AL-URMAWI TREATISE ON MUSIC
MS | 5279 |
MS Short Title |
AL-URMAWI TREATISE ON MUSIC |
Text |
AL-URMAWI: AL-RISALAH AL SHARAFIYYAH FI NISAB AL-TA 'LIFIYYAH; TREATISE ON MUSIC |
Description |
MS in Arabic, Turkish, French and Greek on paper, Turkey, ca. 1900, 64 ff. (complete), 35x23 cm, single column (23x15 cm), 27 lines in Naskh script, headings in red, extensive commentaries and corrections, 72 tables and diagrams in red, 10 pp. with blank tables, Osmanic letter music notation, or abced-notasi (ABECEDARY notation). |
Binding |
Turkey, ca. 1900, brown morocco gilt with flap, sewn on 4 cords. |
Provenance |
1. Sam Fogg, London. |
Commentary |
This is an expanded working copy of al-Urmawi's celebrated theoretical treatise on music. The treatise expands on al-Urmawi's first work, the Kitab al-Adwar, written ca. 1242-1258. It represented one of the most successful attempts to systematise Arabic music, influenced by Greek musical theory. Both of al-Urmawi' works quickly became classics, particularly in the Islamic East, being the major sources for the maqams or modes which govern the Arabic music. One of his achievements was a commatic theory and system of notation standardising the intervals between the notes in the various maqams. While in the Arabic world from 18th c. onwards, a scale dividing the octave into 24 quarter-tones was increasingly in use, in the Ottoman Empire and the East, the commatic system was largely retained as in the present MS. |
Place of origin | Turkey |
Dates | c 1900 AD |
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