Western Classical Music: Highlighting the Contribution of Goa

Classical music is an art music produced or rooted in the traditions of Western music, including both liturgical and secular music. It focuses primarily on the development of music in the European region.

Major time divisions of western art music (Image Source: Pinterest)

Characteristics of Classical Music

The Classical period falls between the Baroque and the Romantic periods. Classical music has a lighter, clearer texture than Baroque music and is less complex. It is mainly homophonic, using a clear melody line over a subordinate chordal accompaniment.

During this time Vienna was developed as a centre for musical development. Various musicians gathered at Vienna and helped to standardize European music. It was during this time that the orchestra symphony was created. Some of the most notable symphonies, sonatas and string quartets were created by Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven during the Classical Period.

A characteristic of classical music is the complexity of the composed music. Composers have used modulation and variation techniques to weave their masterpieces. The favored instruments during the classical period were instruments found in the orchestra.

Haydn used percussion instruments, wind instruments, and stringed instruments. Wind instruments of the period included flutes, horns, bassoons, and oboes. These were accompanied by the stringed instruments like the piano, the harpsichord, and the organ.

Of these, the piano became the most popular musical instrument of the day. Many of the instruments used in popular music today, were initially used in the classical music period. One example of this is the bagpipes, whose use was first popularized during the Classical period and has found its way into Jazz and Rock songs today.

Goa: Backbone of Western Classical Music in India

Western music came to the Indian subcontinent via Goa through the Portuguese conquest in 1510, which was an interesting period in the development of western classical music, in that the central norms of this tradition became codified from the 1550s onward. In Goan history, roughly 1550 to 1650 when Portuguese sway over Goa was at its zenith, and described by historians as Goa Dourada or Golden Goa. Reading between the lines of history, it appears that the main impetus for music in Goa was the church, for liturgical purposes. The seven pipe organs still extant (although in varying states of disrepair through disuse) are a throwback to this. There are archival references of choral performances in the latter half of the sixteenth century, which certainly impressed the chroniclers of the time.

Kala Academy (Image Source: Pinterest)

The establishment of the Academia de Música in Goa (precursor of today’s Kala Academy) in the 1950s at the initiative of Mastro António Fortunato de Figueiredo (1903-1981) was a positive step for its development to the level of a conservatory of music, a true tertiary centre of excellence in music education driven by experienced pedagogues and musicians.

Goan music uses western styles, notes and musical instruments more significantly than regional Asian variants. The Goa Symphony Orchestra and Goa Philharmonic Choir were founded by Lourdino Barreto.

Every year, Monte Music Festival a three-day concert which comprises of both Indian and Western classical music along with dance performances is held at the spectacularly situated Capela do Monte, high above the old capital of the Estado da India. The modestly proportioned chapel is a first-rate venue, with terrific acoustics, but what is truly unforgettable are the sunset performances in the courtyard – with the magnificent sweep of the river valley as it reaches the sea on one side, and the ancient Mandovi, Goa islands on the other, fading to purple as they yield to the foothills of the Ghats.

Historic new annual events like Rozario and Troop's Dacapo Sammelan, and Maestro Girelli's sprawling Ketevan World Sacred Music Festival have brought western classical music full circle to the magnificent churches of Old Goa is a fitting renaissance, to a glorious tradition.

Also, the endeavour of the National Centre for Performing Arts’ establishing the Symphony Orchestra of India (2006) and the formation of the India National Youth Orchestra (INYO) by Vijay Upadhayay and Sonia Khan (2010) has been instrumental in the development of western classical music in Goa.

References:

· All Music, n.d. All Music. [Online] Available at: https:/www.allmusic.com/blog/post/the-classical-era-3 [Accessed 2018].

· CHATTERJEE, B. C. &. S., 2012. Pedocs. [Online] Available at: http:/www.pedocs.de/volltexte/2014/8753/pdf/Knigge_Musikpaedagogisches_Handeln_2012_Clausen_Chatterjee_Dealing_with.pdf [Accessed 2018].

· cmededu, n.d. classical music education. [Online] Available at: http:/cmed.faculty.ku.edu/private/classical.html [Accessed 2018].

· Dias, L., 2015. Wordpress. [Online] Available at: https:/luisdias.wordpress.com/2015/05/22/whats-the-score-on-western-classical-music-in-goa/ [Accessed 2018].

· Feld, M., n.d. Columbia. [Online] Available at: http:/www.columbia.edu/itc/music/ito/history/ [Accessed 2018].

· The Times of India, 2014. The Times of India. [Online] Available at: https:/timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Need-for-formalized-music-education-in-Goa/articleshow/38223917.cms [Accessed 2018].