Study of Ahmed Adnan Saygun’s Life, Musical Approaches and Symphonies

Abstract

In the early years of the republic founded in Turkey under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, one of the most important issues was art. One of the most important areas of art was music. Although the country had a deeply rooted musical culture from the past, it was unfortunately not possible at that time to institutionalize this culture in an academic way. The young talents who were sent abroad to study music aimed to ensure this institutionalisation. The Turkish Five, known as the first composers of modern Turkey, were pioneers and educators of institutionalisation efforts as well as composers identified with Atatürk's breakthroughs in the field of music. The composers of the Turkish Five are Cemal Reşit Rey, Hasan Ferid Alnar, Ulvi Cemal Erkin, Ahmed Adnan Saygun and Necil Kazım Akses. These are the composers who kept up with the civilised world and made themselves known and accepted with their compositions. The reason why Ahmed Adnan Saygun occupies an important place in the development of Turkish music is the fact that the composer has written works in many different genres. He has important works in forms such as solo, piano, chamber music, opera, sonata and concerto. He pushed the boundaries of his music especially in his symphonic works written during his middle-aged. He used the maqam scale as a colour in his works and showed this in his orchestral language. Based on this importance, the aim of this study is to present information on the life, musical approaches and five symphonies of Ahmed Adnan Saygun, who is one of the Turkish Five and who introduced Turkish music to the next generations both as an educator and as a composer.

Keywords: Saygun, Symphony, Turkish Five, Turkish music, Music

DOI: 10.7176/ADS/106-04

Publication date:August 31^st 2023