The Pythagorean Shift In The Ottoman Musical Writings

Abstract

It has been discussed throughout history whether we can examine and explain music autonomously or heteronomously. A current example of this is the debate that took place in recent years in Istanbul around the usage of maqam Nihavend in call to prayers (ezan). Some of the musicians and reciters (müezzin) objected to this usage of Nihavend on the grounds of its supposed secularity rather than examining its autonomous qualities. This article aims to discuss the autonomous-heteronomous approaches in Ottoman music through thirteen different musical writings, from Yusuf Kırşehri’s Risale-i Musiki (1411) to Haşim Bey’s Mecmua (1853). Early Ottomans and the Muslim philosophers before them, were greatly aware of the Pythagorean doctrines such as ethos and the Harmony of the Spheres, in which the music is studied heteronomously. However, an opposite line to Pythagoreanism, Aristoxenianism had also immense influence on the musical writings of Muslim philosophers and the early Ottomans. With the rise of Turkish musical writings in the 15th century, there was a shift from the autonomous approach of Aristoxenianism. The argument of this article is that this shift allowed the Pythagoreanism to dominate the musical thought in the following centuries and even today. This was not a success of the heteronomous approach of Pythagoreanism but the result of the loss of connection with the Aristoxenian tradition.