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.
18 stories · 10 composers
Memory · Tambouri Djemil Bey
As the story goes, a spider used to come down on a thin thread from the wooden ceiling of the room where Cemil Bey played the tanbur. Cemil Bey never touched it and left it alone. One day the spider did not come; after waiting a few days he climbed a ladder to look at the ceiling and found that the spider had died. He is said to have expressed his sorrow in a couplet.
The story of the piece · Niçin Terkeyleyip Gittin · Hacı Arif Bey
While teaching music to the harem women at the palace of Sultan Abdülmecid, Hacı Ârif Bey fell in love with Çeşmidilber; the two were married and Ârif Bey left the palace. As the story goes, one day Çeşmidilber left him; Ârif Bey returned to his post at the palace and expressed the grief of this separation in this song. Its first line.
The story of the piece · Bir Gonca Femin Yâresi · Hammamizade İsmail Dede Efendi
Dede Efendi’s first son Sâlih died in 1805 at the age of three, a year after the death of his sheikh Ali Nutkî Dede. It is told that Dede Efendi gave voice to this grief in this bayâtî beste, whose lyrics he also wrote. In 1810 he also lost his second son Mustafa. The year the beste was composed is unknown. Its first line.
The story of the piece · Ey Mutrib-i Zevk Âşinâ · Rahmi Bey
It is told that Rahmi Bey, in a time of financial hardship, was invited to the wedding of a musician friend. He had no money for a present, so he offered this song, whose lyrics he also wrote. It is also said that the gift was for the wedding of Muazzez Hanım, the kanun teacher of the Dârülelhan; the date of the wedding is unknown. The song opens by addressing a musician of fine taste.
Memory · Rahmi Bey
Years later, Refik Fersan recalls a very harsh winter he spent as a child at the Rıdvan Paşa mansion in Erenköy: the roads were blocked by snow, and even bread was hard to find. At the end of April a lovely spring arrives; Rahmi Bey wishes to keep the memory of that spring alive with this tâhir-bûselik song, whose lyrics he also wrote. That winter fell in the year 1323, which is 1907 or 1908 in today’s calendar. The notation of the song is not yet in our archive. Its first lines.
Memory · Zekai Dede Efendi
In 1870, at the request of Mustafa Fâzıl Pasha, whose music teacher he was from 1845 until the Pasha’s death in 1875, Zekâi Dede composed a Mevlevi âyin in makam sûzidil. The âyin could only be performed at a mukabele in 1892, at the Bahariye Mevlevi lodge; the Pasha did not live to see it. The score of this âyin is not yet in our archive.
The story of the piece · Yürük Değirmenler Gibi · Hammamizade İsmail Dede Efendi
In 1846 Dede Efendi set out on the pilgrimage with his students Dellâlzâde İsmâil and Mutafzâde Ahmed, teaching them on the way the nearly forgotten mi'râciye of Nâyî Osman Dede. During the pilgrimage he composed this ilâhi to words by Yûnus Emre; it is his last piece. He caught cholera at Mina and died on 29 November 1846. The first line of the ilâhi.
The story of the piece · Olmaz İlaç Sîne-i Sad-Pâreme · Hacı Arif Bey
After Çeşmidilber, Hacı Ârif Bey returned to his post as music teacher at the palace; as it is told, this time he married a harem woman named Zülfinigâr and again left the palace. His wife died of tuberculosis a year later. The composer expressed this grief in this segâh song and in a hicaz song beginning “Kamer-çehre perî-rû tende cânım”. The first line of the song.
The story of the piece · Ahter-i Düşkün · Hacı Arif Bey
When Abdülhamid II wished to hear his new songs, Hacı Ârif Bey pleaded illness; he is said to have told the chamberlain, “In art there is no imperial decree.” The sultan had him confined to his room at the Muzıka-yi Hümâyun for fifty days. He asked his friend, the chief muezzin Rifat Bey, to sing before the sultan this nihâvend song he had composed in the meantime; he was pardoned and promoted to colonel.
The story of the piece · Gurubetti Güneş Dünya Karardı · Hacı Arif Bey
Hacı Ârif Bey developed heart disease about a year before his death and died on 28 June 1885, shortly after composing this kürdîlihicazkâr song. Where he died is told in two ways: in his room at the Muzıka-yi Hümâyun, or at a friend’s waterside mansion in Kuruçeşme.
The story of the piece · Bir Sihr-i Tarâb · Rahmi Bey
Rahmi Bey used to accompany with his voice the playing of Tanbûrî Cemil Bey, whom he had met in 1894. When Cemil Bey died in 1916, he composed this sûzinak song. The lyrics are also his; the first line recalls Cemil Bey’s instrument.
The story of the piece · Bir Nevcivansın · Rahmi Bey
Rahmi Bey, who loved spring and composed nearly all his pieces in that season, dedicated this hisarbûselik song, his last work, to Fâhire Fersan a few days before his death. The lyrics are also his own.
The story of the piece · Gül Hazin Sünbül Perîşan · Rahmi Bey
This is Rahmi Bey’s earliest known piece. It is said to have been composed, on a poem by Recâizâde Mahmud Ekrem, on the death of his close friend Şevki Bey on 20 July 1890; Şevki Bey had died of a heart attack at Rahmi Bey’s house in Beylerbeyi. The first line of the poem.
Memory · Şakir Ağa
In 1812 Şâkir Ağa put together a fasıl with Dede Efendi in makam ferahnâk, which he himself had arranged: the kâr, the first beste and the yürük semâî are by Şâkir Ağa, the second beste and the ağır semâî by Dede Efendi. The two composers were at times rivals. The yürük semâî “Bir dilbere dil düştü” in our archive may be the yürük semâî of that fasıl, but this is not certain.
Memory · Selim III
Şeyh Gâlib attached a kaside to his petition for the restoration of the Galata Mevlevi lodge; Selim III liked the poem so much that he had the restoration begun at once. The sultan attended the reopening on a Friday, and at the mukabele his own sûzidilârâ âyin was performed. Selim III is said to have devised and arranged makam sûzidilârâ.
The story of the piece · Gamzedeyim Devâ Bulmam · Kemani Tatyos Ekserciyan
Ahmed Râsim described this uşşak song, also known as the “Kesik Kerem Nazîresi”, as a “sincere portrayal” of the state of Tatyos Efendi, who also wrote its words. Ahmed Râsim, Vasilaki and Şevkî Bey were his closest friends; Râsim would first go over his new songs with Tatyos.
Memory · Dellalzade İsmail Efendi
It is told that when Zekâi Dede, who had no piece in makam yegâh, was asked why, he replied that with Dellâlzâde’s works in this makam there was nothing left to do; yegâh had been “sealed”. The same remark is also said to be Dede Efendi’s.
Memory · Şevki Bey
Şevkî Bey composed more than two hundred songs in makam uşşak. As the story goes, when Zeki Ârif Ataergin was asked why he had written nothing in this makam, he said Şevkî Bey had handled uşşak so beautifully that he had “closed the door of uşşak”. It is also told that Şevkî Bey composed his songs on the spot while reading the poem.
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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.
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.
No works in these usuls are in the score archive yet; you can hear their düm-tek patterns in the usul metronome.