Iacobus Leodiensis [Iacobus de Montibus, Iacobus de Oudenaerde]

X. Research

In the 1980s and 90s the pace of research and publication by Indian and non-Indian scholars on South Asia’s performing arts continued much as before. There were four primary areas of research: the performance genres of both Hindustani and Karnatak music; systematic and theoretical research (e.g. on pitch, rāga etc.); the life and music of a particular artist; and research that is primarily historical, focussing on musical instruments as well as culture.

Prospects for future research are rich, emerging both from previous work and from the adoption of new perspectives. Gradually the boundaries formed by scholarly conceptions of South Asian cultures in terms of master cleavages – ‘national cultural centres’ and regional culture, ‘great’ and ‘little’ traditions, Hindu and Muslim, to name a few – are being broken down. There is an increasing awareness of the political assumptions that underpin these simplistic conceptions of one of the world’s largest and most complex cultures.

In focussing on genres and on particular master artists, attention has remained largely on the overarching spheres of Hindustani and Karnatak music and to a certain extent on pan-Indian culture, since artists of both traditions perform regularly throughout the country. The performers and performance activity thus documented are those in the centres of Madras, Bombay, Delhi and Calcutta. A gradual, centuries-long process led to the existence of a pan-regional and pan-Indian musical culture. An analysis of the dynamics of that process would not only reveal a great deal about the nature of Indian culture today, but would also contextualize recent scholarly work.

While the nation-state has created the pan-Indian performance sphere, music throughout South Asia historically has flourished and developed at more localized levels, as has become clear through recent studies on Lucknow in north India and on Thanjavur in the south. Historical sources from cultural centres offer the opportunity for much deeper historical study of Indian music. Musical activity in princely states such as Gwalior and Rampur remain to be investigated in depth. Ethnographies of contemporary musical life in those regional centres would explain much about Indian culture at the present time, building on work done in Jaipur and other Rajasthani cities.

Local Indian culture is incomparably rich but largely neglected by scholars. While interdisciplinary studies of narrative forms have been exciting researchers around the world, local Indian narrative forms such as kathakali and yaksagāna have been ignored. Music in the Deccani area of India – that important meeting place of north and south, of South Asian and West Asian cultures – remains largely unexplored, either historically or in contemporary times. Recent writings on Maharashtrian and Gujarati culture border on it, but insufficient recognition is accorded such ‘localized’ studies, due primarily to the focus on pan-regional traditions.

The artificial division between ‘great’ and ‘little’ traditions (in musical terms, classical and other) has kept imaginations confined within the categories of ‘classical’, ‘folk’, ‘tribal’ and ‘popular’, and concentrated primarily on the ‘classical’, with genre study generously incorporating the ‘light classical’. Finally, however, scholars are according more attention to music at village level or to the music of a particular social group, e.g. Rajasthani musician castes, south Indian Christians and Ādivāsī groups. Likewise, studies of women in the ‘great’ tradition and even women’s musical traditions are gaining momentum. The film music and cassette industries in India are attracting, indeed compelling, attention to popular music. These are all rich and important areas for research.

In addition, work has just begun on sources long available but untapped. For example, Persian-language writing from the medieval period onwards, in literature, official chronicles or scholarly work, is being mined for the history of musical instruments and for tracing the development of the two ‘classical’ traditions (see §II above). Mughal paintings and early photographs are sources of invaluable information and new perspectives.

Significantly, scholar after scholar is starting to understand that the vitality of the Indian performing arts lies in the dynamic interplay between categories: ‘great’ and ‘little’, ‘classical’ and ‘non-classical’, Ādivāsī and non-‘tribal’, village and urban. Thus, such boundary-crossing topics as patronage, social mobility, musical mobility (for instance, the important role of mendicant musicians in Indian culture), music in ritual, popular culture and the interdependence of social groups through the arts in South Asian cultures emerge as rich subjects for study.

India, Sigismondo d'.

See D'India, Sigismondo.

Indianapolis.

American city, capital of Indiana. It was founded in 1821.

1. Early concert life.

The city’s early musical life was characterized by church choir performances, notably by the 50-voice ensemble at the Second Presbyterian Church, where Henry Ward Beecher was pastor from 1839 to 1847. Stimulated by German immigration during the 1830s and 1840s, singing societies flourished in the mid-19th century. In 1854 the Indianapolis Männerchor was founded and has remained active, having sponsored visits from such international artists as Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Maggie Teyte, George Enescu, Myra Hess and Nathan Milstein. It was followed by a number of other male singing societies.

The May Music Festival, held in 1874–5 and from 1886 to 1898 (when it was also known as the Grand Festival), was modelled on that of Cincinnati. The festival of 1886 had a chorus of about 600 and an orchestra of 60. Visiting orchestras included the Theodore Thomas Orchestra and the Boston SO; among guest conductors were Walter Damrosch and Frederick Stock.

The Indianapolis Matinee Musicale (founded in 1877 as the Ladies Matinee Musical), a society for instrumentalists and singers, continues to play an active part in the city’s musical life. Membership by 1927 was no longer restricted to women. After its participation in the World’s Columbian Exposition (Chicago, 1893), it became affiliated with the National Federation of Music Clubs. Guest artists in the programmes sponsored by the society (usually about 30 a year) have included Alfredo Casella (1920), Wilhelm Backhaus (1925), and Eugene Istomin (1947). Other choral groups included the Mendelssohn Choir (founded 1916) and the Haydn Festival Choir (1932). Solo recitals flourished from 1900 to 1960; the series at the English Theater was particularly notable and included such performers as Rachmaninoff.

2. Orchestras.

In 1896 Karl Schneider formed a 60-member orchestra, which survived until 1906 and was occasionally referred to as the Indianapolis SO. The most important other early attempts to form orchestras were the Indianapolis Orchestra and another short-lived Indianapolis SO, under Alexander Ernestinoff (1910–14). The latter rehearsed at the German House (Athenaeum), which has remained an important centre of musical activity.

The Indianapolis SO was formed in 1929, and first performed on 2 November 1930 under Ferdinand Schaeffer, a German violinist and conductor. The orchestra is supported by the Indiana State Symphony Society (founded 1931) and by its women’s committee (once numbering 5000). Until 1937 it was a cooperative, semi-professional orchestra. That year the society was reorganized under the leadership of the industrialist William H. Ball of Muncie, Fabien Sevitzky was appointed conductor and the orchestra became a fully professional ensemble. During the 1937–8 season, Lotte Lehmann, Albert Spaulding and Emanuel Feuermann appeared as guest soloists; the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir was formed as an affiliate of the orchestra; and ten concerts were broadcast by the Mutual Broadcasting Network (broadcasts continued to 1945). In 1943 the state passed legislation permitting the use of tax revenue for the orchestra; in 1951–2 it was the first significant orchestra to appear on commercial television and was considered one of the ten best orchestras in the USA. Sevitzky’s tenure was marked by his performances of contemporary American music, the engaging of young musicians, several recordings (from 1941) and the initiation of children’s and other community concert series. Dissatisfaction over his programming and other issues led to his dismissal in 1955, and Izler Solomon became director in 1956. In 1963 the orchestra moved to Clowes Memorial Hall (cap. 2182) on the Butler University campus. The hall is a centre of musical activity in Indianapolis, and has a flexible stage to accommodate solo recitals, ensembles, orchestras, opera and ballet. In 1984 the renovated Circle Theater (cap. 1847) became the orchestra’s home.

The orchestra achieved increased international recognition under Solomon, who resigned his post in 1976. Following two seasons of guest conductors, John Nelson became music director in 1976. Raymond Leppard succeeded him in 1987 and has brought the orchestra high acclaim. In 1982 the quadrennial International Violin Competition was initiated in Indianapolis.

3. Opera.

Despite frequent appearances by world renowned groups, it was not until after World War II that local opera began to develop. An interest in light opera from the 1880s resulted in the founding, by Ora Pearson, of the Indianapolis Opera Company, which lasted about a decade. A professional company, the Indianapolis Opera, was founded in 1975 and gives about four productions a year at the Clowes Memorial Hall. The Indiana Opera Theater, a community-based opera company, was founded in 1983.

4. Education.

In 1907 the College of Musical Art was founded. It merged with the Indiana College of Music and Fine Arts in 1918 and by 1922 it had 1000 students and 30 instructors. The Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music was formed in 1928 through the merging of the Indiana College of Music and Fine Arts, the Metropolitan School of Music (founded 1895) and a number of smaller institutions. It was affiliated with Butler University (founded 1855) from 1928 to 1951. In 1968 the college began sponsoring the Romantic Music Festival, held each April until 1988. Succeeding annual festivals have presented the Soviet arts, contemporary American music and the works of Brahms and Schubert. In the mid-1990s 200 undergraduate and 70 graduate students were enrolled at Jordan, which has a faculty of 50 and offers BA, BM, BS and MM degrees in performance, theory, composition, education, history and arts administration. Degree programmes are also offered at the University of Indianapolis (founded as Indiana Central University in 1902) and the school of music at Indiana University in Bloomington, about 80 kilometres south of Indianapolis.

5. Ragtime and jazz.

Although Indianapolis was not one of the points of origination for ragtime, it became an important centre for its publication. After a late start, the publication of ragtime in Indianapolis reached a peak in 1908 and remained high until 1916. Leading ragtime composers included May Aufderheide, Julia Niebergall, Paul Pratt, J. Russel Robinson and Russell Smith.

The early history of jazz in the city featured extended visits from the Wolverines with Bix Beiderbecke, Red Nichols (and his Syncopating Five) and Hoagy Carmichael; from the 1930s a more indigenous jazz evolved. Among those whose careers began in Indianapolis are the trumpeter Freddie Hubbard; the trombonists J.J. Johnson, Slide Hampton and David Baker; the alto saxophonist Jimmy Spaulding; the pianists Leroy Carr and Carl Perkins; the guitarist Wes Montgomery; the double bass players Monk Montgomery and Larry Ridley; and the drummers Earl ‘Fox’ Walker and Sonny Johnson. The most important groups included the Montgomery/Johnson Quintet, the Dave Baker Quartet and the Wes Montgomery Trio. David Baker of Indiana University at Bloomington has also achieved recognition as a jazz educator, author and arranger.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

M.F. Bellinger: ‘Music in Indianapolis’, Indiana Magazine of History, xli (1945), 345–62; xlii (1946), 47–65

E. Draegert: Indianapolis: the Culture of an Inland City (diss., Indiana U., 1952)

S.W. Siurua: History of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (diss., Indiana U., 1961)

E. Leary: Indianapolis: the Story of a City (Indianapolis, 1971)

N.H. Long: ‘The Development of Musical Educational Organizations in Indiana’, Indiana Musicator, xxxii/3 (1976–7), 36

J. Hasse: The Creation and Dissemination of Indianapolis Ragtime, 1897–1930 (diss., Indiana U., 1981)

N. Comiskey: ‘Historic Indianapolis: the Two-step, Toe-tapping Tempo of Ragtime’, Indianapolis Monthly (1982), March, 54

DAVID E. FENSKE (with WILLIAM McCLELLAN (4))/JAMES R. BRISCOE