The Turkish Music Reform: From Late Ottoman Times to the Early Republic

Abstract

‘The speed with which a nation can transform itself is related to how well it can adapt to new styles in music’, declared an impatient Mustafa Kemal [Atatürk] during one of his keynote parliamentary speeches in Ankara in November 1934 (Saygun, 1981, p. 49). What he meant by ‘new styles in music’ was of course a suitable adaptation of the key principles of the Western classical tradition — its harmony, melody and form — to the indigenous music of Turkey, thus creating a balanced fusion fit for the new emerging Turkish state. Only after this transformation could the national music of Turkey, in his opinion, possibly be elevated to a universal musical level. ‘New Turkish Music’, in other words, was going to play an important role in the transformation of the country. All the young and promising composers of the republic were expected to fulfil their duties by writing music to serve the needs of the new regime, rooted of course in Turkey’s national heritage.¹