Makams in the XVth century

Makâm (mode) is one of the basic concepts of the Turkish Music which has been studied for hundreds of years. Although well documented, the notion of makâm has not been fully clarified yet. Study of the historical process of the Turkish music culture has revealed that the roots of makâm structures spread over a wide area of geographic locations. Most of the makâms found in the traditional Turkish music have been interacted with various music cultures in different times and places. In order to untie this complicated knot and trace down the origins of the makâm there is a need to investigate the manuscripts written by the old music theorists. Among many, the music manuscripts which were written during the Ottoman era are of enormous significance. These texts take their origins from the hand written manuscripts called ?edvâr? which date back as early as to the IXth century. Through these antique calligraphies the music theories have been brought to the present. The word ?edvâr? meaning time cycles, centuries or eras is the plural of the Arabic word ?devir?. The manuscripts written until the XIXth century offer very valuable information about usul (rhythmic cycles), makâm and even the musical instruments played back in those times. Because usuls and makâms in these books have been illustrated in circular forms these manuscripts are called ?Kitâb-ı Edvâr? (books of circles).The first hand written manuscripts about the Turkish music were produced by El-Kındi in the IXth century followed by the works of other prominent Islamic music philosophers namely Fârâbî in the Xth century and İbn-i Sînâ in the XIth century, respectively. Having mentioned about the scales by which the makâms are formed, for the first time, these music geniuses laid the foundations of the theory of the Turkish music between the IXth and the XIIIth centuries. Their attempts to create a systematic foundation to the Turkish music were furthered by Safiyüddin Urmevi whose school of music contributed to the course of creating a systematic approach to Turkish music a great deal. Another exponent of this system who stands out with his involvement in creating a basis for the Turkish music is Maragalı Abdülkadir. Subsequent musicians kept working on the system which resulted in writing of many well known edvârs throughout the XVth century. Modified in form and content, the edvâr writing continued towards the end of the XIXth century. The makâms which had been described in edvârs in the XIIIth century on a smaller scale were more extensively explained in the XVth century onwards.The present study is generally concerned with the developments which took place in the Turkish music in the XVth century. Among the distinguished music theorists who stand out with the edvârs they have written during this era are Ahmedoğlu Şükrullah, Kırşehirli Yusuf, Bedri Dilşad, Abdullahoğlu Hızır, Şirvanlı Fethullah, Ladikli Mehmed Çelebi, Bükeoğlu Alişâh, Seydî ve Kadızade Tirevî?, not to mention Maragalı Abdülkadir. Makâms presented in these works have been widely examined in terms of their numbers, classifications, attributes, constituents, modal improvisations, starting keys and tonics under the heading of individual patterns. Besides these, the anonymous edvârs have also been dealt with in the present study. First of all, the 17- note sound system which was widely used in the works of the above mentioned musicians was studied. Then, the keys, intervals, and the concepts of tetrachord and pentachord which constitute the makâms were examined. The structure of the mode which is also called as âvâze, şûbe and terkîb, besides makâm (name attributed to mode as of XIXth century) has also been investigated. In addition, we emphasized that the above mentioned patterns show difference in number, classification, formation and characteristics in the works of different theorists. Generally speaking, there is a mention of twelve makâms, seven âvâzes, four şûbes and 144 terkîbs ? the highest number reached by Abdullahoğlu Hızır. Although presenting variation in order according to different theorists, the number of makâms has always been constant. Number of other patterns, however, changes. For example, some musicians declare the number of âvâzes as six and the şûbes as 24. The numbers of terkîbs differ almost in all works. Edvârs contain information about the constituents and modal improvisations in terkîbs more so than the definition of makâms. The fact that the şûbes and âvâzes do not form scales by themselves but are added to the scales of makâms, thereby contributing to the formation and enrichment of makâms, is unanimously agreed upon in most edvârs. The present study also provides samples of scales written by ebced notes as given in edvârs along with their current transcription. Having compared the views of the theorists who have defined makâms by verbal explanations of the modal improvisations, we attempted to put the formation and structure of the makâms of the XVth century into perspective on the tables which were added as appendixes.