TANBURİ CEMİL BEY AND HIS MUSIC: GENIUS AND MELANCHOLY

Abstract

Tanburi Cemil Bey is considered one of the greatest geniuses who grew up in the classical Turkish music tradition. However, his place in the history of national culture cannot be understood only through his actions and works in the musical field. To accurately determine its location, the conceptual apparatus of a comparative and multidimensional perspective is needed. For this reason, this study discusses the concept of genius attributed to Cemil Bey and investigates the possibilities of evaluating it as a form of historical subjectivity through the structure-agency tension in sociology. While doing this, the concept of melancholy, which has accompanied genius since ancient times, is also included in the analysis. These concepts have a deep-rooted unity that frames the medical, epistemological and philosophical norms of the Western tradition of thought. The closeness between these two concepts, which were mainly established on a medical and philosophical level in ancient Greek thought, is discussed in a wide range of symbols within the framework of the Saturn myth in Renaissance cosmology. By revising the ancient belief that the planets have a certain influence on the character and moral qualities of people, the personification of the melancholic genius is added to the myth of Saturn in the astrological context of Renaissance cosmology. Thus, it paves the way for the maturation of a separate poetic experience of melancholy that focuses on the existential dimension of melancholy as well as its physical symptoms. Romanticism intensifies the perception of melancholy as a sign of self-reflexivity that allows contemplation on the deepest aspects of existence and often symbolizes creative genius. It creates a context in which Cemil Bey can be read, like C. Baudelaire and W. Benjamin, who see themselves as residents of this unique field of subjectivity.