Walter Pater on Art (and criticism)

[kvchellappa]

(Picked up from a book on English, but the idea seems relevant to several discussions in this forum)

"Each art, therefore, having its own peculiar and incommunicable charm, has its own special mode of reaching the imagination, its own special responsibilities to its material. One of the functions of aesthetic criticism is to define these limitations; to estimate the degree in which a work of art fulfilsits responsibilities to its material; to note in a picture that true pictorial charm, which is neither a mere poetical thought nor sentiment on the one hand, nor a mere result of communicable technical skill in colour or design,on the other; to define in a poem that true poetical quality, which is neither descriptive nor meditative merely, but comes from an inventive handling of rhythmical language " the element of song in the singing; to note in music the musical charm " that essential music, which presents no words, no matter of sentiment or thought, separable from the special form in which it is conveyed to us."

[arasi]

Chellappa,
Just like you to bring something like this to mull over. Thanks!

It was more interesting for me to read it today, since my son had just sent me a short film of interviews about the history of the band Shakti, with John McLaughlin, Zakir Husain and others.

Hope this link works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdnDkmnv6oA

[ganesh_mourthy]

the youtube is already unavailable. Is someone from us Rasikas a whistleblower?

[cacm]

Dear Arasi,
YOU bring back VERY FOND& NOSTALGIC MEMORIES of my days in Manhattan. I am VERY KEEN on the contributions of MahavishnuMclaughlin BEING RECOGNISED as the one person (apart from Ravi Shankar) who started the whole FUSION ATTEMPTS which like many other areas reg. OUR MUSIC that has been hijacked & misrepresented now a days by many for their own purposes. I dont have the TIME OR ENERGY to describe in DETAIL M.M. the breakthrough contributions of his efforts -He incidentally started a VEGETARIAN Restaurant (Kamadhenu? or Kalpagam?)in QUEENS ALSO!- I am still hoping to someday cover it in the history of C.M. IN N.A. My wife Selvi & I were regulars at the rehearsals& concerts of M.M.& L.Shankar & Ramnad Raghavan at various locales in Manhattan including Churches when they started as the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
The CONTRIBUTIONS of RAMNAD RAGHAVAN are hardly known to most persons. He was the one who TAUGHT THE PANCHRATNA KRITIS to Cleveland THYAGARAJA Festival members & I am glad that CLEVELAND has named the MAIN CONCERT IN CLEVELAND as the Ramnad Raghavan Memorial Concert. I hope to cover his MONUMENTAL CONTRIBUTIONS IN N.A. sometime.......VKV

[arasi]

VKV,
I was thinking of you when I watched and listened to John M! Please watch it and it will bring back more of your memories Didn't know of Kamadhenu or Kalpagam until now!

Ganesh,
I googled 'Shakti interview on youtube' and could see it. You may try that. The film is an hour long.

[Sundara Rajan]

On youtube.com go to "interview with shakti" to get the program. It worked for me just now.

[mahavishnu]

You can find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdnDkmnV60A

It is no secret that I am a huge admirer of John McLaughlin (hence the handle Mahavishnu).
I had no idea that he was inspired by folks such as Rajarathnam Pillai! Makes my respect for his musicianship go up even further!

[arasi]

Exactly!

I was wondering if work allowed you to visit Rasikas at all!

Will send you mail soon...

[mahavishnu]

Arasi: Thanks for your solicitude! Hopefully, my work load will come down substantially in the next month or so and I will be able to spend more time thinking and talking about music We have some good concerts coming up in the next few weeks and I am really looking forward to them.

Trust all's well with you!

[rshankar]

I had no idea that he was inspired by folks such as Rajarathnam Pillai! Makes my respect for his musicianship go up even further!

I was even more impressed by the fact that he said 'nAgasvaram' and not nAdasvaram, which I was told recently, was incorrect.

[vasanthakokilam]

The original paragraph requires some serious unpacking even to make some attempts at understanding what the author is saying. I kind of get directionally what the author is saying if not all the details.

(kvchellappa, there seems to be a dangling double quote which is causing some confusion in how to parse that paragraph.. Like, in--rhythmical language " the element of song in the singing--is there a missing double quote?)

It will be interesting to see if Indian tradition of music criticism is consistent with this western view. While it is definitely relatable to us that each art form has a tradition around it which defines what it is about and that the critic should help that process along and then evaluate and communicate to the masses if a particular work of art is good or bad with reference to that boundary, I get a feeling the Indian tradition goes a step further and always relate a particular art form to something else, most often, related to some spiritual matter. So one person's bhavam filled music which is about earthly matters is totally unworthy to someone else since in their world view, music is only about salvation and such stuff. That is just one example where the kind of boundary this author talks about is not drawn and even if drawn is not respected consistently in many sections of indian art criticism.

[Pratyaksham Bala]

Full text of The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry by Walter Horatio Pater :-
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/pat ... nce/7.html

The quote given in post #1 is part of the first paragraph.

[munirao2001]

pratyaksham Bala,

Grateful for the link. I read the article of great significance. The two paragraphs quoted here, must not be missed by any discerning rasika of music.

Art, then, is thus always striving to be independent of the mere intelligence, to become a matter of pure perception, to get rid of its responsibilities to its subject or material; the ideal examples of poetry and painting being those in which the constituent elements of the composition are so welded together, that the material or subject no longer strikes the intellect only; nor the form, the eye or the ear only; but form and matter, in their union or identity, present one single effect to the "imaginative reason," that complex faculty for which every thought and feeling is twin-born with its sensible analogue or symbol.

It is the art of music which most completely [138/139] realises this artistic ideal, this perfect identification of matter and form. In its consummate moments, the end is not distinct from the means, the form from the matter, the subject from the expression; they inhere in and completely saturate each other; and to it, therefore, to the condition of its perfect moments, all the arts may be supposed constantly to tend and aspire. In music, then, rather than in poetry, is to be found the true type or measure of perfected art. Therefore, although each art has its incommunicable element, its untranslatable order of impressions, its unique mode of reaching the "imaginative reason," yet the arts may be represented as continually struggling after the law or principle of music, to a condition which music alone completely realizes; and one of the chief functions of aesthetic criticism, dealing with the products of art, new or old, is to estimate the degree in which each of those products approaches, in this sense, to musical law.

Music law applicable to aesthetic criticism for Classical Music must be based on 1.the ideals of music-intent, content and delivery-'matter and form'; 2.perception of reaching "imaginative reason" and also ways, means employed artfully;3. its effects and realization of both the critic, listener (s) and most importantly the reader;4. Criticism communication of simple, honest, free from personal prejudice, bias and favor, language of perception of reality, individually and collectively.

munirao2001

[kvchellappa]

Another book excerpt on art criticism:
"Every critic ought to have a hospitable mind. His attitude toward art in general should be like that of an old-fashioned host at the door of a country inn, ready to welcome all guests except criminals. It is impossible to judge with any fairness a new poem, a new opera, a new picture, a new novel, if the critic have preconceived opinions as to what poetry, music, painting, and fiction should be. We are all such creatures of convention that the first impression made by reality in any form of art is sometimes a distinct shock, and we close the windows of our intelligence and draw the blinds that the fresh air and the new light may not enter in. Just as no form of art is so strange as life, so it may be the strangeness of reality in books, in pictures, and in music that makes our attitude one of resistance rather than of welcome."