Ahmed Adnan Saygun's op. 31 partita for solo cello, the analysis of its historical and formal perspectives

Ahmed Adnan Saygun's 'Partita for Solo Cello' as one of his second period compositions whilst compared to his early period Cello Sonata and his late period Cello Concerto, this Partita has been performed much more frequently, albeit lacking analitic and written studies. The piece was composed in 1955 as a part of a series of events including lectures and seminars, that were held in the Arts and Sciences Faculties of the universities in Istanbul and Ankara in commemoration of the famous philosopher, poet and playwright Friedrich Schiller's 150th aniversary of his death, which was observed throughout the World. Max Meinecke, who then was the executive director of Istanbul City Theatre had put Schiller's 'Kabale und Liebe' (Intrigue and Love) on the theatre's program. He commitioned Saygun to write a short solo piece for cello to be performed before the play. Shortly after finishing the final version of his composition, Saygun titled it 'Partita' and dedicated it to the memory of Schiller. The first public performance of Saygun's Partita was given by Martin Bochmann who was the cello professor at Ankara State Conservatory during that time. This performance resulted in Turkey and Germany streghthening their diplomatic ties, as well as earning both the composer and the performer the Schiller Commemorative Medal. While Meinecke chose to have a late 18th century style of staging for the play, the very period 'Kabale und Liebe' was written in, Saygun chose not to use elements of classicism in his musical language. This polarity has often been emphasized by the critics. Saygun's strong connection with mysticism starting in his childhood moved him toward sufism later in life, which overlapped with the moral qualities of humanism. It is the playwright's humanism, Saygun says, that made him feel kinship with Schiller and allowed him to find the right musical frame he was looking for, for his compostions. Upon structural analysis, it could be seen that the piece does not contain the "dance titles", that are a very important part of the Baroque Partita Tradition. In this aspect, it is much closer to the Salzburg Partitas. It is a characteristic of Saygun's music to use pentatonicism as well as Greek and Turkish maqams' colors as his partita's structural and musical tools. In addition to the data that was acquired through bibliographic research, news paper and magazine articles have been essential resources for this study.