Close on the heels of Semmangudi's death, which brings the curtains down on the old guard of musicians, comes the death of C.V. Narasimhan. He was the last of the old guard among patrons. It was as though the two deaths were programmed to happen together to mark a clean finish of the golden age of Carnatic music. Narasimhan was among the galaxy of government officials who in the 20th century took an active interest in Carnatic music. Others of his ilk were S. Venkateswaran, M. Ananthanarayanan and S.Y. Krishnaswamy, all ICS. All of them were on very friendly terms with musicians and indeed many of them were no mean singers themselves. Almost all of them took active part in the affairs of the Music Academy, Madras, and CVN was to remain active in it right till his death.