Composer, nay player, musicologist (B. 26 March, 1871,
Aksaray / Istanbul – D. 8 January, 1935, Istanbul). His real name was Mehmet
Rauf and he was from a family called ‘Reisülküttabzâdeler’. His father was the
first examinant of Mektubî Seraskeri Kalemi of the War Office (Ministry of
Defense), Ahmet Arif Bey, and his mother was İkbal Hanım. After he had lost his
mother when he was three or four years old and later his father when he was
seven years old Altunizâdeler, one of the notable families of Istanbul, assumed
his guardianship. Ten days after he graduated from Mahmudiyye Rüştiyesi (T.N. Junior
High School) (28 July 1884) following his education at Simkeşhane İbtidaî
Mektebi (T.N. Simkeşhane Primary
School), he began his civil service post at the Imperial Council Office
(Divan-ı Hümayun) as a deputy clerk. He graduated from the Language School
(Lisan Mekteb-i Âlisi), which he started in order to learn French, after four
years. He continued working at the Imperial Council after he came back from
Aleppo, which he visited for a short time in 1894.
Yekta Bey continued taking calligraphy courses and received a diploma in
this field. He was given the nickname “Yekta” by his teacher Nasih (Nasuhî)
Efendi. At this time he also took Arabic and Persian lessons from private
tutors. He was awarded with the fourth class Order of Osmanî (1900) and Mecidî
(1903). He was pensioned off while he was adjunct of the head of Imperial
Council Office (Divan-ı Hümayun) during an arrangement made in 1922. Rauf Yekta
Bey, who was a member of Istılâhat-ı İlmiy-ye Council in 1913, had given courses
of Turkish music theory and history of Eastern music at this place since the
foundation of Darülelhan (music school) (1917) until the Ottoman style
department was removed. From 1926 until his death, he served as the President
of Istanbul Conservatory Committee for Classification and Fixation of
Historical Turkish Musical Works. He participated in the Arabic Music Congress
held in Cairo in March and April of 1932 with Mesut Cemil Bey… He could not
recover from typhoid and died in 8 January, 1935, in Beylerbeyi and was buried
in Nakkaştepe Cemetary in Kuzguncuk.
We can say that Rauf Yekta Bey focused most of his works on researches
and did not show much interest in composition. In spite of that, he had
composed around fifty works in various forms such as prelude, kâr, composition, ağır semâi, saz semâi, song, march, Mawlawi ritual, tekbir and hymn. Rauf
Yekta Bey, having a rich musical repertoire and classical style, composed
Mehmet Akif Ersoy’s ‘İstiklal Marşı’ as well. The yegah ritual, which he
composed while he was the chief nay player (neyzenbaşı) at Yenikapı Mevlevîhânesi, is an exemplary work of this form. The composition,
which he composed in rast maqam with the victory tempo (zafer usulü) he
invented and which he named ‘Millî Tekbirr’, of Abdülhak Hamid (Tarhan)’s poem, which begins with the verses “Allâhü ekber Allâhü ekber / Kâim onunla
mihrâb u minber, is a unique work in this field. His bayati-araban saz
semai with mâhur
prelude is also among the outstanding saz works.
Rauf Yekta Bey, is the man of music who laid the foundations of modern
day Turkish music system and Turkish musicology with his researches and works. As
a musicologist, composer and nay player (neyzen) he is one of the prominent
persons of the history of Turkish music. He started his first musical practices in 1885
by practicing religious musical works from Zekâi Dede, who was his teacher for more than seven years.
He enriched his repertoire with the religious musical works from Osman Efendi,
Head Muezzin of Beylerbeyi Mosque, and especially with the lessons he took from
Zekâizade Hafız Ahmet (Irsoy) and Bolâhenk Nuri Bey, from who he had learned Western musical
notes. He continued his works, which he began with Mehmet Ataullah Dede, sheikh
of Galata Mevlevihanesi, in 1889, on musical theory with Mehmet Celâleddin Dede, sheikh of Yenikapı Mevlevihanesi. In the
meantime he benefited from Salih Zeki Bey for sound physics and acoustics and
learned tambour from Sheikh Celâleddin Dede. In addition, he found the opportunity to
study the literature of Western music. This knowledge and experience he had
gathered constituted the foundations of the works he had later created.
Rauf Yekta Bey, had undergone an initial ritual called ‘sikkesi
tekbirlenmek’ carried out by Seyyid Ali Rıza Dede, sheikh of Kasımpaşa
Mevlevihanesi, in 1886 and thus, joined the Mevleviyye Tariqah. He took his
first nay lessons from Sabri Dede and Hacı Ali Dede, who were dervishes of
Galata Mevlevihanesi and were among the prominent reed flute players of the
period. He made himself accepted among the music environments with his works
and with around 400 articles that he had written on almost all aspects of the
music. He had introduced the sound physics and a scientific touch to the music
authorship, which he began with his article “Osmanlı Mûsikisi Hakkında Birkaç
Söz” (T.N. Just a Few Words on Ottoman Music) and published on the newspaper
“İkdam” on 6 April 1898. His music discussions with authors such as Ahmet
Mithat Efendi, Zâti Bey (Arca), Nûri Şeydâ and Mahmut Ragıp (Gazimihal) was
among the serious arguments of the period.
In addition, as a good music teacher Rauf Yekta Bey had trained many
students. Among these students Kemal Batanay, Sadettin Heper, Burhâneddin Ökte, Gavsi Baykara, Âsaf Hâlet Çelebi, Mesut Cemil
Tel, Halil Can, Mehmet Suphi Ezgi, Mehmet Emin Yazıcı, Faruk Ârifî Emhaz, Zeki
Arif Ataergin, Suphi Ziya Özbekkan, Ruşen Ferit Kam and Vecihe Daryal, whom he
had taught for a long time, should particularly be counted. Rauf Yekta Bey, who
was known as a very polite, kind and humble man with a sensible personality,
had a rich library that comprised manuscripts, notes, music documents and
musical works. Some manuscripts of this library, which also comprised rare
handwritten musical works, were lost after his death and the printed books had
been donated to Süleymaniye Library. His grandson Yavuz Yektay is in possession
of a big part of what is left from his library and collection. January 1965
issue of the magazine “Mûsiki Mecmuası” was dedicated to Rauf Yekta Bey
and a doctoral dissertation (MÜ Social Sciences Institute, 1997) called “Rauf
Yekta Bey ve Türk Mûsikîsi Üzerindeki Çalışmaları” (T.N. Rauf Yekta Bey and
His Works on Turkish Music) was written by Süleyman Erguner. In addition, a
postgraduate thesis called “Rauf Yektâ Bey’in İkdam Gazetesi’nde Neşredilen
Türk Mûsikisi Konulu Makaleleri” (T.N. Rauf Yekta Bey’s Articles on Turkish
Music Published on the Newspaper İkdam) (2007) was written by Muhammed Ali
Çergel at the same university.
HIS WORKS:
Esâtîz-i Elhân: Hoca Zekâî Dede (1. part, 1318), Esâtîz-i Elhân: Hâce Abdülködir-i Merâgi (2. part, 1318), Türk Notası ile Kırâat-ı Mûsikiyye Dersleri (1335 / 1919), Esâtîz-i Elhân: Dede Efendi (3. Part, 1341 / 1925), Risâle-i Mûsikî (1328), La musique turque (Encyclopédie de la musique et dictionnaire du conservatoire, Paris 1922. In this monograph, which he originally wrote in Turkish and then translated to French, theoretical and applied subjects of the Turkish music history have been explained with examples. It was also published as a book under the name Türk Musikisi: Istanbul 1986), Türk Mûsikisi Nazariyatı (1343 / 1924), Şark Mûsikîsi Târihi (1343 / 1924, 1933), Mu’fe-merü’l-mûsîka’l-c Arabiyye (Cairo, 1933). Mutâlecât ve erâ’e havle mu’temeri’l-mûsîkıyyi’l- Arabiyye (Cairo, 1934).
