Mysore Venkatesha Doreswamy Iyengar (1920-1997) was a

Carnatic music Carnatic music, known as or in the South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and Sri Lanka. It ...

ian and one of the greatest exponents of the

veena The ''veena'', also spelled ''vina'' ( sa, वीणा IAST: vīṇā), comprises various chordophone instruments from the Indian subcontinent. Ancient musical instruments evolved into many variations, such as lutes, zithers and arched harps ...

in modern Indian history.

Early life

He was a son of Venkatesha Iyengar, a learned vainika and royal musician at the court of the

Princely State of Mysore The Kingdom of Mysore was a realm in southern India, traditionally believed to have been founded in 1399 in the vicinity of the modern city of Mysore. From 1799 until 1950, it was a princely state, until 1947 in a subsidiary alliance with Bri ...

. Iyengar started learning the veena from his father at an early age and soon became a disciple of

Veena Venkatagiriyappa Veene Venkatagiriyappa (26 April 1887 – 1951) was a musician and music teacher from Heggadadevanakote in the Mysore district of India. Venkatagiriyappa's initial musical training was under his uncle Chikka Subba Rao, and he later studied u ...

. He performed in the presence of the then

Maharaja of Mysore The maharaja of Mysore was the king and principal ruler of the southern Indian Kingdom of Mysore and briefly of Mysore State in the Indian Dominion roughly between the mid- to late-1300s and 1950. In title, the role has been known by differen ...

at the age of 12. Spellbound, the Maharaja presented him with a fifty-rupee silver coin. Iyengar received a BA degree from Maharaja's College, Mysore.

Career

He gave his first public performance in 1943 at the Bangalore Gayana Samaja. He participated in music conferences including one in

Shiraz, Iran Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the population of the city was 1,565,572 ...

, in 1969, where he was also invited to perform at the Shiraz Persepolis Festival of Arts.. He served as the Music Director at the

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. The University of Mysore conferred upon him an Honorary Doctorate in 1975. In an age when most of the other vainikas had started using the contact

microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic or mike (), is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and publ ...

, Iyengar stuck to the ‘acoustic’ Veena. His style of playing is sometimes referred to as the Mysore Style. This distinctive style is marked by the movements from one note to another being achieved with the playing fingers (the index and middle fingers of the left hand) parted. This, along with his prolonged, medieval string plucking style enabled him to achieve the continuity of sound. Concerts of Iyengar, accompanied by Mysore T

Chowdiah Tirumakudalu Chowdiah ( kn, ಸಂಗೀತ ರತ್ನ ತಿರುಮಕೂಡಲು ಚೌಡಯ್ಯ) (1895 – 19 January 1967) was a violin maestro from India in the Carnatic classical tradition. Early years Chowdiah, was born in ...

on the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

, became very popular. He participated in many

Jugalbandi A jugalbandi or jugalbandhi is a performance in Indian classical music, especially in Hindustani classical music but also in Carnatic, that features a duet of two solo musicians. The word jugalbandi means, literally, "entwined twins." The duet ca ...

s, including with famous Hindustani classical instrumentalists such as

Ustad Ustād or ostād (abbreviated as Ust., Ut. or Ud.; from Persian ) is an honorific title used in West Asia, North Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is used in various languages such as Persian, , Azerbaijani, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Marat ...

Ali Akbar Khan Ali Akbar Khan (14 April 192218 June 2009) was a Indian Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. Trained as a classical musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan, he a ...

. He composed music for dance dramas, notably to those of P. T. Narasimhachar. Iyengar also composed songs for a few Kannada films, notably Subbashastri, starring Kalyan Kumar. Iyengar was regularly accompanied on

mridangam The mridangam is a percussion instrument of ancient origin. It is the primary rhythmic accompaniment in a Carnatic music ensemble. In Dhrupad, a modified version, the pakhawaj, is the primary percussion instrument. A related instrument is th ...

by V S Rajagopal. The noted vainika C. Krishnamurthy was one of Iyengar's main disciples. Iyengar died aged 77 in

, India.

Awards

He was awarded the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

by the

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murm ...

in 1983, the

Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sangeetha Kalanidhi or Sangeeta Kalanidhi (Tamil: சங்கீத கலாநிதி, Sanskrit : संगीत-कला-निधि) (''sangeetha'' = music, ''kala'' = art, ''nidhi'' = treasure or ocean) is the title awarded yearly to ...

of the Madras Music Academy (1984), the Sangeetha Kalasikhamani of the Indian Fine Arts Society (1994), the Sangeetha Kalaratna of the Bangalore Gayana Samaj, and the Chowdiah National Memorial Award.

References

External links

Listen to Tyagaraja Compositions performed by Sri Doreswamy Iyengar

his compositions in

mp3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

format {{DEFAULTSORT:Iyengar, Doreswamy 1920 births 1997 deaths Saraswati veena players Male Carnatic singers Carnatic singers Musicians from Mysore University of Mysore alumni Maharaja's College, Mysore alumni All India Radio people 20th-century Indian male classical singers Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award