Long ago, I heard this wonderful aria from the Mozart opera Die Zauberflöte on the Nimbus Records label…
Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön
What led me there was the account in his autobiography The Ochre Robe by Agehananda Bharati of his encounter with the famous Carnatic musician Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar in Kalady, Kerala circa 1954. Maestro Chembai gave a wonderful concert after which he bade AB to sing — whereupon AB sang this aria in the temple of S’aaradaambaa !
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dies_Bild ... ernd_schön
Fritz Wunderlich’s rendition is a classic that you can hear at
https://youtu.be/uVb12RXmM0M?si=JaexVw4QyGlppOah
Mozart in Malayala des’am — circa 1954
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srini_pichumani
- Posts: 83
- Joined: 24 May 2006, 11:29
Re: Mozart in Malayala des’am — circa 1954
Agehananda Bharati remarks:
Maestro Chembai insisted I should sing a classical German song—I did so, and in the pillared hall of the Goddess Sarada, tutelary deity of wisdom and of the Sankaracharya Head Math of Sringeri, I sang Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schOn, folding my palms towards the lovely icon of the Goddess. Everyone laughed with glee, for Mozart does seem funny to the Indian ear, at least at a first hearing, though less of a tonal or atonal travesty than things written after 1800.
Maestro Chembai insisted I should sing a classical German song—I did so, and in the pillared hall of the Goddess Sarada, tutelary deity of wisdom and of the Sankaracharya Head Math of Sringeri, I sang Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schOn, folding my palms towards the lovely icon of the Goddess. Everyone laughed with glee, for Mozart does seem funny to the Indian ear, at least at a first hearing, though less of a tonal or atonal travesty than things written after 1800.