"Turkish music", in the sense described here, is not really music of Turkey, but rather a musical style that was occasionally used by the European composers of the Classical music era. This music was modeled--though often only distantly--on the music of Turkish military bands, specifically the Janissary bands. History (Timeline and Samples) Genres: Alternative - Classical - Dance - Folk - Hip hop - Jazz - Military - Ottoman - Pop - Religious - Rock Music awards Kral - MÃœ-YAP - MGD Charts Powerturk 40 - Kral 20 Annual festivals Istanbul International Music Festival - Istanbul International Jazz Festival - Ankara IMF - Izmir European Jazz Festival Media Bant magazine - Mix! - Adante - BlueJean... Ottoman classical music (Türk Sanat Müziği) is a kind of music that developed parallel with the Ottoman Empire. ... Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Raqs Sharqi dancer Chryssanthi Sahar Scharf, Heidelberg. ... History (Timeline and Samples) Genres: Alternative - Classical - Dance - Folk - Hip hop - Jazz - Military - Ottoman - Pop - Religious - Rock Music awards Kral - MÃœ-YAP - MGD Charts Powerturk 40 - Kral 20 Annual festivals Istanbul International Music Festival - Istanbul International Jazz Festival - Ankara IMF - Izmir European Jazz Festival Media Bant magazine - Mix! - Adante - BlueJean... Whirling Dervishes perform near the Mevlevi Museum in Konya, Turkey. ... History (Timeline and Samples) Genres: Alternative - Classical - Dance - Folk - Hip hop - Jazz - Military - Ottoman - Pop - Religious - Rock Music awards Kral - MÃœ-YAP - MGD Charts Powerturk 40 - Kral 20 Annual festivals Istanbul International Music Festival - Istanbul International Jazz Festival - Ankara IMF - Izmir European Jazz Festival Media Bant magazine - Mix! - Adante - BlueJean... Rebetiko, plural rebetika, (Greek ρεμπέτικο and ρεμπέτικα respectively) is the name for a type of urban Greek music. ... History (Timeline and Samples) Genres: Alternative - Classical - Dance - Folk - Hip hop - Jazz - Military - Ottoman - Pop - Religious - Rock Music awards Kral - MÃœ-YAP - MGD Charts Powerturk 40 - Kral 20 Annual festivals Istanbul International Music Festival - Istanbul International Jazz Festival - Ankara IMF - Izmir European Jazz Festival Media Bant magazine - Mix! - Adante - BlueJean... History (Timeline and Samples) Genres: Alternative - Classical - Dance - Folk - Hip hop - Jazz - Military - Ottoman - Pop - Religious - Rock Music awards Kral - MÃœ-YAP - MGD Charts Powerturk 40 - Kral 20 Annual festivals Istanbul International Music Festival - Istanbul International Jazz Festival - Ankara IMF - Izmir European Jazz Festival Media Bant magazine - Mix! - Adante - Blue... Belly dancers Belly dance is a Western name coined for a style of female dance developed in the Middle East and other Arabic_influenced areas. ... Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Turkish hip hop started in Germany with groups such as Islamic Force and Cartel. ... Ottoman classical music (Türk Sanat Müziği) is a kind of music that developed parallel with the Ottoman Empire. ... History (Timeline and Samples) Genres: Alternative - Classical - Dance - Folk - Hip hop - Jazz - Military - Ottoman - Pop - Religious - Rock Music awards Kral - MÃœ-YAP - MGD Charts Powerturk 40 - Kral 20 Annual festivals Istanbul International Music Festival - Istanbul International Jazz Festival - Ankara IMF - Izmir European Jazz Festival Media Bant magazine - Mix! - Adante - BlueJean... Whirling Dervishes perform near the Mevlevi Museum in Konya, Turkey. ... History (Timeline and Samples) Genres: Alternative - Classical - Dance - Folk - Hip hop - Jazz - Military - Ottoman - Pop - Religious - Rock Music awards Kral - MÃœ-YAP - MGD Charts Powerturk 40 - Kral 20 Annual festivals Istanbul International Music Festival - Istanbul International Jazz Festival - Ankara IMF - Izmir European Jazz Festival Media Bant magazine - Mix! - Adante - BlueJean... The Istanbul International Music Festival, formerly Istanbul Festival, (Turkish: Uluslararası Ä°stanbul Müzik Festivali) is a cultural event held every June and July in Istanbul, Turkey. ... The Istanbul International Jazz Festival, formerly Istanbul Festival, (Turkish: Uluslararası Ä°stanbul Caz Festivali) is a cultural event held every July in Istanbul, Turkey. ... The Izmir European Jazz Festival, (Turkish: Izmir Avrupa Caz Festivali) is a cultural event held in the first half of every March in Izmir, Turkey. ... A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that is evoking and eulogizing the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nations government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people. ... The Ä°stiklâl Marşı (i. ... Azerbaijan is in Caucasus but, musically, it is more closely linked to Persian culture. ... // Origin of Jewish music in the Temple The earliest synagogal music was based on the same system as that used in the Temple in Jerusalem. ... Traditionally, there are three types of Kurdish Classical performers - storytellers (çîrokbêj), minstrels (stranbêj) and bards (dengbêj). ... Pontus was a name applied in ancient times to extensive tracts of country in the northeast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey) bordering on the Euxine (Black Sea), which was often called simply Pontos (the Main), by the Greeks. ... 19th century print of Roma musicians Roma music is highly varied among the diverse communities of the Roma (aka Gypsies). ... Zaza may refer to: The Zaza people, an ethnic group in Eastern Anatolia (Southeastern Turkey). ... The Aegean Islands (Greek: Αιγαίον Πέλαγος, Aigaíon Pélagos; Turkish: Ege Adaları) are a group of islands in the Aegean Sea, with mainland Greece to the west and north and Turkey to the east; the island of Crete delimits the sea to the south. ... Map of Rumelia as of 1801 Rumelia (turkish: Rum: Roman El: Land Rumeli: Lands of Rome), the area that was the East Roman or Byzantine Empire, a name commonly used, from the 15th century onwards, to denote the part of the Balkan Peninsula subject to the Ottoman Empire. ... Map of the Black Sea. ... Motto: دولت ابد مدت Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (The Eternal State) Anthem: Ottoman imperial anthem Borders in 1680, see: list of territories Capital Söğüt (1299-1326) Bursa (1326-1365) Edirne (1365-1453) Constantinople (Istanbul) (1453-1922) Language(s) Ottoman Turkish Government Monarchy Sultans  - 1281–1326 Osman I  - 1918–1922 Mehmed VI... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require restructuring. ... The music of Southeastern Europe, sometimes characterised by complex rhythm, is a type of music distinct from others in Europe. ... Traditionally, there are three types of Kurdish Classical performers - storytellers (çîrokbêj), minstrels (stranbêj) and bards (dengbêj). ... Moosiqi Asil or Persian music is the traditional and indigenous music of Persia and Persian-speaking countries: musiqi, the science and art of music, and moosiqi, the sound and performance of music (Sakata 1983). ... Pontus was a name applied in ancient times to extensive tracts of country in the northeast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey) bordering on the Euxine (Black Sea), which was often called simply Pontos (the Main), by the Greeks. ... History (Timeline and Samples) Genres: Classical music -Folk - Hip hop - Jazz - Rock Regional styles Aegean Islands - Arcadia - Argos - Athens - Crete - Cyclades - Dodecanese Islands - Epirus - Ionian Islands - Lesbos - Macedonia - Peloponnesos - Thessaloniki - Thessaly - Thrace - Cyprus Thrace is a historical region of Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. ... History (Timeline and Samples) Genres: Alternative - Classical - Dance - Folk - Hip hop - Jazz - Military - Ottoman - Pop - Religious - Rock Music awards Kral - MÃœ-YAP - MGD Charts Powerturk 40 - Kral 20 Annual festivals Istanbul International Music Festival - Istanbul International Jazz Festival - Ankara IMF - Izmir European Jazz Festival Media Bant magazine - Mix! - Adante - BlueJean... The Classical period in Western music occurred from about 1730 through 1820, despite considerable overlap at both ends with preceding and following periods, as is true for all musical eras. ... Chamberlain of Sultan Murad IV with janissaries The Janissaries (or janizaries; in Ottoman Turkish: يكيچرى (yeniçeri, meaning new soldier); in Greek: Γενίτσαροι; (Yenitsari) in Bulgarian: еничари (enichari) or яничари (yanichari); in Bosnian: Janjičari; in Serbian: Јањичари or Janjičari; in Romanian: ieniceri; in Arabic: الانكشارية) comprised infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultans...

Description

"Turkish" music is always lively in tempo, and is almost always a kind of march. The Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa is considered amongst the greatest marches ever written. ...

When "Turkish" music was scored for orchestra, it normally used extra percussion instruments not otherwise found in orchestras of the Classical period: typically, the bass drum, the triangle, and cymbals. These instruments really were used by the Turks in their military music (see Janissary Music), so at least the instrumentation of "Turkish" music was authentic. Often there is also a piccolo, whose penetrating tone adds to the outdoor atmosphere. A philharmonic orchestra An orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually a fairly large instrumental ensemble with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. ... A percussion instrument can be any object which produces a sound by being struck with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration. ... A bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. ... An old-fashioned triangle, with wand (beater) Angelika Kauffmann: LAllegra, 1779 The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the percussion family. ... It is also possible that you want to know about the Cymbalum instrument. ... Janissary music is a style of Turkish music, primarilly known for its use in Military capacities by the Janissaries, infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultans household troops and bodyguard. ... The piccolo is a small flute. ...

It seems that at least part of the entertainment value of "Turkish" music was its perceived exoticness. The Turks were well known to the citizens of Vienna (where Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven all worked) as military opponents, and indeed the centuries of warfare between Austria and Turkey had only started going consistently in Austria's favor around the late 1600s. The differences in culture, as well as the frisson derived from the many earlier Turkish invasions, apparently gave rise to a fascination among the Viennese for all things Turkish--or even ersatz Turkish. Inhabitants according to official census figures: 1800 to 2005 Vienna in 1858 Vienna (German: Wien ) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ...

Examples

All three of the great Classical era composers, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, wrote at least some "Turkish" music. For sound files illustrating some of these works, see the External links section below. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (baptized as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart; January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791) was a prolific and highly influential composer of Classical music. ... Beethoven redirects here. ...

Mozart

• Mozart's opera "The Abduction from the Seraglio" (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), from 1782, is the quintessential work of Turkish music, as the whole plot centers on the stereotyping of comically sinister Turks. (The Pasha, at least, turns out noble and generous in the end.) The overture to the opera as well as two marches for the Janissary chorus are Turkish music in the sense just described.

• The Piano Sonata in A, K. 331 (1778) ends with the famous rondo marked "Alla Turca", "in the Turkish style". Rapid arpeggios in the left hand are used to imitate the "Turkish" instruments. The imitation probably came closer with the piano of Mozart's day, whose bass strings made something of a rattle when played loudly, than is possible on modern instruments.

• The finale of the Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major K. 219 (1775), sometimes called the "Turkish" Concerto, is interrupted by a loud episode of Turkish music. Mozart adapted this passage from an earlier ballet, "Le gelosie del seraglio" ("The Jealousies of the Seraglio") K. 135a, composed for Milan in 1772. In the concerto, the cellos and double basses add to the percussive effect by playing their instruments coll' arco al roverscio, that is to say, col legno, striking the strings with the wood of the bow.

The Abduction from the Seraglio (K. 384; in German Die Entführung aus dem Serail) is a comic opera in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. ... Overture (French ouverture, meaning opening) in music is the instrumental introduction to a dramatic, choral or, occasionally, instrumental composition. ... Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts Piano Sonata No. ... Rondo, and its French equivalent rondeau, is a word that has been used in music in a number of ways, most often in reference to a musical form, but also in reference to a character-type that is distinct from the form. ... A grand piano, with the lid up. ... Milan (Italian: Milano; Lombard: Milán (listen)) is the main city of northern Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. ... The violoncello, almost always abbreviated to cello, or cello (the c is pronounced as the ch in cheese), is a stringed instrument and a member of the violin family. ... Side and front views of a modern double bass with a French bow. ...

Haydn

• Haydn's "Military" Symphony (1794) uses Turkish music in both the second movement (which depicts a battle) and in a brief reprise at the end of the finale.

Haydn had a somewhat remote personal connection to the Turkish army--his great-grandfather had been a fatal civilian casualty during the Turkish invasion of 1683.

Symphony No. ... Combatants Holy League: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Austria, Saxony, Franconia, Swabia, Bavaria Ottoman Empire, Khanate of Crimea, Transylvania, Wallachia, Moldavia Commanders John III Sobieski, Charles V of Lorraine Kara Mustafa Pasha Strength 70,000, (10,000 during siege) 138,000, (200,000 during siege) Casualties 4,000 killed 15,000 killed...

Beethoven

• In 1811, Beethoven wrote an overture and incidental music to a play by August von Kotzebue called The Ruins of Athens, premiered in Pest in 1812. One item from the incidental music (Op. 113, No. 5) is a Turkish march. Beethoven also wrote a set of variations on his march for piano, Op. 76.

• Beethoven's Wellington's Victory, also called the "Battle" Symphony (Op. 91, 1813) commemorates the British victory in the Battle of Vitoria. The opposing British and French armies march to battle with Turkish-music versions of their respective battle songs, "Rule Britannia" and "Malbrouck s'en va-t-en guerre".

• Beethoven returned again to "Turkish" music, by this time rather out of vogue, in a passage of the final movement of his Ninth Symphony (1824). A tenor soloist, assisted by the tenors and basses of the chorus, sings a florid variation on the famous theme, accompanied by Turkish music from the orchestra.

August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue (May 3, 1761 - March 23, 1819), was a German dramatist. ... Nickname: Paris of the East, Pearl of the Danubeor Queen of the Danube Location of Budapest in Hungary Country Hungary County Pest Mayor Gábor Demszky (SZDSZ) Area    - City 525,16 km²  - Land n/a km²  - Water n/a km² Population    - City (2006) 1,695,000  - Density 3570/km... In music, variation is a formal technique where material is altered during repetition; reiteration with changes. ... The Battle of Vitoria was fought on June 21, 1813 during the Peninsular War, between 78,000 British, Portuguese and Spanish troops, with 96 guns, under the Marquis of Wellington, and 58,000 French with 153 guns under King Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jourdan. ... “Rule Britannia” is a patriotic British national song, originating from the poem Rule Britannia by James Thomson, and set to music by Thomas Arne in 1740. ... German composer Ludwig van Beethoven The Symphony No. ...

Others

Turkish music also appears in works of Rameau, Michael Haydn, Rossini, Ludwig Spohr, in two operas of Gluck's, "Iphigenie auf Tauris" (1764) and "Die Pilger von Mekka" (1779), and in Symphony No.6 A minor ("Sinfonie turque") by Friedrich Witt (1770-1836). Jean-Philippe Rameau, by Jacques André Joseph Aved, 1728 Jean-Philippe Rameau (September 25, 1683 - September 12, 1764) was one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the Baroque era. ... Michael Haydn Johann Michael Haydn (September 14, 1737 – August 10, 1806) was an Austrian composer, the younger brother of (Franz) Joseph Haydn. ... Portrait Gioacchino Antonio Rossini (February 29, 1792 – November 13, 1868)[1] was an Italian musical composer who wrote more than 30 operas as well as sacred music and chamber music. ... Louis Spohr as a young man: a self-portrait Louis Spohr (April 5, 1784 - October 22, 1859) was a German composer, violinist and conductor. ... Gluck, detail of a portrait by Joseph Duplessis, dated 1775 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) Christoph Willibald (von) Gluck (July 2, 1714 – November 15, 1787) was a German composer. ...

Musical characteristics

In "Turkish" music, the percussion instruments often play this rhythm:

Rhythmic illustration in music notation for use in Turkish music (style). ...

• Click to hear (Ogg format; 39 K)

This is the same rhythm (probably not coincidentally) as the stereotyped chant of marching soldiers: "Left ... left ... left right left." (It should not be imagined, however, that the tempo is necessarily plodding: the Janissaries conjured up in Mozart's Fifth Violin Concerto, for instance, would be making considerable headway following the tempo of most performances.) OGG can refer to several items: Ogg is a multimedia bitstream container, used for audio and video files, especially Vorbis audio files. ...

The melodic instruments in Turkish music often emphasize the rhythm by playing grace notes, either singly or several in succession, on the beat. A grace note is a common term for a phenomenon of music notation used to denote several kinds of musical ornaments. ...

Both characteristics just mentioned can be seen in the following extract of the Turkish music in the Mozart concerto:

Download high resolution version (862x551, 29 KB)Image of notes for a passage of Turkish music from Mozart Violin Concerto No. ... Download high resolution version (852x568, 25 KB)Image of notes for a passage of Turkish music from Mozart Violin Concerto No. ...

• Click to hear piano reduction (Ogg format, 75 K)

The role of Turkish music in a larger work seems to be to serve as a form of musical relaxation. Thus, in the finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, the Turkish episode serves as a period of lowered intensity between two more massive and emotionally charged sections. Turkish music commonly is found in finales, which (as Charles Rosen point out) are typically the most relaxed and loosely organized movements of Classical works. OGG can refer to several items: Ogg is a multimedia bitstream container, used for audio and video files, especially Vorbis audio files. ... Charles Rosen (born May 5, 1927) is an American pianist and music theorist. ...

History

An important impetus for "Turkish" music occurred in 1699, when Austria and Turkey negotiated the Treaty of Karlowitz. To celebrate the treaty, the Turkish diplomatic delegation brought a Janissary band along with other performers to Vienna for several days of performances. The Treaty of Karlowitz was signed in 1699 in Sremski Karlovci (a city in modern-day Serbia and Montenegro) (German: Karlowitz, Turkish:Karlofça), concluding the Austro-Ottoman War of 1683–1697 in which the Ottoman side was defeated. ...

Although the Janisssary sound was familiar in Europe during the 18th century, the Classical composers were not the first to make use of it; rather, the first imitators were military bands. The cultural influence at first involved actual importation of Turkish musicians, as Henry George Farmer relates: Military Band marching A military band is a group of soldiers assigned to musical duties. ...

The credit for having introduced this battery of percussion and concussion into Europe usually goes to Poland which, in the 1720s, had received a full Turkish band from the Sultan. Russia, not to be outdone, sought a similar favour of the Sublime Porte in 1725, Prussia and Austria following suit, and by the 1770s most other countries had fallen under the sway of Janissary Music.

The importation of actual musicians was only a temporary phenomenon, and the later custom was to assign the Turkish instruments in European military bands to black performers, who dressed for their jobs in exotic Eastern garb. Sultan (Arabic: سلطان) is an Islamic title, with several historical meanings. ... Synonym of the government of the Ottoman Empire often confusing the Sublime Porte and the High Porte. ... Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 Prussia (German: ; Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Lithuanian: ; Polish: ; Old Prussian: Prūsa) was, most recently, a historic state originating in East Prussia, an area which for centuries had substantial influence on German and European history. ...

Thus, "Turkish" music in Europe had two connotations--Eastern and military-- for Classical-era composers. The Turkish association did not evaporate soon. Even during the 1820s, in planning the last movement of the Ninth Symphony, Beethoven made a note to himself specifically stating that it would contain "Turkish" music. The use of the slang term "Turkish section" to describe the percussion section of an orchestra apparently persisted into modern times.

Eventually it became possible to write music with bass drum, triangle, and cymbals without necessarily evoking a Turkish atmosphere, and in the later 19th century symphonic composers made free use of these instruments. Thus in the long run the Turkish instruments are a gift to Western classical music from the Turkish military-music tradition.

The "Turkish stop" on early pianos

Around the turn of the nineteenth century, "Turkish" music was so popular that piano manufacturers made special pianos with a "Turkish stop," also called the "military" or "Janissary" stop. The player would press a pedal that caused a bell to ring and/or a padded hammer to strike the soundboard in imitation of a bass drum. The sound file for the first musical example above attempts to mimic the latter effect manually with a modern piano.

According to Edwin M. Good, the Turkish stop was popular for playing the Mozart K. 331 rondo mentioned above, and "many were the pianists who gleefully used the Janissary stop to embellish it."

Books

• The quote from Henry George Farmer above is from his Military Music (1950; London: Parrish. Out of print)
• The quote from Edwin M. Good above is from his chapter "Grand and Would-Be Grand Pianos," in James Parakilas, ed., Piano Roles (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999).

External links

• Arabic & Turkish Music
• East Meets West - Turkish Influences on the Viennese Classics
• A page on authentic Turkish military music

Links with sound files of works cited

• Web site of violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja:
  • Her essay "On the 'alla turca' in the Rondo of the Violin Concerto K. 219 (in German).
    • Click on first "Sound" link in this essay for a sample of Turkish Janissary music
    • Click on second "Sound" link for Kopatchinskaja's performance of the "Turkish" movement of Mozart's concerto, with Roy Goodman and the Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra
• A midi performance of the "Alla turca" movement of Mozart's Piano Sonata K. 311, from the Lexscripta Web Site.
• Beethoven midi performances, from Tina Billett's "Keyboard Creations" Web site
  • Turkish March from The Ruins of Athens
  • "Wellington's Victory"