Jan 24 2023 to Jan 24 2023 6:30 p.m.

EVENT HAS ENDED

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

This presentation illuminates a fascinating chapter in the encounter between European and Indian music, one that unfolded at a small south Indian royal court in the early nineteenth century. The Maratha royal court of Tanjore (aka Thanjavur), at the kingdom’s eponymous capital, is well known as the foundational centre of the south Indian classical traditions now known as Karnatic music and Bharata Natyam dance. Among the new developments at the time was the advent of European music, along with British colonial rule. In Tanjore, even as key compositional forms such as the kriti were developed, Karnatic music also absorbed European musical styles and European instruments such as the violin and the clarinet. Serfoji II, the polymathic king who ruled the vastly reduced Tanjore principality under British supervision from 1798 to 1832, played a key role in these innovations. The Indian performing arts reached new heights of creative excellence at the Tanjore court. At Serfoji’s court, European music blossomed in conversation with the Indian arts. Serfoji was the first Indian ruler to develop a full-fledged European wind band. He cultivated a wide range of European music, including classical chamber works for instruments and voice, and experimented with ensemble performances involving European and Indian instruments. Ultimately, the story of Serfoji’s, and south India’s, engagement with European music is a tale of dialogues among violins, veenas and harps, and of tunes and genres that travelled across national and cultural boundaries. This is the third of three masterclasses presented by Dr. Indira Viswanathan Peterson.