"Did you know that Mozart was influenced by the exotic culture of Turkey?"
At the turn of the 19th-century, years of hostile relations between Austria and the powerful Ottoman Empire eventually eased into a cultural coming-together and a growing fascination in western Europe for the mysterious and exotic East. This new Oriental trend was imitated and reflected in cooking, fashion and the arts. Turkish music captured the imagination of various composers of the Classical era, who modelled its characteristic martial sound on the penetrating and percussive instruments used in the military or Janissary bands - trumpet, oboe, piccolo, drums, triangle, cymbals and bells. The three great Viennese masters were all influenced by Janissary music - Haydn wrote a "Military" symphony and we find a Turkish march in the last movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. Mozart used the term "alla turca" (in the Turkish style) for his famous Rondo from the Piano Sonata in A major, where lively left-hand arpeggios imitate the "Turkish" instruments. This style became so popular that 19th-century pianos often featured a "Janissary pedal" or "Military stop" - when pressed, a hammer would strike the soundboard in imitation of a bass drum for percussive effect. The overture and two marches for the Janissary chorus from Mozart’s Opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) are examples of Turkish music. He describes the choruses as "all that can be desired, that is, short, lively, and written to please the Viennese."
The final Rondo of Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major contains an episode of shrill military music to the accompaniment of lower strings playing coll' arco al roverscio (with the wood of the bow) giving the effect of Turkish drums. These outlandish features lend the Concerto its nickname, "The Turkish".
Don’t miss the chance to hear Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5, "The Turkish" performed by Loh Jun-hong in the CCOHK's upcoming Singapore Star concert!
