The Music of Hindostan c3: Preface
The Music of Hindostan c3
- Language
- English
Preface
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HINDOSTAN is, technically, the Indus and Ganges basins; and it is with the music of that part of India that this book primarily deals. It contains reference also to the system of the Carnatic, though that has been more fully treated of in C. R. Day's *Music of Southern India and the Deccan*.
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The study of Indian music is of interest to all who care for song, and of special interest to those who have studied the early stages of song in mediaeval Europe or ancient Greece. For here is the living language of which in those we have only dead examples. It is hardly possible in the case of modern European Folk-song to study melody pure and simple, for we have no large body of such song of which we can certainly say that it was not influenced at all by the current conception of harmony. But here is melody absolutely untouched by harmony, which has developed through many centuries tendencies which have the force of laws; and the examination of these enables us to some extent to separate the respective contributions of melody and harmony to the final effect in our own music. Those to whom this aspect of the subject appeals are recommended after glancing at Chapters I and II to look at Chapters VI, VII, VIII, and XII.
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Others may be more interested in that technical side of the art which tabulates the facts of song, and their taste has been consulted in Chapters IV and V; others, again, to whom the main charm of the music lies in the memories of India which it revives, may find more of what they would care to read in the Introduction and the first three chapters.
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In the hope of being useful to those who may wish to make further investigation into the subject a large number of technical terms has been admitted into the text. These have almost always been translated where they occur, and they appear also in the Index. It would, however, take more than one volume to do justice to all the details, and they have not as a rule been elaborated except to illustrate some principle.
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Two branches of the music have been left untouched—the instruments and the notation. About the latter there is very little to say except that it is a Tonic Sol-fa notation of which the various local scripts and special signs are easily mastered. The typical instruments have been admirably described and illustrated by Day; the more interesting part, the technique, can, of course, be communicated only orally, with the instrument in hand. But India is now, instrumentally, at the same stage as mediaeval Europe, with a great variety of means of supporting the voice but absolutely no sense of orchestration; and though a close study of its instruments would probably reveal more than one ancestor of those which our orchestra employs, it would hardly throw much light on any principle of art, and has therefore been omitted. Exception has, however, been made in favour of the drum, the treatment of which is possibly unique.
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The India Society have done this book the honour of purchasing copies for distribution to their members for the year 1913. If Indian readers should open it and should be surprised to find the facts given differently from the way to which they are accustomed, they are asked to remember that as there is no one system which is applicable to the whole country, so the circumstance that one set of facts is quoted rather than another need not vitiate the argument; and it is hoped that they will look with a lenient eye upon many solecisms in spelling which are due to sheer ignorance.
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The author offers his sincere thanks to many who have helped him in all sorts of ways to gather materials for this book. It would be impossible to make a complete list of them, and he hesitates to give an imperfect list. He hopes that the dozens of English men and women who offered so much hospitality and so many facilities in the winters of 1904 and 1910, the ruling princes and their court officials who arranged opportunities, the private gentlemen who organized concerts and
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who were ready to discuss their music technically or generally, the numerous musicians who answered with patience and courtesy many questions or who played and sang for many hours, down to his various ‘bearers’ who knew what he was going to wear before he knew what he was going to do, who caught his trains before he had decided by which one to go, who produced food and transport under the most unlikely and a smiling face under all circumstances, will believe that he has not forgotten their kindness; and that some of his benefactors may even find in these pages enough to make them think it was not wholly wasted.
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It would be sanguine to hope that the book could be free from errors both of fact and of proportion. To sift discrepant statements and to get the main features into the proper perspective would have demanded a longer sojourn than twelve months. If it is comparatively free from minor blemishes this is due to the kindness of several who have read the proofs—to Dr. Coomaraswamy for Chapters I and II, also for several illustrations; to Mr. Abdy Williams for Chapter VIII; to Mr. Walter Ford and Mr. E. D. Rendall for some musical illustrations and suggestions; to Dr. A. A. Macdonell, Dr. L. D. Barnett, Mr. F. W. Thomas, Dr. Felber of Vienna, and Dr. Simon of Munich for Chapter X; and to the readers of the Clarendon Press for their very careful supervision of the whole. Grateful acknowledgement is also made to Mr. William Rothenstein for the loan of the copyright of his portrait of Rabindranath Tagore (see p. 92). It was decided to include this portrait before the poet’s name was known to Europe; and now, although the need of making it known no longer exists, the portrait is still retained as the frontispiece. The appearance there of one who, more than any other, may be said to personify Indian music in its broadest sense, may serve to remind us of what is surely the truth, that music does not reside in those designs and devices which can be imprisoned in symbols and committed to paper, but that it comes and goes only upon the lips or the fingers of men who are able to feel it or to create it.