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William Hamilton Bird
William Hamilton Bird was an Irish musician who was active in India during Company rule. He was a pioneer in transcribing Indian music into western notation. The publication for which he is remembered appeared in Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) the capital of British-held territories in 1789. ''The Oriental Miscellany; being a collection of the most favourite airs of Hindoostan, compiled and adapted for the Harpsichord'' consists of about 30 pieces plus a flute sonata. The book was republished in Edinburgh (c. 1805 after Bird's death) with a slightly different selection of pieces. Biography Little is known of Bird´s early life. He appears to have come from Dublin, and by his own account he travelled to India in about 1770, remaining there until the 1790s. Bird's transcriptions of Indian music can be seen in the broad context of European interest in "national" music, evidenced by publications of Irish and Scottish folk-song arrangements, such as "25 Scottish Songs" (Beet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Company Rule In India
Company rule in India (sometimes, Company ''Raj'', from hi, rāj, lit=rule) refers to the rule of the British East India Company on the Indian subcontinent. This is variously taken to have commenced in 1757, after the Battle of Plassey, when the Nawab of Bengal was defeated and replaced with another individual who had the support of the East India Company; or in 1765, when the Company was granted the ''diwani'', or the right to collect revenue, in Bengal and Bihar; or in 1773, when the Company abolished local rule (Nizamat) and established a capital in Calcutta, appointed its first Governor-General, Warren Hastings, and became directly involved in governance. The rule lasted until 1858, when, after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and consequently of the Government of India Act 1858, the British government assumed the task of directly administering India in the new British Raj. Expansion and territory The English East India Company ("the Company") was founded in 1600, as ''The Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tappa
Tappa is a form of Indian semi-classical vocal music. Its specialty is a rolling pace based on fast, subtle and knotty construction. Its tunes are melodious and sweet, and depict the emotional outbursts of a lover. Tappe (plural) were sung mostly by songstresses, known as baigees, in royal courts. History Tappa originated from the folk songs of the camel riders in Punjab. The tappa style of music was refined and introduced to the imperial court of the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah, and later by Mian Ghulam Nabi Shori or Shori Mian, a court singer of Asaf-Ud-Dowlah, Nawab of Awadh. In Bengal, Ramnidhi Gupta & Kalidas Chattopadhay composed Bengali tappa and they are called Nidhu Babu's Tappa. Tappa ''gayaki'' took new shape and over decades became ''puratani'', a semi-classical form of Bengali songs. Tappa, as a significant genre in Bengali musical styles, reached levels of excellence in lyrics and rendition (gayaki), arguably unmatched in other parts of India. Hugely popular in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mahan Esfahani
Mahan Esfahani ( fa, ماهان اصفهانی) (born 1984 in Tehran) is an Iranian-American harpsichordist. Education Esfahani received his first guidance on the piano from his father before exploring an interest in the harpsichord as a teenager. He studied musicology and history at Stanford University, where he took his first harpsichord lessons with Elaine Thornburgh and was mentored by George Houle. He continued his harpsichord studies in Boston with Peter Watchorn, before completing his studies under Czech harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková. Career As a leading harpsichordist, Esfahani's programming and work in commissioning new compositions has drawn the attention of critics and audiences across Europe, Asia, and North America. He was the first harpsichordist to be a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist (2008–2010), and to be honoured by an award from the Borletti-Buitoni Trust (2009). He has also been a nominee for Gramophone Classical Music Awards Artist of the Year (2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raga
A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradition, and as a result has no direct translation to concepts in classical European music. Each ''rāga'' is an array of melodic structures with musical motifs, considered in the Indian tradition to have the ability to "colour the mind" and affect the emotions of the audience. Each ''rāga'' provides the musician with a musical framework within which to improvise. Improvisation by the musician involves creating sequences of notes allowed by the ''rāga'' in keeping with rules specific to the ''rāga''. ''Rāga''s range from small ''rāga''s like Bahar (raga), Bahar and Shahana that are not much more than songs to big ''rāga''s like Malkauns, Darbari and Yaman (raga), Yaman, which have great scope for improvisation and for which performances ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mode (music)
In music theory, the term mode or ''modus'' is used in a number of distinct senses, depending on context. Its most common use may be described as a type of musical scale coupled with a set of characteristic melodic and harmonic behaviors. It is applied to major and minor keys as well as the seven diatonic modes (including the former as Ionian and Aeolian) which are defined by their starting note or tonic. ( Olivier Messiaen's modes of limited transposition are strictly a scale type.) Related to the diatonic modes are the eight church modes or Gregorian modes, in which authentic and plagal forms of scales are distinguished by ambitus and tenor or reciting tone. Although both diatonic and gregorian modes borrow terminology from ancient Greece, the Greek ''tonoi'' do not otherwise resemble their mediaeval/modern counterparts. In the Middle Ages the term modus was used to describe both intervals and rhythm. Modal rhythm was an essential feature of the modal notation system ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Equal Temperament
An equal temperament is a musical temperament or tuning system, which approximates just intervals by dividing an octave (or other interval) into equal steps. This means the ratio of the frequencies of any adjacent pair of notes is the same, which gives an equal perceived step size as pitch is perceived roughly as the logarithm of frequency. In classical music and Western music in general, the most common tuning system since the 18th century has been twelve-tone equal temperament (also known as 12 equal temperament, 12-TET or 12-ET; informally abbreviated to twelve equal), which divides the octave into 12 parts, all of which are equal on a logarithmic scale, with a ratio equal to the 12th root of 2 ( ≈ 1.05946). That resulting smallest interval, the width of an octave, is called a semitone or half step. In Western countries the term ''equal temperament'', without qualification, generally means 12-TET. In modern times, 12-TET is usually tuned relative to a standard pitch of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vallotti Temperament
Vallotti temperament (or simply Vallotti, Vallotti-Barca, or Vallotti-Tartini) is a slightly modified version of a circulating temperament devised by the 18th-century organist, composer, and music theorist, Francesco Vallotti. Vallotti's description of his temperament appears in book 2 of his treatise, ''Della scienza teorica e pratica della moderna musica'' (''On the theoretical and practical science of modern music''). Although Vallotti stated that he had developed his theoretical system—presumably including the details of his temperament—by 1728, the first book of his treatise was not published until 1779, the year before he died. At the time of his death, the other three books had not been published, and remained only in manuscript form until an edition of all four books was published in 1950, under the title ''Trattato della moderna musica'' (''Treatise on modern music''). Vallotti's temperament received very little attention during his lifetime and for some time there ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horniman Museum
The Horniman Museum and Gardens is a museum in Forest Hill, London, England. Commissioned in 1898, it opened in 1901 and was designed by Charles Harrison Townsend in the Modern Style. It has displays of anthropology, natural history and musical instruments, and is known for its large collection of taxidermied animals. The building is Grade II* listed. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and is constituted as a company and registered charity under English law. In 2022 the museum won Museum of the Year, an award made by the Art Fund. History The museum was founded in 1901 by Frederick John Horniman. Frederick had inherited his father's Horniman's Tea business, which by 1891 had become the world's biggest tea trading business. The proceeds from the business allowed Horniman to indulge his lifelong passion for collecting, and which after travelling extensively had some 30,000 items in his various collections, covering nat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacob Kirckman
The Kirkman family (variants: Kirckman, Kirchmann) were English harpsichord and later piano makers of Alsatian origin, active from the 1770s until the late 1800s. Members of the Kirkman family Jacob Kirkman (4 March 1710 – 9 June 1792) was born in Bischwiller, Alsace and moved to England in the early 1730s. He worked for Hermann Tabel, and married his widow in 1738. He became a British subject in 1755. He died in Greenwich and is buried in St Alfege Church in Greenwich. Abraham Kirkman (1737 – 16 April 1794), also born in Bischwiller, was Jacob Kirkman's nephew. In 1772 they formed a partnership. He died in Hammersmith. Joseph Kirkman I was the son of Abraham Kirkman, and followed his father in his craft, eventually going into partnership with him. Joseph Kirkman II (c.1790 – 1877) was the son of Joseph Kirkman I and like him became an instrument maker, helping his father with the last harpsichord they made in 1809 (though the latest surviving today is dated 1800). Kirk ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leverhulme Trust
The Leverhulme Trust () is a large national grant-making organisation in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1925 under the will of the 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), with the instruction that its resources should be used to support "scholarships for the purposes of research and education." It is based in London and is a registered charity under English law. Activities Since its foundation in 1925, the Trust has provided funding for research projects, fellowships, studentships, bursaries and prizes; it operates across all the academic disciplines, the intention being to support talented individuals as they realise their personal vision in research and professional training. With annual funding of some £100 million, the Trust is amongst the largest all-subject providers of research funding in the UK. The Trust places special weight on: * the originality of the projects put to them; * the significance of the proposed work; * the ability to judge and take appropri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Signum Records
Signum Records, also known as Signum Classics, is a classical musical record label in the UK founded in 1997. The label began with a project to make the first recording of the complete works of Thomas Tallis. The artists for the Tallis recording were the Chapelle du Roi, an ensemble of ten singers founded in 1994 by Alistair Dixon, also co-founder of the record label. The other fifty percent of the company was held by Floating Earth sound engineers. Since the Tallis project the label has grown to host many well-known UK ensembles, including The Kings Singers, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, Huddersfield Choral Society, Charivari Agreable, Tenebrae directed by Nigel Short, Voces8, Cantabile and the choir of His Majesty's Chapel Royal, who record at St James's Palace, London. In 2017 they were named Gramophone Magazine ''Gramophone'' is a magazine published monthly in London, devoted to classical music, particularly to reviews of reco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colonel Antoine-Louis Henri Polier Watching A Nautch At Faizabad
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of a regiment in an army. Modern usage varies greatly, and in some cases, the term is used as an honorific title that may have no direct relationship to military service. The rank of colonel is typically above the rank of lieutenant colonel. The rank above colonel is typically called brigadier, brigade general or brigadier general. In some smaller military forces, such as those of Monaco or the Vatican, colonel is the highest rank. Equivalent naval ranks may be called captain or ship-of-the-line captain. In the Commonwealth's air force ranking system, the equivalent rank is group captain. History and origins By the end of the late medieval period, a group of "companies" was referred to as a "column" of an army. According to Ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
