Carnatic music: Violinist L Subramaniam’s new book looks at the 18th-century masters

The 18th century is considered as the golden age of Carnatic music. During this time lived three great composers/ musicians who were later celebrated as the musical trinity: Shyama Shastri, Tyagaraja and Muthuswami Dikshitar. Their knowledge, deep spirituality, profound musicianship, creativity and innovations make their contribution to Carnatic music invaluable.

Shyama Shastri (1762-1827), one among the musical trinity, was responsible for many great compositions. He indian classical music 38 raga harmony also composed navarathnamalika, a group of nine kritis for goddess Meenakshi of Madurai. He used different talas but was a specialist in Mishra chapu tala. His mudra (or signature word) was Shyamakrishna.

Tyagaraja (1767-1847) was a prolific composer, who composed over 24,000 compositions. They were mostly in Telugu and a few were in Sanskrit. He is credited with evolving and perfecting the kriti form. The concept of the sangati (melodic variations on a line in the composition used to beautify it) was his contribution. His pancharatna kritis form an important part of Carnatic music repertoire even today. His mudra was Tyagaraja.

Muthuswami Dikshitar (1775-1835) was a composer who sang kritis in praise of all deities. His songs are normally slow in tempo and bring out the depth and beauty of a raga. His mudra was...

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