Memories attributed to composers and the stories behind pieces, with their sources. Each story shows how reliable its source is; read each one on its own page and listen to the piece.
Sheet music archive
Classical Turkish music works in real staff notation with AEÜ accidentals. Read the score, hear it with kanun sound, adjust the tempo.
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The archive only holds classical and sacred works whose composer and lyricist died more than 70 years ago; folk songs (türkü) and recent composers are not included for copyright reasons.
The level is estimated automatically from the score: range, notes per second, tempo, short and dotted values, the length and asymmetry (aksak) of the usul, the variety of perdes and the length of the piece are scored together. It is a guide, not a substitute for a teacher's judgement.
The archive only includes works by composers whose copyright has expired.
The level is estimated automatically from the score (range, speed, rhythm, usul, variety of perdes, length).
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About this workThe story of the piece
The story linked to this piece, as told in the sources. The reliability of the source is shown above it; the sources are listed at the end of the page.
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Sources
Rauf Yekta
Born: 1871 · Died: 1935
Scores of works by Rauf Yekta (1871–1935): 32 pieces in real notation with AEÜ accidentals, playable with kanun sound, plus recordings.
MakamYegâh (2), Acemaşîrân (1), Arazbar (1), Bestenigâr (1)FormSeyir (29), Peşrev (2), Saz semai (1)UsulSemai (29), Aksak Semai (1), Hafif (1), Devr-i Kebir (1)Visit their room in the Meşkhâne (3D)
In brief
Life
Born in 1871 in Aksaray, Istanbul, he died in 1935 in Beylerbeyi. A neyzen composer and music theorist who took meşk from Zekâî Dede, he served as chief ney player at the Yenikapı Mevlevîhane. He was among the first to explain the pitch system of Turkish music theoretically. He chaired the committee for collecting old works at the Istanbul Conservatory.
Contributions to music theory
Tone system: He was the first to set out theoretically the 25-tone system with 24 unequal intervals within the octave; today's notation is based on this system.
Institutions: He taught at the Dârülelhan from 1917 to 1926; from 1926 until his death he headed the committee at the Istanbul Conservatory that classified and documented old works.
Works: He wrote about 400 articles and books such as Türk Mûsikisi Nazariyatı and Şark Mûsikîsi Târihi; he collected and published the scores of classical works.
Introducing it to the West: He wrote the article “La musique turque” for Lavignac's Encyclopédie de la musique.
Memories
Memories attributed to him and told in the sources. The reliability of the source is shown above each one; the sources are listed at the end of the page.
The level is estimated automatically from the score: range, notes per second, tempo, short and dotted values, the length and asymmetry (aksak) of the usul, the variety of perdes and the length of the piece are scored together. It is a guide, not a substitute for a teacher's judgement.
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Usuls without works in the archive
No works in these usuls are in the score archive yet; you can hear their düm-tek patterns in the usul metronome.
