Composer, oud
player, violoncellist (B. January 21st, 1892, Istanbul – D.
September 13th, 1967, Istanbul). His father was Ali Haydar Pasha,
who was the last Ottoman Empire Emir of Mecca and the second chairman of
Meclis-i Ayan (Upper House) and was a minister of Foundations, his mother was
Sabiha Hanım. He was the brother of Şerif Abdülmecit Targan, who was the
husband of vocal artist Safiye Ayla and was a violinist, violoncellist and
pianist. He was the grandson of Muhammad from the thirty seventh generations.
He was introduced to music by the weekly music meetings organized at their
house. He learned to play oud and piano at a very early age. In 1902, he
started to take Violoncello lessons. He completed his primary and secondary education
by taking private lessons. In 1908, he enrolled in Istanbul University
(Darülfünun) Faculty of Law and one year later he enrolled to Faculty of
Literature and he graduated from both of them. In 1916, he went to Hejaz with
his father, as his father was appointed as the emir of Mecca and he stayed in
Damascus for a while.
After the
foundation of the Republic, he went to America (1924-32) and he improved his
knowledge on oud and violoncello. In 1928, he gained the appreciation of music
critics with his oud and violoncello recital in the famous music hall of New
York, Town Hall. Afterwards, his recitals in many cities such as Boston and
Detroit were considered as significant artistic events. Comments on his music
were published in media organs such as New York
Times, New York Herald Tribune, Sunday Telegraph and Musical America. Two years after his return
to Turkey, he went to Baghdad (1934) upon the invitation of Iraqi Government to
participate in the works for the conservatory that was planned to be founded.
Undertaking the administration of this conservatory, which consisted of Eastern
and Western music departments, he gave oud and violoncello lectures there.
After that, he opened the theater and sculpture departments of this
institution, which was transformed into the Fine Arts Academy. It is known that
he trained Cemil and Münir Beşir brothers and Selman Şükür, who are mentioned
among the most famous oud players of Arab world. He returned to Istanbul in
1948 and was appointed as the chairman of the scientific council of Istanbul
Municipality Conservatory upon the resignation of Hüseyin Sadettin Arel from
this position, however due to health issues he had to resign from this position
in 1951.
Targan,
who went beyond the boundaries of Turkish music with the oud and brought the
oud to a level on which it could compete with Western instruments, is mentioned
as the greatest oud player of twentieth century with his virtuosity and
technique in this saz. Aside from his virtuosity Şerif Muhittin
became famous with his compositions as well along. His first work was his hüzzam saz semai, which he dedicated to Mehmed Akif Ersoy. Apart from that, he also has original compositions
belonging to Saz music such as Kapris, Koşan Çocuk, Kanatlarım Olsaydı, Teemmüller
and has also saz semais in dügâh, ferahfeza, hüzzam, uşşak makams.
His last work is a suzinak maqam
song, which was composed in twenty four hours upon the request of Behçet Kemal
Çağlar for a concert of Safiye Ayla and which begins with the verse “Ömrümün son şevki sensin başka bir yâr istemem”,
and the lyrics of this song belong to Behçet Kemal Çağlar. His saz works, apart from his saz semais, in
which he uses classical melody structure, are studies that were composed for
oud that is mainly based on Western music. These studies are accepted in
Turkish music as the first works that were composed for a certain saz.
Şerif Muhittin, who
knew Arabic, Persian, English and French and had a special interest in hunting,
was also a painter who created significant works in portrait and landscape
categories. One of Abdülhak Hâmid Târhan’s two portraits, which are among his
works, is in Topkapı Palace Museum and the other one is in Istanbul University.
The books in his special collection and some of his paintings and his various
notes belonging to Turkish and Western music were donated to Süleymaniye
Library by Safiye Ayla upon his last will.