Dear Lutists,
I know I have been bothering many of you with my premature findings
which were hard to consume and did not convince everone.
I thank everyone who considered the possibility that I could be onto
something.
Now forget everything I posted. This was only lab work compared to this.
Here's the Real McCoy, which will totally surprise you.
It's the Sonata Sopra Sancta Maria by Claudio Montverdi, from his Vespro
della Beata Vergine.
Here's my text to the track:
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I think I now know what happened - nothing less than the Birth of
Baroque Music from India's spirit.
Everything about the Sonata sopra Sancta Maria seems Indian now, except
the polyphony - that's European.
Indian Music has hidden harmonies though, and it was Monteverdi's genius
to augment the Raga in 3D, adapting both the rhythm of the tonal (!)
tabla drums and the "thorough bass" of Raga Alhaiya Bilawal - indeed the
new style of the 1600s is driven by the bass line. There are whole opera
"scores" consisting only of bass line and chant, yet one was able to
extract the whole music for performance from that - even today this
wisdom has not been lost.
It only makes sense that the Sonata is "sopra Sancta Maria ora pro
nobis" - Indian Ragamala paintings depict Raga Bilawal as a woman with a
mirror, anxiously waiting for her lover - fitting the cahtolic
eroticised Cult of the Virgin Mary.
Note how all Indian ornaments are of the same type as Monteverdi's.
Also, listen to how the rhythm is actually employed and how it's adapted
in certain instrumental passages.
Finally, the recurring tune "Sancta Maria Ora Pro Nobis" is used with
different note lenghts and different emphasis, just like an Indian
"Pakad", which is the recurring ritornello theme of a Raga varied over
different rhythm patterns.
In this light, the "Birth of Baroque Music from the Spirit of India" is
probably not an overstatement.
This warrants a book... I'll try to at least finish my article soon,
this and the Ciacona will now be the main focus, as it can be most
easily shown how these are related to Ragas, even without transcribing a
30 min complex performance by ear alone.
Stay tuned!
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Here's the mix:
https://soundcloud.com/tristan-von-neumann/claudio-monteverdi-sonata-sopra-sancta-maria-raga-alhaiya-bilawal-kishori-amonkar
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Happy Easter and other Holidays!
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