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Buhurizade Itri (1640? - 1711), or just simply Itri was a composer and performer of Turkish classical music from Istanbul. Many things known about him today are subject to dispute. His real name was Mustafa, and he was sometimes referred to as Buhurizade Mustafa Efendi.
Itri was a major exponent of Turkish classical music, much in the same
way that his contemporary J. S. Bach revolutionized Western music. He
was a very prolific composer with more than a thousand works. However,
only about forty of these survived to this day.
It is believed that he was a Mevlevi, and composed religious music for
this order. He lived through the times of five Ottoman Emperors. He
became well known during the time of Mehmet IV. He sang in fasils,
which are concert programs with the same makam, in the presence of
Mehmet IV. Starting from this time, he enjoyed the support of the
palace for many years. He taught music in the palace Enderun school. He
was also interested in gardening. It is believed that his name Itri
comes from the word itir, which means rose-geranium, or pelargonium.
As with most composers of his day, Itri was also a famous poet. He used
poetic forms based on the classicial Ottoman school of poetry (Divan),
as well as those based on syllabic meters identified with folk music
and poetry. Unfortunately most of his poetry has not survived to this
day. He was also known for being a calligrapher.
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