Remembering Rabindranath Tagore Volume - High Commission of ...

The Musical Journey of
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)
Reba Som
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was born at the interface of several cultures. In 1858
India came under the British crown. Western cultural ideas, which had already made
an appearance, now received renewed vigour. However in India’s palimpsest history each
cultural encounter, whether Muslim or British, left behind an indelible layer over an ancient
Hindu civilisation. The new age or nabayuga in which Tagore was born, manifested itself in
curious ways on the cultural environment of his family.
Perhaps one of the most interesting manifestations of this cultural interface was in the
musical scene. Rabindranath’s grandfather Dwarkanath, was a music aficionado trained in
classical Indian music. He also had sufficient proficiency in Italian and French music to
have impressed the noted Indologist Max Muller who commented on his “good voice” and
presentation when they met in Paris in 1846. 1
Dwarkanath’s son, Debendranath (1817-1905) also had considerable interest in Hindustani
classical music while being trained at home on the piano by English musicians. 2 His
conversion to the Brahmo faith, a reformist challenge to the conservative Hindu religion,
introduced the element of music into prayer congregations for which songs had to be
specially written. He invited indigenous musicians trained in the traditional dhrupad style
of music to take up residence in his ancestral home in Jorasanko.
From his childhood Rabindranath was exposed to all these musical influences. Recalling his
early years Tagore was to write how each day and hour, melody would pour unmitigated like
waterfall on a music-mad family. Rabindranath flatly refused to undertake formal musical
training just as he refused to continue with formal schooling beyond class five. Quietly
standing outside the closed doors of the rooms of his elder brothers as they practised
music, the young Rabindranth soaked in the strains of melody as they touched him in
spurts. On his first visit to England in 1878 Rabindranath was exposed to opera music
as well as Irish and Scottish songs which impressed him greatly. On his return to India he
launched forth into music composition taking in elements from these western influences
and blending them with indigenous Indian music traditions from rural Bengal sung by
wandering minstrels called bauls and also combining elements from the various musical
compositions from the far flung regions of India which he came to know through his
travels.
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