Ilaiyaraja’s Symphony No. 1 and Chennai’s visit to Western classical music

Chennai’s own: Musi Musical is probably the oldest music Emporium in India, selling music score sheets and instruments. , Photo Credit: Surya Kumar

They are called Isaignani for a good cause. From time to time, he has established that he has no limit as far as music is concerned and their latest, symphony number 1, aka valent, is another step in their never ending discovery. It also takes a good time to see some places of the city trip in Western classical music. Madras aka Chennai, one of all cities that already have a cycle of tune, a symphony and a Sonata are dedicated to it.

The English may not have focused on the best aspects of life in the first century of its existence, but by the 1730s we find and practice western classical music. The first organ was established in St. Mary’s church in the fort in early 1687, but it is only in 1794 that we hear about the first concert of sacred music held there, with Michael Topping, with the fame of the Madras Observatory, and Lady Ocli, the then Governor’s wife, participants. Since the late 1790s, we read the imports of musical instruments – violin, piano, flute, shehnai, etc., – and many mumbling of how Madras was rarely suited to their maintenance. By the 1840s, which was resolved with the installation at Mount Road of Walece Missquith & Co., which became Musi music in the early 1900s and who still serves. At the age of 183, it can be India’s oldest music Emporium, selling music score sheet, instrument and other items. This Trinity College of Music also conducts classes for students appearing for the examination of London, a system that has been since 1901.

MMA house

Among those who were worthy, and with a medal to boot, I himself was Isgani! Musée Musical has yet another record for its credit: it is the home of the Madras Musical Association, which could be the oldest living collective of the western classical music of India, well, established in 1893, well. MMA began a life between St. Andrew’s Kirk and many of its magnificent members who could forget the handle manual, conductor extraordinaryness did so much to promote Western classical music in the city? Another tall music with the city is connect freemesonary. The music was always a part of the rituals and the mosaart’s mesonic pieces were heard in Madras in the 18th century. Even today, there are many centuries -old score sheets in the collection of FreeMen Hall, Egmore.

Pieces of music will also be dedicated to the city. In 1912, after a meeting with the famous Devdasi Coimbatore Thai, the impressor composer Maurice Delaz, will create his Quatray poems de Hindos with four verses dedicated to Lahore, Varanasi, Jaipur and Madras. In 1956, inspired by his presence at the annual conference of Sangeet Academy, Dr. Henry Cowell will make his Madras symphony, which he completed in 1958. He presented the original score sheet at the Music Academy and in March 1959, the Symphony’s premiere was performed by Little Theater Orchestra, New York. A year later, American composer, Allen Honhees, after attending the conference of Sangeet Academy that year, will build Madras Sonata, which he performed with his wife at the academy in January 1960.

Impact on cinema

All this still leaves the influence of Western classical music on the world of cinema. The Anglo-Indian community, especially a major role in the orchestration of film music-BGMS and Song Interludes were the main source of Western classical music for several generations in the city. And it brings us the entire cycle to Mastro Ilaiyaraja.

(V. Sriram is a writer and historian.)