He is referred to as Isaignani for good reason. Time and again he has established that he has no bounds as far as music is concerned and his latest, Symphony No 1, aka Valiant is yet another step in his never-ending quest. It also seems a good time to look at some landmarks the city’s journey into Western Classical Music. Madras aka Chennai is after all one of the few cities that already has a Cycle of Melodies, a Symphony and a Sonata dedicated to it.
Musée Musical is one of India’s oldest music stores, playing a pivotal role in promoting Western classical music in Chennai | Photo Credit: Surya Kumar
He is referred to as Isaignani for good reason. Time and again he has established that he has no bounds as far as music is concerned and his latest, Symphony No 1, aka Valiant is yet another step in his never-ending quest. It also seems a good time to look at some landmarks the city’s journey into Western Classical Music. Madras aka Chennai is after all one of the few cities that already has a Cycle of Melodies, a Symphony and a Sonata dedicated to it.
Early Western Classical Music in Madras
The English may not have focused on the finer aspects of life in their first century of existence here but by the 1730s we find references to western classical music being played and practised. The first organ was installed in the Church of St Mary’s in the Fort as early as in 1687, but it is only in 1794 that we hear of the first concert of sacred music held there, with Michael Topping, he of Madras Observatory fame, and Lady Oakely, wife of the then Governor, being among the participants.
Musee Musicals – 183 Years in Western Classical Music!
From the late 1790s, we read of import of musical instruments – violin, piano, flute, clarinet, etc, and several grumbles about how the Madras weather was hardly conducive for their maintenance. By the 1840s that was solved with the establishment on Mount Road of Wallace Misquith & Co, which in the early 1900s became Musee Musicals and which still functions. At 183 years of age it may well be India’s oldest music emporium, selling music score sheets, instruments and other accessories. It also conducts classes for students sitting for exams of the Trinity College of Music, London, an arrangement that has been in place since 1901. Among those who qualified, and with a medal to boot, was Isaignani himself!
Musee Musicals and the Madras Musical Association
Musee Musicals has yet another record to its credit – it is home to the Madras Musical Association, which established in 1893 may well be India’s oldest surviving collective of western classical music aficionados! MMA began life at the St Andrew’s Kirk and among its many illustrious members who can forget Handel Manuel, conductor extraordinaire who did so much to propagate western classical music in the city? Another long musical connect with the city is Freemasonry. Music was always a part of the rituals and Mozart’s Masonic pieces were heard in Madras in the 18th century itself. Even today, the Freemasons’ Hall, Egmore has many age-old score sheets in its collection.
Western Classical Music Compositions Dedicated to Madras
The city would have musical pieces dedicated to it too. In 1912, the Impressionist composer Maurice Delage, after a meeting with the celebrated Devadasi Coimbatore Thayi, would create his Quatre Poems de Hindous with four verses, dedicated to Lahore, Varanasi, Jaipur and Madras. In 1956, inspired by his attendance at the Music Academy’s annual conference, Dr Henry Cowell would create his Madras Symphony, which he completed in 1958. He presented the original score sheets to the Music Academy and the symphony premiered there in March 1959, performed by the Little Theatre Orchestra, New York.
A year later, Alan Hovhaness, the American composer, after attending the Music Academy’s conference that year, would create the Madras Sonata which he performed with his wife in January 1960 at the Academy.
All this still leaves out the influence western classical music had on the world of cinema. The Anglo-Indian community in particular played a huge role in orchestration of film music – BGMs and song interludes were the main source of western classical music for several generations in the city. And that brings us full circle to maestro Ilayaraja.
This article appeared in The Hindu– https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/ilaiyaraajas-symphony-no-1-and-chennais-journey-in-western-classical-music/article69294059.ece
A video on this topic can be seen here – https://youtu.be/mshMiG06InQ
Very interesting info, all through the write up! Your attention to details in carrying a story is immaculately great. Any writer has some take away from your work.
I, particularly, read with special interest about Musee Musicals.
Please, permit me to share an anecdote from my nostalgy, from the year 1965.
We were having a “social-break-off” as it was called, to commemorate our end of 3 year B.com degree course at A.M.Jain College, Madras. And all the batchmates of B.com (1962-65) have assembled at the Woodlands, then neighbour to S S Vasan’s abode, to celebrate the event with music and skits.
In the music section, my close friend and batchmate, R. Visweswaran – Vichu to me – (nephew of GNB and later the hubby of danseuse Chitra (Visweswaran), was tuning his Guitar in the green room, to render a couple of popular English pops.
The impromptu “drummer” was myself as I always used the desktop or whatever available to “play” and demonstrate my percussion talents (never formally studied this).
One of our classmates, Thulsidas was the son of one of the owners/partners of Musee Musical and he has managed to bring a professional Drum Set from their shop near Shanti Theatre and I was asked to accompany Vichu!
As Vichu first played “Hard Day’s Night” by Beatles, with me accompanying him on the drums from Musee Musicals, only after my first ever tryst with a professional drum set some time ago, in the green room, before we appeared before our classmates.
The crowd of our pranking batchmates was whistling away! Somehow, however, I kept the beats and managed, much to Vichu’s relief and myself, as the sound of handclaps and whistles echoed!