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The form of music today generally known as Türk Sanat MüziĿi, or Ottoman Classical Music, matured, developed in form and aesthetics and came to assume the identity of a form of classical music in parallel to the establishment, growth and increasing strength of the Ottoman state itself. This variety of music furnished products dealing with many subjects, such as religion, love and war. Each of these then came to develop its own varieties, styles and communities. Ottoman music was influenced by other musical cultures as new nations became absorbed into the empire, giving and receiving various elements. From the beginning of the 19th century, however, as the empire began to recede and collapse, increasing shallowness and laxness can be seen in Ottoman music. While rich modes and styles had been employed in the past, this concept gradually faded and turned into metropolitan entertainment music. That process has continued to the present day, and the ‘popular song’ has become increasingly popular and popularised, effectively taking the place of the other forms.
A great number of works were actually forgotten and disappeared as less importance was attached to notation in the middle of the 19th century. The number of works that were written down and have survived down to the present day is some 3,000 for works composed between the 15th century and the end of the 18th. The number produced during the 19th century is around 5,000, giving a total of 8,000. A number of works from the first quarter of the 20th century can also be added to those works, which from the point of view of mode, style, means and methods of vocalisation go back to the very earliest times within a framework of their own distinct rules. Ever since then, the music that has continued to be produced under the name of ‘Turkish Classical Music,’ and which has grown ever more popular, can be seen as an extension of Ottoman music adapted to present-day norms.
Ottoman music is a synthesis, carrying within it a great many historical riches. It emerged as the result of a sharing process between the Turks and the minorities living alongside them, the Byzantines, Greeks, Persians, Arabs, Jews, Armenians etc. It reached its golden age in the private school in the Ottoman palace. No country that employed that system was able to reach the level of artistry attained by the Ottomans.
Ottoman music was formed and given voice in the ‘Fasıl,’ itself based on unity of mode.
Fasil; Works composed within the same melodic structure (makam) , or mode, set out and played in a particular order. In a genuine fasıl, there will be works for voice and for saz. The basis of the fasıl is that the works should have the same melodic structure, and they are then ordered according to shape or form. There must generally be two ‘Beste’ (poetic forms) and five ‘Semai’ composed to count as a complete fasıl. These are accompanied by lyrics. The compositions are in the form of ‘Murabba’ (a poem composed of quatrains) or ‘Nakıſ’ (a form of song). Murabbas are composed for two rhyming couplets of a ‘Gazel,’ and may be with or without ‘Terennüm,’ which are words that complement the verses that make up the formal lyric of the song, and may either have a meaning or else be just a string of syllables, for example ‘ten, tenen, tenenen, ten nen ni.’ Lines 1, 2 and 4 of the poem are tied to the same melody, with line 3 having a different melody. This latter section is known as ‘Miyan Hane,’ wherein the makam is either widened or changed. Murabbas with terennüm repeat it at the end of each line. The terennüm of the miyan hane may be different, however. In the nakıſ, on the other hand, two verses are read together, followed by a lengthy terennüm.
Semai with lyrics and the same structure as the murabba or nakıſ (but composed in the semai style) are known as ‘AĿır’ and ‘Yürük’ Semai respectively. In the fasıl, lyrical works such as the ‘Kar’ or ‘ſarkı’ and instrumental pieces such as ‘Taksim,’ ‘Peſrev,’ ‘Saz Semaisi’ and ‘Oyun Havası’ may be added. In this way, the structure of a complete fasıl is as follows;
a) Any introductory Taksim with saz.
b) Pesrev
c) The first beste or kar.
d) Second beste.
e) Agir semai
f) Sarkıs (in order from major rhythmic pattern and slow character, to minor and fast)
g) Yürük Semai
h) Saz Semai
The ‘Kar’ gives considerable space to the terennüm component, and is a work with lyrics requiring considerable expertise. It is one of the most developed forms. The ‘ſarkı’ in Turkish literature is a form that emerged under the influence of the folk song. The ſarkı consists of lines of verse, its name depending on the number of verses involved. It is composed with a minor rhythmic pattern (usul) and take can take various forms. It was particularly popular after the 19th century, and left the other forms which included lyrics in the shade. It went from strength to strength in the 20th century, going beyond the previously established frontiers and eventually turning into the ‘Fantezi’ form as it grew more and more popular. Apart from a few outstanding examples, it played a major role in restricting the sphere of traditional classical music.
The following are the form of instrumental pieces employed in Ottoman music;
Pesrev: Generally composed in major rhythmic patterns, such as ‘Darb-ı Fetih,’ ‘Sakil,’ ‘Muhammes’ and ‘Devr-i Kebir,’ or sometimes in minor ones, such as ‘Düyek.’ It is a saz work that emerged from the sections called ‘Hane’ and the ‘Mulazime’ section that comes between and is repeated with little change.
Saz Semaisi: Although they have the same structure as the peſrev, the saz compositions falling in the semai (six-time), ‘aksak semai’ (10-time) and yürük semai (six-time) categories are known as ‘Saz Semaisi.’ These come at the end of the fasıl, following the yürük semai.
Taksim: Intended to introduce, prepare the way or warm up for the makam, these are played with a single instrument, within the makam, yet not linked to any rhythmic pattern, and are either free-form or improvised.
Oyun Havasi: Instrumental pieces composed for dancing.
Usul: Up to 15-time these are known as ‘Küçük Usul’ (minor pattern), and after 15-time as ‘Büyük Usul’ (major pattern). When the two are employed together, this is known as ‘Darbeyn.’ There are also strings that use one usul after another. One of these consists of five usul, either 60 or 120-time, depending on which view one adopts, and this is known as ‘Zencir.’ Kücük usul in 5, 7, 9-time etc. or 10-time works such as the aksak semai, are known as ‘Aksak Usul.’ The true times that bear the name ‘aksak’ are usul in 2+2+2+3 form.
Music occupied a very important place in Ottoman society. Topkapi Palace was a virtual conservatory, where both women and men received intensive training in music. Every concubine mastered an instrument while also being instructed in singing and dancing. Indeed, there were concubines who learned to play the trumpet, usually considered a man’s instrument. The men, on the other hand, received their musical training in the Enderun, which was the palace school. Albertus Bobovius, for example, a Pole who entered this school while still young and spent twenty years there, contributed a great deal to Turkish Music. Bobovius, who in Turkey took the name Ali Ufkî Bey and was an interpreter and translator at court, transcribed 544 works of Turkish music into European notation. It is thanks to this effort that these pieces can be played today.
In order to grasp the importance which music had for the Ottomans, and the place it occupied in their culture, one must understand its three functions: Concert music, music for accompaniment, and visual impact.
Concert music, whether at the palace or elsewhere, was simply to be listened to. Among the Ottomans, concerts were performed both indoors and outdoors. A picture the original of which is in the Warsaw University Library depicts twelve Ottoman musicians giving a concert at the British Embassy on February 22, 1779. The instruments employed were three neys, a violin, a ‘kemânçe’, a ‘santur’ (the Turkish dulcimer), three tambourines, one ‘miskal’ (a multi-reeded wind instrument), and two ‘tanburs’. We have many miniatures and paintings which show female instrumentalists and concerts given among women. One such work is an 18th-century miniature now in the Philadelphia Free Library. In it, four female musicians perform for a lady in the garden of a palace or mansion, while a servant serves the lady a drink. The instruments depicted in the miniature are the tambourine, kemânçe, Tanbur and ‘kanun’.
Music for accompaniment, on the other hand, was highly important for the art dances performed sometimes by women and sometimes by men dressed as women. Here music and dance were so closely intertwined that we might call such performances “visual concerts.” Music functioned as accompaniment in other types of show as well. One can cite the performances of tumblers, acrobats, jugglers, magicians, jesters and wrestlers, as well as those by trained animals. A miniature depicting festivities held in 1582 has two acrobats, two dancers and four jesters accompanied by the music of a tambourine, miskal, çagane and kopuz.
Visual impact was the third major element in Ottoman music. The costumes of the instrumentalists, and the unusual or majestic aspect of some musicians, appealed to the eye as much as to the ear. The sultan’s processions included other performances besides music. In the middle of a miniature depicting a procession of Sultan Murad III we see this ruler on horseback, while in the lower part of the work there are two dancers and a jester accompanied by a stringed instrument, and in the rear a mounted ‘mehter’ band.
Music and dance also figured prominently in the processions of tradesmen, which lasted for hours. Ottoman ambassadors who had been posted to some country, say Vienna or Paris, would enter the city with a large procession which included a sizeable mehter band on horseback. So magnificent were the scenes that the public and the courtiers watching were deeply stirred. And the ranks of those who were moved also included composers. The tradesmen’s processions inspired such greats as Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, in whose works this Ottoman music was reflected.
The fact that music appeared in the festivities simultaneously with other types of performance did cause one problem: when different kinds of music were played at the same time, they struck the ear all together, and there was no way to make a choice. There are numerous examples of this. Consider, for instance, the miniature which shows festivities held in 1582. A ‘köçek’, that is a male dancer dressed as a woman, does his stuff for thousands of spectators to the tune of his own music. Elsewhere a Mevlevi whirls in a religiously motivated dance called the ‘sema’, again accompanied by his own music. The public can watch the köçek’s dance and the sema separately, but how are they going to keep the two different kinds of music apart. The answer is very simple: Even if the clashing types of music turned into noise, the spectators, caught up in the exuberance of the festivity, just didn’t care. On the other hand, foreigners who witnessed the festivities and wrote about them in books and reports say the cacaphony of hundreds of clashing instruments, and all those songs, did indeed disturb them. The reason was that they, as strangers, were unable to surrender themselves to the festive atmosphere.
There was a wealth of instruments in Ottoman days. In his book of travels, Evliya ÿelebi describes a parade of all the guilds past Sultan Murad IV, giving a full list of instrumentalists, instrument makers and singers, and points out that there were some “hundred” names for instruments. Every instrument had its own name, even when they belonged to the same family. Some of the better-known stringed instruments were the kopuz, çeng, kemânçe, violin and lute, while the winds included the horn, ney, miskal and Zurna. Prominent percussion instruments were the triangle, drum and ‘çagane’. Most of the Ottoman instruments have unfortunately not come down to our age, being lost in the mists of time. One reason is that during the 19th century growing Westernization led to the use of European instruments. Indeed, such once-popular instruments as the çeng and miskal have vanished completely, not a single example being left even in the museums. But luckily we have drawings in miniatures and old books on music.
Reference: Prof. Dr. Metin And / SKYLIFE
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