Snipped from http://www.ensemble-modern.com/english/kritiken/archiv/s_indian.htm Indian music entered Europe as a phantom: In 1799 William Jones published his treatise "The Music of Hindostan". Around 1800, this book was widely read: the German translation appeared in 1801 and was dedicated to the great composer Joseph Haydn. Vienna, then the musical capital of Europe, seems to have been buzzing with discussions on the yet literally "unheard-of" Indian Music. Ludwig van Beethoven notes: "Have read the Book on the Music of the Indians. Extremely interesting philosophically, but of no practical consequence to my work." Of all colonial personnel musicians were the least prone to travel. Especially, if they were famous composers who had enough work and fame at home. So - even if Jones' book introduced the musical community of the West to the theories of Indian music - throughout the entire 19th century no European composer of consequence ever had the opportunity to actually listen to this much-talked about Indian music. This deficit was badly felt: for throughout the 19th century India was all the rage in Central Europe. The countries that had lost the colonial battle for India (France) or had never entered into it (Germany, Austria) opened themselves to non-combatant values of the subcontinent: Every important German writer in the first half of the 19th century let his audience know that he had studied Indian philosophy and the great epics. Kalidasas plays, especially "Shakuntala" were translated, performed and feted as equals of Shakespeare in France and the German world. India's real musical influence on the West finally took shape in the years before World War I. In the first years of the 20th century, two young French composers independently visited India: Albert Roussel and Maurice Delage. Both visits seemed accidental: Roussel stopped over for a few weeks as a naval officer on duty, Delage accompanied his parents on an inspection trip - they owned a shoe factory in South India. But India's music changed their compositional careers forever: [snip] =========== ----- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India