A Comparison of Turkish
Mehter Music and W.A. Mozart
Presentation by Matt Craven
Turkish music
Folk music specific to janissary bands and Turkish
troubadours
Jannisary bands were a fad in Europe for a time, they had zil, davul,
kos, zurna
 Other folk music dominated by the saz, a type of long-necked lute
 Also used are the ney and kanun
 Employ makams, a type of scale system
 Known to have irregular meters, such as
5/8, 7/8, 8/8, 7/4, 8/4
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Makams
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Combination of tetrachords and pentachords
Rules of melodic progression
Three types of makams
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Simple, Transposed, Compound
Three types of progression, seyir
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Ascending, Descending, Ascending-Descending
Janissary bands
Called “mehter” by the Turks
First military bands of modern
style
Incorporated zurna, davul, boru,
nakkare, zil, and kos
 Melodies are monophonic
 Incisive timbre
 Shifts in modes
 Many repeated sections
 Several subdivisions of basic
pulse
 Fast, ornamental patterns
Janissary bands
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Symbol of the Ottoman Turks
Used to define social status
Cagana or cevgen used as a ceremonial
instrument
Influenced two music styles in western music
Predecessor of first marching bands
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http://www.turkishculture.org/pages.php?ChildID=&ParentID=7&ID=86&C
hildID1=487&miMore=1#PageContent
W. A. Mozart
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Born January 27
Started playing keyboard at 3,
composing at 5
1764, wrote first 3 symphonies
1768 wrote first opera
1777 concertmaster of
archbishop of Salzburg, fell in
love with Aloysia Weber
1781 moved to Vienna
1782 married Constanze
Weber, wrote Abduction from
Seraglio
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(1756-1791)
1786 Marriage of Figaro
1787 became composer of
Imperial and Royal Chamber,
his father died
1791 composed music for
Vienna court began to feel ill in
Prague
Dec 5, 1791 died of rheumatic
fever
Mozart’s Music
After he played for Empress of Austria at 6, his father devoted
himself to Mozart’s education
 Some influences were JS Bach; Sammartini, an early composer of
symphonies
 Foremost influence was Franz Josef Haydn, Mozart dedicated a set
of six string quartets to him
Famous Works
 Early (1761-1772): La finta simplice; Bastien und Batienne;
Mitridate, re di Ponto
 Middle(1772-1781): Missa in C
 Late(1781-1791): Idomeneo re di Creta; The Abduction from
Seraglio; The Marriage of Figaro; Don Giovanni; Cosi fan tutte; La
Clemenza de Tito; The Magic Flute; Requiem
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Piano Sonata No. 11
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3 movement Sonata, probably written around
1783
1st movement, 6 variations on a theme. 2nd
movement, minuet
Last movement called Alla Turca (Turkish Rondo)
Allegretto in A minor
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Melodies are monophonic
Incisive timbre
Shifts in modes
Many, repeated sections
Several subdivisions of
basic pulse
Fast, ornamental patterns
Works Cited
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mappery.com/maps/Turkey-Country-Map.mediumthumb.jpg&imgrefurl=http://mappery.com/map-name/TurkeyCountryMap&usg=__ILENK3XgsD3LuWAGQbo6AL2LBXM=&h=399&w=600&sz=95&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=UuI0K
Sv0MxF_LM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dturkey%2Bcountry%2Bpictures%26hl%3Den%26saf
e%3Dactive%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*%26um%3D1
http://thinkgeoenergy.com/archives/1717
http://www.kulsan.org/kulsan/gb/music/groups
http://www.peterpringle.com/kanun.html
http://www.indexmundi.com/turkey/demographics_profile.html
http://www.incirlik.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=5471
http://www.hinesmusic.com/What_Are_Makams.html http://www.izmirorg.com.tr/images/big/mehter-icincevgen.jpg http://yazarlikyazilimi.meb.gov.tr/Materyal/mardin/grup2/muzikaletleri/resimler/davul.jpg
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http://www.uzmanportal.com/wp-content/dosyalarim/2009/06/mehter5.jpg
http://www.turkishculture.org/pages.php?ChildID=&ParentID=7&ID=86&ChildID1=487&miMore=1#PageContent
http://www.peterpringle.com/pppix/kanun1.jpeg
http://www.ente.at/images/head/mozart_1.jpg
http://dosostenidomenor.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/mozart.jpg
http://www.1902encyclopedia.com/M/MOZ/mozart-01.jpg
Works cited
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http://www.worldturkey.com/tourisminfo/oludd.jpg
http://www.applesaucekids.com/Music/GenMusic/RondoAllaTurca-let.pdf
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~tan/Mozartreq/main.html
http://www.mideastweb.org/culture/ney.jpg
http://img2.blogcu.com/images/y/a/g/yagmurve/1231557839zurna.jpg
http://everynote.com/goods.pic/Moz_RonAlTurca.gif
http://cnx.org/content/m15861/latest/