|
An experimental note
 Many a time we have heard musicians referring to the
Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini (SSP). What is this? When was it written? Who wrote it? Why is it so important to musicans and others?
We continue with the series on the SSP trying to answer most of the above questions as well as bringing you some of the interesting information that is contained in the
SSP.
SSP and Chinnaswami Mudaliar
Dr V Raghavan, in his preface to the Tamizh edition of the SSP published by the Music Academy, describes in detail the role played by Chinnaswami Mudaliar in its publication. Chinnaswami Mudaliar himself had described Subbarama Dikshitar as "the direct representative of one of the most scientific of our Beethoven and Mendelssohn families".
Who was Chinnaswami Mudaliar and what was his role in the publication of the
SSP?
A M Chinnaswami Mudaliar was a Roman Catholic. He was a Master of Arts from Madras University and worked as a superintendant of the Madras Secretariat. He was proficient in Western music and had also developed a consuming passion for Carnatic music. He felt that if Carnatic music or Oriental music, as he referred to it, was to "be properly recognised, its best compositions must be reduced to the most popular form of European notation". He thought that by presenting the music in a form that is understood by the musical world, it could be "placed permanently before the eyes of the whole world".
It was a self-appointed task that he took upon himself. He started a periodical called Oriental Music in European Notation, with the words in English, Telugu and Tamizh. The first issue was brought out on December 8, 1893. The periodical also contained, apart from the popular classical compositions in notation, a companion series that expounded the theory and science of south Indian music.
He also devised certain symbols for marking the various gamakas and incorporated them in the European notation that he used. In order to preserve the authenticity of the songs, he wrote out Tyagaraja's compositions from Walajapet Krishnaswamy Bhagavatar, a direct disciple of Tyagaraja. He also used to ask some of the violinists trained in Western notation to play the pieces by sight to make sure they were put down correctly.
When the first issues came out, he was praised by one and all. But the response was meagere. He also did not receive funding from royal patrons and used up most of his own resources in the endeavour. But the most fruitful event out of the publication was his coming into contact with Subbarama Dikshitar.
Powered by Sangeetham.com
|
