Baroque India is the fruit of over 40 years of research, and is the work of one professionally trained in the history of Indian art (Hindu, Buddhist and Jain). In addition, he is the author of a survey of Islamic architecture world-wide, which includes, of course, the Indo-Islamic traditions. It is his belief that Indian Baroque ? or, more correctly, Indian Neo-Roman ? cannot be properly appreciated without an understanding of the architectural styles that preceded it on the subcontinent, and which exercised a significant impact on it. To produce the book the author not only visited the various sites which contain the monuments of Indian Neo-Roman, but has travelled as an architectural pilgrim over much of the Neo-Roman world, in Europe and the Americas. He has also familiarized himself with the art-historical theories on the various styles of architecture, in particular, the Neo-Roman. He has thus prepared himself to contemplate Baroque India's contribution against the Neo-Roman background. In consequence, the method adopted in this book has been that of summarily describing the distinctive spatial modalities of the various Neo-Roman styles, as reflected in their major monuments, especially the styles which impacted on India: a method that facilitates the discernment of the specific Indian contribution to Neo-Roman taken as a whole. In so doing, the author has tried to outline a consistent aesthetic theory of Neo-Roman, to portray its five major modes ? Renaissance, Mannerism, Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassicism ? as expressions of the Neo-Roman essence, immanently developing, in the indicated sequence, one from the other, and pullulating a rich variety of spatial themes that both display a marked originality and manifest a capacity for assimilating the spatial nuances of the other architectural styles. This theory, he believes, has enabled him to distinguish the originality of Indian Neo-Roman, and describe what it has absorbed from the subcontinents? Indian and Indo-Islamic styles, while integrating the absorbed material into its Neo-Roman substance.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jose Pereira
JOSE PEREIRA, Born in Bombay in 1931, B.A. (Hons.) in Sanskrit, University of Bombay (1951). Ph.D. in Ancient Indian History and Culture, University of Bombay(1958). Adjunct Professor of East-West Cultural Relationships at the Insituto Superior de Estudos Ultramarinos, Lisbon (1959-1960). Research Fellow in the History of Indian Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (1962-1966). Research Associate in the History of Indian Art, The American Academy of Benares, Varanasi(1967-1969). Professor of Theology, Fordham University, New York (1970 to present). Pereira has published 14 books and over 130 articles on theology, history of art and architecture, and on Goan and Konkani culture, language and music. MICAEL MARTINS (29 October 1914-9 February 1999) born at Ol-lli/Orlim, Goa, in 1914. Studied music in Goa, and in Bombay with renowned music teachers. Performed for various musical societies in Bombay and Delhi and directed musical groups like the Coro Sacro and the Micael Martins String Quartet. Conducted the opera Geisha (1953). Was orchestra leader of films (Films Division Orchestra, 1949, Rajkamal Kala Mandir Orchestra, 1949). Participated in concerts in Delhi, where, in 1962, he performed alongside Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi, and, in 1972, at the inaugural function of the Delhi Symphony Orchestra. Martins began his research into traditional Goan Song in 1933. Collaborated with Jose Pereira in recording Goan songs from 1954, collecting as many as 11,000 numbers. Martins and Pereira published some of those songs in Marg (1954) and Goan Tribune (1956-1957). They also published monographs of Goan Song in A Sheaf of Deknnis (Bombay: Konkan Cultural Association, 1967) and “Song of Goa. An Anthology of Mandosâ€, in the Boletim do Instituto Menezes Braganca, no 28 (1981). Martins was a prolific composer of classical musical forms, incorporating themes of Goan folk and art song into his compositions. He composed masses, hymns, profane songs and instrumental pieces – particularly excelling in the latter, outstanding examples of which are the following:
Rapsodia (1952), Carnaval em Goa (1953). Quatro Aguarelas (1953), Crepusculo de Estrelas Moribundas (1960), and Festival (1971). Micael Martins is renowned as the greatest classical composer in the history of Goan music.
There are no reviews yet.