HER EXCELLENCY THE WIFE OF OMER PASHA
Musical relations between the Turks and the rest
of Europe can be traced back many centuries. The influence exerted
by the janissary bands on European composers such as Haydn, Mozart
and Beethoven is well-known, The Military Symphony, Die Entführung
aus dem Serail (Abduction from the Seraglio) and Rondo a la Turca
being good examples.
The European military bands of the 18th century
not only introduced the percussion instruments of the Ottoman janissary
bands, but also their musicians were dressed in Turkish costume.
A similar development in the opposite direction, that is the Europeanisation
of the Ottoman army band, began in the nineteenth century. It was
also during this period that the famous opera composer Gaetano Donizetti’s
brother, Giuseppe Donizetti, was invited to become Master of Music
to Sultan Mahmud II in 1827.
He was later given the title of pasa, thus becoming
known in Turkey as Donizetti Pasa. marches.
His arrival also marks the beginnings of a taste
for European style music at the Ottoman court, later manifested
in works composed by members of the imperial family, including reigning
sultans like Abdulaziz, and more prominently Sultan Murad V, who
left behind a corpus of unpublished works in autograph, mainly in
European dance forms of the period, and all composed for the pianoforte.
The story of an Ottoman woman composer is a fascinating
aspect of this interest in European music. Her works were published
in British newspapers and in France in the 19th century, yet her
identity and the fact that she existed at all only came to light
very recently.
I discovered this mysterious lady when by sheer
chance, about ten years ago, I found and bought an original copy
of a march composed by her published in The Illustrated London News
dated 13 January 1855. I bought this copy from the stall of the
late George Jeffery, a famous second-hand book dealer in Farringdon
in London.
Unfortunately no biographical information was given
about this lady composer in the magazine. Indeed, not even her name
appeared. She was introduced solely as ‘Her Excellency the
wife of Ömer Pasha’, in keeping with the etiquette of
the period. Ömer Pasa was the famous commander-in-chief of
the Ottoman armies at this time, a man of mixed Hungarian and Croatian
extraction whose original name was Mahalya Lattas. He was a leading
figure during the Crimean War, when Britain and France allied with
Turkey against the Russians, and thus received a lot of coverage
in European press of the period.
As a result of an article which I had written on
this topic, a biographical novel by Ivo Andric, entitled ‘Ömer
Pacha - Latas’, was brought to my attention by a reader, and
by means of further research I have at last been able to put together
the life of this forgotten composer. According to Andric she was
from a Hungarian family and came to Istanbul to give piano lessons
to the children of Ömer Pasa, later marrying him and entering
his harem.
Her original name was Ida, but she took the name
Saide in accordance with Turkish custom. Of her musicianship Andric
tells us that Ida had been a pupil of Karl Czerny in Vienna, the
celebrated piano teacher of his time who taught Franz Liszt and
whose piano exercises are still played to this day by many pianists.
It appears that her husband’s military career was the reason
for her composing military marches. Another important piece of evidence
regarding Ida’s life comes from an article which was published
in the The Musical Gazette dated 5 December 1857, which is reproduced
here in full: ‘Several French journals having announced the
presence in Paris of the divorced wife of Ömer Pasa, the following
details of her career are given by the Patrie: - “She was
born at Reps, in Transylvania, and was sent at the age of eleven
to one of the best boarding schools in Bucharest. Some lessons on
the piano developed wonderful musical powers, and at the age of
fifteen she possessed a remarkable talent on that instrument.
It was at that period that Ömer Pacha, who
was then the military commandant of Wallachia, met the young lady
at a soirée, and being very fond of music, fell in love with
her, and subsequently married her. She became quite a Khanoum (Turkish
woman), never left the house except veiled and attended, but, contrary
to Oriental habits, accompanied her husband in his warlike expeditions.
She was greatly delighted with the glory of his arms, and composed
triumphal marches, which were played by the Turkish regiments when
in battle.’
Other marches by Ida were also published in Europe
at this time, such as Cinq Marches Militaires pour Piano, five military
marches for the pianoforte published in Paris, and a march which
also appeared in The Illustrated London News of 27 May 1854.
Musical works connected with Ömer Pasa are
not restricted to his wife’s own compositions. It seems that
some other European composers of dance music of this period also
composed works named after him. Stephen Glover’s Omar Pasha’s
March, Charles Wels’ Omar Pasha’s March, published in
New York in 1853, Henry William West’s The Omar Pacha Polka
and Henry W. Goodban’s Ömer Pacha Waltzes are some of
these works, which also feature beautiful illustrations of the Ottoman
commander-in-chief on their front covers. Unfortunately this is
all the information I have been able to gather so far on the composer
wife of Ömer Pasa.
I have not been able to find a picture of her either.
Even though her music falls into the category of popular music of
its period, Ida must have been a pioneering lady at a time when
women composers were scarce in Europe, let alone in Turkey, and
she certainly must have been unique in having her marches performed
when her husband was busy charging the enemy on the battlefield.
I have no doubt that we will continue to find traces
of this energetic, stubborn and independent lady in many corners
of Europe.
* Dr. Emre Araci is a musicologist at the University
of Cambridge.
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