Between November 2014 and February 2015, music lovers in Kolkata were thrilled to hear American mezzo-soprano Aidan Soder in a series of concerts throughout the city, in which she performed songs by Western composers based on the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore, in English, German, Italian and other European languages. Students of Western music at Rabindra Bharati University also benefitted greatly from Dr. Soder’s lectures on the history of Western music, as well as from her valuable advice generally on other music-related matters. This was possible because Dr. Soder was in the city on a Fulbright Fellowship project with Teaching and Research components:Presenting Western Classical Musical Concepts and Ideas in Indian Music Curricula, and The Reception and Dissemination of Western Classical Vocal Settings of R. Tagore, respectively.

 

            Dr. Soder is a distinguished performer, scholar, and pedagogue, who is currently an Associate Professor of Voice in the Conservatory of Music & Dance at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. A graduate of Rice University’s prestigious Shepherd School of Music, Houston, TX, Dr. Soder has performed extensively in concert, opera, and recital with the Glimmerglass Opera, Delaware Symphony, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the Houston Symphony. As a pedagogue and technician, Dr. Soder has presented master classes throughout the U.S. and Europe. She was a founding faculty member of the International Performing Arts Institute (IPAI) in Kiefersfelden, Germany, and in 2011, Dr. Soder joined the summer faculty at Michigan’s prestigious Interlochen Arts Camp where she teaches voice and acting for singers.

 

            Dr. Soder’s scholarly and performing interests include the music of Schoenberg (she has published a book on the composer’s Pierrot Lunaire), performance practice-related issues in contemporary music, French mélodie of the early 20th century, and art song of living American composers. It was her performances of the Tagore Love Songs by the contemporary composer Karim Al-Zand (now available, along with other song settings by Western composers on a CD released by Albany Records, titled Tagoriana) that made her explore more of that large body of song-settings by Western composers based on Tagore’s poetry that is virtually unknown in India. Readers curious to know more about these songs may wish to consult Carlo Coppola,“Rabindranath Tagore and Western Composers: A Preliminary Essay,” in Journal of South Asian Literature 19:2 (1984), 41–61; Raymond Head, “The Flute and the Harp: Rabindranath Tagore and Western Composers,” in Rabindranath Tagore: Perspectives in Time, ed. Mary Lago and Ronald Warwick (London: Macmillan 1989), 122–40; and Suddhaseel Sen, “The Art Song and Tagore: Settings by Western Composers,” in University of Toronto Quarterly 77.4 (2008): 1110-1132, rpt. in Rabindranath Tagore: Reclaiming a Cultural Icon, ed. Kathleen and Joseph T. O’Connell (Kolkata: Visva-Bharati UP, 2009), 148-73.

 

            Caesurae is delighted to present this interview with Dr. Aidan Soder.

 

 

 

SS: What made you interested in exploring settings of Tagore by Western composers?  

 

AS: In 2005, a composer-friend of mine, Karim Al-Zand, wrote a song cycle for me (and a baritone friend), using several poems by Tagore for the texts (Tagore’s translations into English).  Having previously heard of Tagore because of Richard Hageman’s setting of “Do not go, my love” (which is frequently performed by high school and undergraduate students in the U.S.), I began to wonder what other composers had set Tagore over the past 100 years. And so I began to research . . . 

SS: Were you aware that Tagore was also a composer himself when you started exploring Western compositions based on his poems? If so, did you hear any of his songs in the US?

 

AS: No, not initially.  And interestingly enough, when I did learn that Tagore wrote songs, I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant in terms of Indian music.  Just as it was my experience that most Indians often didn’t understand what exactly they were hearing (many thought that the Western composer only wrote the vocal melody, and that the accompaniment was improvised or somehow otherwise composed) - not knowing how Western composing works - I, too, didn’t really know what it meant when I read that Tagore composed over 2000 songs.  And no, I’d never heard any of his music here in the States.  It wasn’t until I started to pursue the possibility of the Fulbright that I really started to explore Tagore’s songs via YouTube.  Even then, I still wasn’t sure what I was hearing.  It wasn’t until going to India that I actually understood that Tagore wrote only the melody, and that any other accompaniment/music that goes with the voice is variable and improvisatory by definition.  

SS: Was this your first visit to India? If so, how did you prepare for your trip, musically or otherwise?

 

AS:  YES, this was my first trip to India (or any developing country)!  In many ways, you can’t really prepare for a trip like that - especially culturally.  Culture Shock is a real thing, and though I’d read about it and was told what to expect, nothing could have prepared me for those first few weeks in-country; it was overwhelming and definitely took time to adjust.  

            Also, as I was there on a Teaching and Research Fulbright, I did my best to prepare for what I’d be doing in both of those areas.  My research component primarily consisted of the recitals I performed throughout Kolkata, so I spent several months before leaving the US learning and preparing about 80 minutes-worth of repertoire.  In terms of teaching, I knew that I would be helping out with Rabindra Bharati’s newly-formed BA Honors in Western Classical Music,but I didn’t know exactly in what capacity. Clarification of what my teaching duties would be didn’t happen until I arrived in Kolkata, so my preparation for that was only able to happen in terms of what materials I shipped to Kolkata before leaving the US.  Fortunately, Fulbright Scholars are allowed to ship several boxes of needed professional materials via the official Diplomatic Pouch system of the US State Department.  So I sent everything I could think of –musical score anthologies, music history and theory books, and the thing that proved most helpful: my very thorough, substantial comprehensive-exam binder that I used during my doctorate!  Once I arrived at RBU, I found out I’d be teaching an Intro to Western Music History class: Middle Ages - Baroque.  That wascertainly outside my sphere of expertise, so I was glad I had all the resources I’d mailed myself!  

SS: You performed, worked, and interacted with Indian musicians here, isn’t it? Could you tell us a bit about your musical experience?

 

AS: Unfortunately, I never got to perform with any Indian musicians, but I did attend several concerts and conferences of Hindustani classical music, as well as a couple of musical house parties with a mix of professional musicians of multiple genres.  I also became friends with several professional musicians, including a very well-known sarod player, and a dhrupad/pre-dhrupad singer.  And then, of course, there were all the musicians/colleagues who worked and taught at the Calcutta School of Music and RBU.  I had quite the learning curve when it came to understanding/appreciating Hindustani classical music.  The instrumental repertory was slightly more accessible to me than the vocal genres.  Before arriving in India, I had peripheral knowledge and understanding of some of the instruments - sarod, sitar, tabla, bansuri flute, tanpura, etc. - which obviously increased while there, but I really didn’t have any knowledge or familiarity with the vocal genres.  The first time that I heard dhrupad and khyal, I had no idea what I was hearing.  I was totally confused and a bit overwhelmed. Even after listening to it quite a bit, and attending several concerts, I have to admit that the vocal genres still perplex me.  And it’s not necessarily that I completely understand the instrumental genres either (like how all the people in the audience know when an arrival is imminent, or when the performer has done something “special” rhythmically or melodically), it’s just that I found the instrumental genres to be more immediately appealing.

 

SS:How did the audiences respond to the music they heard? Were there some settings they liked? Or some they didn’t like that much? And do you have any personal favorite in this repertoire?

 

AS: I think the audiences certainly appreciated, if not liked, the performances.  If for no other reason than because of the novel presentation of Tagore.  I met very few Bengalis (among them JayChakrabarti, the journalist who writes for Ei Samay) who had any idea that Tagore had been set by Western composers. Being able to present a brand new “take” on Tagore – a beloved figure who saturates practically all aspects of Bengali life – is pretty unusual.  I thought of it as something of an “old wine in new bottles” concept, if you will.  I got the most comments about the two John Alden Carpenter songs (perhaps because they’re the most overtly tuneful?), and the Italian set of songs by Franco Alfano, particularly “Si, lo so” (which is the Italian translation of the fairly famous Rabindrasangeet “Ei to tomar prem ogo hridoy harono”).  Alfano’s musical language is very similar to that of Puccini’s, and even if an audience doesn’t understand Western classical music, there is something about that Romantic Italian, Puccini-esque sound that clearly speaks to people of all nationalities, East and West.  

 

            For myself, I’d say I had two favorites: Alfano’s “Perchè siedi là” and Karim Al-Zand’s “My heart, the bird of the wilderness.”  

 

            Nobody ever said that there were any pieces that they absolutely didn’t like, but my guess is that the Szymanowski were probably the least appealing to them.  Szymanowski’s musical language is highly chromatic, and certainly not as “tuneful” as most of the other music (including Karim’s), so yes, in the course of casual conversations with people, I know that those two pieces were a little harder to like/appreciate.  And in terms of speaking of the whole project, there was one woman who remarked that she wasn’t wild about it because Tagore should only be performed in Bengali.  Actually, it was her comment that made me consider the idea of transferring the original language on to some of the Western settings . . . 
 

SS: I’ll be interested to hear more about that idea! But before that, could you tell us whether there were venues in Kolkata where you liked performing more than others? Did you get different kinds of responses in the different places you sang?

 

AS: Singing at the Jorasanko Thakurdalan was obviously a huge privilege and honor – a once-in-a-lifetime experience, to be sure.  To be on the same stage where Tagore himself performed, well, what more could one ask for?!  But even speaking just selfishly from an aesthetic and acoustical standpoint, it was an amazing space to sing in.  Of the three venues where I performed (and a fourth that I tested but didn’t perform in), Jorasanko was by far the most resonant, “giving” space.  Acoustic feedback was ideal – not too much, not too little – and though we had to work a bit to get the balance just right for the monitors (miking was used solely for that, not for amplification) and the speakers (for the electric, digital keyboard), it was a space in which I was able to sing soft and loud, and could always be heard.  

SS:Did you get to learn or study any Rabindrasangeet or raga music during your stay here?  

 

 

AS: Not officially or formally, unfortunately. As you know, Suddhaseel, I tried to start working on one of your arrangements, but because the vocalism to sing Rabindrasangeet is so completely different from Western classical singing, I didn’t feel like I could perform Rabindrasangeet in an “authentic” way, and so didn’t want to program it on a concert.  And because the singing is so different, I didn’t actively study it because it seemed counter-productive to the practice I was doing to get ready for the January/February Tagoriana concerts.  

SS:As regards the infrastructure for studying Western music here in Kolkata, what were your impressions? Do you have any suggestions?

 

AS: Well, my impression is that there really isn’t much infrastructure for it.  Certainly not at the advanced level.  And even though a lot of people took some sort of Western music lessons as kids (violin, piano, or guitar), that hasn’t adequately prepared most of them for Western music study in college.  I also acknowledge that my situation at RBU was unique and challenging in a lot of ways.  Even though most of the kids understood and could speak English, I quickly learned that most of their instruction at RBU took place in Bangla.  Couple that with lecturing with an American accent that was hard for them to understand, and you end up with a teaching/learning situation that is difficult.  I think what RBU is trying to do is amazing, but there’s definitely a steep learning curve, both for the students AND for the faculty trying to teach a Western curriculum (including trying to find qualified teachers of Western music). The first couple of years of starting any kind of program are always challenging, and I expect that will be no different for RBU.  

Obviously it would be helpful if somehow kids came in with a better knowledge of Western classical music, but I know that that’s just not very practical or likely with the current system of Western-music learning that happens through Class 12.

 

SS:To come back to a very interesting point you raised earlier, do you have in mind any specific plans about singing Rabindrasangeet in English translation? Also, do you plan to come back to Kolkata (or elsewhere in India) for future concerts, and/or continue with the Tagore project in the future?

 

AS: Absolutely.  I’d like to do similar concerts in Mumbai and possibly Delhi. I know that Mumbai has a larger Western music presence than Kolkata, but also less familiarity with Tagore, so that’s an interesting swap of knowledge/familiarity with the material. I’ve also been contemplating some off-shoots of my original project – attempting some of my Western songs with the texts replaced with the original Bengali. I have no idea if that’s possible, but it’d be a fun project to attempt with someone. Also, the possibility of importing better English translations (perhaps William Radice’s?) into the Western English-language songs.  And then taking that even a step further, doing some additional translations from the more accurate English into some of the other languages (maybe start with a couple of German and Italian).  Or use Martin Kämpchen’s German translations! Additionally, I’d be curious to try some inter-cultural musical exchange – perform some of the Western songs but with some Indian instrumental accompaniment (something with sarod and tabla?). And, of course, I’m always interested in looking for and learning additional Western settings.  

SS:Were there any highlights during your trip – musical or otherwise – that you’d like to share with our readers?  

 

AS: Again, performing at Jorasanko was obviously a huge highlight. I took a brief trip to Gangtok, Sikkim that was wonderful – it was so beautiful there, and the people were so nice! I developed some wonderful relationships with colleagues (and students) at the university, and also at the Calcutta School of Music.  They generously allowed me to practice there almost every day.  I got to know a lot of them, and they’ve become my friends. I got to spend American Thanksgiving at the U.S. Consulate – that was both fun and helped a bit with my initial homesickness.  And as odd as it sounds, I consider it a highlight that after the initial culture shock, I eventually started to assimilate fairly well to Kolkata and Bengali life, I think. Learning enough Bangla to be able to get around the city and manage basic communication with people was key. I think people accepted and responded to me more because of it.  

SS:In your opinion, do you think that audiences outside of India could ever become interested in Rabindrasangeet? And if so, what are the steps that can be taken to make Rabindrasangeet more accessible to those who are unfamiliar with the language (Bengali) or the musical idiom? 

 

AS: I do think they could.  Obviously there’s a large Bengali diaspora all over the world (even here in Kansas City, Missouri), but I do think the non-Bengali (and non-Indian) population could become interested in Rabindrasangeet, but I think the way that happens is, possibly, by Westernizing it a little bit.  I hesitate to even say anything like that because I don’t want to dilute Rabindrasangeetat all.  And honestly, I don’t think it’s the Rabindrasangeet itself; it’s partially the accompaniments.  Everybody loves a beautiful tune, and let’s face it, that’s the strong point about Rabindrasangeet–the melodic lines are SO beautiful and singable!  Actually, as I’m thinking about it as I write this, it’s not even the accompaniments so much as it’s some of the instruments/instrumentation, I think.  Sometimes there are electric keyboard accompaniments that sound outdated to Western audiences, and some are made with traditional Indian instruments, which are also completely foreign to most Westerners. Also, has anyone ever sung Rabindrasangeet in translation?  I wonder if that would help? It would be an interesting project – to get someone really good to sing them in translation (using Radice’s translations or someone else’s?).  In the US, I think Rabindrasangeet in English would sound like exotic folk music – I absolutely think people could like it! And actually, what you’ve done with your arrangements,[1] those, too, make Tagore more accessible/performable for classically-trained Western musicians, too.  That’ll certainly be an interesting thing to look at more closely whenever I’m able to program them on a recital here – see how audiences respond to them.  And the next time I’m in India – if I were able to perform a version for maybe just piano and flute – I’d be curious to see how Bengalis (and Indians in other cities like Mumbai and Delhi) would respond.