was a Japanese

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 composer and conductor.

In many Western reference books his name is given as Kósçak Yamada. During his music study in the Imperial German capital of Berlin from 1910-13 he hated the times when people laughed at him because his "normal" transliteration of his first name "Kosaku" sounded like the Italian "cosa" meaning "what" or "thing" + the German "Kuh" meaning "cow"; which resulted in his choosing a somewhat fanciful transliteration of Kósçak Yamada ever since. Yamada was born and died in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

.

After studying at the Tokyo Music School, he left Japan for Germany where he enrolled in the Berlin Hochschule and learnt composition, before going to the USA for two years.

Yamada left about 1600 pieces of music. Especially, songs (Lieder) amount to 700 pieces of music excluding songs for schools, municipalities and companies. They were performed and recorded by many singers which include Kathleen Battle

Kathleen Battle

Kathleen Battle , is an African-American operatic soprano known for her agile and light voice and her silvery, pure tone. Battle initially became known for her work within the concert repertoire through performances with major orchestras during the early and mid 1970s. She made her opera debut in...

, Ernst Haefliger

Ernst Haefliger

Ernst Haefliger was a Swiss tenor.Haefliger was born in Davos, Switzerland and studied at the Zürich Conservatory. He studied with Fernando Capri in Geneva and Julius Patzak in Vienna....

 and Yoshikazu Mera. His opera Kurofune (The Black Ships) is regarded as one of the famous Japanese operas.

As a conductor, Yamada made an effort to introduce many orchestral works to Japan. He was the first performer in Japan of Debussy

Claude Debussy

Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...

's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune

Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune

Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune , commonly known by its English title Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, is a symphonic poem for orchestra by Claude Debussy, approximately 10 minutes in duration...

, Dvořák

Antonín Dvorák

Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...

's Symphony No. 9

Symphony No. 9 (Dvorák)

The Symphony No. 9 in E Minor "From the New World", Op. 95, B. 178 , popularly known as the New World Symphony, was composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1893 during his visit to the United States from 1892 to 1895. It is by far his most popular symphony, and one of the most popular in the modern repertoire...

, Gershwin

George Gershwin

George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...

's An American in Paris

An American in Paris

An American in Paris is a symphonic tone poem by the American composer George Gershwin, written in 1928. Inspired by the time Gershwin had spent in Paris, it evokes the sights and energy of the French capital in the 1920s. It is one of Gershwin's best-known compositions.Gershwin composed the piece...

, Mosolov

Alexander Mosolov

Alexander Vasilyevich MosolovMosolov's name is transliterated variously and inconsistently between sources. Alternative spellings of Alexander include Alexandr, Aleksandr, Aleksander, and Alexandre; variations on Mosolov include Mossolov and Mossolow...

's Iron Foundry

Iron Foundry

Factory: machine-music , Op. 19, commonly referred to as the Iron Foundry, is the most well-known work by Soviet composer Alexander Mosolov and a prime example of Soviet futurist music. It was composed between 1926 and 1927 as the first movement of the ballet suite...

, Sibelius

Jean Sibelius

Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."...

' Finlandia

Finlandia (symphonic poem)

Finlandia, Op. 26 is a symphonic poem by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The first version was written in 1899, and it was revised in 1900...

, Shostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....

's Symphony No. 1

Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich)

The Symphony No. 1 in F minor by Dmitri Shostakovich was written between 1924 and 1925, and first performed in Saint Petersburg by the Leningrad Philharmonic under Nikolai Malko on 12 May 1926...

, Johann Strauss II

Johann Strauss II

Johann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas...

's An der schönen blauen Donau

The Blue Danube

The Blue Danube is the common English title of An der schönen blauen Donau, Op. 314 , a waltz by the Austrian composer Johann Strauss II, composed in 1866...

, and Wagner

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

's Siegfried Idyll

Siegfried Idyll

The Siegfried Idyll by Richard Wagner is a symphonic poem for chamber orchestra, lasting approximately twenty minutes.-Background:Wagner composed the Siegfried Idyll as a birthday present to his second wife, Cosima, after the birth of their son Siegfried in 1869...

.

Major compositions

Opera

• Ayame (1931)
• Kurofune (The Black Ships) (1929-40)
• Hsìang Fei (1946) (four acts, seven scenes with a proemnia)

Other stage works

• Maria Magdalena after the drama of M. Maeterlinck (1916)

Orchestral works

• Overture in D major (1912)
• Symphony in F major "Triumph and Peace" (1912)
• The Dark Gate, symphonic poem (1913)
• Madara No Hana, symphonic poem (1913)
• Sinfonia "Inno Meiji" (1921)
• Nagauta Symphony
  Nagauta Symphony
  The Nagauta Symphony is a symphony in one movement composed in 1934 by Japanese composer Kosaku Yamada.-Description:Kosaku Yamada was the first major Japanese composer to study the European tradition, and the first to write in the symphonic and operatic forms. He was responsible for introducing...
  
   "Tsurukame" for voice, shamisen and orchestra (1934)

Chamber works

• String Quartet No. 1 in F major
• String Quartet No. 2 in G major
• String Quartet No. 3 in C minor
• Hochzeitsklange for piano quintet (1913)
• Chanson triste japonaise for violin and piano (1921)
• Suite japonaise for violin and piano (1924)
• Variations on Kono-michi for flute and piano (1930)

Works for piano

• Variationen (1912)
• The Chimes of the Dawn (1916)
• Les poèmes à Scriabin (1917)
• Karatachi no hana [Karatachi-no-hana] for piano solo (1928)

Choral works

• Die Herbstfeier for mixed chorus and orchestra (1912)

Songs

• Song of AIYAN (1922)
• Lullaby from the Chugoku Area [Chugoku chihō no komoriuta]
• Karatachi no hana [Karatachi-no-hana]
• Pechika
• Kono michi [This Road]
• Akatombo [Red Dragonfly]
• Yuu-in

Recordings

• Yamada Kosak Memorial Album - Quince Blossoms - Columbia BLS-4001 (1966?)
• Recording of Overture in D major, Symphony in F major 'Triumph and Peace', and symphonic poems 'The Dark Gate' and 'Madara No Hana'
• Recording of Nagauta Symphony, "Tsurukame", etc.

See also

• Black Ships
  Black Ships
  The Black Ships was the name given to Western vessels arriving in Japan in the 16th and 19th centuries.In 1543 Portuguese initiated the first contacts, establishing a trade route linking Goa to Nagasaki...