Narratives From Music Therapy to Instruments in Turkish Acâ’ib al- mahlûkât’s

Abstract

The Foundation of the Ottomans, which is included in the New Systemists Period in the history of mu- sic, is also a preparation period for the formation of a new intellectual environment. This new intellec- tual environment enabled the development of literature on the one hand and the development of music culture on the other. The development of music culture was under the influence of two theoretical music movements. The first of these was the Herat School of Meragi and the second was the Mevlevi School of Karaman. After the great defeat in the Timurid War, the Ottomans were regrouped by Mehmet Chel- ebi I. The intellectual environment around Mehmet Chelebi benefited from other developed cultures. Original Turkish works were written from mixed translations of previously written works called Acâ’ib al- mahlûkât in Arabic. It has been understood that the musical information found in the Turkish Acâ’ib al- mahlûkât, written for the education of the princes and sultans has not been examined in terms of musicology until today. Examining this and similar works will reveal the musical culture and percep- tion of the newly formed intellectual environment in the Ottomans. The subject of this article will be to examine the music information found in the Turkish Acâ’ib al- mahlûkât written in the first quarter of the XVth century. In the article, some other works written in the Acâ’ib genre, the oldest of which was written in 1370, were also considered. The results of the qualitative research, information scanning and classification, and systematic musicology information presentation method are shared in this article. After the introduction, the “source literature” information that mentions the Arabic works that provided the formation of the genre, and then the “Turkish Acâ’ib al- mahlûkât” was introduced. In the “Find- ings” section of the article, the information in the Turkish Acâ’ib al- mahlûkât has been presented under the titles of the effect of sound, the birth of the science of music, functional music in hunting parties and music therapy, musical stories based on Juvayni, music mythologies, musical terms, and instru- ments. As a result, the Turkish Acâ’ib al-mahlûkât was written especially for Mehmet Chelebi I, some time between 1400-21; As Mehmet Chelebi I was also a supporter of Mevlevi, it was understood that music was positively accepted in the intellectual environment. In the work, aerophones, chordophones, percussion, self-tuning instruments, and musical mythologies are mentioned. Thanks to this work, it has been understood that the mythological stories about music from Ancient Greek emerged in the New Systemists Period and that these stories provided fusion with the local culture. This last conclusion is supported by the few endnotes at the end of the article.