CLASSICAL MUSIC IN TURKEY Classical Turkish music Turkish

CLASSICAL MUSIC IN TURKEY

Classical Turkish music (Turkish: Türk sanat müziği, "Turkish art music"; or Klasik Türk müziği, "Classical Turkish music") developed in Istanbul and other major Ottoman cities and towns through the palaces, mosques, and Sufi lodges of the Ottoman Empire.

Ottoman music has a large and varied system of modes or scales known as makams, and other rules of composition. There are more than 600 makams that have been used so far. Out of these, at least 119 makams are formally defined, but today only around 20 makams are widely used. In the Sufi teaching, each makam represents and conveys a particular psychological and spiritual state. Sometimes, in certain makams, Ottomans would use different instrumental and vocal musical pieces in order to cure certain medical and psychological conditions.

A specific sequence of classical Turkish musical forms become a fasıl, a suite an instrumental prelude (peşrev), an instrumental postlude (saz semaisi), and in between, the main section of vocal compositions which begins with and is punctuated by instrumental improvisations (taksim). A full fasıl concert would include four different instrumental forms and three vocal forms, including a light classical song, şarkı.

However shorter şarkı compositions, precursors to modern day songs, are a part of this tradition, many of them extremely old, dating back to the 14 th century; many are newer, with late 19 th century songwriter Haci Arif Bey being especially popular.

Western Style Classical music in Turkey has a history going back to the late 18 th century, when it was very much an aristocratic pursuit. The sultans first heard of opera through reports from their ambassadors, but in 1797 opera singers were actually brought to Turkey for performances in the courtyard of Topkapi palace.

In 1828 Giuseppe Donizetti (brother of the composer) became Instructor General of the Imperial Ottoman Music at the court of Sultan Mahmud II, where he stayed until his death in 1866. He trained the European-style military bands of Mahmud’s modern army, taught music to the Ottoman royal family and was involved in the annual Italian opera season and court concerts in addition to playing host to a number of eminent virtuosi who visited Istanbul.

In the 19 th century, Italian opera companies were brought to Turkey and in 1840 a theatre was built in Istanbul, where performances continued intermittently until 1870. Whilst Sultan Abdulmecid was building the Dolmabahce Palace (which is now a national museum), the Dolmabahce Palace Theatre was built nearby in 1859.

With the declaration of the republic in 1923, Cemal Reşid (REY), who was then studying music in Europe, returned to Turkey and began to teach at a music school established in Istanbul. At the same time, a number of talented young people were sent by the republic to various cities in Europe to study music.

After they returned to Turkey, the group that would later be called ‘Türk Beşleri’ (The Turkish Five) and which prepared the groundwork for Modern Polyphonic Turkish Music, emerged. The common aim of the group was to use the traditional themes of traditional Turkish music together with the values of Western classical music that they had studied to produce a new polyphonic structure. The Turkish Five consisted of; Cemal Reşit REY, Ulvi Cemal ERKİN, Hasan Ferit ALNAR, Ahmet Adnan SAYGUN and Necil Kazım AKSES.

In later stages, every composer who amed at a more contemporary sound interpreted the colours and mystery of popular melody in his own way, and instead of merely treating well-known popular melodies they began to achieve syntheses by means of abstraction.

A network of state orchestras and opera companies were expanded in the 1960 s and 1970 s, and a number are still performing regularly such as the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra and the Presidential Symphony Orchestra. But Atatürk’s intention was not to create a purely Western style state, and so in parallel with the creation of Western classical entities came an important emphasis on Turkish folk culture and its music.

Turkish Influence on Classical Musical relations between the Turks and the rest of Europe can be traced back many centuries, and the first type of musical Orientalism was the Turkish Style. European classical composers in the 18 th century were fascinated by Turkish music, particularly the strong role given to the brass and percussion instruments in Janissary bands.

Joseph Haydn wrote his Military Symphony to include Turkish instruments, as well as some of his operas. Turkish instruments were included in Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony Number 9, and he composed a "Turkish March" for his Incidental Music to The Ruins of Athens, Op. 113.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote the "Ronda alla turca" in his Sonata in A major and also used Turkish themes in his operas, such as the Chorus of Janissaries from his Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782).

This Turkish influence introduced the cymbals, bass drum, and bells into the symphony orchestra, where they remain. Jazz musician Dave Brubeck wrote his "Blue Rondo á la Turk" as a tribute to Mozart and Turkish music

Famous Turkish Composers

Fazıl Say wrote his first piece – a piano sonata – as early as 1984, at the age of fourteen, when he was a student at the Conservatory of his home town Ankara. It was followed, in this early phase of his development, by several chamber works without an opus number, including Schwarze Hymnen for violin and piano and a guitar concerto.

He attracted international attention with the piano piece Black Earth (1997), in which he employs techniques familiar to us from John Cage and his works for prepared piano. Fazıl Say scored a further great success with his first symphony, the Istanbul Symphony, premiered in 2010 at the conclusion of his five-year residency at the Konzerthaus Dortmund.

Idil Biret began her lessons at the age of five with Mithat Fenmen, who had studied under Nadia Boulanger and Alfred Cortot. When she was seven, the Turkish parliament enacted a special law which enabled her to study abroad, studying at the Paris Conservatory in France under the tutelage of Nadia Boulanger. She also credits Madeleine de Valmalète for having introduced her to composers such as Brahms, whose complete works she would later record. She graduated with three prizes at the age of 15. She continued her education with Alfred Cortot and Wilhelm Kempff.

From the age of 16, Biret played as a soloist with the most distinguished orchestras in the world including the London Symphony, the Philharmonia, the London Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France. She has been a jury member at several piano competitions: Van Cliburn (USA), Queen Elisabeth (Belgium) and Busoni (Italy). In September 2006 a biography "Idil Biret - Une Pianiste Turque en France" was written by a French author, Prof. Dominique Xardel Recently, she recorded the complete Beethoven piano sonatas and concertos (including the Choral Fantasy) for her own label, IBA (Idil Biret Archive). Biret has been a State Artist since 1971, an honorary title issued to artists by the government of Turkey for their contributions into the Turkish culture.

Tuluyhan Uğurlu was born in Istanbul in 1965. He started his music education at the age of four. When he was seven years old, he was selected as one of the fabulous children and had an opportunity to study abroad. He completed his study at the Vienna Music Academy. He decided to perform only his works while pursuing his master’s degree at his alma mater.

Uğurlu composed music related to religion that was inspired by Bach. In 1996, he composed the film music for “İstanbul Kanatlarımın Altında” and became famous. He has connected Eastern and Western culture in his compositions and has released 12 albums. In his symphony composition “Senfoni Türk, ” he put symphony orchestra together with mehter band, Turkish music instruments, and piano. Since 2002, Uğurlu has given his concerts not in concert halls but historical places and ruins such as Nemrut Mountain, The archaeological site of Hattusha, Troy antique cities and the Grand Bazaar

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