Midweek Review
Politics of Public Security
By Shamindra Ferdinando
A smiling Public Security Minister, Sarath Weerasekera, MP, (Colombo District), last Thursday (Dec 3), said he was happy to have his school cadet platoon Sergeant Sarath Fonseka, in Parliament as an ordinary MP. The Former Navy Chief of Staff said so in response to Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) lawmaker Fonseka’s reference to Weerasekera being a Corporal in the Ananda College cadet platoon, at the time he served as the Sergeant.
Recently, Viyathmaga member Weerasekera received appointment as the Public Security Minister (formerly Law and Order Minister). Following the parliamentary election in August, Weerasekera received appointment as the State Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government. Many an eyebrow was raised when one of the strongest critics of the Provincial Council system was named the Minister in charge. Weerasekera gave up the Provincial Council and Local Government Ministry to accept the far more influential Public Security portfolio.
War-winning Army Chief Field Marshal Fonseka and Rear Admiral Weerasekera also exchanged words over the latter’s son, ASP Sachitra Weerasekera, in uniform, saluting the father and then embracing him.
The exchange between Fonseka and Weerasekera highlighted continuing tensions among some sections of the retired top brass, divided on political lines. Both entered Parliament at the 2010 April parliamentary election, the first since the successful conclusion of the war against the LTTE.
Lawmaker Fonseka reiterated accusations directed at Minister Weerasekera in parliament on Monday (7) in the latter’s absence. Weerasekera told the writer that there was absolutely no basis for Fonseka’s assertions and the claim that he received the post of DG, Civil Defence Force with the then Army Commander’s intervention.
Fonseka contested under the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) symbol, having lost badly to Mahinda Rajapaksa, at the 2010 January presidential election, whereas Weerasekera entered Parliament from the Digamadulla district. At the time, the UNP-led political alliance consisting of the TNA, the JVP and the SLMC fielded Fonseka as the common candidate although the Sinha Regiment veteran hadn’t even been registered as a voter anywhere in Sri Lanka at the time.
Along with Fonseka, the JVP-led DNA won seven seats, including two National List slots at the 2010 general election. The DNA group comprised Fonseka (now with Sajith Premadasa’s SJB), Arjuna Ranatunga (still in beleaguered UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s camp), Tiran Alles (National List member of the SLPP) and four JVPers. (Today the JVP group consists of three lawmakers – a 50 per cent drop from the previous 2015-2019 Parliament).
Political maneuvering deprived Fonseka of his seat in early Oct 2010. Jayantha Ketagoda, who replaced Fonseka in Parliament, finally ended up in the SLPP National List last August. Politics here is certainly a game of opportunity lacking in any principles.
At the August 2015 general election, Fonseka contested on the Democratic Party ticket. Fonseka led the party, while Ketagoda functioned as his deputy. The DP failed to secure a single seat. In the following year, thanks to UNP leader Wickremesinghe, Fonseka was accommodated on the UNP National List, in the wake of M.K.D.S. Gunawardena’s sudden death.
Before discussing the circumstances leading to the creation of the Public Security Ministry, and elevation of Weerasekera to cabinet rank, it would be pertinent to mention how the naval veteran created history by being the only lawmaker to vote against the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, enacted by yahapalana strategists in early 2015. Weerasekera, in spite of being repeatedly urged to vote for the much-touted piece of legislation, voted against it, whereas almost the entire UPFA grouping, including the Joint Opposition, backed the 19th Amendment.
Weerasekera received public admiration for always taking a tough stand against terrorism, regardless of consequences. Weerasekera risked his naval career during President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga’s tenure. Weerasekera earned the wrath of the government for resisting LTTE strategies. The then Maj. Gen. Fonseka, too, strongly opposed the LTTE strategy, though the government relentlessly pushed the military to give in. The nation should be eternally grateful to Fonseka for his unwavering stance, in his capacity as Security Forces Commander, Jaffna, to dismantle High Security Zones, in the peninsula. The TNA hated Fonseka so much so that the grouping demanded Fonseka’s removal from the vital Jaffna command, during the 2002-2003 period. Ironically, the TNA and Fonseka, in his capacity as the UNP- backed presidential candidate, reached a marriage of convenience just to oust Rajapaksas in 2010. Again proving that politics is nothing but a game for opportunists in this country, whatever the long term consequences could be.
The unholy alliance that failed to win the 2010 presidential election, succeeded five years later when Maithripala Sirisena defeated Mahinda Rajapaksa, who sought a third presidential term at the expense of political stability. The same alliance, sans the JVP, failed at the 2019 presidential election, to pave the way for wholly new political groups, the SLPP and the SJB to emerge as the main parties. The UNP and the SLFP are irrelevant in today’s context.
Having each served the armed forces, for well over three decades, Fonseka and Weerasekera, now represent the main Opposition (SJB with 54 seats) and the government (145 seats), respectively.
Weerasekera faces a daunting task
There is no point in denying politicization of the police. Successive governments brazenly exploited and abused police, while in return some in the police made hay by often milking the underworld and also getting promotions and perks. The previous yahapalana administration ruined the law enforcement apparatus to such an extent that the police, in spite of having specific foreign intelligence, as regards impending National Thowheed Jamaat (NTJ) strike, allowed the operation to go ahead. At that time of Sri Lanka’s worst security failure, a retired DIG functioned as the Chief of National Intelligence (CNI), a post previously held by veteran intelligence leaders like, then Maj. Gen. Kapila Hendawitharana, one-time head of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI).
Weerasekera will have to grapple with an extremely dicey situation with two key units – the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Police Narcotic Bureau (PNB) under investigation over serious offenses. In both cases, police headquarters had no option but to hastily remove the DIGs, as well as Directors in charge of the CID and the PNB, pending investigations. Police headquarters is yet to reveal its findings. The PNB is under investigation for dealing in heroin, whereas the CID is under fire for releasing Riyaj Bathiudeen, SJB lawmaker Rishad Bathiudeen’s brother under mysterious circumstances after having been taken into custody under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
Previous CID head Shani Abeysekera is now in remand for framing a DIG. He has many other cases in the pipeline against him like fixing cases involving other victims, some of which are on tape him discussing them with actor turned politician Ranjan Ramanayake.
In both the PNB and Riyaj cases, no less a person than intrepid Attorney General Dappula de Livera, PC intervened. The AG demanded special investigation into the CID’s handling of Riyaj Bathiudeen’s case. The President’s Counsel certainly didn’t mince his words when he questioned the deliberate failure on the part of the police to conduct the inquiry and the deliberate denial of the required expertise to bring it to a successful conclusion.
The AG rapped the police in two other cases, namely the Negombo Prison officer’s misconduct and the inordinate delay in the Brandix investigation. In the wake of the Negombo Prison officer’s case, involving the disgraced superintendent of prison Anuruddha Sampayo, the AG called a media briefing, the first time by any AG in over 100 years to take a public stand. On behalf of the AG, Deputy Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris went to the extent of suggesting the deployment of the military to execute arrest warrants if the police found the task too difficult. In the high profile Brandix case, the AG directed an investigation into what his Coordinating Officer State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne called negligence on the part of Brandix, and government officials, in the deadly coronavirus second eruption.
Restoring confidence in law enforcement will certainly be a tough task for the new Minister. The public expected the new administration to take remedial measures. However, the damaging of a section of King Bhuvanekabahu II’s royal pavilion, while demolishing an appendage constructed in more recent times in Kurunegala, in July, on the orders of Kurunegala Mayor Thushara Sanjeewa, bulldozing of a section of the Anavilundawa Ramsar wetland, for shrimp farming, by former Arachchikattuwa Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman Jagath Samantha, brother of State Minister Sanath Nishantha, in September, caused quite a shock.
In the wake of the recent acquittal of former Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga, and the then Director General of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission Anusha Palpita by the Court of Appeal, in the high profile sil redi case, the focus is now on the police and the Office of the AG. Perhaps there should be a judicial review of the whole process, as successive governments and Oppositions, and vice versa, repeatedly accuse each other of politicizing the judiciary and the police. The nine-member Committee, headed by Romesh de Silva, PC, tasked with formulating a new Constitution, should explore ways and means of having an independent review mechanism.
The Public Security Ministry will have to be mindful of the overall developments, including political environment. Many an eyebrow was raised when Sivenesathurai Chandrakanthan aka Pilleyan, formerly a member of the LTTE fighting cadre, now a lawmaker, who had been arrested in Oct 2015 over his alleged involvement in the assassination of TNA MP Joseph Pararajasingham, in Batticaloa, 10 years before was granted bail after being in remand for about five years over a confession that is not admissible in a court. Chandrakanthan backed the SLPP presidential candidate, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, at the 2019 presidential election. Chandrakanthan also voted for the 20th Amendment to the Constitution. If those who had ordered Chandrakanthan arrested for political reasons, they owed an explanation.
The yahapalana Prime Minister appointed one-time Attorney General Tilak Marapana, PC, as the Law and Order Minister, in Sept 2015. Marapana was accommodated on the UNP National List. The CID arrested Chandrakanthan during Marapana’s short stint as the Law and Order Minister. Marapana resigned in the second week of Nov 2015 over the Avant Garde controversy as he did not see eye to eye with the yahapalana government on that issue like then Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakse. His resignation paved the way for another Wickremesinghe favourite, Sagala Ratnayake, to assume the Law and Order portfolio. Ratnayake resigned close on the heels of the debilitating setback suffered by the UNP at the Feb 2018 Local Government polls.
Western backed civil society wanted Fonseka
A section of the UNP, as well as the powerful civil society grouping, faulted the Law and Order and Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, PC for the defeat. They alleged the UNP-led government experienced such a devastating defeat due to their failure to bring high profile cases against the Rajapaksa administration to a successful conclusion. Those who largely found fault with Sagala Ratnayake and Wijeyadasa Rajapakse demanded the appointment of Sarath Fonseka as the Law and Order Minister. President Sirisena, at the UNP’s behest, in mid-August 2017, replaced Wijeyadasa Rajapakse with Thalatha Atukorale. However, President Sirisena flatly refused to accommodate Fonseka as Law and Order Minister. The President’s stand was anyone but Fonseka, who had been harsh on the SLFP leader on many occasions.
The civil society, too, pushed President Sirisena hard to accommodate Fonseka. In the wake of the humiliating defeat suffered by the party, civil society leaders felt the yahapalana arrangement could collapse unless they made a special effort.
Close on the heels of the Feb 10, 2018 defeat, civil society representatives sought assurance from both President Sirisena and Premier Wickremesinghe that they wouldn’t quit the yahapalana alliance over debilitating polls setback. In a bid to pressure the SLFP and UNP leaders, co-conveners of Purawesi Balaya, Gamini Viyangoda, K.W. Janaranjana and Saman Ratnapriya briefed the media as regards their efforts at a hastily arranged media conference at the Centre for Society and Religion (CSR), Maradana on Feb 13, 2018. They acknowledged the possibility of an unceremonious end to the yahapalana arrangement, unless the simmering dispute between the two leaders could be settled. The delegation that made representations to the President and the Premier on Feb 12, 2010, consisted of Ven. Dambara Amila, ‘Annidda’ editor K.W. Janaranjana, Gamini Viyangoda and Saman Ratnapriya. Purawesi Balaya attributed the polls defeat primarily to the yahapalana leaders’ failure to introduce a new Constitution and their failure to punish those responsible for killings and corruption. The writer covered the Purawesi Balaya briefing (Last ditch attempt to prevent collapse of govt – The Island, Feb 14, 2020).
Purawesi Balaya
called a second media briefing on the same matter, on Feb 15, 2020, at the same venue, to demand an immediate solution to the failure on the government’s part to investigate killings and corruption. Amila thera demanded the immediate appointment of Fonseka as the Law and Order Minister. Flanked by Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) Dr. Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu, Nimalka Fernando, Chameera Perera and Saman Ratnapriya, the yahapalana proponent urged the government to allow the police, under Fonseka, to operate outside what he called democratic norms. Ven. Amila demanded that the police operate beyond normal laws of the land. The openly hardcore right wing monk emphasized that the FCID (Financial Crimes Investigation Division), the CID and other law enforcement arms be placed under Fonseka and the military put on alert. Purawesi Balaya wanted Fonseka given six months to execute the operation. Reiterating their role in Sirisena winning the presidency, the grouping insisted that the yahapalana leaders couldn’t, under any circumstances, abandon the agreed agenda (Prez, PM urged to appoint SF Law & Order Minister – The Island, February 16, 2020).
Rear Admiral Weerasekera wouldn’t have envisaged him receiving the Public Security portfolio as he threw his weight behind the high profile Viyathmaga campaign meant to promote wartime Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the SLPP candidate. It would be pertinent to mention that at the time the Viyathmaga campaign got underway, the breakaway UPFA faction hadn’t registered a political outfit of its own.
Sand mining Mafia challenges police
Restoring public confidence in the police would be a herculean task. The police would have to seriously think beyond neutralizing the underworld. Bringing the underworld to its knees is certainly a necessity that needs urgent action. The powerful sand mining Mafia recently killed a 32-year-old policeman, attached to the Bingiriya police station. Although the police quickly arrested the 27-year-old driver of the tipper truck, that ran over the policeman, who signaled him to stop, police headquarters should ensure a proper investigation. Police spokesman Attorney-At-Law DIG Ajith Rohana is on record as having said that the police were deployed to thwart illegal mining at Deduru Oya, on a specific Supreme Court directive. Minister Weerasekera should, without further delay, examine the deteriorating ground situation. High profile case involving former Director of CID SSP Shani Abeysekera, now in remand, custody, fugitive Inspector Nishantha Silva, securing political asylum, in Switzerland, and the arrest of an officer over accusations that he helped the wife of Easter Sunday bomber Hasthun, underscored the need for special attention.
Minister Johnston Fernando, last Saturday (Dec 5) questioned the UNP/SJB, in Parliament over the late Makandure Madush fleeing the country, several years ago. Fernando, onetime UNP heavyweight, who switched his allegiance at the onset of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s first presidential term, alleged a former UNP minister brought the notorious underworld leader on the Southern highway to the Bandaranaike International Airport. Fernando should have named the former minister.
EPDP leader Douglas Devananda recently made a shocking claim in Parliament. One-time militant Devananda, who himself received weapons training, in India, alleged, in Parliament, that a lawmaker, from the Jaffna peninsula, currently serving Parliament, was involved in the abduction and killing of SSP Charles Wijewardena, in Jaffna, during the Ceasefire Agreement. The mainstream media, as well as the social media, conveniently refrained from providing sufficient coverage to the incident. A couple of weeks later, Devananda received appointment as the Prime Minister’s representative in the five-member Parliamentary Council, the successor to the former so called independent Constitutional Council, which in practice proved to be far from independent of the previous government. Minister Devananda’s statement hadn’t received the attention it deserved.
Wijewardena was kidnapped and killed in Jaffna, while he was travelling to Inuvil to investigate a shooting incident on August 4, 2005. The killing took place at Mallakam. Parliament also accommodated LTTE’s Eastern Commander, Karuna Amman, under whose command terrorists butchered over 400 unarmed surrendered policemen at the onset of the Eelam War II, in June 1990. Karuna served two terms as a lawmaker during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s tenure as the President. Karuna’s one-time junior associate LTTE cadre Pilleyan is now a Member of Parliament, whereas Karuna bid to enter Parliament, from Digamadulla, at the last general election, failed.
The JVP responsible for hundreds of deaths, if not thousands, too, is represented in Parliament – since 1994. The TNA that recognized the LTTE, in late 2001, as the sole representatives of the Tamil people, and then served them until the very end, is also represented in Parliament. The TNA includes three former terrorist groups, the TELO, PLOTE and EPRLF.
Sri Lanka’s politics is certainly an ‘explosive mix.’ Having failed to secure the presidency, Field Marshal Fonseka serves as a lawmaker. The war-winning Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa is the seventh executive President. Retired Rear Admiral Weerasekera is the Public Security Minister, whereas the LTTE and other Tamil groups, as well as the JVP, responsible for two bloody insurrections, are part of the system.
How Sajith Premadasa promoted Fonseka as his future Defence Minister, during the failed 2019 presidential campaign, and lawmaker and retired Supreme Court Justice C.W. Wigneswaran, exploiting the LTTE cause, as well as Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam’s fiery speeches in Parliament, are grim reminders the country is yet to achieve stability ten years after the war. Public Security Minister Weerasekera’s recent warning in Parliament that Tamil political parties promoted terrorism underscores the need to address security issue, regardless of political consequences.
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It is a pleasure to be here today, when the University resumes postgraduate work in English and Education which we first embarked on over 20 years ago. The presence of a Professor on English Language Teaching from Kelaniya makes clear that the concept has now been mainstreamed, which is a cause for great satisfaction.
Twenty years ago, this was not the case. Our initiative was looked at askance, as indeed was the initiative which Prof. Arjuna Aluwihare engaged in as UGC Chairman to make degrees in English more widely available. Those were the days in which the three established Departments of English in the University system, at Peradeniya and Kelaniya and Colombo, were unbelievably conservative. Their contempt for his efforts made him turn to Sri Jayewardenepura, which did not even have a Department of English then and only offered it as one amongst three subjects for a General Degree.
Ironically, the most dogmatic defence of this exclusivity came from Colombo, where the pioneer in English teaching had been Prof. Chitra Wickramasuriya, whose expertise was, in fact, in English teaching. But her successor, when I tried to suggest reforms, told me proudly that their graduates could go on to do postgraduate degrees at Cambridge. I suppose that, for generations brought up on idolization of E. F. C. Ludowyke, that was the acme of intellectual achievement.
I should note that the sort of idealization of Ludowyke, the then academic establishment engaged in was unfair to a very broadminded man. It was the Kelaniya establishment that claimed that he ‘maintained high standards, but was rarefied and Eurocentric and had an inhibiting effect on creative writing’. This was quite preposterous coming from someone who removed all Sri Lankan and other post-colonial writing from an Advanced Level English syllabus. That syllabus, I should mention, began with Jacobean poetry about the cherry-cheeked charms of Englishwomen. And such a characterization of Ludowyke totally ignored his roots in Sri Lanka, his work in drama which helped Sarachchandra so much, and his writing including ‘Those Long Afternoons’, which I am delighted that a former Sabaragamuwa student, C K Jayanetti, hopes to resurrect.
I have gone at some length into the situation in the nineties because I notice that your syllabus includes in the very first semester study of ‘Paradigms in Sri Lankan English Education’. This is an excellent idea, something which we did not have in our long-ago syllabus. But that was perhaps understandable since there was little to study then except a history of increasing exclusivity, and a betrayal of the excuse for getting the additional funding those English Departments received. They claimed to be developing teachers of English for the nation; complete nonsense, since those who were knowledgeable about cherries ripening in a face were not likely to move to rural areas in Sri Lanka to teach English. It was left to the products of Aluwihare’s initiative to undertake that task.
Another absurdity of that period, which seems so far away now, was resistance to training for teaching within the university system. When I restarted English medium education in the state system in Sri Lanka, in 2001, and realized what an uphill struggle it was to find competent teachers, I wrote to all the universities asking that they introduce modules in teacher training. I met condign refusal from all except, I should note with continuing gratitude, from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, where Paru Nagasunderam introduced it for the external degree. When I started that degree, I had taken a leaf out of Kelaniya’s book and, in addition to English Literature and English Language, taught as two separate subjects given the language development needs of students, made the third subject Classics. But in time I realized that was not at all useful. Thankfully, that left a hole which ELT filled admirably at the turn of the century.
The title of your keynote speaker today, Professor of English Language Teaching, is clear evidence of how far we have come from those distant days, and how thankful we should be that a new generation of practical academics such as her and Dinali Fernando at Kelaniya, Chitra Jayatilleke and Madhubhashini Ratnayake at USJP and the lively lot at the Postgraduate Institute of English at the Open University are now making the running. I hope Sabaragamuwa under its current team will once again take its former place at the forefront of innovation.
To get back to your curriculum, I have been asked to teach for the paper on Advanced Reading and Writing in English. I worried about this at first since it is a very long time since I have taught, and I feel the old energy and enthusiasm are rapidly fading. But having seen the care with which the syllabus has been designed, I thought I should try to revive my flagging capabilities.
However, I have suggested that the university prescribe a textbook for this course since I think it is essential, if the rounded reading prescribed is to be done, that students should have ready access to a range of material. One of the reasons I began while at the British Council an intensive programme of publications was that students did not read round their texts. If a novel was prescribed, they read that novel and nothing more. If particular poems were prescribed, they read those poems and nothing more. This was especially damaging in the latter case since the more one read of any poet the more one understood what he was expressing.
Though given the short notice I could not prepare anything, I remembered a series of school textbooks I had been asked to prepare about 15 years ago by International Book House for what were termed international schools offering the local syllabus in the English medium. Obviously, the appalling textbooks produced by the Ministry of Education in those days for the rather primitive English syllabus were unsuitable for students with more advanced English. So, I put together more sophisticated readers which proved popular. I was heartened too by a very positive review of these by Dinali Fernando, now at Kelaniya, whose approach to students has always been both sympathetic and practical.
I hope then that, in addition to the texts from the book that I will discuss, students will read other texts in the book. In addition to poetry and fiction the book has texts on politics and history and law and international relations, about which one would hope postgraduate students would want some basic understanding.
Similarly, I do hope whoever teaches about Paradigms in English Education will prescribe a textbook so that students will understand more about what has been going on. Unfortunately, there has been little published about this but at least some students will I think benefit from my book on English and Education: In Search of Equity and Excellence? which Godage & Bros brought out in 2016. And then there was Lakmahal Justified: Taking English to the People, which came out in 2018, though that covers other topics too and only particular chapters will be relevant.
The former book is bulky but I believe it is entertaining as well. So, to conclude I will quote from it, to show what should not be done in Education and English. For instance, it is heartening that you are concerned with ‘social integration, co-existence and intercultural harmony’ and that you want to encourage ‘sensitivity towards different cultural and linguistic identities’. But for heaven’s sake do not do it as the NIE did several years ago in exaggerating differences. In those dark days, they produced textbooks which declared that ‘Muslims are better known as heavy eaters and have introduced many tasty dishes to the country. Watalappam and Buriani are some of these dishes. A distinguished feature of the Muslims is that they sit on the floor and eat food from a single plate to show their brotherhood. They eat string hoppers and hoppers for breakfast. They have rice and curry for lunch and dinner.’ The Sinhalese have ‘three hearty meals a day’ and ‘The ladies wear the saree with a difference and it is called the Kandyan saree’. Conversely, the Tamils ‘who live mainly in the northern and eastern provinces … speak the Tamil language with a heavy accent’ and ‘are a close-knit group with a heavy cultural background’’.
And for heaven’s sake do not train teachers by telling them that ‘Still the traditional ‘Transmission’ and the ‘Transaction’ roles are prevalent in the classroom. Due to the adverse standard of the school leavers, it has become necessary to develop the learning-teaching process. In the ‘Transmission’ role, the student is considered as someone who does not know anything and the teacher transmits knowledge to him or her. This inhibits the development of the student.
In the ‘Transaction’ role, the dialogue that the teacher starts with the students is the initial stage of this (whatever this might be). Thereafter, from the teacher to the class and from the class to the teacher, ideas flow and interaction between student-student too starts afterwards and turns into a dialogue. From known to unknown, simple to complex are initiated and for this to happen, the teacher starts questioning.’
And while avoiding such tedious jargon, please make sure their command of the language is better than to produce sentences such as these, or what was seen in an English text, again thankfully several years ago:
Read the story …
Hello! We are going to the zoo. “Do you like to join us” asked Sylvia. “Sorry, I can’t I’m going to the library now. Anyway, have a nice time” bye.
So Syliva went to the zoo with her parents. At the entrance her father bought tickets. First, they went to see the monkeys
She looked at a monkey. It made a funny face and started swinging Sylvia shouted: “He is swinging look now it is hanging from its tail its marvellous”
“Monkey usually do that’
I do hope your students will not hang from their tails as these monkeys do.
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By Satyajith Andradi
Quite understandably, the world of classical music is dominated by the brand images of great composers. It is their compositions that we very often hear. Further, it is their life histories that we get to know. In fact, loads of information associated with great names starting with Beethoven, Bach and Mozart has become second nature to classical music aficionados. The classical music industry, comprising impresarios, music publishers, record companies, broadcasters, critics, and scholars, not to mention composers and performers, is largely responsible for this. However, it so happens that classical music lovers are from time to time pleasantly struck by the irresistible charm and beauty of classical pieces, the origins of which are little known, if not through and through obscure. Intriguingly, most of these musical gems happen to be classical super – hits. This article attempts to present some of these famous pieces and their little-known composers.
Pachelbel’s Canon in D
The highly popular piece known as Pachelbel’s Canon in D constitutes the first part of Johann Pachelbel’s ‘Canon and Gigue in D major for three violins and basso continuo’. The second part of the work, namely the gigue, is rarely performed. Pachelbel was a German organist and composer. He was born in Nuremburg in 1653, and was held in high esteem during his life time. He held many important musical posts including that of organist of the famed St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. He was the teacher of Bach’s elder brother Johann Christoph. Bach held Pachelbel in high regard, and used his compositions as models during his formative years as a composer. Pachelbel died in Nuremburg in 1706.
Pachelbel’s Canon in D is an intricate piece of contrapuntal music. The melodic phrases played by one voice are strictly imitated by the other voices. Whilst the basso continuo constitutes a basso ostinato, the other three voices subject the original tune to tasteful variation. Although the canon was written for three violins and continuo, its immense popularity has resulted in the adoption of the piece to numerous other combinations of instruments. The music is intensely soothing and uplifting. Understandingly, it is widely played at joyous functions such as weddings.
Jeremiah Clarke’s Trumpet Voluntary
The hugely popular piece known as ‘Jeremiah Clarke’s Trumpet Voluntary’ appeared originally as ‘ The Prince of Denmark’s March’ in Jeremiah Clarke’s book ‘ Choice lessons for the Harpsichord and Spinet’, which was published in 1700 ( Michael Kennedy; Oxford Dictionary of Music ). Sometimes, it has also been erroneously attributed to England’s greatest composer Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695 ) and called ‘Purcell’s Trumpet Voluntary (Percy A. Scholes ; Oxford Companion to Music). This brilliant composition is often played at joyous occasions such as weddings and graduation ceremonies. Needless to say, it is a piece of processional music, par excellence. As its name suggests, it is probably best suited for solo trumpet and organ. However, it is often played for different combinations of instruments, with or without solo trumpet. It was composed by the English composer and organist Jeremiah Clarke.
Jeremiah Clarke was born in London in 1670. He was, like his elder contemporary Pachelbel, a musician of great repute during his time, and held important musical posts. He was the organist of London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral and the composer of the Theatre Royal. He died in London in 1707 due to self – inflicted gun – shot injuries, supposedly resulting from a failed love affair.
Albinoni’s Adagio
The full title of the hugely famous piece known as ‘Albinoni’s Adagio’ is ‘Adagio for organ and strings in G minor’. However, due to its enormous popularity, the piece has been arranged for numerous combinations of instruments. It is also rendered as an organ solo. The composition, which epitomizes pathos, is structured as a chaconne with a brooding bass, which reminds of the inevitability and ever presence of death. Nonetheless, there is no trace of despondency in this ethereal music. On the contrary, its intense euphony transcends the feeling of death and calms the soul. The composition has been attributed to the Italian composer Tomaso Albinoni (1671 – 1750), who was a contemporary of Bach and Handel. However, the authorship of the work is shrouded in mystery. Michael Kennedy notes: “The popular Adagio for organ and strings in G minor owes very little to Albinoni, having been constructed from a MS fragment by the twentieth century Italian musicologist Remo Giazotto, whose copyright it is” (Michael Kennedy; Oxford Dictionary of Music).
Boccherini’s Minuet
The classical super-hit known as ‘Boccherini’s Minuet’ is quite different from ‘Albinoni’s Adagio’. It is a short piece of absolutely delightful music. It was composed by the Italian cellist and composer Luigi Boccherini. It belongs to his string quintet in E major, Op. 13, No. 5. However, due to its immense popularity, the minuet is performed on different combinations of instruments.
Boccherini was born in Lucca in 1743. He was a contemporary of Haydn and Mozart, and an elder contemporary of Beethoven. He was a prolific composer. His music shows considerable affinity to that of Haydn. He lived in Madrid for a considerable part of his life, and was attached to the royal court of Spain as a chamber composer. Boccherini died in poverty in Madrid in 1805.
Like numerous other souls, I have found immense joy by listening to popular classical pieces like Pachelbel’s Canon in D, Jeremiah Clarke’s Trumpet Voluntary, Albinoni’s Adagio and Boccherini’s Minuet. They have often helped me to unwind and get over the stresses of daily life. Intriguingly, such music has also made me wonder how our world would have been if the likes of Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert had never lived. Surely, the world would have been immeasurably poorer without them. However, in all probability, we would have still had Pachelbel’s Canon in D, Jeremiah Clarke’s Trumpet Voluntary, Albinoni’s Adagio, and Boccherini’s Minuet, to cheer us up and uplift our spirits.
Author
By Lynn Ockersz
The tax owed by him to Caesar,
Leaves our retiree aghast…
How is he to foot this bill,
With the few rupees,
He has scraped together over the months,
In a shrinking savings account,
While the fires in his crumbling hearth,
Come to a sputtering halt?
But in the suave villa next door,
Stands a hulk in shiny black and white,
Over a Member of the August House,
Keeping an eagle eye,
Lest the Rep of great renown,
Be besieged by petitioners,
Crying out for respite,
From worries in a hand-to-mouth life,
But this thought our retiree horrifies:
Aren’t his hard-earned rupees,
Merely fattening Caesar and his cohorts?
