SELECTED REPORTS

IN
ETHNOMUSICOLOGY
VOLUME VIII

ISSUES IN ORGANOLOGY

VOLUME EDITOR/GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Sue Carole DeVale

MANAGING EDITOR

Eran Fraenkel

GRAPHICS CONSULTANTS

Wanda Bryant
Donn Allen Carter

ETHNOMUSICOLOGY PUBLICATIONS
DEPARTMENT OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY AND SYSTEMATIC MUSICOLOGY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, Los ANGELES

1990

CONTENTS

vii

PREFACE

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Sue Carole DeVale

ORGANIZING ORGANOLOGY

CLASSIFICATORY ORGANOLOGY
Michael B. Bakan
Wanda Bryant
Guangming Li
David Martinelli
Kathryn Vaughn

DEMYSTIFYING AND CLASSIFYING ELECTRONIC MUSIC

INSTRUMENTS

37

THE CLASSIFICATORy/ANALYTIC FLOW

Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy

Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy

Ola Kai Ledang

Steven Cornelius

THE BEGINNINGS OF ORGANOLOGY AND

ETHNOMUSICOLOGY IN THE WEST: V. MAHILLON,
A. ELLIS, AND S. M. T AGORE

67

AN EXPLICATION OF THE SACHS-HORNBOSTEL

INSTRUMENT CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM

81

MAGIC, MEANS, AND MEANING: AN INSIDER'S

VIEW OF BARK FLUTES IN NORWAY

105

ENCAPSULATING POWER: MEANING AND TAXONOMY

OF THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF SANTERIA IN NEW
YORK CITY

125

Victor Fuks
Dale Olsen

WAIA.PI MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: CLASSIFICATION,

SYMBOLS AND MEANING

143

THE ETHNOMUSICOLOGY OF ARCHAEOLOGY: A MODEL FOR

THE MUSICAL! CULTURAL STUDY OF ANCIENT MATERIAL
175
CULTURE

ANAL YTIC ORGANOLOGY

David Harnish

Ter Ellingson

THE PRERET OF THE LOMBOK BALINESE:

TRANSFORMATION AND CONTINUITY WITHIN
A SACRED TRADITION

201

N ASA :DY A:, NEWAR GOD OF MUSIC

221

THE ANAL YTIC/ ApPLIED FLOW

Ernest Brown

SOMETHING FROM NOTHING AND MORE FROM

SOMETHING: THE MAKING AND PLAYING OF MUSIC
INSTRUMENTS IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN CULTURES

CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS VOLUME

275

295

VOLUME 8

SELECTED REPORTS IN ETHNOMUSICOLOGY

1990

THE BEGINNINGS OF ORGANOLOGY AND

ETHNOMUSICOLOGY IN THE WEST:

V. MAHILLON, A.

ELLIS AND

S.

M. T AGORE

N azir Ali Jairazbhoy

The 1880s saw two major achievements in the field of ethnomusicology,

Victor Mahillon's Catalogue descriptij et analytique du Musee instrumental du
Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles (1880), in which the now commonly accepted four-category classification of musical instruments was first
introduced in the West, and Alexander Ellis' article "On the Musical Scales of
Various Nations" (1885), in which the "cent" system for measuring intervals first
appeared. In fact, these were not entirely independent events and one of the major catalytic agents was the Indian Raja, Sourindro Mohun Tagore. This article
examines Tagore's contributions to organology and the study of non-Western
music in the West.

VICTOR MAHILLON

Victor Mahillon (1841-1924) was one of four sons of Charles Mahillon, a manufacturer of wind instruments in Brussels, Belgium. Like his brothers, he was
involved in his father 's business, but his aptitudes led him to a study of the
acoustics of musical instruments. In 1869 he began publishing a periodical.. l' Echo
Musical,! which soon became a leading force in musicology. Mahillon contributed many articles in this periodical and established for himself a reputation as a
leading scholar of music and acoustics.
In 1876, Mahillon's work found a definite direction. The museum of musical
instruments of the Royal Academy of Belgium received a collection of 98 Indian
musical instruments as a gift from Raja Sourindro Mohun Tagore. Such a large
1.
v. C. Mahillon and Charles Bosselet Jr., editors, Brussels, 1869-97. Originally a monthly publication, later
bi-monthly.

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collection of strange-looking instruments must have been confounding for the

curator, F.-A. Gevaert, and his regular staff, so Mahillon, a recognized authority
on instruments, was asked to advise on their disposition and to prepare a descriptive catalog of the instIuments in the collection. The first edition of this catalog, not available to this writer, produced in 1880,2 was superseded by the second
edition in 1893. In the first Preface, Victor Mahillon (Catalogue, p .x) writes: 3
In order to appreciate the richness of our collections, SO that the exhibition is useful
for music education, it was important to put at the disposition of the visitor a guide
which would make understood the method of d istribution of the sound mechanisms,
facilitate research among these specimens which are so diverse in form and
construction and finally, which would provide a serious aid to the study of the
history and organology of instruments, through several didactic essays.

<M ahillon undoubtedly absorbed himself in the research necessary for the
production of this catalog. Here again, Raja S. M. Tagore served as a source of
inspiration in the development of Mahillon's ideas. In addition to the gift of
musical instruments, Tagore also gave the Royal Academy a collection of books
and manuscripts on Indian music in English, Bengali, and Sanskrit. The list of
these books with brief comments by Gevaert was published in the April 14, 1877
issue of I'Echo Musical. Since the periodical is difficult to access and both the list
as well as Gevaert's comments will be of considerable interest to scholars, it is
translated here in its entirety:
1. Hindu Music from various Quthors,4 part 1, vol. in-12. Aside from several
dissertations already known in Europe of Captain Willard, Sir William Jones, W.
Ouseley, Paterson, Stafford, etc., this volume contains others signed by unknown
autho rs: Francis Gladwin, Colonel P.-T. French, Lt. Col. A-James Tod, A. Campbell,
and Crawfurd [sicl. There is also an English translation of a Persian work concerning
the organization of music in the court of a Grand Mogul in the 17th century.

2. Sangita-Sar-Sangrahas (lit. Musicae Essentiae Collectio), Calcutta, 1875.

Judging from the title and table of contents, this is a compilation of ancient musical
treatises, published and edited by the learned rajah. The work is divided into 6
parts: the first deals with sounds (nada-adhyayas); the second, modes (ragaadhyayas); the third, the combinations of sounds and rhythms (p rabandha-

2. The Preface to this 1880 edition (referred to as Pre{Qu de JQ premiere edition ) is included in the 1893
edition of V. C. Mahillon's CQtalogue dtscriptif et Qnalytique du Mu ste instru mental du Conservatoire royal
de Musique de Bruxelles, deuxieme edition (Cand: Librairic generale de A.D. Hoste, editcur). F.-A Cevaert, in
Nouveau TraiU d'lnst ru mentation (I'Emoine & Fils, editeurs), Paris-Bruxelles, 1885, f.n. p.3, indicates,
however, that the Catalogue was published annually in 1878, 1879, 1880 and 1881.
3 . All translations from the French in this article were prepared by Dr. Amy Catlin. I would also like to
acknowledge the assistance of Bret Werb in carrying out some of the research for this article.
4.

This work has been republished in the Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series, Vol. XLIX, Varanasi, 1965.

JAIRAZBHOY

BEGINNINGS OF ORGANOLOGY

adhyayas);S the fourth, in st rumen ts (vadya -adhyayas); the fifth, meter (talaadh yayas); and the sixth, dance (nrtya-adhyayas) .

3. JEkatann (that is, eka-tana, a word which correspond s exactly to the Latin
aequiton us), or "the Indian concert." In quarto. This volume contains a summary of
the musical theory of India, followed by a short descripti on of instruments
employed in the indigenous orchestra. It concludes with 17 Raginis, instrumental
pieces, in Hindu notation.
4. Six Principal Ragas, with a brief view of Hindu music. Six famous melodies,
preceded by a concise English insight into the Brahman music of India . Calcutta,
1875. In quarto. The introduction of 46 pages, placed at the head of the volume, is a
summary of Hindu theory, more substantial and more lucid than aJl tha t which has
appeared on the same subject previously.

5. Hindu music, reprint of a polemic article which appeared on September 7, 1874

in the Hin doo Patriot. In octavo. A comparison between the indigenous art and that
of the Europeans, in which the author attempts to bring out the qualities of the
music of his country. It is very interesting to see a man familiar with European
languages and literatures sincerely penetrate the idea of the musical superiority of
his compatriots over the Occident, and particularly, the English.

Yantra khettra dipika (lit., Guide to Playing Instruments). Sita r method,

instrument with five strings, analogous to our mandolin, and which is played with
a type of plectrum. This volume contains 94 pieces, etudes in Hindu notation.

6.

7. Mrdunga manjuri. Calcutta, 1875. In octavo. Treatise or method for instruction in

mrdunga, the most ancient percussion instrument, and the most popular among those
of the peninsula this side of the Ganges.

8. Hannonium surra. Calcutta, 1874. Hannonium method. It is surprising to find

here a volume dedicated to an essentially European instrument, but the music
which it contains, with a few exceptions, nevertheless has a highly Asiatic stamp.

Yantra kosha (or, Organarum Thesaurus). Calcutta. 1875. In octavo. Treatise on

musical instruments, not only from India, but of all those which are in use among the
many ancient and modem peoples.

9.

10. Victoria-gitika Calcutta, 1875. Vol. in octavo. Collection of 118 Sanskrit songs,
related to the principal facts in England's history from the Norman conquest to our
times. The poetry, as well as the music, is by the Rajah Tagore, as is the ensuing
volume. The Hindu notation is accompanied by a transcription in European notation.

11. 50 Sanskrit songs (quatrains and couplets) in honor of the Prince of Gaul. 1875. In
octavo.

12. English Verses, Set to Hindu Music. In Honor of His Royal High ness the Prince

of Wales (54 pieces). Calcutta, 1875. In octavo. This volume is preceded by an

S.

Not a very aurate translation. Prabandha (lit. Uta bind") adliiiya is the chapter on compositions.

69

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1990

elementary treatise on notation. Nothing could be more bizarre than the joining of a
European language to a music w hich is completely foreign to our aesthetic taste.

13. Jtftiya sangita (national music?). Dissertation on the popular music of Bengal,
with notation of six songs of the country.

Raja Tagore also sent 47 books and manuscripts to the Fourth International
Congress of Orientalists held in Florence in 1879, which are listed in l 'Echo
Musical, 11:14 (July 5, 1879). Many of these have no connection with music. Most
of those that deal with music have already been listed above; however, there
were a number of other interesting works on drama, Vedic and Sanskrit hymns
and one or two on music. The mos t relevant of these to our discussion is listed
under item 33:
Survey of Indian Musical Instrum ents, with an introduc tion to the origin of
instrumenta l music.

This work was written in English by Tagore himself, although drawn largely
from his Bengali, Yan tra Kosha, referred to in I'Echo Musical ea rlier. It seems obvious that, in preparing his catalog based primarily on the then recently acquired
collection of Indian instruments, Mahillon examined the musical literature on
Ind ian ins truments made available by S. M. Tagore; at the very least, the works
in English. 6 Thus he undoubtedly encountered the musical instrument classification systems used in India which d ate back, at least, to the treatise Natyasas tra
(usually dated in the first few centuries A.D.). Most of these Indian systems employ a fo ur-part7 classification scheme, although the terminology often varies.
Two of the w riters in Hindu music from various authors, th e first of the works
listed by Mahillon above, give such schemes. Captain N. Willard writing in 1834
gives the following (1965:93):
Musical instruments are divided into four classes1. Tut. Such as are strung with wires or gut are thus denominated: The Rubab, the
Tumboora, the Sitar, the Sarungee, the Veen, and the Qanoon, &c., belong to this
class.

2. Bitut. To this division are referred. all those which arc covered with skins, as
the Mridung, the Dholkee, the Tublas, the Daera, the Duph, the Nuqqara, &c.

In his Catalog Mahillon even gives the names of the Indian equivalent of the solfa in the Indian
Devanagarf script and is precise in his transliteration of -Indian instrument names. He also gives some of the
contexts in which the instruments are played, which he could not have known Without consulting the sources
sent by Tagore.
6.

7. There are also three-part classification schemes sometimes used in India, e.g., the one ascribed to
Narada (Dcva 1978:38) in which the basic categories are carma (leather), tantrika (stringed) and ghana (solid).

JAIRA2BHOY

BEG~GSOFORGANOLOGY

71

3. Ghun. These are instruments of percussion, and used two at a time. S The
Munjecra, the Jhanjh, the Curtar, &c., (Cymbals, Castanets) are of this description.
4. Sooghur. Wind instruments are classed under this name. The Surnaee, the
Banslee, the Torey, &c., are exa mples of it.

Francis Gladwin (in Tagore 1965: 205) refers to the categories as follows: "1,
Tut, stringed instruments. 2, Tit, those made of skins, such as drums. 3, Gheen,
any two things that produce sound by percussion. 4, Sookhir, wind instruments."
Mahillon uses these same four categories (also the basis of the HornbostelSachs system still in common use today)9 in his Catalog, but in different order,
and gives no indication in his writings that his system was modeled after the
Indian. In fact, he permits the publication of an article by his joint editor, Charles
Bosselet, in I'cho Musical (August 17, 1878) describing an early version of the
Catalog before it was printed, which credits Mahillon with the discovery of this
classification system:
But these types of information which initiate us into the musical customs of the
Hindus and other less well-known peoples, however interesting they may be, still
do not form the most remarkable feature of the catalog. We appreciate above all,
the method of classification based upon the different natures of the bodies
employed as the source of sonority which allows, in one clearly defined category,
every instrument which enriches the coll ection. This classification, which we
believe to be entirely new, is accompanied and explained by a succinct and clear
theory concerning all the methods of producing sound, which constitutes a veritable
course in the history of instrumental organography. (Italics added by the present
writer.)

It is also interesting to note that in his Catalog of Indian instruments, organized in terms of the four categories, Mahillon gives the Indian name of each
instrument but gives the Indian names of only three of the four categories, using
the terminology found in the NatyaSiistra, anaddha 10 for membranophones,
t;ushira (su~ira) for aerophones, and tata for chordophones which are in Tagore's
Yantra Kosha in Bengali and almost certainly also in the English Survey of
Indian Musical Instruments based on the former.l1 But Mahillon does not give
the name of the fourth category, ghana, the name for idiophones. This could, of
course, have been an oversight; but in view of the meticulous care taken over
the whole work, and especially the transliteration of Indian terms, coupled with
8.

Although most Ind ian idiophones are played in pairs, brass plates (thiiIi), bells (ghantii), and pellet bells

(ghunghrUJ are not uncommon and also fit into this category.
9.

Mahillon, however, uses the term "autophonous instruments" instead of idiophones.

10.

More commonly avanaddlul .

11 .

The English version is not available to this writer.

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the fact that Mahillon does not mention the four-part Indian classification
system as such and, in fact, permits Bosselet to credit him with its invention,
suggests that this was no oversight and that his intentions were less than
honorable. That Mahillon could have invented the classification scheme
independently is not beyond the realm of possibility,12 but the fact that he does
not mention the Indian system at all clearly indicates that he wished to take full
credit for the invention of the system.
It is this system, of course, on which the Hornbostel-Sachs instruments classification scheme is based, although considerably modified and greatly expanded.
In spite of the criticisms of various scholars, the Hornbostel-Sachs system still
remains the most widely used today. The four basic categories have never been
questioned, although Mantle Hood (1971 :144) includes a fifth category pertinent
to. the modern era, electronophones. 13 More recently, Dale Olsen has proposed a
sixth category, that of corpophones, in which the human body is used as a sound
producer. 14 Even this, however, seems to have been anticipated (at least in a
general sense) in ancient India where we find reference to glitra (human body)
v lr;ii being contrasted with daravl (wooden) VIr; ii, Vl1)if referring specifically to a
stringed instrument, but also a term for musical instrument in general.

ALEXANDER

J. ELLIS

Ellis, in his "On the Musical Scales of Various Nations," published in 1885,
introduced the logarhithmic concept of cents as a means of replacing fractions as
a tool for describing intervals, In this remarkable work, he gives measurements,
generally using cents, of the scales of many different nations, drawing both from
historical treatises and contemporary practice as far as possible. The extent and
scope of his endeavors are truly astonishing, since they encompassed the scales of
Ancient Greece and Modern Europe, Persia, Arabia, Syria, Scottish Highlands,
India, Singapore, Burma, Siam, Western Africa, Java, China, and Japan. The
accuracy of his individual results are not significant here; few would, however,
question his conclusions (1885:526):

12. Charles Capwell, in "Musical Life in Nineteenth-Century Calcutta as a Component in the History of a
Secondary Urban Center" (in Joseph T. O'Connell, ed., Bengal Vaisnavism, Orienta/ism, Society and the Arts,
Asian Studies Center, 1985, p. 167) takes it for granted that Mahillon adopted the !ndian system from the
instruments and books sent by S. M. Tagore to Belgium.
13. According to Deva (1978:39), electrophones were included as a fifth category by N. Bessaraboff in
Ancient European Musical Instruments in 1941.

14. SEM Newsletter, 1986 vol. 3.

JAIRAZBHOY

BEGINI\TINGS OF ORGANOLOGY

73

The final conclusion is that the Musical Scale is not one, not "natural" nor even
founded necessarily on the laws of the constitution of musical sound, so beautifully
worked out by Helmholtz, but very diverse, very artificial, and very capricious.

In this lengthy article, Ellis views the scales of many different nations, wherever possible, from two points of view, using both measurements of contemporary tunings and those based on written sou rces. The discussion of Indian
scales is a relatively small part of this work. The p rincipal source for the first was
the demonstration of the tunings of various Indian modes played on the sHahr
(sic) by a Raja Ram Pal Singh which Ellis and his associate, Alfred James Hipkins
of J. Broadwood and Sons, measured by comparing the tones to a long series of
tuning forks of pre-determined pitches. It was Hipkins' musical ear which determined the concordances. Ellis also measured intervals on several vTnas with
fixed frets and acknowledges that Victor Mahillon loaned him two (presum ably
from the Tagore collection). For the theoretical measurements he used S.M.
Tagore's Hindu music from various authors, which he was able to borrow, and a
new publication also by Tagore, The musical scales of the Hindus (1884), which
was loaned to him by Mahillon.
These contacts with Mahillon and Tagore's materials are, of course, rather
incidental and we have no proof that either influenced Ellis' ideas in any significant way. It remains, however, that the ancient Indian concept of sruti is similar
to that of Ellis' cents, in that it also has a loga rhithmic element as numbers of
srutis represent particular intervals,15 irrespective of freq uency. Thus a perfect
fifth is indicated by thirteen srutis, which would be exactly parallel (apart from
the numbers) to saying that the perfect fifth in Ellis' system was indicated by 702
cents, or, in Savarts, 175. Similarly, one could add in tervals in terms of srutis,
e.g., nine srutis (perfect fourth) plus four srutis (whole tone) to make a perfect
fifth, just as one does w ith cents (498+204=702). One further parallel: A single
sruti did not produce a musical interval; the musical tones of ancient India were
composed of multiples of srut is, two, three, or four. Srutis, like cents, were
abstract units for measuring intervals.
15. The subje<t of srutis as applying to ancient Indian music, especially that described in the treatise
Niitydiistra, has been debated extensively by scholars. One of the principal issues has been whether or not
the srutis were of a standard intervallic size, as are cents. Many scholars <e.g. Strangways 1914:127) hold that
the srutis were of three different sizes and that a wholetone of 204 cents was composed of a sruti interval of 22
cents, a second of 70 cents and a th ird of 90 cents. Elsewhere (1985:33), I have argued that the author of the
Nlil;yaSiistra evidently thought that the 22 srutis of his system were of equal size. If we regard them as having
been equal, each sruti would have been of 54.55 cents (1200/22); thus a fourth of 9 sTutis would have been
490.95 cents, just 7 cents smaller than the perfect fourth, while the fifth of thirteen S TU tis would have been
709.15 cents, only 7 cents larger than the perfect fifth. For all practical purposes, such a small deviation would
have passed unnoticed. Ellis, however, held a position midway between these two. He presumed (1885:501)
that the three different sized tones were of 204, 182 and 112 cents {based on measurements of string lengths
provided by Tagore and published in the AnnuaiTe du Conservatoire de Bruxelles (]878:161 -9), but that thc
sTutis were of equal size within each tone, i.e., 204/4:= 51 cents, 182/3= 60.7 cents and 112/2= 56 cents. These
calculations prove that he is indeed using sTutis as logarhithmic units.

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Ellis does not acknowledge that he was, in any way, influenced by the Indian
sruti system, nor that he even recognized the similarities between srutis and
cents. Yet, it is clear that he treated srutis as logarhithmic units in his ca1culations,16 Tagore had made it possible for him to have access to Indian musical
theory and may have served (perhaps only on a subconscious level) as a catalyst
in the formulation of Ellis' cent system.

RAJA SOURINDRO MOHAN TAGORE

According to Mahillon's biography (I'Echo Musical 10:21, October 12, 1878),

Sourindro Mohun Tagore belonged to one of the most ancient and illustrious
families of India who trace their origin to the dramatist, Bhatta Narayna, the
chief of five Brahmins who came to reside in Bengal in the year 1072 at the
request of King Adisura. Capwell (]985), who has given a fairly detailed recent
genealogy of the family, the Pathuriaghata Tagores, points out, however, that the
family traces its foundations only to the late 18th century when they acquired
their fortune in business dealings wi th the English and the accumulation of
land. In the latter half of the 19th and the early 20th century, the family (of
whom the most well-known member was the Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath
Tagore) was renowned for the cultivation of the arts and for taking a premier
position in the nationalist movement.
Sourindro Mohun, the younger of two brothers, was a "lesser" raja, and
perhaps because he was not tied down to managing the family estates,l? was able
to devote a great deal of time and effort to the study and propagation of Indian
music. He was a complex personality: On the one hand, he was a loyal subject of
the colonial English Empire and entertained European royalty at his home,
including the Prince of Wales and Leopold II of Belgium; on the other hand, he
was proud of his own Indian heritage and wanted to prove to the rest of the
world that India's culture, and especially its music, was worthy of recognition,
He was evidently an accomplished linguist of several Indian and European
languages and not only wrote articles and books on Indian music, but privately
"published" the works of others,lS presenting them as gifts to important
individuals and institutions all over the world. In addition, he donated col1ections of Indian instruments to many museums and institutions in Europe, USA

16,

See footnote 15,

17, His older brother, Jotindro Mohan, the maharaja, in spite of his responsibilities, nevertheless, found the
time to support Bengali theater.
18, Grosset (1913:267, f.n. 6) quotes S, Levi (1890:399) that these works were of uneven value and, because
they were published for private circulation only, their acquisition was very difficult.

JAIRAZBHOY

BEGrNh~GSOFORGANOLOGY

75

and even parts of Asia, including Peking and Tokyo19 (for which he received a
number of impressive titles).20
Mahillon, in his biography of S. M. Tagore (ibid.), is lavish in his praise:
The name of Ra ja Sourindro Mohun Tagore has figured so frequently in the coluOUls

of this journal that we believe we will satisfy the legitimate curiosity of our
readers by offering some biographical information on this oriental prince, whose
munificence has no equal outside the recitations of the sultana Scheherezade.

In this biography, Mahillon draws attention to the fact that Sourindro Mohun

Tagore also established a school of national music in Calcutta in 1873, entirely

subsidized by himself. By 1877 this school had several branches, two in Calcutta,
and several others elsewhere in Bengal. The principal Calcutta school, which had
two departments, one each for instrumental and vocal music, had seven professors and 64 students. Instrumental instruction comprised courses on setar,
bahoolin (violin) and mrdanga; in addition, a course on theory for each division
was offered by a "special" professor. Mahillon then mentions the categories
under which prizes were given to the best students, all at the expense of the raja.
To the best of our knowledge Sourindro Mohun Tagore never visited Europe.
Mahillon states that he was expected to attend the Fourth International Congress
of Orientalists held in Florence, but "an unsurmountable obstacle prevented the
prince to join the gathering." Capwell (1985:167) suggests that the reason was that
the "senior" branch of the family, to which Sourindro Mohun belonged,
maintained a conservative Hindu belief in the power of a sea journey to pollute
the caste. Nevertheless, the raja sent 47 written works, "including a great number
of manuscripts written by the Raja's ancestors" (Mahillon 1878), including one by
Bhatta Narayna. 21 Capwell could well be right, for the raja also did not attend
the Fifth International Congress of Orientalists held in Berlin in 1881 at which he

19: Capwell (19&5:167). The full extent of his donations has not, however, been established. Mahillon (10:21),
states, "There is hardly a capital in Europe whose museums or libraries have not received instruments or
written works, treasures of an inestimable value for the history of music, treasures for (whose distribution)
these special circumstances are necessary: a prince, possessing an immense fortune, as knowledgeable in
European music as in the music of India, and, moreover, a distinguished linguist."

20. E.g. Commander in the Order of Leopold; Commander in the Order of Albert of Sax; Chevalier of the
Imperial Order of Mcdjedieh; Officer of the Academy of the Institute of France; Honorary Member of the
Royal Academy of St. Cecilia of Rome; Doctor of Music, University of Philadelphia (but see Capwell, 1985:
168); etc. (L 'Echo Musical 10:21, Oct. 12, 1878). On the title page of his The five principal musicians of the
Hindus (1981), there is a list of 37 titles, honorary memberships, and awards received by Tagore, many from
foreign countries, including China, Siam, Nepal, Persia, Turkey, Austria, Saxony, Belgium, Jerusalem, Cyprus,
Armenia, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Buenos Ayres, Maritime Alps, Java, Malaya, Ceylon, Algeria, Sardinia, Sicily,
Greece, Switzerland, France, Holland, Sweden and England .
21. Mahillon lists this work as Beni-Samhara Nataka which he describes as a "Sanskrit drama taken from
the great epic poem of the Hindus, the Mahabharata."

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,:)t.U:.L lI:iU l{El'ORTS IN ETHNOMUSICQLOGY

1990

was expected. Instead, he sent an allegorical volume22 in Sanskrit verse with an

English introduction, beginning as follows:
- They stood before Ind ia's Guardian Divinity those fi ve celestial mu sicians with radiant countenances and with the glory of heaven around them. They had
been summoned before that lovely Presence, and they had hastened to obey. As
they stood expectant, the grave but melodious voice of the goddess ravished. their
ears:
'Children beloved, I have to cntrust you with a mission of importance and
honor. A friendly missive from the West has come speeding all the way over the
black waters in which the learned and the great of Europe invite me to be present at
one of their mighty gatherings which have tended, year by year, to bind the East
and the West in fri endlier bonds of union. The noble sons of Germany, whose
unceasing efforts, like the fructifying sun, have caused the lotus of Sanskrit
literature to unfold its petals one by one in that distant and alien land, have done
me this honor, and it is meet that I should respond to the friendly invitation by
sending some of my children to represent me worthily at the greal Congress to be
held in the German capital. You, my children, have I chosen for this mission.
Versed in the science and art of music, disciples beloved of Brahma, adored of both
gods and men, who so worthy as you to be representatives of this glorious land in
the midst of strangers. Go, therefore, my beloved children, speed over the boundless
ocean to that mighty assembly of great men, and ca rry with you offerings of
deathless flowers culled from the fragrant gardens of Indian music:

The fi ve legendary musicians were, Narada (sage and author to whom

several musical treatises have been ascribed), Bharata (author of the NatyaSiistra),
Rambha (favorite dancer of Indra's court), Huhu (King of Gandharvas), and
Tumburu (sage and Gandharva musician). Evidently, each of the musicians
presented manuscripts of their own writings at the International Congress of
Orientalists (i.e., Tagore must have sent the manuscripts to Berlin) as seen in the
accompanying lithograph commissioned by Tagore and reproduced as the
frontispiece of his volume (Figure 1, following page).
There would seem to be little doubt that Sourindro Mohun was not entirely
philanthropic in his endeavors to spread Indian music. That he achieved personal recognition for these efforts is unquestionable. As Grosset (1913:268 f.n.) puts it,
"His gifts have resulted in an ample harvest of titles and decorations which he
displays, perhaps a bit ostentatiously, on the first page of even his smallest
publications." Grosset (ibid.) is also critical of both the instruments which he gifted to museums as well as some of his writings and instrument collections:
"Concerning the historical or artistic value of these innumerable specimens,
recently and carelessly constructed, as well as the rigorous exactitude of some of
his compilations or of his musical adaptations, our solicitude for verity obliges
us to hold discreet reservations."
22 Entitled, T~ f ive principal musicians of t~ Hindus, or A brief exposition of the essential elements of
Hindu music, as set forth by the five celestitll musicians of India, printed by I. C. Bose & Co., Calcutta, 1881.

<':,-"I.,:.'
. ~"V"
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FIGURE 1. The fi ve celestial musicians of the Hindu mythology presenting their respective works to the
Fifth Oriental Congress in Berlin. Frontispiece to Tago rc's Five Principal Musicians of the Hindus, 1881.

::j

78

SELECTED REPORTS IN ETHNOMUSICOLOGY

1990

Although we do not know exactly how many instruments he donated-the

number could well exceed a thousand-the question that begs to be asked is
where did these instruments come from? Surely such a large number of
instruments could not just have been lying in instrument makers ' shops waiting to be purchased. Having examined the collection in the Brussels Museum
and the one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, it is quite clear
that some of the instruments could never have been played and others fully
support Grosset's criticisms. In his article "Vina," in the New Grove Dictionary
of Musical Instruments, Alastair Dick (1984:735) describes some of these concocted instruments in the following manner:
Further, some objects of Tagore's collecting were ephemeral: examples were the 'vira '
with a sitar neck terminating in a violin body, the kO.di vj~ (a glass sitar), the
bharafa v j~ (a ka chvo. sitar with skin sound table)... [and] the praso.rit:li vj~ (a
sitar with two necks) ...

There are also fine examples among them. This suggests the likelihood that
Sourindro Mohun spread the word among instrument makers and retail
instrument shops in Calcutta that he needed large numbers of decorative and
unusual instruments for distribution to museums. The makers obliged; where
they could not find instruments suitable for the purpose, they concocted them,
an d hastily, often using gaudy, ornate decorations and having no regard for
playability or functional craftsmanship, since they knew the ins truments were
only for display. Of cours e, we do not mean to suggest that the raja was
necessarily party to this game; in all probability he would have had little time to
examine all the instruments, and must have used one or more overseers (who
probably knew very little about music) to approve the purchases.
Whatever the shortcomings of Sourindro Mohun Tagore's contributions, we
have attempted to show that such a charismatic and unconventional personality
would undoubtedly have made an impact on oriental studies, particularly those
involving non-Western music. He may not have achieved in his time the goal
of gaining widespread recognition for India n music as a refined ar t form, but
there is no doubt that he did succeed in achieving for Indian music, through his
gifts of instruments and treatises, respect among the scholarly community. More
importantly, his contributions were paramount in stimulating scien tific thought
in organology and probably also on studies of non-Western music in the West.

BEG~GSOFORGANOLOGY

JAIRAZBHOY

79

REFERENCES CiTED

Bessaraboff, Nicholas
1941
Ancient European Musical Instruments. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Bosselet, Charles
1878
Le Catalogue et l' Album du Musee Instrumental. I'Echo Musical 10 (August 17).
Capwell, Charles
1985
Musical Life in Ninteenth Century Calcutta as a Component in the History of a
Secular Urban Center. In Vaisnavism , Orientalism, Society and the Arts, edited by
Joseph T. O'Connell. Asian Studies Center.
Ellis, Alexander
1885
On the Musical Scales of Various Nations. Journal of the Society of Arts 33
(March), 485-527.
Gevaert, F. A.
1885
Nouveau Traite d'Instrumentation. Paris: L'emoine & Fils.
Grosset, Joanny
1913
Inde: Histoire de la Musique depuis l'Origine jusqu'a nos Jours. In Encyclopedie de la
Musique et Dictionnaire du Conservatoire, 257-376. Paris: C. Delagrave.
Hood, Mantle
1971
The Ethnomusicologist. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Jairazbhoy, Nazir Ali
1985
Hannonic Implications of Consonance and Dissonance in Ancient Indian Music.
Pacific Review of Ethnomusicology 2:28-51.
Levi, Sylvain
1890
Le Theatre Indien. Paris: E. Bouillon.
Mahillon, Victor
1877
Sur les Ouvrages Concernant la Musique dans nnde, du Rajah Sourindro Mohun
Tagore. l'Echo Musico.l 9 (April 14).
1878

Le Rajah Sourindro Mohun Tagore. l'Echo Musical 10 (October 12).

1880

Catalog descriptif et ano.lytique du Musee instrumental du Conservatoire Royal de

Musique de Bruxelles, 1st ed. Ghent: Libraire Generale de Ad. Haste.

1893

Catalog Ddescriptif et Analytique du Musee Instrumental du Conservatoire Royal

de Musique de Bruxelles. 2nd ed. Ghent: Libraire Generale de Ad. Haste.

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SELECTED R EPORTS IN ETHNOMUSICOLOGY

Strangways, A.H. Fox

The Music
1914

of Hindostan .

1990

Oxford : Clarendon Press.

Tagore, Sourindro Mohun

1965

Hindu Music from Various Authors, 3rd ed. Varanasi, India: Chowkhamba
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1875

Yantra Kosha, Calcutta : A.C. Chose.

1881

The Five Principal Musicians of the Hindus, or a Brief Exposition of the Essential
Elements of Hindu music as set fort h by the Five Celestial Musicans of Tndia.
Calcutta: I. C. Bose & Co.

1979

Musical Scales of the Hind us [I st AMS editionJ . New York: AMS Press.
[Originall y 18851.

Willard, Captain N.
1965
A Treatise on the Music of India, 2nd revised ed. Calcutta: 5usil Gupta.
(Originally 1834].