Mehterhâne

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Mehterhâne , miniatures from the Surname-i Vehbi , 1720

Mehterhâne ( Ottoman مهترخانه, Turkish also: mehter takımı or mehter ) is the Ottoman name that has been used since the 17th century for music bands that received uniform line-ups after 1453 and were mainly active as military bands and representative ensembles of the sultan and other Ottoman dignitaries as well as within guilds for the public. In doing so, they were based on traditions that already existed in the early Turkish and Ottoman as well as in the Islamic cultural area in general.

Derivation of the name

The Ottoman word mehter (old plural: mehterān ) comes from the two almost identical Persian words mih (German: large) and ter (German: very large). Mehter thus described the individual privileged, with highest ( mehter military) and representative tasks entrusted musician to distinguish it from also mehter sometimes called servants in the tent of the Sultan as CALICI mehter was titled. The corresponding stately chapels had accommodations that were known as mehterhâne since the 17th century at the latest . This term was transferred to the instrumental ensembles. In modern Turkish, the name mehter takımı (from Turkish takım ; German: troop, team, platoon) was found for it.

Prehistory and establishment of the mehterhâne

A military band with trumpets and kettledrums as well as stately flags and standards in anticipation of a pageant. The Arabic illustration from 1237 shows that there were formations similar to the tabılhâne in their early days in the entire Islamic area.

Certain instruments or groups of instruments as stately insignia with a representative and military function were already mentioned in the Turkish-speaking area in the Orhan Göktürk and şine-Uzu inscriptions of the 8th century. In Mahmūd al-Kāschgharīs diwān lughāt at-turk ("Collection of the dialects of the Turks") from the 11th century, the term tuğ is used for the military music groups.

At the time of Osman Ghazi , the instruments boru , zil , davul and nakkare were considered insignia of the ruler along with horse tail and standard . The ensembles were now called tabılhâne or tabl -ü'alem mehter ; their performances were called nevbet .

After the conquest of Constantinople under Sultan Mehmed II in 1453, a complex of buildings, initially called nevbethâne and later also mehterhâne , was built near the new sultan 's palace , in which the mehterān were accommodated as musicians with military and representative tasks. At about the same time, mehter- esnafe - guilds , called mehter - esnafe - emerged which, in addition to the courtly-military functions, mainly took on civil functions.

With the expansion of the Ottoman Empire, it became necessary to set up mehterhâne for the Ottoman dignitaries outside of Constantinople in the newly conquered areas . The size of the occupation was regulated by law according to the reputation and rank of the dignitary. In addition to the land forces , the navy was also equipped with mehterhâne .

In the 17th century, the travel writer Evliya Çelebi gave 1000 mehter musicians for Constantinople alone , including 300 from the Sultan's court. Further mehterhâne also existed in parts of the city outside the walls and in the important bastions and fortresses.

Musical functions

Mehterhâne , miniature from 1568

The earliest pictorial representations in Ottoman miniatures show the mehterhâne as military bands during the campaigns from the 16th century , especially when these took place under the leadership of the Sultan. There are no more detailed Ottoman records of the strategic role of the mehterhâne . She played continuously during the fighting. Signals from the nafīr (trumpets) regulated the measures. At the end of the battle or when retreating, the music was silent. However, there are sometimes detailed reports by the European opponents, on which the participation of the mehterhâne in the deployment of the army and in military parades of the Ottomans made an impression. However, the musical qualities are seldom recognized. An exception to this is Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart's description from 1784/85, which assigns the mehterhâne - as was customary at the time - to the Janissaries:

“The character of this music is warlike, since it also lifts the bosom of cowardly souls. But those who have been lucky enough to hear the Janist bands themselves make music, whose musical choirs are usually eighty to one hundred people strong; he has to smile sympathetically at the mimicking, which mostly spoils Turkish music among us [...] In short, Turkish music is the first of all martial music, but also the most precious, if it is to be as perfect as yours Nature, and its heroic purpose requires. "

Usable reports on other musical functions of the mehterhâne were only written down late. One of the main sources is a treatise written in Italian by Ali Ufkî , which was published in 1667 in Nicolaus Brenner's German translation under the title Serai Enderum. That is: The inner quality of the Turkish Kayserl: Residentz to Constantinopoli the newe Burgk called / sampt of the order and usage [...] was published. Ufkî also created a handwritten collection of Turkish and Ottoman music, in which he also recorded several melodies. He names two groups of musicians in the sultan's mehterhâne , namely a group that was housed inside the sultan's palace and one that was housed outside in nevbethâne . Both groups belonged to the tabl üʾalem-mehter , the timpani and flag mehter .

The recurring tasks of the latter group consisted of playing the morning music one hour before sunrise, providing musical accompaniment to receptions and honors, accompanying the Sultan's official excursions, concluding the day one and a half hours after sunset and announcing and announcing the night curfew and ramazan within the annual cycle of the fasting month .

The group serving in the private sphere of the Sultan, in the enderun , took on the task of making music on state occasions within the palace district and of entertaining the Sultan personally in private as well as on unofficial excursions such as boat trips on the Bosporus.

Both groups were subordinate to the Mir-i alem , the commander of all military bands and supreme responsible for all flags and banners of the ruler. The mehterān of the guilds called mehter-esnafı must be distinguished from them. They only worked in the civilian sector, for example at weddings and circumcision celebrations.

The mehterhâne of the Ottoman dignitaries in Constantinople and in the provinces took the lordly mehterhâne as a model, but were less staffed.

Instruments and line-ups

Although various instruments of military music that were later used in the mehterhâne are mentioned in early Turkish and early Ottoman sources , there was no regulated line-up. It did not develop until after 1453 in the new royal seat of Constantinople. More detailed descriptions have only been available since Salomon Schweiggers Newe Reyß description from Teutschland to Constantinople from 1608. Some Ottoman works published in the 17th century provide more extensive information: Ali Ufkîs Mecmua-i Sâz ü Sez (Collection of Music and Words) and his above-mentioned work Serai Enderum , Evliya Çelebis Seyahatnâme (travel diary) and Dimitrie Cantemir's Kitâbu 'Ilmi'l-Mûsikí alâ Vechi'l-Hurûfât (book of written musicology).

According to these sources, the instrument pair zurna ( cone oboe ) and davul (cylinder drum, also called köbürge, küvrüğ, tuğ, tavul, tuvıl or tabıl ) form the basis of the ensembles. Added to this are nafīr (straight trumpets), boru (coiled trumpets), nakkare (small double timpani), tabılbaz (large double timpani, also known as tavlumbaz, davulbaz or kuş davulu ), zil (pair of cymbals), later also çağana ( bell tree ) and occasionally mehter düdüğü (a no longer identifiable flute-like instrument), kös (large timpani, also called kûz , probably only used by mounted players) and def (single-headed frame drum, probably part of the mehter-esnafı ).

The cast of the mehterhâne was choral. The number of musicians per instrument was based on the musical occasion and its importance as well as the rank of the person to whom the mehterhâne belonged. In 1659 , the Grand Vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pascha had a chapel with nine members ( dokuz katlı mehter ), while lesser dignitaries had smaller chapels.

The Sultan's Mehterhâne-i Tabl-ü Âlem-i Hassa was occupied up to 16 times ( onaltı katlı mehter ) , especially during the campaigns he led . In exceptional cases up to 150 köszen (timpani) were used.

The fact that the sultan's mehterhâne held a special rank is shown not only by the cast, but also by the fact that they were under the military command of a captain with the rank of ağa , the çorbacıbaşı , and the musical direction of a mehterbaşı . According to tradition, they were also assigned standard bearers ( sancaktar ) and horse- tailed bearers ( tuğcu ), which emphasized their grandeur.

In addition to the instrumental line-up, the texted melodies are accompanied by singing voices that were performed by the members of the mehterhâne - usually apart from the wind instruments, especially the melody-leading zurnazen .

Characteristics of music

Lore

It was only Ali Ufkî, Dimitrie Cantemir (Kantemiroğlu) and Hamparsum Limonciyan who created musical notations in the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries, which, in contrast to European notation, found official recognition and with which the music of the mehterhâne could be adequately written down. However, they themselves only covered a small part of the large and diverse repertoire of the mehterhâne . Most of the mehter music - especially those that were once handed down orally - were lost. A few found their way into Ottoman art and entertainment music of the 19th century because of their popularity and remained despite the ban of 1826.

On this basis, at least the melodies played by zurna in the pieces of music that have been preserved could be analyzed. Most of the time , only the name of the usul , the basic rhythmic-metric formula, is passed down from the rhythm . Its execution and distribution among the percussion instruments is uncertain. The use of the nefiir is completely unknown . They were probably playing some kind of rhythmic drone. Signals that demonstrably accompanied marches and fighting with these natural trumpets have been completely lost.

Makam and usul

Like most pieces of music in the Ottoman sphere of influence, the pieces of music of the mehterhâne are tonally and rhythmically-metrically determined by makam and usul . An experienced zurnazen ( zurna player) is able to produce the micro-interval pitch differences required by the various makam on his instrument. In the rhythm group, the main and secondary strokes of the upcoming usul are distributed among the various instruments and varied within the framework of the usul .

Field music and music for representation

Anonymous: [nevâ] Ceng-i harb-î . Written down by Ali Ufkî in the 17th century. The original notes are to be read from right to left; Transcription for comparability in the French treble clef

The field music has a simple structure. A short, low-ambitus melody is repeated many times, sometimes varied, for as long as the occasion requires. This practice corresponds to the folk music played by the duo davul-zurna . Most of these musics accompanying the fighting are based on the usul ceng-i harb-î , whose name they adopted as a genre (called semâî-i harb-î since the 18th century ). A frequently cited example of this is an anonymous ceng-i harb-î handed down by Ali Ufkî . It is in makam neva . A slightly varied, rhythmic basic pattern determines the three parts of the melody, which in the head part ( ser-hâne ) is initially determined by the note d (= neva ), in the refrain ( mülâzim ) and in the final part ( ser-bend ) moves downwards in a sequence and typically for this makam ends in a ( dügâh ).

The representational music, on the other hand, is closer to court art music. Its ambitus is wider and its melody is much more developed and complex. Mainly there are peşrev pieces, as they were also used in the courtly sphere and in the hymns of the mevlevî order. Typical of this is the piece of music, again notated by Ali Ufkî, of makaam-ı mezbur (hüseyni) peşrev, usuleş düyek by Hasan Can Çelebî (around 1490–1567). The artistic claim is far greater here than with the ceng-i harb-î pieces. The peşrev pieces should meet the aesthetic demands of the court audience. Some of these pieces found their way into court chamber music ( ince sâz ) and were handed down there after 1826 as well.

Songs

For some original pieces of music by the mehterhâne , texts have survived, for example in the 17th century by Ali Ufkî an anonymous text (“ inŞallah gördüm seni gönül kân olasın ”) for an anonymous song, a Semai-i Harbî, tahir . The phrases of this very vocal song usually begin with a high note. The melody then slowly slides downwards. Sometimes the phrases are terminated by instruments. This song is reminiscent of the melody of long-spun Ottoman or Turkish art and folk songs in the style of uzun hava (the "long breath").

In the tradition of old mehter songs, after the revival of mehter music, i.e. after 1914, new texts were composed to old melodies, especially marching melodies. During the liberation struggle and after the founding of the Republic of Turkey, the content often referred to the heroic qualities of this new era.

Composers

Although mehterhâne compositions have been written down since Ali Ufkî , the tradition of playing for and playing by ear and oral mediation persisted into the 19th century.

Who was the composer of compositions that were handed down by name or anonymously and, for example, recorded in writing by Ufkî, had little relevance for this tradition. Ufkî's notations recorded the current state of the pieces of music at that time and were not intended for practical use, i.e. neither for learning nor for playing music. Therefore, the pieces of music were still subject to changes in the aural transmission.

Some names of composers who were famous in their time and in some cases still today have been preserved and numerous pieces of music have been assigned to them. In the 16th century worked alongside some other composers Nefiri Behram , Emir-i Hac and Gazi Giray Han , in the 17th century Solaksâde Mehmed Hemdemî Celebi , Zurnazen Edirneli Dagi Ahmed Celebi , Zurnazenbaşı İbrahim Aga , Hasan Celebi Cân and Sultan Murad IV. Below the stage name Şah Murad and in the 18th century Hızır Ağa .

A large part of the traditional compositions, including a number of downright catchy tunes like the [neva] ceng-i harb-î discussed above , come from anonymous composers mainly from the 16th and 17th centuries.

Dissolution and reawakening of the mehterhâne

Today's mehterhâne

In the wake of the army reform under Sultan Mahmud II , the lordly mehterhâne were officially abolished in 1826 and robbed of their functions. The guilds were also banned. It was not until 1914 that the mehterhâne and their music were revived in the Ottoman Empire out of historical interest. Today mehterhâne are used in Turkey on important historical anniversaries for parades and other festivities, including folkloric and tourist events.

Janissary music and mehterhâne

There was already an exchange of musical instruments between the Christian Occident and the Islamic Orient in the High Middle Ages. The interest in oriental and exotic-looking cultural goods, which also included music and musical instruments, increased in the late Middle Ages and in the early modern period and became part of an early exoticism in the Baroque and European Enlightenment.

The armed conflicts and diplomatic connections with the Ottoman Empire meant that its culture and thus also its music made an impression on the political and intellectual elite of the West from the 15th century onwards. During the Turkish Wars, Christian Europeans were able to get to know the military music of the Ottomans better. In Western parlance, the music of the Ottoman mehterhâne was now often referred to as 'Turkish music' . Since this music was almost always perceived in the wake of the elite troop of the Janissaries as their war music or marching music, the name Janissaries music prevailed for it .

However, the terms Turkish music and Janissary music do not really relate to the facts. Nevertheless, the supposed Janissary music - and especially the marching music of the mehterhâne  - became a musical model for European military music and, as 'alla turca', also for a fashion trend in European art music of the 18th and 19th centuries. After all, not only the music of the mehterhâne and its European imitation itself, but also the corresponding instrumental ensembles were referred to as Turkish music or Janissary music .

See also

literature

  • Ralf Martin Jäger: Turkish art music and its handwritten sources from the 19th century (writings on musicology from Münster; vol. 7). Verlag der Musikalienhandlung Wagner, Eisenach 1996, ISBN 3-88979-072-0 (plus dissertation, University of Münster 1993).
  • Ralf Martin Jäger: Janissary music. In: The music in past and present , factual part Vol. 4 . Bärenreiter, Kassel 1996, ISBN 3-7618-1105-5 .
  • Ralf Martin Jäger and Ursula Reinhard: Turkey. In: The music in past and present, factual part, Vol. 9 . Bärenreiter, Kassel 1998, ISBN 3-7618-1128-4 .
  • Gültekin Oransay: From the Türcken Dölpischer Music. The music of the Turkish peasants and Western art music . In: Hanna Gülich-Bielenberg (Red.): The folk culture of the Southeast European peoples. Conference of the South East Europe Society, May 24 to May 27, 1961 (South East Europe Yearbook; Vol. 6). Südosteuropa VG, Munich 1962, pp. 96-107.
  • Gültekin Oransay: The traditional Turkish art music (Ankaran contributions to music research; Vol. 1). Türk Kiiğ, Ankara 1964.
  • William F. Parmentier II: The Mehter : Cultural perceptions and interpretations of Turkish drum and bugle music throughout history. In: Michael Hüttler, Hans Ernst Weidinger (eds.): Ottoman Empire and European Theater I: The Age of Mozart and Selim III (1756–1808). Hollitzer Wissenschaftsverlag, Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-99012-065-1 , pp. 287–305.
  • Kurt Reinhard , Ursula Reinhard: Music of Turkey . Verlag Heinrichshofen, Wilhelmshaven 1984.
  1. Die Kunstmusik (paperbacks for musicology; 95), ISBN 3-7959-0425-0 .
  2. Die Volksmusik (paperbacks for musicology; 96), ISBN 3-7959-0426-9 .
  • Haydar Sanal: Mehter Musikisi. Bestekâr mehterler - Mehter havaları. MEB, Istanbul 1964 (Turkish).
  • Memo G. Schachiner: Janissary instruments and Europe. Sources and documents on the musical instruments of the Janissaries in Imperial Austria . Revised 1st edition MC Publ., Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-9502348-0-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Ralf Martin Jäger, Kassel 1996, column 1317 f.
  2. ^ Karl Steuerwald: Turkish-German dictionary .
  3. ↑ Kurt and Ursula Reinhard, Wilhelmshaven 1984, Volume 1, p. 172.
  4. ↑ For the entire paragraph see Ralf Martin Jäger, Kassel 1996, column 1317 f.
  5. ^ Richard Ettinghaus: The Arab painting. Geneva 1979.
  6. ↑ See also file: Yahyâ ibn Mahmûd al-Wâsitî 005.jpg , file: SchoolOfTabriz9.jpg and file: Baysonghori Shahnameh battle-scene.jpg .
  7. ↑ a b Ralf Martin Jäger, Kassel 1996, column 1317.
  8. ↑ Sanal, Istanbul 1964, pp. 16-19.
  9. ↑ Sanal, Istanbul 1964, pp. 23-26.
  10. ↑ Gültekin Oransay, Munich 1962, p. 105.
  11. ↑ Ralf Martin Jäger, Kassel 1996, column 1317f and Ralf Martin Jäger, Eisenach 1996, p. 55ff.
  12. ↑ Representations, for example in Nurhan Atasoy: Turkish miniature painting . Istanbul 1974; Esin Atıl: Suleyman name . Washington 1986; Géza Fehér: Turkish miniatures from the chronicles of the Hungarian campaigns . Budapest 1976 and Wiesbaden 1978.
  13. ↑ a b c Ralf Martin Jäger, Eisenach 1996, p. 63.
  14. ^ Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart: Ideas for an Aesthetics of Tonkunst . Published posthumously in print 1806.
  15. ↑ Online at books.google . Retrieved January 7, 2017. See therein No. 21, pp. 74-82.
  16. ↑ The title is Mecmua-i Sâz ü Sez and was reprinted in Istanbul in 1976.
  17. ↑ Sanal, Istanbul 1964, pp. 8-23.
  18. ↑ a b c Ralf Martin Jäger, Eisenach 1996, p. 56ff.
  19. ↑ Sanal, Istanbul 1964, pp. 20-23.
  20. ↑ The bell tree was added under the name çağana in the 18th century based on the model of Western military music. It is uncertain which Ottoman instrument was previously referred to by çağana . The object çevgan , described in Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatnâme and sometimes interpreted as çağana , is not a musical instrument, but the baton for an Ottoman equestrian ball game. See Memo G. Schachiner, Vienna 2007, pp. 28–36.
  21. ↑ Ralf Martin Jäger, Kassel et altera 1996, column 1318 ff.
  22. ^ Sanal, Istanbul 1964, p. 20.
  23. ↑ Ralf Martin Jäger, Kassel et altera 1996, column 1320.
  24. ↑ Memo G. Schachiner, Vienna 2007, p. 41.
  25. ↑ Ralf Martin Jäger, Eisenach 1996, pp. 225–233 (Ufkî); Pp. 235-245 (Kantemiroğlu); Pp. 253-269 (Hamparsum).
  26. ↑ Ralf Martin Jäger, Eisenach 1996, pp. 59–61.
  27. ↑ Ralf Martin Jäger, Eisenach 1996, pp. 62–65.
  28. ↑ Kurt and Ursula Reinhard, Wilhelmshaven 1984, Volume 2, p. 19.
  29. ↑ Ralf Martin Jäger, Eisenach 1996, p. 217 f.
  30. ↑ a b Sanal, Istanbul 1964, p. 300 f.
  31. ↑ Ralf Martin Jäger, Eisenach 1996, p. 55ff.
  32. ↑ Ralf Martin Jäger and Ursula Reinhard, Kassel 1998, column 1058.
  33. ↑ Thomas Betzwieser and Michael Stegemann: Exotism . In: Music in the past and present . Sachteil, Volume 3, Kassel et altera 1995, Column 228-234.
  34. ↑ Ralf Martin Jäger, Kassel 1996, column 1323 ff.
  35. ↑ Ralf Martin Jäger, Kassel 1996, column 1325-1329.

Web links

Commons : Military bands of the Ottoman Empire  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Today's mehterhâne

Audio samples