Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite in the context of

Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

By Harun Tekin

Date: 28/04/2024

Due to the nature of this topic (in dealing with Turkish music theory and technical terms that are not found in
the Western music tradition), a short glossary is included in the appendix for the aid of the reader. Words in
the glossary are bold in the main body of text.
Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

Ahmet Adnan Saygun is emblematic of the East, West tension in Turkey. He

encountered traditional Turkish art music as a child but received a western musical

education.1 His music, including Demet (1955)2- on which I propose to concentrate - speaks

extensively about Turkey, a country with a complex identity. Appraising the different

influences in Demet helps us to assess the merits and success of Turkey’s founding elites’

aim to reinvent Turkish cultural taste.3 A harmonic and melodic analysis most discernibly

uncovers the dichotomy between Turkish makam theory and Western and Modernist

harmonic techniques in Demet, though other musical elements such as rhythm, colour,

dynamic usage, texture and form, on some of which I will comment more briefly, also

support the argument that Saygun’s music is emblematic of Turkey’s complex cultural and

political fabric.

Turkey straddles the continents of Europe and Asia while the history of its people has

influenced and been influenced by peoples in Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and

North Africa. Turks can trace their history to that of the Turkic peoples;4 however, the

Turkish people have lived in the vicinity of ethnic groups such as Slavs, Persians, Arabs,

Greeks, Kurds, Armenians and Caucasians for a millennium after the first wave of Turkic

settlement and conquest in Anatolia took place in the 11th century.5 Because of their vicinity

to and displacement of other ethnic groups, Turks formed a complex web of cultural

influence. Historian Thomas Leonard remarked that, “Turkey's diversity is derived from its

1
See pages 4 and 5.
2
See page 6 onwards.
3
This aim is stated in Ataturk’s speech on page 4.
4
A Central Asian genome composition of 21.7% amongst Turks. Alkan. C, Kavak. P, Somel. M, Gokcumen. O,
Ugurlu. S, Saygi. C, Dal. E, Bugra. K, Güngör. T, Sahinalp. S.C, Özören. N & Bekpen. C. (2014) Whole genome
sequencing of Turkish genomes reveals functional private alleles and impact of genetic interactions with
Europe, Asia and Africa. London: BioMed Central. Retrieved 10th April 2024 from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4236450/.
5
The Byzantine army was defeated by the Seljuk, Turkish Empire in 1071, after which followed the mass
migration of Seljuk tribes that had “overrun” but lived alongside indigenous populations on the Anatolian
plateau. The Ottoman’s emerged from a small beylik in the 13th Century (1299). Brice, W.C (1955) Bulletin of
the John Rylands Library: The Turkish Colonization of Anatolia. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p18

2
Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

central location near the world's earliest civilizations as well as a history replete with

population movements and invasions.”6

The political scene in Turkey was and remains intensified because of this murky sense of

identity. This struggle (or, on another hand, marriage) between the Oriental and Occidental

permeates the nation’s music naturally, but also artificially because of twentieth century

ideology.

Turkish culture has been affected top down, palpably by politics and by ideological notions

of West and East. Kemal Ataturk was the founder and first president of the Republic of

Turkey, in power from its beginnings in 1923 until his death in 1938. “He modernized the

country’s legal and educational systems and encouraged the adoption of a European way of

life, with Turkish written in the Latin alphabet and with citizens adopting European-style

names”.7 He is revered in Turkey for his role as a commander in World War One during the

defence of Gallipoli and for his leadership in the Turkish War of ‘Independence’8 that

preceded the republic’s founding, but is more controversially seen with regards to his cultural

and religious reforms.

Music was a natural target for the Republican era’s Turkist ideologues to focus on as a means

to attain a sense of national identity and pride. Music’s capacity to stoke nationalism is

apparent in the use of Wagner by Nazi Germany or by Mugabe’s Youth League during

Zimbabwe’s revolutionary movement.9 In Turkey’s case, it was to build an identity out of the

6
Leonard, T.M. (2006) Encyclopedia of the Developing World, Volume 3.
Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire: Taylor & Francis. p1576
7
Itzkowitz, N. (2023) Kemal Atatürk: President of Turkey. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 20th November
2023 from
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kemal-Ataturk
8
The Ottomans had recently been an imperial power, but Anatolia was occupied by the Entente forces and the
Greek army, amongst others. Ataturk commanded the Turkish army to fight to what are now the modern
borders of Turkey.
9
In the 1970s and 80s, traditional dance, dress, prayers and music would be organised to coincide with party
meetings to awaken an aspiration to return to pre-colonial rule. Turino, T. (2000) Nationalists, Cosmopolitans,
and Popular Music in Zimbabwe. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. p172
3
Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

ashes of the six-hundred-year-old Ottoman empire in which Turks, while the core ethnicity in

the Anatolian heartland, were but a constituent part. This ideology is known as “Turkism”.10

In 1934 at the opening of the Turkish national assembly, Ataturk outlined plans for radical

reform:

“Today, we do not have a music that forces the world to listen. Because of this, it is very

far from being honoured and valued. We must recognise this frankly.

Before we fashion our music according to the most recent and general standards, we must

first compile the sayings and the folk songs which demonstrate the finesse of our native

sensibilities and thoughts. In this way, a national music that is Turkish can be promoted,

being able to take its place in the world of music. While I have asked the National

Educational Council to take care, I would also like everybody to assist in this

realisation.”11

After this, traditional music was banned from public broadcast on radio stations until 1936.

Another method in which the establishment attempted to change the tastes of Turkish people

was to encourage the synergy of styles in new music composed by indigenous contemporary

composers.

Born in 1907, Ahmet Adnan Saygun was part of a generation of composers encouraged under

state scholarship to receive a Western musical education. He was the son of a Mevlevi and

was therefore exposed to traditional Turkish art music12, studying the oud (Middle Eastern

10
O’Connell, J.M. (2013) Alaturka: Style in Turkish Music (1923-1938). Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing.
p54
11
O’Connell, J.M. (2013) Alaturka: Style in Turkish Music (1923-1938). Translation by John Morgan O’Connell.
p65
12
Mevlevis were initiates of the highly spiritual Sufi sect of Islam. They were prominent patrons of Turkish art
music alongside the Ottoman court and still are to this day due to its use in their ritual prayers. Ataturk wished
for folk music instead to be used to birth his new “national music” as it was more representative of national
identity than an art music tradition that was seen as emblematic of the old Ottoman ways. Despite this, both
the art and folk traditions use the same makam and usul system, albeit with different naming. Stewart, C
(2018) Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History: Art of the Sufis. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Retrieved 23rd April 2024 from https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/sufi/hd_sufi.htm

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Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

lute) as a child.13 Growing up in Smyrna14, Saygun was exposed to a cosmopolitan and

diverse environment in a city that was predominantly Christian,15 contributing to his taste for

Western music.16 Once he received his state scholarship, Saygun studies in Paris under Nadia

Boulanger, Vincent d’Indy and Eugène Borrel.17 This was to achieve Ataturk’s expressed

goal of birthing a new “national” music – synthesising Turkish spirit and melodies with

Western compositional technique.

On Saygun’s return, he became a respected ethnomusicologist and in 1936, Saygun, with

Turkish musicologist Mahmut Gazimihal, researched and compiled a very Turkist view on

the origins of pentatonisism in Turkish music, concluding that it contained primarily Turkic

roots, “…circumventing a Middle Eastern focus”.18 Bela Bartok was “convinced”19 by this

when invited to lecture and collect folk tunes in Turkey, beginning a budding relationship

with his Turkish counterpart and hoping to trace Hungarian musical ancestry through field

research in Turkey. Ethnomusicologist Özgecan Karadağlı notes that Bela Bartok,

“…influenced Saygun most significantly. This collaboration formed Saygun… as a

nationalist artist deeply involved in his country’s nationalist art politics… Bartok’s ideas

on folk and national music… use of indigenous idiom, and transmutational techniques

[methods of using folk material in an occidental framework] left a profound impact on

Saygun’s writings and compositions… It would not be an overstatement to say that

Saygun deliberately walked in the footsteps of Bartok”20

13
Aracı, E. (1999) The Life and Works of Ahmed Adnan Saygun. Edinburgh: The University of Edinburgh. p15
14
The Greek name for the modern city of Izmir.
15
Anand, A. Dalrymple, W. & Milton, G. Empire: 41. The Rise of Ataturk. London: Goalhanger. 07:25
16
In Smyrna, it was common for Western classical music to be performed. Aracı, E. (1999) The Life and Works
of Ahmed Adnan Saygun. Edinburgh: The University of Edinburgh. p14
17
Ayday, N. (2023) Study of Ahmed Adnan Saygun’s Life, Musical Approaches and Symphonies. Eskişehir,
Turkey: State Conservatory, Anadolu University. p33
18
O’Connell, J.M. (2013) Alaturka: Style in Turkish Music (1923-1938). p55
19
Karadağlı, Ö. (2020) Ethnomusicology Journal, 2020: Bartok’s Influence on Saygun: Collaboration and
Transmutations. Bursa, Turkey: Association of Ethnomusicology. p62
20
Karadağlı, Ö. (2020) Ethnomusicology Journal, 2020: Bartok’s Influence on Saygun: Collaboration and
Transmutations. p57
5
Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

Bartok championed three methods of “transmutation”. The first is treating a folk melody as

primary and all else as secondary - a ‘Western’ backdrop that doesn’t interfere with the

‘Eastern’ essence of the melody. The second method creates new “imaginary” folk music

containing essential structural characteristics, such as the form and accompaniment of the

folk tradition, so that the music sounds traditional despite being newly composed. In the final

method, the composer uses “neither a peasant tune, nor an imitation, but he creates such an

atmosphere that the peasant feeling pervades throughout.”21 People familiar with the folk

tradition would know it is not as such, but aspects (such as mode, accompaniment form

etc…) would be audible, with the folk atmosphere pervading.

In Demet (written in 1955 – nineteen years after Bartok’s seminal visit, leaving ample time

for these principals to mature), Saygun uses a method of “transmutation” closest to Bartok’s

final method, allowing for a complex enmeshment of musical styles and compositional

techniques through which Saygun would have hoped to further the “…nationalist attempts at

the cultural materialisation…”22 of his nation.

The first movement of Demet, “Prelüd”, begins with a pianissimo pedal-point on D,

preceded by a fortissimo acciaccatura grabbing the listener’s attention and creating suspense.

The use of a drone is very common in Turkish music23 and is usually a reliable indicator of

which pitch the ‘durak’ (functionally like the tonic)24 of a Turkish ‘makam’ (similar to a

21
Bartok, B. (Winter 1949-50) The Influence of Peasant Music on Modern Music. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press found in Childs. B, Schwarts. E & Fox, J. (1998) Contemporary Composers on Contemporary
Music. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo Press. p74-5
22
Karadağlı, Ö. (2020) Ethnomusicology Journal, 2020: Bartok’s Influence on Saygun: Collaboration and
Transmutations. p62
23
Sipos, J. (2015) Polyphonic Examples from the Music of Some Turkic Peoples. Budapest: Multipart Music.
p504
24
Wimmer, B. & Gomez, E. (2022) Temporal Evolution of Makam and Usul Relationship in Turkish Makam.
Würzburg-Schweinfurt, Germany: Technical University of Applied Sciences p108

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Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

mode) is. In Bar 2, the violin melody enters on a D, explores, then rests on a D in bar 5,

further signalling that this as an important tonal centre:

1: Saygun: “Prelüd” bars 1-625

In Turkish makam theory, the makam, the Turkish counterpart of a Westen mode,

dictates not only the pitch-set used, but the route (seyir) that it is expected to take, including

the most important tonal centres of the scale and the direction the melody is supposed to

travel to each of those centres. In Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music, Karl Signell

describes that, “The mere scale of a makam is like a lifeless skeleton. The life-giving force,

the impetus of the melody, is supplied by the seyir (progression).”26 Each makam’s seyir is

“distinct” and “marked by positions of temporary rest”.27

The melody resumes in bar 7, before discontinuing its development in bar 9 which is filled by

an F semibreve, a minor third above the durak (example below). Then, the melody picks up

once more in bar 10, remaining on F. The length of the F in bar 9 and the fact that the melody

25
Saygun, A.A. (1958) Suite for Violin and Piano, Op. 33, "Demet”. Ankara: Self-Published p1
26
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. New York: Da Capo Press. p48
27
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p48
7
Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

restarts in bar 10 on that note also, suggests the presence of a secondary tonal centre (or in

Turkish, ‘güçlü’).

2: Saygun. “Prelüd” bars 7-1228

Makam Saba is a Turkish makam with its güçlü on the third degree (in this case, C):

3: Saba makam on A with lower and upper extensions. 29

The pitch set used by the violin is:

4: Violin pitch-set in “Prelüd” until bar 9.

28
Saygun, A.A. (1958) Suite for Violin and Piano, Op. 33, "Demet”. p1
29
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p44

8
Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

5: D Saba.

When comparing the pitch-set in Ex4 with the makam scale in Ex5, we run into the issue of

adapting a microtonal modal system to 12-tone instruments like the piano. Saygun himself

said,

“Makam for me is only a colour. I don’t use it as in the seventeenth and eighteenth

centuries. I could, but then I would lose the ability to use all Western instruments. Because

makam is only a colour for me, a tool, I can use it within the Western tempered tuning

system. By doing this, I have all the instruments at my disposal.” 30

Therefore, some flexibility is necessary when identifying Saygun’s makam usage. Saygun’s

pitch-set bears similarities with makam Saba. Alterations to makam Saba, in Saygun’s case,

would have been made to the E to an Eb in Saygun’s scale, the G to Gb and A to A

natural. These alterations constitute changes of four, one and one Holdrian commas31

respectively; as can be seen using the diagram below:

30
Gogus, T. (1987) Ahmet Adnan Saygun Semineri Bildirileri [Papers on Seminars by Ahmet Adnan Saygun].
Izmir: Izmir Filharmoni Dernegi Yayinlari. Translation by Akdil, S. p25
31
Karaosmanoğlu, M.K. (2012) A Turkish Makam Music Symbolic Database for Music Information Retrieval.
Canada: International Society for Music Information Retrieval. P224
9
Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

6: Nine Holdrian commas within a major second and Turkish accidentals.32

The changes of only one comma are small. As for the second scale degree, the flattened

characteristic is kept, as a gap of four commas is still two commas less than the gap of a

semitone in Turkish tuning. Most importantly, the flattened second - found in many Turkish

makams33 - is kept, furthering the Bartokian transmutational objective of maintaining the

“peasant” atmosphere in new compositions. Therefore, we may infer that the pitch-set used

thus far in “Prelüd” is based upon makam Saba.

The minor second degree is emphasised in bar 9 with the first change to the pedal being the

addition of an Eb pedal-point, onto the D, until bar 12. This sort of dissonance would not

happen on a pedal-point in traditional Turkish music, but is an example of modern

compositional technique providing this part of the piece with a sense of tension and forward

momentum, particularly when reaching the güçlü.

Signell states that, “...any two makam-s34 can be identified on the basis of these five criteria:

“Melodic direction, [pitch-set (mentioned earlier by Signell)] characteristic modulations…

stereotyped melodies [and] tessitura.”35 Therefore, regardless of similarities between

Saygun’s pitch-set and makam Saba, confirmation of Saba should be found also through

confirmation of the seyir (progression); the güçlü on the third degree has already been

32
Özkan, I.H. (2001) Türk Musikisi Nazariyatı ve Usulleri [Turkish Music Theory and Methods]. Istanbul: Ötüken
Neşriyat.
33
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p33-35
34
Signell’s use of the suffix “-s” is not the Turkish plural (makamlar), but is used for ease for English language
readers.
35
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p137

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Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

established. Another characteristic of Saba is a tertiary tonal centre on the seventh degree36

(Ex3 - on G). This can be heard in Ney Improvisation in Makam Saba by Sufi Music

Ensemble:

7: Ney Improvisation. Transcription of 1:22 – 1:3037

8: B Saba.

The transposition of a makam in Western stave notation (Ex8), presents “limits”38 when

attempting to maintain the intervallic structure of the scale (in this case, 8,5,5,12,5,9,5…) in

commas using the diagram in Ex6. Arrows on the second and fifth degrees of B Saba denote

that the pitch is sounded one comma below what is notated.

Due to this ney improvisation being in B Saba, the tertiary tonal centre or “muvakkat

kalışlar” (meaning temporary stop) on the “yeden”39 (seventh degree) is transposed to the

note A . The temporary rest on this note can be seen in bar 3 of the transcription (Ex7 above),

as can the importance of the güçlü, D , in bar 2.

In “Prelüd”, the C in bar 12 (Ex2), is emphasised naturally by its leading function – creating

tension - and with a slow glissando, in lento tempo, from the D beforehand. This C is then

36
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p63
37
Sufi Music Ensemble (2010) Ney Improvisation in Makam Saba. Franklin, Tennessee: Naxos of America. 1:22-
1:30. Transcription by Harun Tekin.
38
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p38
39
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p48
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Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

left in mid-air, as if it is the end of this phrase, providing it with further importance and

aligning it with the seyir of makam Saba (and with traditional Turkish music theory).

There are three “types” of seyir in Turkish theory. These are: çıkıcı (ascending), inıcı

(descending) and çıkıcı-inıcı (ascending-descending):

9: Turkish seyirs.40

Makam Saba’s seyir is çıkıcı (ascending). Seen above, this seyir begins on the durak, rises

to the güçlü, (then, in Saba’s case, rests on the seventh degree) and then descends back to the

durak - as can be seen in the seyir notated by Yekta, intended for students of traditional

Turkish art music:

10: Yekta: Seyir of makam Saba.41

40
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p50
41
Yekta, R. & Lavignac, A. (1921) Encyclopedie de La Musique, Pt1. Vol. 5: La Musique Turque [Encyclopaedia of
Music, Pt1. Vol. 5: Turkish Music]. Paris: Delagrave. Translation by Karl L, Signell. p2998

12
Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

In Ex10, the durak, is on the note A, while the güçlü (C) is emphasised at the end of the first

and third phrases, is used to begin the second, third, fourth and fifth phrases, and is used as a

point of rest part-way through every phrase bar the fourth and fifth. Furthermore, the

convention of emphasising the seventh degree as a tertiary tonal centre is kept in this example

– as can be seen at the end of phrase four with the note G. The use of a “giriş”42 note (or

entry) is also common in makam Saba on the fifth scale degree (in this case, E), which is

used here as an entry into phrase six.

In “Prelüd”, the violin melody begins on the durak, D (Ex1). The second phrase in bar 4, like

at the beginning of the sixth phrase of Yekta’s example, begins on the giriş note before

resting on the güçlü. The third phrase in bar 10 (Ex2) begins on the güçlü, almost ends on the

durak (to complete the seyir), but interrupts proceedings with the muvakkat kalışlar note

on the yeden, C, before finally resting on the durak in bar 13 (below), completing this

section of the piece with a çıkıcı seyir in makam Saba that is by-the-book.

42
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p48
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Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

The introduction of B natural in bar 15 in both the piano and violin, is a significant moment

as it breaks with the preceding makam Saba:

11: Saygun. “Prelüd” bars 13-1843

The pitch-set used from bar 14-17 is:

12: Pitch-set used in violin in “Prelüd” bars 14-17.

Apart from the missing E, this pitch set resembles the scale of makam Rast on A (similar to

A melodic minor):

13: Makam Rast on A. with common alteration of the third degree44.

43
Saygun, A.A. (1958) Suite for Violin and Piano, Op. 33, "Demet”. p2
44
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p72

14
Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

It is very common for modulations between makams to take place in traditional Turkish

music. Signell states that “… a musician who would remain blandly in the same makam for

more than, say, three minutes would be considered to have played something “tadsız”

(tasteless), or “renksiz” (colorless).”45 These modulations happen mostly within a ternary

structure, in which the B section contains the new makam.46 Saygun, ‘pivots’ between Saba

and Rast using the note A at the end of bar 14, a note shared between Rast on A and Saygun’s

altered Saba (Ex4). This resembles the way in which Western composers may modulate

between keys with shared chords.

The D pedal from the beginning, which highlighted the durak of Saba previously, is

continued through into this new makam. In Saba on A, the D is now on the fourth scale

degree, an unimportant note in what is now a makam where the fifth degree is the güçlü. The

continuation of D ties this section of the piece to the previous makam and highlights the

interval of a fifth between the duraks of both makams. Because of Saygun’s choice to

modulate from Saba on D to Rast on A, a tonic-dominant relationship is created between the

A and B sections that is very familiar to Western ears.

In this section of the piece, the piano plays with far more variety and is more prominent than

before. In bar 17 (Ex11), broken chords provide a rush of colour as the violin plays the

climax of the Rast phrase. The emotions said to be associated with Rast are “pride [and]

power”47 and Saygun uses the broken chords (not something found in Turkish music) to

further this very traditional aim. Makam modulations are often used to emphasise contrast in

lyrics.48 While there are no lyrics in Demet, Saygun’s choice to contrast Saba (which is

known for its connotations with “sadness and pain”)49 with the hope infused atmosphere of

45
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p66
46
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p67
47
Touma, H. H. (1996). The Music of the Arabs. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. Translation by Laurie
Schwartz. p43
48
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p67
49
Touma, H. H. (1996). The Music of the Arabs. Translation by Laurie Schwartz. p44
15
Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

Rast, is in keeping with this tradition of modulating for contrast and is very effective at

portraying these differences, even to Western tastes.

In bars 16-17 (Ex11), makam Saba persists unexpectedly in the right hand of the piano,

utilising the first three notes of Saygun’s Saba pitch-set (Ex4): F, Eb and D. Simultaneously,

the left hand and violin make statements in makam Rast (Ex13), creating an example of

bimodality. Furthermore, as the melody returns to Saba, with the reintroduction of Gb and Bb

in bar 18 (Ex11), the piano answers in bar 19 (below) with a powerful, octave doubled, scalic

quote from Rast that covers six of its seven pitches, (D, F#, G#, A, B and C), having

immediately beforehand returned to a chordal statement of the first, second, fourth and fifth

degrees of Saba in bar 18:

14: Saygun: “Prelüd” bars 19-2750

The prevalence of bimodality at this stage of the piece effectively portrays a struggle taking

place between the two contrasting makams being used by Saygun. Makam Rast desperately

50
Saygun, A.A. (1958) Suite for Violin and Piano, Op. 33, "Demet”. p2

16
Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

wishes to rise out of the depths of Saba, as can be seen in the rising scalic figure of bar 19,

but is depressed by another switch back to Ebs, Gbs and Fs. Interestingly, a Db is introduced

as a nod to the upper extension of Saba (makams may change depending on the octave used

– as can be seen in Ex3). Particularly with the piano rising to its highest point (in terms of

pitch), the use of Saba’s upper extension and the eighth degree above the durak here is apt.

Bimodality was a technique employed prolifically by Bartok such as in “Boating” from

volume five of Mikrokosmos:

15: Bartok: “Boating” bars 1-851

Here, Bartok employs G Mixolydian in the left hand and Eb pentatonic in the right, the scales

of which can be seen in Ex16 below:

16: Eb pentatonic and G mixolydian scales.52

51
Bartok, B. (1940) Mikrokosmos, Volume 5: 125. “Boating”. London: Boosey & Hawkes. p10
52
Stein, D. (2005). Engaging Music: Essays in Music Analysis: "Introduction to Musical Ambiguity". Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
17
Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

Bartok described “Boating” as a “Descriptive piece in a very unusual tonality.”53 The

bimodality in “Boating” creates a shimmering soundscape reminiscent of the surface of a

lake, aptly describing the subject on which the piece is based. The difference between Saygun

and Bartok’s usage of bimodality in these instances, is that the effect in “Boating” is

descriptive while for “Prelüd”, the sense of struggle is the effect.

Bartok was writing Mikrokosmos at around the same time as his trip to Turkey in 1936.54 It is

reasonable to expect that Saygun will have been very much influenced by Bartok’s ideas on

bimodality, the results of which can be seen in Demet.

In bar 13 (Ex14), the piano plays a polychord constituting Eb major in second inversion and

F major in first inversion:

17: Eb major 2nd inversion and F major 1st inversion.

The bright major feel of each chord, and the low tessitura chosen by Saygun create a strong

feeling of comfort, while the murkiness created by them being played simultaneously adds a

sense of nostalgia, as if from behind a vale of time. As the piece is ending, this creates the

feeling of a homeward return.

Polytonality was found to be very useful in colouristic music by French composers such as

Debussy, the likes of which would have also influenced Saygun greatly due to his studies

there in the 1920s. In Debussy’s piano piece “Brouillards” (meaning ‘fogs’), alternating C

53
Suchoff, B. (2002). Bartok’s Mikrokosmos: Genesis, Pedagogy, and Style. Oxford: The Scarecrow Press. p90
54
Suchoff, B. (1959). History of Bela Bartok's Mikrokosmos. Journal of Research in Music Education, Volume 7.
Herndon, Virginia: The National Association for Music Education. Retrieved from
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/002242945900700204 on 15th April 2024. p185

18
Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

major and B diminished chords in the left hand provide bedding for a flurrying Eb pentatonic

ostinato in the right hand:

18: Debussy: “Brouillards”. Bar 155

The use of ambiguity in polytonalism to be descriptive of certain feelings or events (like fog

in Debussy’s case) would have become known to Saygun through his studies in Paris.56

Written fifteen years before Saygun began studying in 1928, this style of writing would not

have been unorthodox to a young Saygun57 and would have served as inspiration for what

ultimately became the fabric of his own unique style.

In bar 24 of “Prelüd” (Ex14), the piano plays a bar of broken quintal chords made of D and

A. Then, in bar 25 the violin reciprocates in kind. The use of quintal harmony and of only the

most elemental intervals, fourths and fifths, allow the piece to become very much grounded

as it reaches its close through what is now, very simple sounding harmony. The use of D and

A also reinforces the durak of each makam, allowing both to linger in what has become

tonally ambiguous.

55
Debussy, C. (1913). Préludes, Livre 2, “Brouillards”. Paris: Durand et Cie. p1
56
Ayday, N. (2023) Study of Ahmed Adnan Saygun’s Life, Musical Approaches and Symphonies. p33
57
A discussion of Debussy’s pothumous significance in the French inter-war period can be found in Kelly, B.L
(2012) Remembering Debussy in Interwar France: Authority, Musicology and Legacy. Published in Music &
Letters, Vol 93. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p374
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Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

The final two bars (Ex14), contain a return to makam Saba with the violin restating the D-F-

Eb-D-Eb-C-D motif heard at the beginning of the piece (Ex1) and creating a full circle. The

piano quotes the second, third and fourth degrees of Saba, but proceeds to play an Ab,

creating a tense tritone in relation to the durak of the makam (D). This is reminiscent of the

use of a tritone in the “-Kürdi ending”58, called as such because makams ending with the

suffix “-Kürdi” contain a tritonal decoration close to the end of a piece. This decoration can

be seen in the third system of Acem-Kürdi Saz Semaisi by Ottoman composer Mehmet (1859-

1927)59 where an Eb (a tritone above the A durak) is played:

19: Mehmet. Acem-Kürdi Saz Semaisi.60

The use of this very typical ending is yet another example of Saygun seamlessly weaving the

fabrics of the traditional Turkish and Western musical traditions together.

58
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p98
59
Kanuni Mehmet Bey lived from 1859-1927. He was a virtuosic kanun player and one of the most respected
musicians of his time in the Ottoman Empire.
60
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p99

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Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

The second movement, “Horon”, is named after and based upon a dance originating in

the North-Eastern Trabzon area of Anatolia (below). The dance is known for its fast speed,

with 2 alternating balanced and 1 off-balance step, often conforming to what is best described

as an asymmetrical 7 ⁄ 8 or 7/16 time signature.61 These characteristics have earned one of the

most popular types of Horon the name, “Deli Horon” or crazy dance.61

The BPM of a Horon dance must be fast, often ranging from 250 to over 300. This can be

heard in Arif Sağ’s Horon that reaches around sixty-seven bars per minute in its seven-beat

section (starting 3:15), which is 469 BPM.62 In Saygun’s “Horon”, he gives the metronome

marking as 69 bars per minute, or 483 beats per minute, a more furious tempo than even

Sağ’s piece and testament to Saygun’s intention to maintain a traditional “atmosphere”, as

expressed in Bartok’s third transmutational method:

61
Bates, E. (2011) Music in Turkey: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
p26
62
Sağ, A. (2004) Horon. Davullar Çalınırken (Rythm of Anatolia). Istanbul: Doğan Music Company. 3:15-End
21
Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

21: Saygun: “Horon” bars 1-30.63

63
Saygun, A.A. (1958) Suite for Violin and Piano, Op. 33, "Demet”. p3

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Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

The pitch-set used by Saygun in the violin from its entry until bar 27, is that of every note in

B Phrygian:

22: B Phrygian.

The minor second degree, while unusual to Western tastes, is very common amongst Turkish

makams64. The Phrygian scale matches with makam Kürdi perfectly (without accounting for

the different temperaments).

As the violin is paying around in this Phrygian/Kürdi pitch set, the piano from bars 1-8 uses a

set of notes belonging to Eb Lydian/Pençgah, with its characteristic raised fourth (Ex24

below):

23: Piano pitch-set bars 1-8.

24: Eb Lydian.

Then, as the violin still plays B Phrygian from bars 9-11, the piano switches to a quintal

pitch-set, constituting D, A and E:

64
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p34-35
23
Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

25: Piano pitch-set bars 9-11.

This explicit use of bimodality and of the simultaneous use of different types of harmonic

structures (in this case, the quintal harmony with the modal harmony) by Saygun, creates a

very quirky atmosphere that fits well with the unbalanced ‘craziness’ of the Horon dance.

In the violin melody, A is made to become the tonal centre from bar 9, with reinforcement

from the A in the piano. A is rested upon to emphasise this in the third system. Because the

scale in bars 20+21 rises to an A, the idea of the B Phrygian scale dissipates in favour of an A

Dorian scale instead (below), with the G starting the scale in bar 10 acting as a yeden. The

Dorian scale also resembles the Turkish makam, Hüsseyni, which is different to Dorian, only

by a one comma difference between their second degrees.65

26: A Dorian

Not only is Saygun using different modes here simultaneously and vertically speaking, but

those modes are horizontally ambiguous also, creating what is a complex web of very fluid

and ever-changing tonality. His clear choice to use Western modes that match closely to well-

known Turkish makams (or vice versa), is also a sign of his intension to marry both styles

effectively.

The characteristic tritonal decoration in Turkish music discussed earlier is present in the Eb-

A alternation in the piano left hand that happens until bar 27. This adds to the “unbalanced”

nature of the Horon dance, due to the lack of a perfect fifth (a tritone) between the Lydian

65
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p34

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Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

and quintal tonal worlds at this point. The use of Eb in the melody from bar 27 also

introduces a tritonal relationship with the violin.

From bar 27-32, a 5,4,3,2 usul cycle begins, which is counted in quavers and counted over

two bars. Signell describes an usul as, “…a repeating rhythmic cycle, roughly equivalent to

the Western “measure””66 Before this, the usul was repeating every bar, and was using Devri-

i Hindi Usulu, which is used typically in the Horon67:

27: Devr-i Hindi Usulu.68

The switch to another Usul is also very common in the traditional style, as can be heard in

Arif Sağ’s Horon:

28: Sağ: Horon. Transcription of Kemençe part with usuls, 3:14-3:23.69

66
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p34
67
Bates, E. (2011) Music in Turkey: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. p56
68
Bates, E. (2011) Music in Turkey: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. p56
69
Sağ, A. (2004) Horon. Davullar Çalınırken (Rythm of Anatolia). Istanbul: Doğan Music Company. 3:14-3:23
Transcription by Harun Tekin.
25
Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

Here we can see a switch from a 3,2,3/2,3,2 usul cycle to the Devr-i Hindi (Ex27 above)

from bar 5 of the transcription. In comparison, Saygun’s switch happens from Devri-i to his

5,4,3,2 usul. This is an example of a way that Saygun is drawing on folk practices with

directly imitating them. The 5,4,3,2 pattern, with its diminishing values, is also a very

effective way of giving this section a vigorous forward drive.

From bar 35, the piano begins to play a descending, diatonic harmonic sequence beginning in

A minor, before traveling to G major, F major, D (without a third), and then returning to A

minor. The sequence is pinned to a repeating two bar melody in the right-hand (a quote of the

main subject from bars 5-6):

29: Saygun: “Horon” bars 31-4470

Descending sequences are very common in Turkish music, such as in the melody of Drama

Köprüsü, a well-known folk tune:

30: Su: Drama Köprüsü. Transcription of 0:00-0:05.71

70
Saygun, A.A. (1958) Suite for Violin and Piano, Op. 33, "Demet”. p4
71
Su, R. (1993) Drama Köprüsü. New York: Alternative Distribution Alliance. 0:00-0:05. Transcription by Harun
Tekin.

26
Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

In this folk song, the motif of a descending third is present in every bar and in Ruhi Su’s

version, a drone is sounded on A in the traditional style. In modern Turkish art and popular

music, and in a similar way to Saygun, the baseline will also be likely to descend, such as in

the singer Suavi’s version of the same folk song:

31: Suavi: Drama Köprüsü. Transcription of 0:00-0:07.72

From bar 40-42, a sequence of abundant and continuous entries enhances the feeling of a lack

of balance, particularly with the 7/8 time. These entries also tear apart what was a predictable

chord sequence from bar 35, distancing the listener from a functional landscape. Furthering

this, the piano plays fortissimo quintal chords (made of E, B and F) in bars 43-44.

From bar 45 (below), the piano plays very percussively, accenting the ‘long, short, short’ of

Devr-i Hindi usulu. This is achieved by using a low tessitura, semitonal dissonance (between

D and Eb) on the beats of the usul, and by the repetition lasting four bars:

72
Suavi. (2016) Drama Köprüsü. Drama Köprüsü. Istanbul: Seyhan Music. 0:00-0:07. Transcription by Harun
Tekin.
27
Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

32: Saygun: “Horon”. bars 45-5673

This is imitative of the davul drum used in Horon dances inside Trabzon city and of the use

of the dance steps as percussion in the rural area surrounding the city,74 as can be heard in

Kemençe Horon by Erkan Ocaklı.75

From bar 77-80, the violin plays very aggressive, fortissimo double stops:

73
Saygun, A.A. (1958) Suite for Violin and Piano, Op. 33, "Demet”. p4
74
Bates, E. (2011) Music in Turkey: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. p61
75
Ocaklı, E. (1994) Kemençe Horon. Burun Disko. Istanbul: Sembol Plak.

28
Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

33: Saygun: “Horon”. bar 74-9076

This double stopping is imitative of the instrument that the Horon is supposed to be played

on, the kemençe. The kemençe - tuned to three strings, all a fourth apart - makes huge use of

double stops to accent certain usuls or just simply for decoration. This technique can be heard

in Kemençe Horon77 and can be seen in the transcription of Ruhi Sağ’s Horon (Ex28 above).

The double stops in the violin use a major seventh interval (A-G#) and a perfect fifth (G-D).

The major seventh in the violin outlines the tense, A minor-major seventh in the right-hand of

the piano, but the fifth interval of G and D is very dissonant against it. The entire structure,

and its constituent parts in these bars, is dissonant and tense, especially with the Bb major

76
Saygun, A.A. (1958) Suite for Violin and Piano, Op. 33, "Demet”. p5
77
Ocaklı, E. (1994) Kemençe Horon. Burun Disko.
29
Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

second inversion chord in the left-hand with an added E and with the tritone created between

D and G#. This clearly marks the threatening climax of the music:

34: Saygun: “Horon”. bar 77, beats 1-3.78

The next section from bars 81-90 (Ex33 above), resembles question and answer sections

often found in this type of traditional dance music.79 The sudden contrast in dynamic marking

from ff to p, with sparse chordal murmurings in the piano part, creates a heightened sense of

suspense. In bars 81+82, the violin calls out with a variation on the main subject which has its

E natural altered to Eb. The Eb creates a diminished fourth above the B, a characteristically

Turkish sound found in makams such as Saba in “Prelüd” (Ex3). This may be a way that

Saygun wishes to create a feeling of unity between the movements. The piano answers with

the right hand in broken and imperfect imitation of the violin motif by rising to Eb at the start

of the second bar of the phrase. The reason the piano struggles to imitate the violin is because

it is still stuck in the rhythmic role it held until bar 76 (Ex33 above), perfectly replicating the

5,2 usul from that section. The violin tries once more in bars 85-6, and the piano does better

78
Saygun, A.A. (1958) Suite for Violin and Piano, Op. 33, "Demet”. p5
79
Bates, E. (2011) Music in Turkey: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. p61

30
Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

now to faithfully outline the violin’s melody. An example of this playful call and answer can

be seen in Hayri Yaşar Karagülle’s (1954-2023) piece, Fatoş Derler Adına (2015):

35: Karagülle: Fatoş Derler Adına. Transcription of vocal and kemençe parts at 23:28-23:39.80

In this, we can see the rough imitation of the vocal part by the kemençe. The kemençe,

making use of its ability to bow quickly, decorates the melodic offerings from the vocal part

and outlines the structure of its melody (the descent from E , to C# in one bar, then the

descent from C# to B in the next). Rhythmic variation is included also where the vocal line’s

triplet rhythms are straightened out in bars 7+8, and where a simple progression from B to C#

in the first beat of bar 6, is turned into a turn-like figure in the first beat of bar 8). This type of

80
Karagülle, H.Y. (2018) Fatoş Derler Adına. Işte Hayri Işte Horon. Istanbul: Yenikapı Müzik. 23:28-23:39.
Transcription by Harun Tekin.
31
Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

variation through imitation is seen in Saygun’s music also, such as the change from a 3,2,2

usul in bar 86 to a 2,2,3 in 88.

One method used by the kemençe to decorate the melody in the Karagülle (Ex35), is with the

use of double stopping. In this instance, the kemençe is not accenting the usul but is

providing decoration in a very messy and arbitrary fashion. The speed of the music, a furious

178 BPM, means that - despite what are irregular interjections of the G# - the durak as a

grounding pedal is established and maintained throughout due to the short time between

them.

The use of the double stopping in Saygun’s case is not so that a clear durak or tonal centre of

some sort can be established by the double-stopping technique in the way that it is in the

Karagülle, but is a way in which to add to the bimodality at this moment. This adds to the

tonal ambiguity here and furthers the dramatic sense of threat at this climactic moment.

In bars 90-93, the piano plays huge cascading figures made of an open fifth, B and F#, while

the left hand holds a chord of the same notes:

36: Saygun: “Horon”. bars 91-10081

81
Saygun, A.A. (1958) Suite for Violin and Piano, Op. 33, "Demet”. p6

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Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

The same figures return in bars 98-9 (above), but this time, an E is added, creating a quintal

structure. As heard in “Prelüd” bars 24-25, the quintal harmony exudes a sense of grounding

and comfort in comparison to the bitonal dissonance that came before:

37: Quintal pitch-set, bars 98-99.

Saygun’s use of quintal harmony is another example of inspiration from Bartok. In the

second movement of Bartok’s Piano Concerto no.2, the string entrance at the beginning

utilises homophonic open quintal chords, stacked six iterations high:

38: Bartok: Piano Concerto No.2, “Second Movement”. bars 1-6.82

This, paired with the mutes, senza vibrato and the pianissimo marking, creates a shimmering

sense of comfort similarly found in Saygun’s music - though more calming due to the

difference in dynamics (forte in Saygun’s case) and tempo. Bartok himself termed this

“striking”83 style, “night music”84, which is distinguished by “eerie dissonances providing a

backdrop to sounds of nature and lonely melodies.”85 The use of elemental structures made of

82
Thomas, D.B. (2022) Examples of Quintal Harmony. Philadelphia: The University of The Arts. 1:30 Retrieved
3rd April 2024 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYuDjvp3VLE Orchestral reduction by David Bennett
Thomas.
83
Thomas, D.B. (2022) Examples of Quintal Harmony. 1:30
84
Thomas, M.T. (2017) MTT Conducts Symphonie Fantastique. San Francisco: SF Symphony. Retrieved 3rd April
2024 from https://www.sfsymphony.org/Buy-Tickets/2017-18/MTT-Conducts-Symphonie-fantastique
85
Schneider, D.E. (2006) Bartók, Hungary, and the Renewal of Tradition: Case Studies in the Intersection of
Modernity and Nationality. Berkely: University of California Press. p84
33
Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

fifths, the strongest interval that is not a unison or octave, is a very acute choice for Bartok

wishing to evoke the natural world. Saygun, while certainly not attempting to compose “night

music”, is utilising this quintal effect (a feeling of elemental simplicity), particularly with

regards to the technique’s contrast with the heavily dissonant passages in the climax

beforehand.

“Horon” begins its calmer, contemplative middle section in bar 131, providing the melody

with more space in which to return to a taksim-like (improvisational)86 and freer style:

39: Saygun: “Horon”. bars 156-16687

The pitch set used by the violin in this soaring section from bars 157-163 is:

40: Violin pitch-set, bars 157-163.

86
O’Connell, J.M. (2013) Alaturka: Style in Turkish Music (1923-1938). p23
87
Saygun, A.A. (1958) Suite for Violin and Piano, Op. 33, "Demet”. p8

34
Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

This set closely resembles the first five degrees of makam Karciğar on F#, with only one

comma differences:

41: F# Karciğar.

Because of the short nature of this improvisation, the chance to rest on the güçlü, is not

provided; however, another identifying factor, “stereotyped melodies”88, holds the key to

confirming this makam. The melody is often decorated by an acciaccatura to the third degree

from the fourth in Karciğar. In Karcigar Kocekce by Istiklal Trio this happens in the kanun

melody in the second half of bars 1+2 (A-G):

42: Istiklal Trio: Karcigar Kocekce. Transcription of kanun, 1:23-1:31.89

In Saygun’s “Horon”, bar 160 (Ex39), the violin performs an acciaccatura from B-A, the

fourth and third degrees in F# Karciğar.

88
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p137
89
Istiklal Trio. (2011) Karcigar Kocekce. Istiklal Trio. Self-Published. 1:23-1:31. Transcription by Harun Tekin.
35
Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

Karciğar appears again in bar 166 on C:

43: Saygun: “Horon”. bars 167-176.90

44.1: C Karciğar.

44.2: Violin pitch-set bars 167-173. Second and fifth degrees of Karciğar are only altered by one comma.

90
Saygun, A.A. (1958) Suite for Violin and Piano, Op. 33, "Demet”. p8

36
Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

However, due to the D pedal in the violin, the C takes the role of a seventh degree, suggesting

makam Hüzzam on D (C in D Hüzzam is the correct seventh degree due to the whole tone

between the yeden and durak). The feel of C Karciğar is saved in bar 184 with the piano

entrance with C in the bass:

45: Saygun: “Horon”. bars 182-19391

Despite this, the violin plays a variation on the original B Phrygian melody (Ex21), with the

E altered to Eb, putting the melody now in the B Superlocrian92 (Locrian/b4) mode:

46: B Superlocrian.

91
Saygun, A.A. (1958) Suite for Violin and Piano, Op. 33, "Demet”. p9
92
Hillen, T. (2023) Journal of Humanistic Mathematics: A Classification of Musical Scales Using Binary
Sequences. Edmonton, Canada: University of Alberta. p126
37
Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

From bars 184-191, the violin plays all notes of this scale and none else apart from F. The

violin has not actually strayed from the B Superlocrian scale since bar 166, and both parts

since F# in bar 170, but those sections felt as if they were in other modes/makams due to

different tonal centres and “stereotyped motifs”.93

Saygun’s very fluid and ambiguous bimodal approach allows him to seamlessly travel

between tonal worlds, pivoting around shared notes and characteristics, creating an exciting

feeling of transience and forward drive throughout. His use of both Western and Eastern

modes is testament to his desire to fuse both styles and to use both equally in his technical

toolbox. “Horon” is characterised by a constant recontextualisation of different material (both

Eastern and Western in nature) through different makams, Western modes, expanded and

colouristic modes, and extended compositional techniques such as quintal harmony. The

music aptly emulates the perpetually ‘crazy’ dance that it is based upon. While the sentiment

for this progressive style of developing and reusing material is 20th century and Western in

nature, the Turkish atmosphere is maintained, as per the third Bartokian transmutational

method.

The third movement of the suite, “Ağır Zeybek”, is based on a dance of the same

name that is extremely different to the Horon. The Zeybek is slow and pensive in character, a

“…showy male dance to dramatic slow tempo music.”94 In the Zeybek, intended to mimic the

flight of a bird of prey, the dancer will spend a great deal of time on one leg with the other

raised. The dance is interspersed by a variety of poses with the arms raised in many ways.94

These poses are accented by the aski-davul (double-sided drum), which uses a double ended

mallet (on one end, a wooden mallet, while on the other, a stick). These create distinct “dum”

93
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p137
94
Bates, E. (2011) Music in Turkey: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. p25

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Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

(low) and “tek”95 (high) sounds. In the first two systems the piano can be seen to be jumping

between different tessituras in imitation of the aski-davul drum:

47: Saygun: “Ağır Zeybek”. bars 1-1396

95
Bates, E. (2011) Music in Turkey: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. p25
96
Saygun, A.A. (1958) Suite for Violin and Piano, Op. 33, "Demet”. p11
39
Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

In the Zeybek dance, the usul Aksak or a variant of it is common:

48: Aksak usulu.97

49: Aksak usulu variation.97

In very slow Zeybeks, usuls may be combined into more complex structures, as can be heard

throughout Ey Zahip Şaraba, by Edip Harapi98, where Raksam usulu is created through the

fusion of Nim Sofyan and Devri-i Hindi:

50: Raksam usulu. Used in Ey Zahip Şaraba.99

Saygun chooses not to use usuls in his Zeybek, instead allowing for a far more free and

improvisatory melodic line; however, because of the slow nature of the usuls traditionally

used and because of their complex nature, the atmosphere of unbalanced long and short beats

is not lost. In a sense, the percussive interjections by the piano enhance the uneven lulls heard

in the traditional music.

The pitch-set used by the violin from bars 2-14 is:

97
Bates, E. (2011) Music in Turkey: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. p58
98
Oğur, E. & Demircioğlu, I. D. (1998) Ey Zahit Şaraba Eyle Ihtiram. Gülün Kokusu Vardı. Istanbul: Kalan Ses
Görüntü.
99
Bates, E. (2011) Music in Turkey: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. p59

40
Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

51: Violin pitch-set bars 2-14.

Bar 1 is excluded from this pitch-set because of the D#. This being the only deviation from

this pitch set until bar 14, it is likely to be a decision made for the violin to be imitative of the

‘messy’ glissandi and slides employed in the performance practice of the Zurna, a double-

reeded oboe-like instrument often used for the traditional Zeybek.100

The pitch-set above is almost identical to makam Karciğar’s scale bar Saygun’s microtonal

alterations, but is now on A:

52: A Karciğar.

Typical melodies and ornamentations are methods used to identify makams.101 The B natural

that appears (bars 2-11), always precedes a Bb. While not a member of this makam,

microtonal, chromatic sliding is seen in traditional pieces that use Karciğar, such as in

Karciğar Taksim [Karciğar Improvisation] by Emre Erdoğan (bar 2 of transcription) and a

piece of the same name by Mutu Torun (bars 2+5):

53: Erdoğan: Karciğar Taksim. Transcription of 1:09-1:14.102

100
Anadolu Halk Oyunları. (2014) Denizli Yöresi Zeybekleri – Tavas Zeybeği. Anadolu Halk Oyunları, Vol.4.
Istanbul: Seyhan Music. 0:00-0:29
101
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p137
102
Erdoğan, E. (2022) Karciğar Taksim. Kanunhane. Kam Müzik 1:09-1:14. Transcription by Harun Tekin.
41
Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

54: Torun: Karciğar Taksim. Transcription of 0:58-1:02.103

This is evidence of Saygun intending to closely follow the performance practice of the

instruments he intends to imitate, sticking closely to a traditional “atmosphere”.

In bar 29, the piano plays a stacked statement of four of the notes used in 12-tone Karciğar,

C, G, D, Eb. This chord may also be seen as quintal, based on a C fundamental with an added

Eb, adding to the wealth of ways that Saygun has merged compositional techniques of both

traditions:

55: Saygun: “Ağır Zeybek”. bar 29104

In bar 34-35, the violin introduces B natural and E natural, creating a pitch-set used until the

end. It is very similar to the makam Hüseyni (aside from a one comma alteration to the

second degree) and identical to A Dorian:

103
Torun, M. (2018) Karciğar Taksim. Osmanlı’dan Günümüze Türk Müziğinde Yenileşme. Istanbul: Metropol
Müzik. 0:58-1:02. Transcription by Harun Tekin
104
Saygun, A.A. (1958) Suite for Violin and Piano, Op. 33, "Demet”. p13

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Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

56: Saygun: “Ağır Zeybek”. bar 32-End105

57: Violin pitch-set, bar 34-End/A Dorian.

58: Makam Hüseyni.106

The major second degree (B natural) in this section, as the violin soars, provides the end of

this turbulent piece with a breath of fresh air. The oppressive tritonal Eb that preceded this

section is also raised to a gentler perfect fifth. The statement of the notes up to the durak,

105
Saygun, A.A. (1958) Suite for Violin and Piano, Op. 33, "Demet”. p13
106
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p34
43
Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

including the characteristic raised sixth degree, in the final two bars is a motif seen a lot in

this makam, as in the folk song Kara Toprak:

59: Veysel: Kara Toprak. Transcription of 0:24-0:34.107

In this piece, the two notes that lead to the durak are C# and D (bars 3-4), while in the final

two bars of “Ağır Zeybek” they are F# and G.

To one familiar to traditional Turkish music, it would seem unusual for a piece that begins in

one makam to end in another unless that piece was a “geçki taksimi”108 - a modulating

improvisation between pieces within a fasil (a suite of compositions). While the end of the

violin melody finishes with the Hüseyni motif - F#, G, A – the notes between A Karciğar

(Ex52) and makam Hüseyni (Ex58) are all completely shared apart from the tritonal fifth

degree of Karciğar, (perfect in Hüseyni). Saygun’s 12-tone pitch-sets are slightly more

different, with the second, microtonal degree of Karciğar being interpreted as Bb (Ex51), and

the same note in Hüseyni being interpreted as B natural – all of which are small differences,

but blur the lines when deciding whether the introduction of B natural in 34 (Ex56), while

certainly changing the pitch-set Saygun is using, will also have an effect on the makam. The

E natural in bar 35 (creating a perfect fifth above the durak) is a far more concrete indicator

in favour of Hüseyni, but it does not sound in either part from the third beat of thirty-five

until the end of the piece. This showcases the bimodal ambiguity that can be employed by

Saygun because of the mere difficulties of a composer attempting to portray makams with

107
Veysel, A. (2001) Kara Toprak. Aşık Veysel Arşiv 1. Istanbul: Kalan Ses Görüntü. 0:24-0:34. Transcription by
Harun Tekin.
108
Signell, K.L. (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p114

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Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

Western instruments.109 In order to avoid these difficulties, Saygun could have chosen to use

a different makam that did not contain so many similarities with the other (or could have, at

least, transposed it to a durak that was not the same as A Karciğar’s) but he did not,

indicating his intention to create bimodal ambiguity and to include colours in the listeners

mind both of the oppressive nature of Karciğar and of the airy comfort of Hüseyni.

Working around the same period as Saygun, Lutosławski, also employed bimodal ambiguity

in his music, as can be seen in Three Pieces for the Young [Trzy utwory dla mlodziezy]: II.

“Melodia”, written in 1953, five years before Demet:

60: Lutosławski: “Melodia” bars 1-8110

The starting accompanying figure contains the notes, D, F, F# and A, while the first two

melodic phrases contain the notes A, C and C#. Because the opening is “solidly anchored to a

109
The issue of instrumental choices in musical fusions is also an important one in Toru Takemitsu’s music
(such as November Steps) in which the shakuhachi and biwa, both Japanese instruments, are included as part
of a Western orchestra.
110
Lutosławski, W. (1953) Trzy utwory dla mlodziezy. Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk: Hal Leonard Europe. p3
45
Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

D modal tonic”,111 with the D, A pedal in the accompanying figure, the pitch-set can be laid

out as D-()-F/F#-()-A-()-C/C#-D. In bar 4, the melody contains Bb, filling one of the gaps.

The monotonous chromaticism created by the alternation of bimodal pairings creates a

pensive and tense atmosphere, while the repetition of the first melodic pairing in a different

mode allows for the presentation of two colours, two angles on the same idea as if the piece

itself was unconvinced by its opening statement. The bimodally alternating accompaniment

facilitates the melody’s metamorphosis between modes while maintaining the melodic

integrity of being based upon a continuous scale.

Saygun’s bimodal use is more in keeping with makam modulation in Ottoman art tradition,

where shared notes between two makams are ‘pivoted’ upon. Similarly to the Lutosławski, a

singular phrase can then take on different colours simultaneously, both composers’ bimodal

methods working within the realm of bimodal ambiguity while maintaining melodic integrity.

This is evidence of Saygun working with the same progressive techniques held by his

Western contemporaries, but in a uniquely Turkish way.

The New York Times obituary for Saygun reads that he was “…what Sibelius is to

Finland, what de Falla is to Spain and what Bartok is to Hungary”.112 In 1972, Saygun was

awarded the title of State Artist113, signalling his huge importance to Turkey’s indigenous

classical music. Saygun’s toolbox includes both Western and Turkish compositional

techniques and his influences such as the transmutational practice of Bartok, colouristic

approach of French impressionists, and a traditional Turkish musical education as a boy in

111
Susanni, P. & Antokoletz, E. (2012) Music and Twentieth-Century Tonality: Harmonic Progression Based on
Modality and the Interval Cycles. London: Taylor & Francis. p88
112
The New York Times, Author Unknown. (16th January 1991) A. Adnan Saygun, Turkish Composer, 84. New
York: The New York Times Company. p9
113
Baltacıgil, E. (2022) Ahmet Adnan Saygun. Seattle: Seattle Chamber Music Society. Retrieved 22 nd April 2024
from https://www.seattlechambermusic.org/composers/ahmet-adnan-saygun/

46
Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

Smyrna114 – a city that exposed him to a diverse range of culture115 - served to enrich his

exciting and dynamic music. Navigating the dichotomy in his own musical tastes and

complicated by political priorities to culturally materialise the new Turkey, it is unsurprising

that Saygun gravitated towards established Bartokian methods; Bartok who himself attempted

to redefine Hungary as separate from Austro-German in a nation that was once part of the

Dual Monarchy116 that collapsed after revolutions in 1918.

Fed by a desire to modernise Turkey, caused by a sense of shame in the aftermath of the

dysfunctional, crumbling Ottoman Empire and its eventual defeat in WW1, the elite in the

Kemalist movement attempted to change the culture of those below them who, as Saygun’s

toolbox proves, had so much cultural value to begin with.

Notwithstanding political directives, the average Turk continued to listen to what they had

beforehand.117 Furthermore, Saygun’s work is audibly more than a politically driven attempt

to parade Turkish music on a Western stage perceived as culturally superior. Saygun’s music

is a fine addition to both the European and Turkish classical canon. It is Turkish, yet not,

European, yet not, Modernist, yet rooted firmly in tradition.

114
Aracı, E. (1999) The Life and Works of Ahmed Adnan Saygun. p15
115
Anand, A. Dalrymple, W. & Milton, G. 41. The Rise of Ataturk. 07:25
116
Also Austro-Hungarian.
117
After the radio ban on traditional music came into effect, Western classical music was played on radio from
1934-1936. Turks simply tuned into Egyptian radio stations instead. Martin, S (1994). Ethnicity, Identity, and
Music: The Musical Construction of Place. Oxford: Berg. p12
47
Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

Glossary

Durak – Functionally similar to the Western tonic and is the primary tonal centre of a

makam. Is often marked with the head of a semibreve in examples of makam scales.

Çıkıcı Seyir – The ascending type of seyir that begins on the durak, rises to the güçlü, and

descends back to the durak.

Çıkıcı- İnıcı Seyir – The ascending-descending type seyir which begins on the güçlü,

conducts an exploration around the güçlü, then makes a descend towards the durak.

Fasil – A “…suite of compositions put together for concert performances.”118 In modern

performance practice, a fasil may contain pieces with a variety of home makams that are

joined with geçki taksimi (or modulating improvisations).

Giriş – A note in a makam that may be used as an entry to a phrase or piece. In the case of

makam Saba, this note is on the fifth degree.

Güçlü – The secondary tonal centre of a makam. Ascending (çıkıcı) makams rise to the

güçlü partway through their seyirs before descending again.

Inıcı Seyir – A descending seyir that begins on the durak in an upper octave, descends to the

güçlü and further descends to the durak.

Makam – Similar to a Western mode, in the sense that a scale is described, but the seyir is

also essential to a makam. Makams may change depending on the octave being used, they

are also usually associated with established emotional and atmospheric connotations.

118
Signell, K.L (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p113

48
Harun Tekin - Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music

Muvakkat Kalışlar – The third most important tonal centre of a makam, which acts as a

“temporary stop” in the seyir.

Seyir – The “progression” or “route” taken by a makam. Different points of rest in a given

makam are dictated by its seyir.

Taksim – Improvisation that can take place in the form of a piece, a link between two

pieces119, or as a section of a piece or phrase.

Usul – A repeating rhythmic cycle, similar to a Western bar.

Yeden – The degree of a makam that leads up to the durak. In makam Saba, the yeden is

also the muvakkat kalışlar (temporary stop).

119
Signell, K.L (1986) Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. p114
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 Ahmet Adnan Saygun’s Demet Suite, Kemalist Ideology and 20th-Century Turkish Art Music – Harun Tekin

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