(1907-1991)

One of the composers known ad the “Turkish five,” Ahmet Saygun was one of the most important representatives of Atatürk’s revolution in the area of music. He was not only a composer but a musicologist and a teacher of composition as well.

Saygun’s work in musicology/folklore began in 1931, with his return to Turkey. He had been brought to the Ankara Music Teachers’ College to teach counterpoint, and during this period, began to compose. Appointed conductor of the Presidential Philharmonic Orchestra in 1934, Saygun left this position after a short time and in 1936, transferred to the Istanbul Conservatory, where he began teaching composition. While serving in this capacity, he began notating recordings of a local musician in the archives, and wrote his first work, “Yedi Karadeniz Türküsü Bir Horon” (Seven Black Sea Songs and one Horon). In 1936 he made a research trip in Anatolia together with Bela Bartok, and later took part in the founding of the Ankara State Conservatory. In 1939, he became the musical consultant for the Republican People’s Party, and began serving as an inspector for the “Halkevis.” This afforded him the opportunity to travel to various regions of Turkey and deepen his knowledge of folk music.

In 1972, he returned to the Istanbul Conservatory and once again began teaching composition and ethnomusicology. In addition, he served on the TRT Board of Directors from 1972 - 1978.

Receiving many international awards throughout his life, Saygun was elected in 1947 to the Board of Directors of the International Folk Music Council. Beginning in the 1930s, Saygun continually researched in the area of folklore of music, concentrating on makam music. He made a comparative study between the makams used in Turkish traditional music and those used in Iran and Greece. Tracing the folk music of Anatolia to its roots, he studied the pentatonic structures visible in Asian folk songs, Hungarian and Finnish music, he wrote on the development of the makam system, beginning with the birth of melodies.

Books

Yedi Karadeniz Türküsü Bir Horon, 1937
Rize, Artvin ve Kars Havalisi Türkü, Saz ve Oyunları Hakkında Bazı Mâlumat, Istanbul 1937
Béla Bartok’s Folk Music Research in Turkey, Budapest 1976
Karacaoğlan-Yeni Bilgiler, Bir Rivayet, Melodiler, Ankara 1952, Ses ve Tel Birliği Yayınları
Atatürk ve Musiki (O’nunla Birlikte O’ndan Sonra), Ankara, 1981
Toplu Solfej, I-II, Ankara 1975
Töresel Musiki, Ankara, 1978