Bir Saygun İmzası: [3,5,3]

Abstract

According to the available data, the structures [3,5,3], [3,3,5] and [5,3,3] which we identified that Ahmed Adnan Saygun used in his Suite, dated 1931-1932, are repeated many times in a total of his 41 works including the String Quartet, No. 4 which is his latest composition. Therefore, it will not be exaggerated to call this structure as Saygun chord.

This kind of table brings the question of “how the composer tackled the aforementioned structure in the structures at which he frequently and intensively used Saygun chord” and this requires an analytical study.

In this study, the aforementioned analysis has been conducted on Twelve Preludes On Aksak Rhythms, Op. 45 which was completed in 1967, which is the second of four albums titled as On Aksak Rhythms, which was written by Saygun for solo piano in different years.

As a result of the analysis, the following main results have been carried out:

• [3,5,3] and its derivatives were intensively used in all the preludes except for preludes Nos. 3 and 9. • In the usage of [3,5,3] and its derivatives, it is possible to mention four approaches special to Saygun as an extension, division, voice transport, interbedded usage, and synchronical usage. • [3,5,3] is remembered as Bartók chord in the literature and Saygun used [3,3,5], which is a derivative of [3,5,3], 4 (or 5) years before he met Bartók. This circumstance consolidates the impression “that Saygun composed [3,5,3] and its derivatives with reference to bestenigar maqam but not quoting from Bartók.”