Vālmīki-Pratibhā (Bengali: বাল্মীকি-প্রতিভা, Balmiki Protibha, lit. The Genius of Vālmīki) is an opera by Rabindranath Tagore. The Bengali libretto was written by Tagore himself based on the legend of Ratnakara the Thug who later became Sage Valmiki and composed Ramayana, a Hindu epic.
Composed in 1881,[1] the opera was first performed at the Jorasanko Thakur Bari on 26 February 1881.[2] Tagore himself played the role of Valmiki.[2] It was staged in front of some eminent literary personalities of contemporary Bengal like Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Gooroodas Banerjee and Haraprasad Shastri.[2] The first edition of the opera was also published this time.[2] The second and final edition was published on 20 February 1886.[2]
The music of this opera was a "fusion of classical, folk and European strains."[3] The story narrates how Ratnakara, a robber chief turns into a great poet by the grace of Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom.
- ^ Sabyasachi Bhattacharya (24 May 2017). Rabindranath Tagore: An Interpretation. Random House Publishers India Pvt. Limited. pp. 95–. ISBN 978-81-8475-539-8.
- ^ a b c d e Bhattacharjee, Upendranath. "Geetinatya". Rabindra-Natya-Parikrama (in Bengali). Kolkata: Orient Book Company. p. 37.
- ^ Ghose (2006) p.61