Advisor to Japan. Her father, Yunosuke Toshiko, was also Secretary of the Yusenkaisha Mail Boat Company, Japan's largest international mail courier service at the time.
As a child, she showed interest in world languages and
music. She recalled in a 1932 newspaper story that Yunosuke used to encourage
her sing at his workplace parties and social functions starting at age eight, sometimes in front of as many as 300 people! Most notably, in 1912, she
was selected to sing in front of the Empress Consort Shoken (1849-1914), who attended
the third grade Ochanomizu University Elementary School graduation ceremony,
where Toshiko attended classes. Shortly thereafter, her parents enrolled her in
music lessons with noted Japanese soprano Tamaki Miura (1884-1946) and composer
Komatsu Kosuke (1884-1966).
Her "big break" came in 1925, when Italian aviator
Francesco de Pinedo (1890-1933) landed and stayed in Japan during his transcontinental flight journey. He heard her in a performance of Madame Butterfly, and he was so impressed by her knowledge
of Italian that he paid for her to provide interpretive services during
his stay. He was a major professional reference for her operatic career in Italy,
which began in 1927 at the Teatro Reggio Emilia and culminated in 1929 at the prestigious Teatro alla Scala. As
previously mentioned, she could speak and write Italian and Japanese fluently,
but also knew Spanish and French, which allowed her to perform at the Barcelona
Olympic Theatre and in professional productions by the University of Bologna.
Talk of her astounding career caught the attention
of Japanese Victor Records (JVC), which contracted her in 1927. She recorded for the label until circa 1933 when she switched to Columbia Records,
continuing to record for them shortly before her death. She was an expert in providing
singable translations of classical vocal works into Japanese, which helped
increase Japanese listeners' understanding and meaning of Western classical
music in the pre-Internet age. Two of her self-composed songs, the solemn "Hotaru koi" and the difficult "Noibara", were released on Victor and included in this collection (YouTube samples of both can be heard below).
In February of 1928, she was awarded the Leonardo da Vinci
Medal of Fine Arts. In May of that same year, she was also awarded a Special
Diploma by the Royal Philharmonic Academy of Bologna, becoming the first
Japanese citizen to do so. Further, she received an honorary degree from the
Conservatory of Livorno, awarded to her by none other than Pietro Mascagni
(1862-1945)! She was friends with such notable composers of the day as
Richard Strauss (1864-1949), who also gave her an extraordinary eulogy. She
starred in a talkie film in 1930 entitled Komoriuta,
but regrettably it has become lost.
She toured the US starting in 1932 at the Metropolitan Opera
to great acclaim, and sang alongside such legendary singers as Amelita
Galli-Curci (1882-1963). She married Yagyu Goro, a martial arts instructor, in
1937 but divorced him in early 1941 due to him having an extramarital affair.
Later that same year, soviet spy Richard Sorge (1895-1944) and his Japanese
accomplice Hotsumi Izaki (1901-1944) were arrested and convicted of espionage.
Toshiko, who was rumored to be Sorge's mistress and distraught over her own divorce,
committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills. Her suicide note, written on
the back of the sheet music for "Noibara", read "Even if [I am not yet] 38, I, Sekiya Toshiko, am as scattered as fragrant cherry blossoms and I
realize that I cannot exist forever. With sincerity, I will keep [my
family's] honor safe for eternity, year after year, for a million years. The
world will know how, in this, I demonstrated the purity of my heart,
thoughtfully done to protect the dignity of the arts of greater Japan."
She was rarely mentioned by the end of WWII, and I cannot
find any reference to her after 1951, when Japanese-Canadian mezzo-soprano Aiko
Saita (1909-1954) wrote in a newspaper article about meeting Toshiko during a performance in the early 1930s.
This is probably the best compilation of Toshiko's recordings
available to date. While it does not have her recordings on Columbia (which are
not nearly as enjoyable as her Victor recordings due to her voice beginning to
falter), it does have most of her recordings for JVC - including with the La
Scala Theatre Orchestra and the Victor Salon Orchestra, compiled from 12 records. If anyone reading this
has a copy of a Toshiko recording on JVC not included in this compilation, please let
me know so I may update this post accordingly!
Check out these clips from YouTube to hear her for yourself!
The songs in this compilation are as follows:
1. "¡Ay, Ay, Ay!"
2. "Four-Leaf Clover"
3. "Itako dejima"
4. "Tre giorni son che Nina"
5. "Gounod's Serenade"
6. "Hab 'ich nur Deine Liebe"
7. "Hotaru koi"
8. "Noibara"
9. "Schubert's Serenade"
10. "Tosti's Serenade"
11. "Song of Solveig"
12. "O sole mio"
13. "Barcarolle"
14. "Clavelitos"
15. "Edo komoriuta"
16. "Estrellita"
17. "An Indian Lullaby"
18. "La Paloma"
19. "La Spagnuola"
20. "Lo! Hear the Gentle Lark"
21. "Maria Mari"
22. "Onatsu Kyoran"
23. "Sansa shigure"
24. "Wiegenlied"
Unknown artist's rendering of Sekiya Toshiko on a circa 1930 JVC catalog advertisement
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