Ilaiyaraaja’s Symphony No. 1 and Chennai’s journey in western classical music

Discover the rich history of western classical music in Madras, including Maestro Ilaiyaraaja's latest Symphony No. 1, Valiant.

He is referred to as Isaignani for good reason. Time and again, he has established that he has no bounds as far as music is concerned and his latest, Symphony No. 1, aka Valiant, is yet another step in his never-ending quest. It also seems a good time to look at some landmarks the city’s journey in western classical music. Madras, aka Chennai, is after all one of the few cities that already has a Cycle of Melodies, a Symphony, and a Sonata dedicated to it.

The English may not have focused on the finer aspects of life in their first century of existence here, but by the 1730s we find references to western classical music being played and practised. The first organ was installed in the Church of St Mary’s in the Fort as early as in 1687, but it is only in 1794 that we hear of the first concert of sacred music held there, with Michael Topping, of Madras Observatory fame, and Lady Oakely, wife of the then Governor, being among the participants. From the late 1790s, we read of import of musical instruments — violin, piano, flute, clarinet, etc., — and several grumbles about how the Madras weather was hardly conducive to their maintenance. By the 1840s, that was solved with the establishment on Mount Road of Wallace Misquith & Co, which in the early 1900s became Musée Musical and which still functions. At 183 years of age, it may well be India’s oldest music emporium, selling music score sheets, instruments, and other accessories. It also conducts classes for students sitting for exams of the Trinity College of Music, London, an arrangement that has been in place since 1901.

Among those who qualified, and with a medal to boot, was Isaignani himself! Musée Musical has yet another record to its credit: it is home to the Madras Musical Association, which, established in 1893, may well be India’s oldest surviving collective of western classical music aficionados. MMA began life at the St Andrew’s Kirk and among its many illustrious members, who can forget Handel Manuel, the conductor extraordinaire who did so much to propagate western classical music in the city? Another long musical connect with the city is Freemasonry. Music was always a part of the rituals and Mozart’s Masonic pieces were heard in Madras in the 18th Century itself. Even today, the Freemasons’ Hall, Egmore, has many age-old score sheets in its collection.

The city would have musical pieces dedicated to it too. In 1912, Impressionist composer Maurice Delage, after a meeting with the celebrated Devadasi Coimbatore Thayi, would create his Quatre Poems de Hindous with four verses, dedicated to Lahore, Varanasi, Jaipur, and Madras. In 1956, inspired by his attendance at the Music Academy’s annual conference, Dr. Henry Cowell would create his Madras Symphony, which he completed in 1958. He presented the original score sheets to the Music Academy and the symphony premiered there in March 1959, performed by the Little Theatre Orchestra, New York. A year later, Alan Hovhaness, the American composer, after attending the Music Academy’s conference that year, would create the Madras Sonata which he performed with his wife in January 1960 at the Academy.

All this still leaves out the influence western classical music had on the world of cinema. The Anglo-Indian community in particular played a huge role in orchestration of film music — BGMs and song interludes were the main source of western classical music for several generations in the city. And that brings us full circle to maestro Ilaiyaraaja.

(V. Sriram is a writer and historian.)