2 languages
Dimitrie Cantemir
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Dimitrie Cantemir was a Moldavian prince, statesman and scholar, born in 1673 in Silişteni in Moldavia. He received a thorough education and learned Greek and Latin as a child. Between 1687 and 1710 he stayed largely as a hostage or envoy in Constantinople, where he learned Turkish, studied Ottoman history and composed Ottoman music. In 1693 he briefly became prince of Moldavia. In 1710 he became prince again, concluded a secret treaty with Russia and fought alongside Peter the Great against the Turks. That war failed, and Cantemir fled to Russia, where he became a prince. He died in 1723.
Music and breakthrough
He is important for music history because he devised a notation of his own, based on the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. With it he recorded 350 traditional instrumental pieces in his work Edvar-i Musiki, a book that he presented to Sultan Ahmed III around 1703 or 1704. He wrote about forty Ottoman compositions of his own, a few of which are still played as part of the Turkish repertoire.
Influence
Later ensembles have recorded his music on historical instruments. In 1999 the ensemble Bezmara recorded Yitik Sesin Peşinde, and in 2009 seven of his compositions appeared on Istanbul by Hespèrion XXI. Cantemir shows how old Ottoman music, which was long handed down only by playing, was preserved thanks to a single scholar.
Listening
Mentioned in other articles
- Ottoman classical music Genre
Around 1700 the Moldavian prince Dimitrie Cantemir wrote down hundreds of pieces in a notation of letters that he devised himself.