Women Composers' Creative Conditions Before and During the Turkish Republic

Leyla Saz Hanimefendi, Nazife Aral-Güran, Yüksel Koptagel Women Composers' in Turkey This research is focused on three Istanbulite composers, Leyla Hanimefendi, Nazife Aral-Güran, and Yüksel Koptagel, who lived and produced in consecutive and overlapping periods, from the Tanzimat Era of the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic of the 1980s. It explores the composers' productive and creative conditions through the socio-political environments of their times, their familial and educational backgrounds, and the social spaces in which they lived and worked. The institutionalisation of Western music and the education thereof occupy a significant place in understanding the composers' relationships with Western music, the bonds they established with polyphonic music, and the development of their musical personalities as a consequence of their education, resultant from the opportunities provided by such developments. This study conjointly examines herstory and music historiography by employing alternative materials and creating its own narrative.

Autorentext

Nejla Melike Atalay studied musicology in Istanbul (Mimar Sinan University) and Vienna. She graduated with a PhD from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw). Her doctoral thesis was awarded the Herta und Kurt Blaukopf-Award in 2019.

Klappentext

Leyla Saz Hanimefendi, Nazife Aral-Güran, Yüksel Koptagel - Women Composers' in Turkey This research is focused on three Istanbulite composers, Leyla Hanimefendi, Nazife Aral-Güran, and Yüksel Koptagel, who lived and produced in consecutive and overlapping periods, from the Tanzimat Era of the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic of the 1980s. It explores the composers' productive and creative conditions through the socio-political environments of their times, their familial and educational backgrounds, and the social spaces in which they lived and worked. The institutionalisation of Western music and the education thereof occupy a significant place in understanding the composers' relationships with Western music, the bonds they established with polyphonic music, and the development of their musical personalities as a consequence of their education, resultant from the opportunities provided by such developments. This study conjointly examines herstory and music historiography by employing alternative materials and creating its own narrative.