Hamparsum Limonciyan
Encyclopedia
Hampartsoum Limondjian (1768–June 29, 1839) was an Ottoman
Armenian
composer
of Armenian church music
and Turkish classical music and musical theorist who developed the Hampartsoum notation system. The system was the main music notation for Turkish classical music until modern times and is still used by the Armenian Apostolic Church
.
The name Համբարձում, pronounced Hampartsum in Western Armenian
or Hambardzum in Eastern Armenian
, means "Ascension". Hampartsoum Limondjian is referred to as Baba Hamparsum (Father Hampartsoum) in classical Turkish music circles.
district of Istanbul
. His father Sarkis and his mother Gaderina, who had recently moved to Istanbul from Harput, were poor, and could only send their son to primary school. After primary school, Hamparsum Limonciyan started working for a tailor. A lover of music, Hampartsoum Limondjian started attending Armenian churches and started receiving music lessons within the church.
.
(first singer) and chief musician.
Around this time, Hampartsoum Limondjian started attending mevlevihanes, places of gathering for dervishes of the Mevlevi
order, to learn Turkish music. In the Beşiktaş Mevlevihanesi
, he took lessons from Dede Efendi
, one of the greatest Turkish composers. He was then accepted at the court of Ottoman Sultan Selim III
, himself a composer whose music is still performed today, and was a regular member of the music circles of his day.
Sultan Selim III was concerned about the lack of a comprehensive notation system for music and encouraged members of his court to work on a notation system that would be easy to learn and to transcribe in. Two music systems were developed as a result and presented to Selim III, by Hamparsum Limonciyan and Abdulbaki Nasir Dede. Abdulbaki Nasir Dede's system was based on the abjad
system, however differs in the ordering of the notes. Hampartsoum Limondjian's notation that he developed in two years between 1813 and 1815 was preferred over the other and became the dominant notation for Turkish and Armenian music.
He worked as a master of music and educated a number of Turkish and Armenian musicians of his day. Besides being known as a leading composer, he was a famous vocal performer and played the violin and the tanbur. 31 of his Armenian hymns, composed with Armenian lyrics in the Turkish melodic system (makam
) survive to this day. He has composed a large number of Turkish music pieces, most of which are regularly performed today.
The Hampartsoum notation uses symbols derived from an older notation called խազ khaz used by the Armenian Church. Pitch
is indicated by one of forty-five symbols. There are fourteen notes per octave over a range of three octaves and a minor second
; a tilde
is used in place of a sharp
and also to raise or lower a note an octave. All twelve notes of the Western chromatic scale
are represented, but in the case of F-sharp (fa diyez in Turkish
) and B-natural (si), two enharmonic
symbols are used for each, because Middle Eastern music uses microtonal intervals called commas
. Above each note is written another symbol, marking its duration. Other symbols are used for rests
, repeats and phrases.
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
Armenian
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
of Armenian church music
Armenian chant
Armenian chant is the melismatic monophonic chant used in the liturgy of the Armenian Apostolic Church.Armenian chant, like Byzantine chant, consists mainly of hymns. The chants are grouped in an oktoechos. The oldest hymns were in prose, but later versified hymns, such as those by Nerses...
and Turkish classical music and musical theorist who developed the Hampartsoum notation system. The system was the main music notation for Turkish classical music until modern times and is still used by the Armenian Apostolic Church
Armenian Apostolic Church
The Armenian Apostolic Church is the world's oldest National Church, is part of Oriental Orthodoxy, and is one of the most ancient Christian communities. Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion in 301 AD, in establishing this church...
.
The name Համբարձում, pronounced Hampartsum in Western Armenian
Western Armenian language
Western Armenian is one of the two standardized forms of modern Armenian, the other being Eastern Armenian. The two standard forms form a pluricentric language. For historical reasons explained below, generally speaking, Western Armenian is used outside the Republic of Armenia, while Eastern...
or Hambardzum in Eastern Armenian
Eastern Armenian language
Eastern Armenian is one of the two standardized forms of modern Armenian , the other being Western Armenian. The two standards form pluricentric language....
, means "Ascension". Hampartsoum Limondjian is referred to as Baba Hamparsum (Father Hampartsoum) in classical Turkish music circles.
Early life
Hampartsoum Limondjian was born in 1768 on Çukur Sokak in the BeyoğluBeyoglu
Beyoğlu is a district located on the European side of İstanbul, Turkey, separated from the old city by the Golden Horn...
district of Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. His father Sarkis and his mother Gaderina, who had recently moved to Istanbul from Harput, were poor, and could only send their son to primary school. After primary school, Hamparsum Limonciyan started working for a tailor. A lover of music, Hampartsoum Limondjian started attending Armenian churches and started receiving music lessons within the church.
Marriage and Children
Hampartsoum Limondjian married at the age of 27 and had six children, one of whom, Zenop Limondjian (1810–1866) also became a musician and played the neyNey
The ney is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Middle Eastern music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. It is a very ancient instrument, with depictions of ney players appearing in wall paintings in the Egyptian pyramids and actual neys being found...
.
Musician, Composer, Member of Court, Theoretician, Master
Hampartsoum Limondjian took lessons in Armenian music from various Armenian musicians like Krikor Karasakalyan (1736–1808) and Zenne Bogos (1746–1826). He soon came under the patronage of another Armenian - Hovhannes Çelebi Düzyan, Director of the Ottoman Imperial Mint, after which he could devote himself fully to music and continued his music education in the Düzyan family mansion in the Kuruçeşme district of Istanbul. After serving as a chorist in the Armenian Church, he was made PrecentorPrecentor
A precentor is a person who helps facilitate worship. The details vary depending on the religion, denomination, and era in question. The Latin derivation is "præcentor", from cantor, meaning "the one who sings before" ....
(first singer) and chief musician.
Around this time, Hampartsoum Limondjian started attending mevlevihanes, places of gathering for dervishes of the Mevlevi
Mevlevi
The Mevlevi Order, or the Mevlevilik or Mevleviye are a Sufi order founded in Konya by the followers of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi-Rumi, a 13th century Persian poet, Islamic jurist, and theologian. They are also known as the Whirling Dervishes due to their famous practice of whirling as a form...
order, to learn Turkish music. In the Beşiktaş Mevlevihanesi
Besiktas Mevlevihanesi
Beşiktaş Bahariye Mevlevihanesi was the third establishment after Galata and Yenikapı Mevlevi houses and established in 1613 by the Ottoman Grand Vizier Ohrili Hüseyin Pasha in Beşiktaş, Istanbul....
, he took lessons from Dede Efendi
Dede Efendi
Hammamizade İsmail Dede Efendi was a composer of Turkish classical music. He was born on 9 January 1778, in Istanbul, Şehzadebaşı. He started studying music with Mehmed Emin Efendi, at the age of eight. He attended rituals at Yenikapı Mevlevihanesi, a place of Mevlevi gathering. He studied with...
, one of the greatest Turkish composers. He was then accepted at the court of Ottoman Sultan Selim III
Selim III
Selim III was the reform-minded Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. The Janissaries eventually deposed and imprisoned him, and placed his cousin Mustafa on the throne as Mustafa IV...
, himself a composer whose music is still performed today, and was a regular member of the music circles of his day.
Sultan Selim III was concerned about the lack of a comprehensive notation system for music and encouraged members of his court to work on a notation system that would be easy to learn and to transcribe in. Two music systems were developed as a result and presented to Selim III, by Hamparsum Limonciyan and Abdulbaki Nasir Dede. Abdulbaki Nasir Dede's system was based on the abjad
Abjad
An abjad is a type of writing system in which each symbol always or usually stands for a consonant; the reader must supply the appropriate vowel....
system, however differs in the ordering of the notes. Hampartsoum Limondjian's notation that he developed in two years between 1813 and 1815 was preferred over the other and became the dominant notation for Turkish and Armenian music.
He worked as a master of music and educated a number of Turkish and Armenian musicians of his day. Besides being known as a leading composer, he was a famous vocal performer and played the violin and the tanbur. 31 of his Armenian hymns, composed with Armenian lyrics in the Turkish melodic system (makam
Makam
Makam In Turkish classical music, a system of melody types called makam provides a complex set of rules for composing and performance...
) survive to this day. He has composed a large number of Turkish music pieces, most of which are regularly performed today.
Death and Afterward
Hampartsoum Limondjian died at the age of 71 in his house in the Hasköy district of Istanbul. He is buried in the Surp Agop Armenian Cemetery.Hamparsum Notation
Using his own system, Hampartsoum Limondjian transcribed most of 18th century Turkish music compositions in a collection of six books, which he presented to Selim III. Only two of the originals survive to date and are preserved at the Istanbul Municipal Conservatory Library. As the dominant notation for Turkish and Armenian music, the Hamparsum notation was instrumental in the transcription and survival of thousands of pieces of music, and was surpassed only in modern times in its use for Turkish classical music. The notation system is still in use by the Armenian Apostolic Church.The Hampartsoum notation uses symbols derived from an older notation called խազ khaz used by the Armenian Church. Pitch
Pitch (music)
Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...
is indicated by one of forty-five symbols. There are fourteen notes per octave over a range of three octaves and a minor second
Minor second
In modern Western tonal music theory a minor second is the interval between two notes on adjacent staff positions, or having adjacent note letters, whose alterations cause them to be one semitone or half-step apart, such as B and C or C and D....
; a tilde
Tilde
The tilde is a grapheme with several uses. The name of the character comes from Portuguese and Spanish, from the Latin titulus meaning "title" or "superscription", though the term "tilde" has evolved and now has a different meaning in linguistics....
is used in place of a sharp
Sharp (music)
In music, sharp, dièse , or diesis means higher in pitch and the sharp symbol raises a note by a half tone. Intonation may be flat, sharp, or both, successively or simultaneously...
and also to raise or lower a note an octave. All twelve notes of the Western chromatic scale
Chromatic scale
The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone apart. On a modern piano or other equal-tempered instrument, all the half steps are the same size...
are represented, but in the case of F-sharp (fa diyez in Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
) and B-natural (si), two enharmonic
Enharmonic
In modern musical notation and tuning, an enharmonic equivalent is a note , interval , or key signature which is equivalent to some other note, interval, or key signature, but "spelled", or named, differently...
symbols are used for each, because Middle Eastern music uses microtonal intervals called commas
Comma (music)
In music theory, a comma is a minute interval, the difference resulting from tuning one note two different ways. The word "comma" used without qualification refers to the syntonic comma, which can be defined, for instance, as the difference between an F tuned using the D-based Pythagorean tuning...
. Above each note is written another symbol, marking its duration. Other symbols are used for rests
Rest (music)
A rest is an interval of silence in a piece of music, marked by a sign indicating the length of the pause. Each rest symbol corresponds with a particular note value:The quarter rest may also be found as a form in older music....
, repeats and phrases.
External links
- Hamparsum (requires installation of a downloadable TrueType font for the Hamparsum notation)
- Article on Hamparsum Limonciyan, Bolsohays-Istanbul Armenians