Abstract:

The Ottoman Empire, which has survived from the 13th to the 20th century, has undergone great cultural changes and developments during the same period. The janissary band (mehter), which was sent to Osman Bey by The Seljuk Sultan Alaeddin in the establishment phase of the Ottoman Empire, apparently reveals the value that Turks attribute importance to music. The Ottoman empire which became the most powerful one in the world by the 16th century expanded its borders from the Eastern Europe to Southwest Asia and also the North Africa. As a direct result of such a vast spread of landscape, the empire has hundreds of different cultural elements in itself. When the music culture of the empire is examined, many types of music in various local styles are encountered. Because of Timur’ invasion of Anatolia and the damage given to the archives, there is an inadequacy of documents survived, especially on cultural matters, from the establishment to the rising period of the empire therefore we get the most of the information from the diaries and the notes of foreign travellers, diplomats and merchants. Depending on this information, the instrument named “Viola d’Amore” (popularly known as Sinekeman) has appeared in the 18th century and the violin, which was used in its present form later on, has taken its place among the other string instruments. As the empire turned its face to the Western civilization completely in the 19th century, other members of the violin family such as viola, cello and contrabass has entered into the Ottoman palace. In this study, the way of the development of the Western music in the Ottoman empire and the way of the usage of the violin family instruments (violin, viola, cello and contrabass) were investigated.

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