Turkish hymn that inspired Beethoven found

June 19, 2010 - PRLog -- Istanbul, Turkey

200-year-old mystery solved

Turkish hymn that inspired Beethoven found

It has been discovered recently in Turkey that Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was inspired by a Mevlevi piece (ayin) for his Chorus of Dervishes in his incidental music op. 113 The Ruins of Athens (Die Ruinen von Athen).

The music was written in 1811 to accompany the play of the same name by August von Kotzebue, for the dedication of a new theater at Pest.

According to Dr. Feza Tansug, an ethnomusicologist in Istanbul, “although Beethoven never listened to a Mevlevi ceremony in his lifetime, he used the notation by Jean Antoine du Loir, a French merchant and traveller, who had transcribed a hymn from a Mevlevi ayin in Istanbul and later published it in Paris in 1654.”

The discovery was made by Dr. Feza Tansug, professor of ethnomusicology and head of the Department of Anthropology at Yeditepe University in Istanbul, who adds that “since the nineteenth century, musicians and musicologists, including the famous composer Camille Saint-Saens, a leading representative of musical orientalism, have been speculating about the existence of an authentic Turkish document that Beethoven might have used. 200 years later we discovered it here and a mystery has been solved.”

“The evidence and findings are gleaned from more than two years of ongoing research at Yeditepe University and indicate that Beethoven was far better informed about Turkish music than has generally been assumed,” Tansug said. “We can see influences of Turkish music in Beethoven’s compositions of his late period.”

In an article to be published by the History Foundation of Turkey in Istanbul this month, Tansug asserts that Beethoven used Ottoman-Turkish military music (mehter musikisi) in his Turkish March, the best-known music from The Ruins of Athens, and the hymn transcribed by Du Loir, in his Chorus of Dervishes.”

“The Mevlevis are renowned for their whirling dances. The Mevlevi Sema Ceremony was proclaimed a World Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 2005. In honor of Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi’s 800th birthday, UNESCO also declared 2007 the Year of Mevlana and Tolerance. Thus, we see that the thoughts of Mevlana, the esteemed master of sufism, poet, humanist and composer, meet with those of Beethoven, another great composer and humanist, in The Ruins of Athens, Tansug said.

“Bearing a certain Turkish quality, the Chorus of Dervishes in this monumental work is the first example of Mevlevi music influence on international art music. We must also consider Beethoven to be the first composer who used Mevlevi music in his works. The piece will be performed as a project for Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture for the first time in Turkey,” Dr. Tansug added.

Contact: Prof. Dr. Feza Tansug, Department of Anthropology, Yeditepe University, Kayisdagi, Atasehir, Istanbul 34755 Turkey, Tel: +90 (216) 578 15 82, Fax: +90 (216) 578 08 99, Email: feza(at)yeditepe(dot)edu(dot)tr