Iyi Bayramlar!
     This morning I woke up and drank a cup of coffee, perhaps the most beautiful cup of coffee I have ever had. I ate a breakfast in which everything tasted delectable. I looked outside at the beautiful flowers and trees, the sunshine, and everything seemed more beautiful than I previously remembered. I am truly blessed to have been a part of Ramadan, to have fasted, and participated in such a deep tradition.
     When I began this project at the beginning of the summer, my purpose was to explore Turkish music and how it influenced Mozart's writings. I began by researching the music theory, the forms, different singers, and music from different areas while attempting to learn the Turkish language. As the summer progressed, I quickly realized that an understanding of Turkish music required much more than a mere understanding of the theory or even the Turkish language. Turkish music is deeply embedded in the culture itself. Every day immersing myself in the culture, learning about the people, experience all aspects of Turkish live I was able, my understanding of the music grew exponentially.
     Perhaps one of the most significant pieces of the Mozart's Turkish puzzle lies in the understanding that Mozart himself was influenced by the culture as well as the music. This can be seen through his characters that reflect the stereotype of Turkish people at the time: big personalities, unruly, a bit narcissistic, and often those who get involved in multiple relationships. Turkish characters were used in his operas when the character needed a disguise-one that often involved the seduction of women. One example is the two men in Cosi fan Tutte. Sultan Ahmet palace was the corner stone for Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, an opera devoted to showing the difference between characters of the English world-calm, somewhat arrogant and rude, niave-and the Turkish world-barbaric, and seductive. Because the Turkish characters in the operas all had an element of seduction to them, it can be assumed that Mozart himself felt seduced by the Turkish people, their lifestyle, and their culture. Because these characters are used to teach other characters a lesson, it can be assumed that Mozart was creating the same juxtaposition that he is famous for between the minority and the hierarchy-minority teaching the hierarchy a lesson (he was often in trouble for this by the way and this is one of the reasons his operas were not all that famous while he was living-don't bite the hand that feeds you is appropriate here).
      On a very brief musical scale, Mozart uses significantly more melismatic passages and chromatic notes in the music of these characters. Looking at this from a Turkish standpoint, a lot of the Turkish music can be assumed to be chromatic by the Western ear. Turkish music is also infinitely famous for its use of ornamentations and melismas regardless of the genre. Mozart was not able to completely recreate the Turkish sound only because Western instruments are unable to be tuned to the specific needs to produce Makam and the komas so prominent in Turkish music.
     Experiencing any culture, especially through immersion into that culture, gives one an understanding of not only that culture but also oneself. It has been nothing less than a pleasure to experience Turkey in the many ways I have been able. This project is no where near completed which is very exciting. I look forward to returning to Turkey again in pursuit of more understanding of the culture and music and its influence on Mozart's writings.
     To those who have been following my blog, I thank you so very much for your time and for sharing this adventure with me. Tomorrow I return home to the United States to finish my final year of Masters-therefore little attention will be given to Turkish language and music. I hope that this blog has been enlightening and informative while at the same time doing justice to this beautiful, rich culture. As the Turkish people say when they will see one another again, gorusuruz.