Abd al-Qadir al-Maraghi ibn Ghaybi (; ) was a

music theorist Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the " rudiments", that ...

, composer and performer of the

Timurid Empire The Timurid Empire was a late medieval, culturally Persianate, Turco-Mongol empire that dominated Greater Iran in the early 15th century, comprising modern-day Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, much of Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and parts of co ...

. A renowned writer on music and musician, his theories had a profound influence on subsequent

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

, and Turkish music.

Life

Abd al-Qadir al-Maraghi ibn Ghaybi was born Maragh of the

during the mid 14th century, to a Persian family. He had become one of the court

minstrel A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. The term originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist enter ...

s of the

Jalayirid The Jalayirid Sultanate () was a dynasty of Mongol Jalayir origin, which ruled over modern-day Iraq and western Iran after the breakup of the Ilkhanate in the 1330s.Bayne Fisher, William. ''The Cambridge History of Iran'', p. 3: "From then until ...

Sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

al-Husayn around 1379. Under Sultan Ahmad

, he was appointed the chief court minstrel. When

Timur Timur, also known as Tamerlane (1320s17/18 February 1405), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. An undefeat ...

captured

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

in 1393, he was transported to

Samarqand Samarkand ( ; Uzbek and Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central Asia. Samarkand is the capital of the Samarkand Region and a district-level ...

, which was the capital of the Timurid dynasty. In 1399, he was in

Tabriz Tabriz (; ) is a city in the Central District (Tabriz County), Central District of Tabriz County, in the East Azerbaijan province, East Azerbaijan province of northwestern Iran. It serves as capital of the province, the county, and the distric ...

at the service of Timur's wayward son

Miran Shah Mirza Jalal-ud-din Miran Shah Beg (1366 – 20 April 1408), commonly known as Miran Shah (), was a son of the Central Asian conqueror Timur, founder of the Timurid Empire. During his father's reign, Miran Shah was initially a powerful regio ...

. Abdl al-Qadir was blamed for the erratic conduct of Miranshah, and Timur acted swiftly in order to capture him. But Abd al-Qadir was forewarned and escaped to the Jalayrid court of Sultan Ahmad in

again recaptured

in 1401 and took Abd al-Qadir back to

. Abd al-Qadir became one of the brilliant men at the court of Timur's son, Shahrukh. In 1421, he also wrote a musical treatise (see below) for the Ottoman Sultan Murad II. He died in Samarqand in 1435.

Works on music theory

Abd al-Qadir was proficient in music, poetry, and painting. This made him be a highly desired artisan amongst the courts of different dynasties. It was due to his musical talent that he was named by his contemporaries as the ''Glory of the past age''. Abd al-Qadir is known for his four works on

music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...

. All three surviving works were written in Persian. His most important treatise on music is the ''Jami al-Alhan'' (; 'Compendium of Melodies'), autographs of which are preserved at the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

and the

Nuruosmaniye Mosque The Nuruosmaniye Mosque () is an 18th-century Ottoman mosque located in the Çemberlitaş neighbourhood of Fatih district in Istanbul, Turkey, which was inscribed in the Tentative list of World Heritage Sites in Turkey in 2016. Designed by a G ...

Library in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. The first manuscript of this work was written in 1405 for his Nur al-din Abd al-Rahman and was revised by the author in 1413. The second manuscript was written in 1415, and carries a dedication to Sultan Sharukh of the

Timurid dynasty The Timurid dynasty, self-designated as Gurkani (), was the ruling dynasty of the Timurid Empire (1370–1507). It was a Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim dynasty or Barlās clan of Turco-Mongol originB.F. Manz, ''"Tīmūr Lang"'', in Encyclopaedia of I ...

. The second major work of Abd al-Qadir is the Persian book Maqasid al-Alhan (Arabic for Purports of Music)(). It was dedicated to the Ottoman Sultan Murad II. A third treatise on music, the Kanz al-Tu.af (Treasury of Music) which contained the author's notated compositions, has not survived. His last work, the Sharh al-Adwar (Commentary on the itab al-Adwarof Safi al-Din al-Urmawi) (), is to be found in the

Library in

Linguistic significance

Al-Maraghi not only recorded songs in

Persian Language Persian ( ), also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Farsi (, Fārsī ), is a Western Iranian languages, Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian subdivision ...

, but also in Arabic, Mongolian, Turkish (Khatai, Chagatay) as well as various regional Iranian dialects (Fahlaviyyat) of

Hamadan Hamadan ( ; , ) is a mountainous city in western Iran. It is located in the Central District of Hamadan County in Hamadan province, serving as the capital of the province, county, and district. As of the 2016 Iranian census, it had a po ...

, Mazandaran, Qazvin, Tabriz, and Rayy.Dr. A. A. Sadeqi, "Ash'ar-e mahalli-e Jame' al-alHaann," Majalla-ye zaban-shenasi 9, 1371./1992, pp. 54-64

/ref> Thus his work gives us a better view of the regional Languages of Iran, dialects of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. Four quatrains titled fahlaviyyat from Khwaja Muhammad Kojjani (d. 677/1278-79); born in Kojjan or Korjan, a village near Tabriz, recorded by Abd al-Qadir al-Maraghi.Fahlaviyat in Encyclopedia Iranica by Dr. Ahmad Tafazzoli
A sample of one of the four quatrains from Khwaja Muhammad Kojjani . Two qet'as (poems) quoted by Abd al-Qadir Maraghi in the dialect of Tabriz (d. 838/1434-35; II, p. 142). A sample of one of these poems ''Six Centuries, Six Years'' is a film made by a prominent filmmaker, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb which depicts a group of Iranian master musicians' efforts to identify, preserve, and record a collection of compositions by Abd al-Qadir Maraghi. The film won several awards including the ''Best Documentary Film'' from 12th Action On Film (AOF) International Film Festival, L.A., USA, in 2016 and ''Best Documentary Film'' from 6th London Iranian Film Festival, UK, in 2015.

Legacy

According to the

Encyclopedia of Islam The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is a reference work that facilitates the academic study of Islam. It is published by Brill and provides information on various aspects of Islam and the Islamic world. It is considered to be the standard ...

, he "was the greatest of the Persian writers on music". According to Kubilay Kolukırık, al-Maraghi is regarded as a "very important musician whose name is frequently mentioned in the development process of Turkic music history".

Writings

* ** * 2nd ed, 1977 *

References

Citations

Sources

* * * *

External References

A kâr (second movement), attributed to 15th century composer Abd-al Qadir Maraghi

Abd al-Qadir Maraghi - عبدالقادر مراغه‌ایs
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maraghi, Abd Al-Qadir 1435 deaths Iranian writers Iranian musicians Azerbaijani writers Azerbaijani musicians 14th-century births People from Maragheh 15th-century Iranian writers 14th-century Iranian people People from the Timurid Empire Jalayirid-period poets