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.
Interesting read. WCM sure has a balmy effect.
ReplyDeleteThanks Nivedita. Many scientific studies have been conducted on healing effect of music. Western classical music indeed calms the mind.
ReplyDeleteInterested about last part of your account. Considering myself as a mere novice to WCM could you please elaborate on "western composers' idea of death exemplified by music "....some reference will also do..
ReplyDeleteHello TT, my answer to your query. Actually Mozart was very afraid of death. He died quite young and during his last days he was commissioned by a Count in Vienna to write a Requiem which he did with a dark assumption that the messenger of the Count is a harbinger of his death which was near. Listen to Mozart's Requiem ...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE2muDZksP4
DeleteThen Beethoven courted death when he was turning deaf. Music was everything to him and how frustrating it must have been for him to discover at the prime of his musical career that he is losing the sense of hearing. A musician turning deaf is like a surgeon who cannot hold a scalpel because his hands tremor or like an orator who cannot speak ! Beethoven thought of suicide and wrote a will which is famously known as Heligenstadt testament ...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heiligenstadt_Testament ...he actually changed his mind after a visit to a countryside and celebrated by writing the Sixth symphony which I believe is his best. A movie on Beethvoen called Immortal Beloved ...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJGESRc3XfY may help you.
Then Gluck's opera Orpheus Euricye speaks of death. This opera is based on a Greek mythological story where Orpheus laments his lover's demise and go to hell and heaven in search for her. Listen to this....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFEWK2cBxnQ
Rossini, Bach and Handel also wrote several mass to be performed during burial ceremony in church.
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ReplyDeletePlease let me know the publisher of the book Pulu pelo piano. I enquired at Aajkaal. But they replied it was not their publication. Will you please tell me from where I can buy the book?
DeleteHello My copy is in Kolkata residence. However I am in Mumbai. You can try in College Street.
DeleteGive me a week. I will get back to you.
ReplyDeleteIts wonderfully written..I am really impressed with the story of Mozart you accounted here....It looks like most of people of rare and gifted qualities die premature...
ReplyDeleteAnyway my reading about Requiem appears to be Kirtans used to be popular in early days during funeral service...Is it correct?? The general theme of Requiem looks like praising God for his mercy on the deceased soul.
Yes... Masses are sort of Keertans....I remember Mr Chatterjee telling me once that Opera is like Jatra pala of Bengal where the actors speak and sing and dance .....I was amused by his comparison because our Jatras were considered operatic by one of connoisseurs of WCM in India !
DeleteI pray you please write about the difference between Tagore's philosophy and reading about death and death portrayed in WCM...if you have some time...Tagore whose philosophy about death was so multifaceted and even some time it appeared to me quite contradicting. Some times he went ahead and celebrated death..while some time it had made him pensive and nostalgic. I remember the famous excerpts from Bhanusingher padaboli
ReplyDeleteThanks.Writing on Tagore's idea of death and western classical is difficult but I shall try.... I do remember one fact from Rabindranath's autobiography Jibonsmriti....he compared the structure of Western classical with hindustani classical in one chapter.....he wrote that western classical performance is very organized unlike our stage performances where the musicians actually practice before starting...in western classical they come prepared.....i dont have the copy right now...I could have quoted him...
DeleteBiswa Prasun - Thank you so much for writing such a personal tribute to Kishore da. I found it while searching for him on the web.
ReplyDeleteI am listening to Brahms' Hungarian Dances this evening, and was suddenly reminded of Kishore da, who gave me my first classical cassette tape in 1980. It was Brahms' Academic Festival Overture. I think he had brought it back from England with him. Soon as he heard that I loved Brahms, he brought it out of the shelves (at his study in that Ballygunge Place flat) and gave it to me without any hesitation. I still have that cassette after 38 years and at least seven residences and three continents later (although it does not play any longer)!
Like yourself, I got to know him through family connections. Other than his Tagore connections, he was a nephew of sculptor Meera Mukherjee, who was like my aunt as well.
Kishore da introduced me to another amazing mentor of young folks in cultivating WCM in Calcutta - Anil Gupta. Later I found out that Anil Gupta was in fact a classmate of my father and a close friend. It is said that Anil Gupta introduced Satyajit Ray to WCM as well (another classmate of his from Ballygunge Govt. High School).
Anyhow, Kishore da also took me to my first Calcutta Symphony Orchestra performance of Haydn's Symphony #104, conducted by Jogen Khan. Another time at the end of a piano recital at the Loreto House auditorium, he introduced me to the pianist Adi Gazdar. Kishore da was such a mentor! He occupies a stellar place in my memories of Calcutta.
Do write to me sometime if you see this message. Once again, I am so glad you wrote a tribute to this great artist.
Saumitra SenGupta - saumitra@4cornerseval.com
Hi
DeleteI sent you an email, please see. It was nice to read your comment on Kishore Chatterji.
You know for so many years I have been reading this blog of yours and its great to see even in year 2019 people are remembering this immensely talented man and appreciating his good work. He left so much for the younger generation and I feel there are perhaps very few people who had such vast knowledge of western classical music like him. I was fortunate to have him as a close relative and my memories of him are the pictures he left for me. He had captured some of my moments of childhood on his canvas and gave them to me when I grew up. Those pictures still remind me of him, of his gift to me.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. You and I are lucky to have known a multitalented man....I got into a new liking of western classical because of him....I am forever thankful to him
ReplyDeleteCame across this post while searching for Kishore Chatterjee. Kishoreda was my first boss in 1969. My best wishes to everyone in his family—Vish
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment...he had a great deal of influence on me...
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