COMPOSERS AND PERFORMERS

ABDÜLKADİR MERAGİ

Abdülkadir Meragî (1353-1435) was born in the city of Merâga in Azerbaijan. His date of birth is not precisely known, is estimated at between 1353 and 1360. He lead a fascinating, tumultuous life, most of which unfortunately is unknown.

1. KENZÜ'L-ELHAN: Meaning "treasury of melodies," this work has never been located. In other writings, Meragî advises the reader to consult this work in order to understand difficult-to-understand musical points. He also writes that he included manuscripts from many other composers in the work. Most notably in the foreword of his "Câmiü'l-Elhan," he claims that if one examines the aforementioned book thoroughly, he will have no need to look elsewhere.

2. CÂMIÜ'L-ELHAN (Society of Melodies): Abdülkadir Meragî presented this book to his soon Nureddin Abdurrahman as a gift. His notes on some of the works indicate that he took it back in 1423 and revised it, making certain additions.

3. MAKASIDÜ'L-ELHAN (Goal of the Melodies) was written in 1422 at the order of Sultan Murat II. It is written in Persian.

4. SERHÜ'L-KITABÜ'L-EDVÂR is an explanation of Safiyüddin Abdülmümin's Kitabü'l Edvâr. One copy of this book, written in Persian, is in Nuruosmaniye Library's collection.

5. KITABÜ'L-EDVÂR: The single remaining copy of this book, which was written in Turkish, is in Leyden. This theory book includes notation from some composers.

6. MÛSIKÎ ESERLERI (Musical Works): This great person, who invented a number of musical instruments and corrected what was known up to then, recorded many works in his "Ebced" notation and thus ensured their survival to the present day. The work includes thirty vocal works, thirteen of which are of the genres Kâr, Beste and Nakis Beste, Nakis Yürük Semaî, Sengin Semaî and Aksak Semaî.