Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu was born in Bangalore on 8th November, 1893 in a deeply religious and traditional family devoted to classical music. The handicap of having to leave school at an early age due to poor eye-sight, turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Venkataswamy and set him on a glorious career as violinist. His elder brother, an accomplished violinist himself, initiated young Venkataswamy into this instrument and he made remarkable progress by dint of ardent application and inherent merit. The Principal of the Maharaja Music College in Vizianagaram was so impressed by his recital that he appointed him a Professor in 1919, the youngest to be elevated to that eminence. In 1936, Dwaram was appointed the Principal of the College, a post he held for 18 years. In 1927, his debut at the All-India Music Conference in Madras launched his career on a higher orbit. Thereafter, he accompanied many masters of music and even performed solo concerts.
Venkataswamy’s adaptability helped him to utilise ideas from Hindustani and Western music in his rendering of Carnatic music without affecting its fundamental structure and ancient tradition. He was innovative and believed that music, like arts and science, should be perpetually progressive. His technical mastery over the instrument gave ample proof of his creative genius. His inborn talent and acquired skill coupled with profound devotion to art and a moral earnestness and humility endowed his music with a spiritual flavour. Deeply versed in the science of music, he would often explore the deeper realms of sound and newer technical possibilities. Venkataswamy was a soloist par excellence.
Many tributes, honours and awards came his way, the most notable being the Presidents Award in 1953 and the title of Padma Shri in 1959.
Venkataswamy was an ardent collector of books on music and musicology and in order to satisfy his thirst for knowledge, he would make his disciples read out to him from treatises and encyclopedias. He had even turned down offers of treatment for his weak eye sight as this enabled him to shut out the world around him and play the violin to his heart’s content.
Life to Dwaram Venkataswamy Naidu was a quest for truth through the medium of music and he spent it seeking ever greater heights in this sphere. Dwaram passed away in Hyderabad in 1964.
Department of Posts pays homage to the memory of this maestro of violin through this commemorative stamp issued on his birth centenary.
Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India