ON StageJune 2017

volume 6 • issue 11

BAND BAJA A platform for fusion music UTKARSH Lecture-demonstrations on dance at the NCPA

MIRACLES IN STONE

A new documentary focuses on Michelangelo

Cover Final.indd 1 15/05/17 3:46 PM

Contents14

08Reflections By Anil Dharker

10Roof of the WorldMichelangelo’s most defining works – the statue of David, the Sistine Chapel and the Pietà – are among the most beautiful artworks in the world. The latest documentary to be screened at the NCPA, as a part

of the Exhibition On Screen series, explores his genius and tempestuous life. By Bhargav Prasad

14A Crossover DialogueWhen musical geniuses with rich experiences have collided, groundbreaking works have resulted. The NCPA’s upcoming Band Baja series for the youth is a step in that direction. By Aratrika Saha

NCPA ChairmanKhushroo N. Suntook

Executive Director & Council MemberDeepak Bajaj

Editorial DirectorRadhakrishnan Nair

Editor-in-Chief

Oishani Mitra

Consulting EditorEkta Mohta

Editorial Co-ordinatorHilda Darukhanawalla

Art DirectorAmit Naik

Deputy Art DirectorsHemali Limbachiya

Tanvi Shah

Graphic DesignerVidhi Doshi

AdvertisingAnita Maria Pancras

(advertising@ncpamumbai.com; 66223820) Tulsi Bavishi

(tulsi@mansworldindia.com; 9833116584)

Senior Digital ManagerJayesh V. Salvi

Production ManagerMangesh Salvi

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Features

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26

18Come One, Come AllThe Symphony Orchestra of India’s resident conductor, Evgeny Bushkov, is going to reinvent the concert experience to make Western classical music an exciting, accessible and welcoming experience for new listeners. By Beverly Pereira

22A Discourse on DanceThe beginning of a lecture-demonstration series on dance promises to find the intersection between performance, pedagogy and passion. By Samira Bose

26Kings of StringsNamed after the legendary Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály, the Kodály String Quartet celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016, and is set

to perform at the NCPA this month

32Jazz At The MoviesIn his latest concert, flautist Rajeev Raja brings jazz to film music, hopefully transforming the way we view jazz forever. By Shivani Bhasin

36Acharya Johann Sebastian Bach George Ruckert draws a comparison between Bach’s music and Indian ragas

39Programme GuideAll of June’s events at the NCPA

50What’s NextWhat to look forward to in the coming months

We look forward to your feedback and suggestions. Please do drop us an email at onstage@ncpamumbai.com.

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34 • June 2016 NCPA

The Sistine Chapel

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ROOF OF THE WORLDMichelangelo’s most defining works – the statue of David, the Sistine

Chapel and the Pietà – are among the most beautiful artworks in the world. The latest documentary to be screened at the NCPA,

as a part of the Exhibition On Screen series, explores his genius and tempestuous life. By Bhargav Prasad

34 • June 2016 NCPANCPA June 2016 • 27

In 1505, when the Renaissance

master Michelangelo was

30 years old, he had been

commissioned by Pope Julius

II to sculpt the pope’s tomb

– it was to include 40 statues, and

it was to be finished in five years.

Michelangelo worked on the tomb

for over 40 years, and he still hadn’t

managed to complete it to his

satisfaction. This was due to constant

interruptions and distractions in the

form of art rivalries and other projects

that he had to take up in between. The

most notable of these distractions

came in the form of resentment, when

Italian architect Bramante Lazzari,

who loathed Michelangelo, managed

to convince the pope to commission

Michelangelo with work in a medium

he was unfamiliar with, in order to

see him fail the task. Thus, Pope

Julius II commissioned Michelangelo

to paint the ceiling of the Sistine

Chapel with the 12 apostles, as a

consolation to make up for the fact

that Michelangelo was never properly

paid for his earlier project. Instead,

‘Il Divino’ (The Divine One) painted

12 figures – seven prophets and five

sibyls (female prophets of myth) –

around the border of the ceiling and

filled the central space with scenes

from the Genesis.

It is because of works like the Sistine

Chapel that to this day, art historians

debate and disagree over who they

think is the real Renaissance man.

There were a lot of prolific artists at

the time, but the discourse often boils

down to two men – Leonardo da Vinci

and Michelangelo.

Florence is MichelangeloMichelangelo Buonarroti was born in

Caprese, Italy, on 6th March, 1475. His

family moved to Florence after his

birth, and this would truly be the city

that Michelangelo would consider

home until his death. Michelangelo

was six when his mother died. He

took an interest in arts as a way of

coping – Florence was then a vibrant

arts centre owing to the existence

of many other great Renaissance

masters in the city. But his father

did not approve of Michelangelo’s

interest in arts as a career. Soon

enough, his father learned that he

had no inclination towards education

or business, and that it would be

futile to force him in that direction.

So, at the age of 13, his father helped

Michelangelo apprentice with painter

Domenico Ghirlandaio, who was

particularly known for his murals. A

year later, Michelangelo’s talent drew

the attention of Florence’s leading

citizen and art patron, Lorenzo de’

Medici, who enjoyed the intellectual

stimulation of being surrounded

by the city’s most literate, poetic

and talented men. He extended an

invitation to Michelangelo to reside

in a room in his palatial home.

Michelangelo was deeply influenced

by Medici’s intellectual circle as he

continued to learn from scholars

and writers. Historians also note

that the philosophies, politics and

ideologies in his later work would

be forever informed by what he

cultivated in those years. While

staying in the Medici home, he also

refined his technique under the

tutelage of Bertoldo di Giovanni,

keeper of Medici’s collection of

ancient Roman sculptures and a

noted sculptor himself. Although

Michelangelo expressed his

genius in many mediums, he

would always consider himself a

sculptor first.

Son in her armsIn 1498, history would be made that

would dumbfound the world of art.

French cardinal Jean Bilhères de

Lagraulas, envoy of King Charles

VIII to the pope, who was visiting

Florence, commissioned the then

23-year-old sculptor to create a

substantial statue depicting a draped

Virgin Mary with her dead son resting

in her arms – a pietà – to grace his

own future tomb. Michelangelo

didn’t just gratify his employer – he

sculpted a 69-inch-tall masterpiece

that left his contemporaries in

shock owing to its intricate details.

Five hundred years after its

completion, it continues to draw

legions of visitors.

Michelangelo was commissioned

again in 1501 to create another

masterpiece – one that he is the most

famous for – the energetic, powerful,

heroic and spiritual David from the

Old Testament. He was contracted

by the city to create a huge male

figure to enhance the city’s famous

cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.

The sculpture, which stands at a

staggering 17 feet, is considered

by scholars to be nearly technically

perfect and still remains in Florence

at the Galleria dell’Accademia.

Then came the iconic ceiling of

the Sistine Chapel in 1508. The

work of art is a cornerstone of High

Renaissance art. The ceiling’s various

painted elements form part of a

larger scheme of decoration within

the chapel, which includes the large

fresco ‘The Last Judgment’ on the

sanctuary wall, also by Michelangelo;

wall paintings by several leading

painters of the late 15th century

including Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and

Perugino; and a set of large tapestries

by contemporary artist, Raphael –

the whole illustrating much of the

doctrine of the Catholic Church.

One over the otherMichelangelo continued to sculpt

and paint until his death, but as his

life progressed, he channelled his

energy into sculpting more than

painting. Between 1520 and 1527, he

worked on the interiors of the Medici

Chapel in Florence. This included

wall designs, windows and cornices

that were unusual in their design as

well as proportions and introduced

startling variations on classical forms.

Another iconic piece of architecture

and art that he designed came in the

later years of his life – the dome of St.

Peter’s Basilica in Rome. However, the

structure was completed only after

his death.

His later years also introduced

another feather to his already filled

cap in the form of poetry. From

the 1530s onwards, Michelangelo

wrote poems, which incorporated

the philosophy of Neo-Platonism

– ideas that had been the subject

of intense discussion while he was

an adolescent living in Medici’s

household. Michelangelo’s life came

to an end at the age of 89, a life

expectancy anomaly in that era.

His life’s work enriched the print

and drawing rooms of Europe and

the great chapels and museums

of Italy, giving the world several

masterpieces to gaze over.

Michelangelo – Love and Death will

be screened on 22nd and 23rd June

at Godrej Dance Theatre.

Although Michelangelo expressed his

genius in many mediums, he would always

consider himself a sculptor first

David Bickerstaff filming The Rothschild Bronzes

for the documentary

A closer look at the Sistine Chapel

The Pietà

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Johann Sebastian Bach was a contemporary of Niyamat Khan (Sadarang), the great dhrupadiya of the court of Muhammad Shah Rangila. Sadarang is said to have performed in the dhrupad style, but taught many disciples in the khayal style, and after his passing, the khayal was looked upon as the ascendant form, and the dhrupad declined. The latter, with its symphonic emphasis on raga, tala, text and composition, all in a devotional context, can be compared with the style of Bach. His is also devotional, vocal (although

Bach was a master of instrumental music as well), mathematical and soberly polyphonic. Perhaps one could say that is a more serious style than the music that followed it, just as it is said that the khayal is less serious than the dhrupad. In the light of the titans of the khayal and later giants of Western music that followed, perhaps this judgement is a bit superficial. Nevertheless, musicians of both traditions still look back in reverence at the music of this era. The styles of Bach and Sadarang reached a culmination in the 18th century and then declined, and yet both are very much alive in the training of modern classical musicians.

With this profusion of similarities between the music of Bach and classical Indian styles, it would seem that musicians of one perspective would have little difficulty appreciating the style of the other. But sangeetkars have said there are difficulties in hearing and understanding the complexity of Bach’s music. It is my opinion, too, that many of the same difficulties are usually voiced by people in the West who are not familiar with Bach, and even by the composer’s own sons, so the difference may not be just one of East and West.

MODELS OF HAR MON YBach basically had a linear concept of music. That is, he conceived of melodies extending over time in a similar way as has been developed in India for thousands of years. The Western practice of writing melodies together was already 600 years old when Bach came along. This style is called polyphony (many voices), and the art of combining these melodies is called counterpoint. These words can be used to describe Indian music as well, of course, in that a raga is rendered with drone accompaniment, sometimes shadowed by veena-sarangi-harmonium-violin, with the spontaneous counterpoint of the

Acharya Johann Sebastian BachON Stage brings brings you excerpts from the NCPA Quarterly Journal, an unsurpassed literary archive that ran from 1972 to 1988 and featured authoritative and wide-ranging articles. In the second part of a two-part series, George Ruckert draws a comparison between Bach’s music and Indian ragas

ARCHIVES

20 • June 2017 NCPA

percussion instruments. But, in the Western sense of the word, polyphony means that the melodies of two or more voices are pre-composed and intended to be played or sung simultaneously. Can these melodies still be heard as individual lines in the complexity of the resulting crowded texture? It is a complicated question, one that has both positive and negative answers. If one line is emphasised, and the others are stated in a background role, then the theme can be easily recognised, and this is indeed the most frequent of Bach’s compositional techniques. Since many voices (often four or more) are composed together, one voice will have the theme for a short time, then it is taken up by another, then a third, and so on. This is called imitative polyphony, and the fugue is the most important form of it. When not actually stating the theme itself, the other voices form a harmonic background upon which the leading voice is heard. In the rich and varied fullness of this blending of voices, Bach’s creations are still held to be models of harmony.

Of course, harmony is also found in Indian classical music, and there are many ragas that invoke the features of what is called tonal harmony. The concept of samvad, the consonance of the fifth (and fourth), comes to mind at once, for tonal harmony is thoroughly involved with the relationships of fifths. Furthermore, ragas frequently have notes in sequence that outline the harmonic chords of Western music. So while Indian music can be said to have both harmony and counterpoint, Western music has developed it differently, and this can be overwhelming to the ear not used to it.

THE WELL-TEMPER ED CLAVIER By the time of Bach, Western music had developed a system of changing that which grew out of the murchhanas formed on each step of the scale. In Bach’s lifetime, it expanded to include each step of the chromatic scale as well. Music came to be written in all 12 keys, and modulations within a composition became common. In fact, Bach himself wrote a grand series of compositions in each of the 12 major and minor scales, which he entitled The Well-Tempered

Clavier, the clavier being a forerunner of the piano.

This evolution marks a significant departure of Bach from raga music. In order to transfer the tonic (Sa) to any other of the 12 degrees of the scale, it is necessary that the intervals between the notes be uniform. The distance between Sa and Re, Re and Ga, Pa and Dha, etc., must be identical. They are not so in the Indian systems in which the microtonal shadings of pitch (shrutis) in the ragas play such an important role. This even, or tempered, tuning is the source of endless discussion among Indian classical musicians who accept or reject the tempered harmonium as a result. It is also true, though, that just as a soloist in a raga can intone the pure notes while the harmonium creates a quiet textured background of tempered ones, so a soloist in Bach’s music can also add expressive tonal shadings against a tempered orchestra, provided that his instrument can accommodate such subtleties.

Nevertheless, tempered tuning and changing tonics create a different

ambience in Western music, which is disconcerting to ears used to the drone of a tanpura and hungering for the emotional expression of shruti. When Bach took his striking theme from the Art of the Fugue, and turned it upside down, or compressed and augmented it, or changed its rhythm, everyone understood the composer. When he introduced it from a new tonic, and thus changed the notes of the raga in order to keep the pitch relationships of the theme intact, he departed from the traditional Indian pattern of composition. And when he buried the theme in four other voices all playing different notes at the same time, he created a fabric in which it was

no longer easy to discern the leading voice.

The Art of the Fugue is a complex piece, and not one of the composer’s most accessible works. It requires much listening in order to be appreciated, and even then it would probably still appeal largely to musicians. In the same way we do not hear Anjani Todi or Shivmat Bhairav at music conferences, for their exposition is usually reserved for musicians and connoisseurs. But if we are led through the maze of the composition by an expert, we can come to appreciate the words of Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the great Bach scholar of the last century, who made this comment about the work: “We do not know which to wonder at most – that all these combinations could be devised by one mind, or that, in spite of the ingenuity of it all, the parts always flow along as naturally and freely as if the way were not prescribed for them by this or that purely musical necessity.”

A LESS ORNATE STYLEWith Bach’s death there passed a glorious

era in music. Even his own sons composed in a new style, which was simpler, less polyphonic, and not so ornate. It was not until the next century that he was rediscovered and his genius recognised. True, certain composers, among them Mozart, Beethoven and Mendelssohn, were familiar with Bach’s work and studied and used his techniques. But Bach’s own style, like the dhrupad, became a part of the past. He is considered to be the culmination and the most

sublime of the polyphonic composers. The main features of his work, including the cosmology and social background, the devotional attitude, the linear style, the moods and the compositional procedures, have direct parallels in Indian classical music. Perhaps Bach was the last Western composer to have shared such an abundance of common principles with the Indian heritage. Johann Sebastian Bach was certainly a devotee of nada, a true sangeetkar, and definitely in a class by himself.

This article first appeared in the NCPA Quarterly Journal in June 1985 (Vol. XIV, No. 2).

NCPA June 2017 • 13

Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach conceived of melodies extending

over time in a similar way as has been developed in

India for thousands of years sh

utt

erst

ock

Bach was the last Western composer to have shared such

an abundance of common principles with the Indian heritage. He was certainly a devotee of nada, a true

sangeetkar, and definitely in a class by himself

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