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Licco Amar's (1891-1959) Universe and Times Intersecting With Alla Turca Life: Writing About Music in Turkey

2023    Çatal, Barış

There are several reasons for selecting Licco Amar for this study. Firstly, despite the independent contributions regarding the scientists who came to Turkey due to the Second World War, none of them reserves a special place for Licco Amar’s life in Turkey or his writings about music in Turkey. However, this article attempts to provide a perspective through what Licco Amar produced rather than directly dwelling on his life or his days in Turkey.

This article focuses on nine articles of Licco Amar, which were published in three different periodicals in Turkey [Kültür Haftası (1936), Yurt ve Dünya (1943-1944), and Müzik Görüşleri (1949-1950)]. One of these articles was published in Kültür Haftası, four of them in Yurt ve Dünya, and four of them in Müzik Görüşleri.

Licco Amar is aware that he is writing for the Turkish reader. As early as 1936, when he wrote his earliest article, it is observed that Amar’s writings have the aspect of introducing Turkish readers/music lovers to a musical culture with which they are not familiar. Secondly, his Yurt ve Dünya (1943-1944) and Müzik Görüşleri (1949-1950) articles can be distinguished in terms of the period they were written in. Amar’s Yurt ve Dünya writings addresses more ‘popular’ figures (such as Beethoven and Bach) in classical music genre. Of course, the traditional commemoration of these composers coinciding with the period in which these articles were penned was also influential.