The Story of Indian Music and Its Instruments : A Study of the Present and a Record of the Past

Contents: Foreword. Introduction. I. 1. Origins. 2. Time and tune. 3. The Vina and some other instruments. 4. Tyagaraja : the beethoven of Indian music. 5. The All-India music conferences. 6. The alliance of Indian music with poetry and dancing. II. 1. Excerpts from the "Gita Govinda". 2. The peculiarities of Manners and customs in Hindustan to which allusions are made in their song. 3. Indian music in staff notation in relation to Mr. E. Clements\'s work. 4. Darool-Ooloome Sangit-Hind. 5. The Indian dances of the Denishawn dancers. 6. Manahar G. Barve. 7. Indian music and the work of Sufi Inayat Khan. 8. On the musical modes of the Hindus, the treatise in full as enlarged by the author, Sir William Jones. Bibliography.

"The book has primarily been written with a view to stimulating interest in Indian music in the hope that English readers already acquainted with the subject might be encouraged to pursue their studies further, while new recruits might be added to the small group of western music lovers, prepared to further the cause of Indian music. To realise these aims the author has mainly endeavoured to bring into relief some of the many attractive futures which emphasize the charm, dignity and interest of Indian music.

The soul of a nation is revealed through the medium of its art, and appreciation of that art promotes sympathy for the land from which it springs.

In the present work, Ethel Rosenthal has sought to explore the vast panorama of Indian music and has divided her work into various chapters dealing with: origins, time and tune, the Vina and some other instruments. The Indian music has two great divisions, the Northern Indian or the Hindustani and the Southern Indian or the Carnatic styles of music. The author has rightly stressed the importance of Indian music as a composite whole-albeit-if its full impact is to be comprehended, for it reflects the varying characteristics of a people who have submitted to widely divergent influences."