of them of which five I set to music yesterday and today.Sri Aurobindo
Letters of Sri Aurobindo
Volume 3
Letter ID: 736
Sri Aurobindo — Roy, Dilip Kumar
May 8, 1936
Do you know what? Your force has done wonders, fancy that! I mean on an August Head as the Vice-! The Vice-Chancellor’s letter herewith. A most unexpectedly cordial letter – a virtual promise to accept my text1 or rather ours – since Sahana is appeased again and thinks of taking it up again. You see, don’t you, that it means a solution of the problem of competition and jobbery of men on the spot?
Quite. But it means that Vice is becoming a Virtue – as is proper in a Vice-Chancellor.
So – J must offer you my gratefulness for this – since I have been working like a ghost from morning till night. Yesterday I set five songs to music, fancy that – and written the whole stuff in my perfect “lotus-lettered form” padmākshar [meticulous handwriting]. Truly my script too is improving, fancy that! What is then not possible in Yoga – except perhaps success in it?
Transformation, by Jove!
Another fine news. Nishikanta is producing truly lovely songs – all of the right kind (I mean from the musical point of view) of which his songs in laghu gum are a treat (from the composer’s point of view especially) and I include six of them of which five I set to music yesterday and today.
His rhythms are indeed wonderful. What a gift.
Please note ālo/shubha/ālo and sudūra/tama/sāthee is the new metre invented by me from the musical tal2 – a very handy and charming metre from the musical point again! So everything is going top-hole what! Q’en dites-vous? Must say something, what!
Nirod is furiously trying to write one song in laghu guru as his song I sang to him this mom. Send him force please.
Nirod has just given me a laghu guru: not quite successful yet but has promise. So more force absolutely essential.
It shall be given.
By the way Venkataram asks me to sing to one Rami Reddy and people. I am just now awfully busy as you know. But I may have a little respite for an evening-singing these songs for a change. I would like to have a little soirée (only a few people) to-morrow as I don’t like crowds now-a-days.
Very well.
P.P.S. I will askAmiya, Sbanta, Padmasini and Kiran from the Vigy house, may I?Kamala too generally comes with Shanta. I suppose there is no harm as I am a little out of harm’s way in these matters, espérons – at least too husy to be active in that direction.
I have a little cough persisting. Better to let you know in time I think.
That won’t do at all! Cough must go off.
1 At the request of the then Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University, Dilipda wrote three text books – ‘Sangitik’, ‘Chhandasiki’ and ‘Geetashri’. (Notation books explaining in detail about Classical and Modern music.) Here he is writing about Geetashri – one of the finest notation books written in Bengali.
2 tal = rhythm, measure.