I would like to pay a tribute to Mr. Kishore Chatterji, a renowned artist, art critic and a proponent of Western Classical Music (WCM) who passed away in 2011.
My
father Sambhunath Chatterji knew Kishore babu. Kishore Chatterji worked for
Tribeni Tissues in HR where my father also worked as a civil engineer. My
association with Mr.Chatterji started in 1993 when I started reading his booklet
‘Western Classical Music for Children’ published in a newsletter of Tribeni Tissues,
a division of ITC Ltd. I did not harbor any particular liking for WCM at that
time. I was busy with my higher secondary studies. Occasional strains of Mozart
or Beethoven used to enter my ears as my father used to listen to them while
playing cassettes. When I got bedridden for 7 months in 1993 following a bike accident
I got hold of his booklet and seriously started listening to WCM. And what
pleasure I had! His book not only introduced different forms e.g. concerto,
symphony, sonata etc; brief biographies of the composers and anecdotes but also
had a must-listen list of concerto, symphony, sonata etc. This got me hooked
for life to WCM. I recovered from the injury and joined college. Later on I
attended a Western Classical Music appreciation seminar in Max Mueller Bhavan where
I heard him giving a talk along with Adi Gazdar, Bulbul Sircar, Prosanto Dutt.
I started collecting cassettes and making note of WCM in movies and ad jingles.
I believe the power of western classical music had a healing effect because I
recovered quite fast. I relayed this view to him in a letter in 1997 to which
he sent me a warm reply. He replied to my surprise asking me to visit him. I
attach the letter here.
I met
him and he took me to my first WCM concert that I attended in Calcutta School
of Music. He copied from his collection the music of Beethoven, Mozart,
Rossini, Paganini, JC Bach, CPE Bach into at least 12 cassettes for us which I
treasure till date. I used to read his columns The Classical Gas and The Strings
Attached in The Statesman and sometimes used to answer his quizzes. I used to cut those pieces and collect in a
folder but I lost them since I shifted base so many times. I still miss those
articles. I bought one of his Bangla books "Pulu pelo Piano" published by Aajkaal in 2000. I attended many of his programmes on WCM in Max Mueller Bhavan. One notable programme was in 1999 where girls from Shantiniketan sang tagore's songs of death and wherein he presented western composers' idea of death exemplified by music from his vast collection. I attended one of his art show also in Tollygunge Aurobindo Ashram. It was his collage show. I remember his another paiting show on mentally ill persons. He actually visited Institute of Psychiatry in Kolkata and painted their inner thoughts by continuously interacting with them. That was his one of his greatest art works bordering on abstract.
Then I
moved to different places on account of my job and academic pursuit and lost
touch with him. My father informed me of his demise. I bid him adieu. May his
soul rest in peace. He will certainly be missed by Western Classical Music
lovers of Calcutta,
many of whom, like me, got initiated into this genre of music.
