The Analysis of Callisto Guatelli’s harmonizations of the makam pieces by Giriftzen Asım Bey and Ethem Bey; importance and place in music history and music theory

Abstract

EXTENDED ABSTRACT The westernization movement in Ottoman Empire had a profound impact on music culture in the nineteenth century. After abolition of Mehterhane (Ottoman army band) in 1826, a Western type of military band was established by Sultan Mahmud II. The band was founded under the roof of the musical foundation called Musika-i Hümâyûn. Professional musicians who were trained in Western music field, such as conductors, educators and performers were invited and employed in Musika-i Hümâyûn. Well-known Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti’s (1797-1848) brother Giuseppe Donizetti (1788-1856) was one of the most influential figures among all of them. He contributed, Western music culture to receive acceptance and to spread both at government and society level. After death of Donizetti in 1856, a second Italian maestro continued his legacy. Callisto Guatelli (1818-1900) was the successor of Donizetti. Guatelli served to Ottoman music life in various roles as conductor, composer, performer and educator. His compositional output mainly consist of marches and other military music influenced forms. Besides Western style of compositions, he also focused on traditional makam music. He composed some piano pieces that consisted of inspirations from Turkish makam music and also harmonized various pieces from the makam music repertoire. In this study two chosen harmonizations of Guatelli were analyzed. With the data derived from harmonic analysis, the path that Guatelli might have followed, was tried to be revealed. Hybrid structure of the pieces were analyzed both from makam and tonal music perspectives. Due to different pitch organizations of Ottoman-Turkish and Western music, harmonized songs’ sonic palette altered significantly. The possible reasons of this transformation was tried to be explained. Additionally, this study focused on shifting sonic palettes of makam structures during the harmonizing process. By comparing the texture of the pieces with his European contemporaries, the harmonizations were tried to be positioned in the Romantic era. Harmonizing a piece which was composed in makam aesthetic, brings a couple of major difficulties. Perhaps the most important challenge to overcome is that harmonized songs or pieces consist of notes that can not be performed on a piano which is tuned in 12 tone equal temperament system. Both in Turkish makam theory and practice, intervals which are smaller than a semitone are essential. While in makam music theory they are called koma, from Western music theory point of view, the tones which do not fit into 12 tone temperament system, are called microtones. As komas are the building blocks of makam structure, adapting such “microtonal” music to equal temperament system will cause to lose authenticity and taste of the original piece. At this stage of harmonizing, composers’ attitudes play a critical role in harmonizing a piece taken from makam music literature. Guatelli, as a Romantic era composer, embraced a tonal approach (rather than a modal approach) for these harmonizations. The original songs were transferred from microtonal sonic tone palette to equal temperament, thus, tonal harmony became an applicable tool. Guatelli adapted the transformed melodic structures into a tonal framework. The harmonic analysis of these pieces provides the data that, tonal centre of the harmonizations and the original pieces are not consistent. The reason behind this inconsistency is, with the help of the tonicization of the certain notes/degrees of the makam scales, Guatelli could make it possible to adapt the melodies into tonal system. On the one hand, this approach made it possible to harmonize the non-tonal melodies, but on the other hand, the notes which do not have a tonic character in the makam theory, had new roles and functions. In the Romantic era, virtuosity has had a great importance. Composers like N. Paganini (1782-1840), F. Liszt (1811-1886), F. Chopin (1810-1849) were among the most influential figures of the period. Romantic piano literature is mostly decorated with complicated and dense texture, whereas Guatelli’s analyzed harmonizations do not bare such characteristic structure. On the one hand, the hybrid structure of the harmonizations made possible to create a unique musical language, but on the other hand, because of the pitch organization of the makam structures, in the frame of equal temperament, original songs lost their identities and taste at a great level. The path that Guatelli followed to achieve to harmonize pieces taken form makam music literature has great importance as they were one of the first examples of this compositional approach

Keywords

• harmonization
• turkish music
• makam
• ottoman empire
• polyphony

Giriftzen Asım Bey’e ait Hicaz ve Ethem Bey’e ait Uşşak eserlerin, Callisto Guatelli tarafından yapılan armonizasyonlarının analizi; müzik tarihi ve müzik teorisi kapsamında değerlendirilmesi

Abstract

Musika-i Hümâyûn’un kurulmasıyla 19. yüzyılın ikinci çeyreğinden itibaren Batı müziğinin Osmanlı kültüründe etkinliği artmaya başlamış ve daha geniş kesimlerce kabul görmüştür. Giuseppe Donizetti’nin vefatının ardından bu kurumda çalışmaya başlayan Callisto Guatelli, devletin farklı katmanlarında şeflik, eğitmenlik ve müzisyenlik alanlarında katkı sağlamış ve bu süreçte Batı müziği ve Türk müziği kültüründen izler taşıyan eserler bestelemiştir. Türk müziği literatüründen seçmiş olduğu bazı makamsal eserleri armonize ederek, literatüre kazandırmıştır. Batı müziği ve Türk müziği elementlerinin bir araya getirilmesi ile inşa edilen ve melez bir karakter ile örülü olan bu yapıtlar, tarih, müzik estetiği ve müzik teorisi ekseninde bazı soruların doğmasına da neden olmuştur. Bu çalışmada, bestecinin armonizasyonlarından seçilen iki parçanın armonik analizinin yapılmasının yardımı ile makamsal eserleri çokseslendirme tekniğinde izlenen yöntem eleştirel bir bakış açısıyla ele alınmış ve makamların bu süreçte yaşadıkları kimlik değişimlerinin olası neden ve sonuçlarına odaklanılmıştır.

Keywords

• armonizasyon
• türk müziği
• makam
• osmanlı imparatorluğu
• çokseslilik

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