THE MUSIC OF THE ENLIGHTENED AND ROMANTIC NATIONAL COMPOSER OF HÜSEYİN SADETTİN AREL; TURKISH MUSIC

Abstract

<p class="ql-align-justify">During his studies in Istanbul Municipality Conservatory, of which he was the chairman of scientific board in 1943, and afterwards in Advanced Turkish Music Conservatory Association, of which he was the founder, Hüseyin Sadettin Arel (1880-1955) tried to develop a perspective that would conform to the principles of scientific discourse and gain validity. In this respect, he aimed at presenting a musical perspective, which can be shared on the level of pedagogical education by the citizens of nation-state and can provide a basis for raising composers, who are competent in addressing to the feelings of people by taking into account the central position of man. This perspective for Arel, is a guarantee of building a musical basis, which would raise individuals to the top of artistic creation in a way. Arel based the music he called as “Turkish Music” on laws of nature by means of its interactions with positivist and rational frequencies and on historical grounds and progress-development mottos by means of its interactions with idealistic and romantic frequencies. Even the feeling of love he has towards Turkish music, which can be defined in mystical terms, is in interaction with this relational ground. Therefore, he stated that Turkish music is more compliant with harmony with its maqam structure, compared to other kinds of music in the world including Western music (which is especially determined in form and content by the “note” as European musical writing used currently). The only authority on the creation platform of ‘Turkish music’, having the said qualities, is the composer, who incorporates national sensitivities. The music of this composer, ‘Turkish music’, is one of the phenomena in which the new experienced social and individual perspective is being interacted. The point of emphasis for the article in question is the requirement to evaluate the said music on the level of Arel’s thinking-acting grounds and social-individual relationships.&nbsp;