Callisto Guatelli

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Italian late romantic composer Callisto Guatelli Pasha was born in 1820. Guatelli, first came to Istanbul in 1846; he initially worked as choirmaster and stage director of the Naum Theatre. In 1856 he was appointed Director of the Musique Impériale Ottomane, a position in which he succeeded one Guiseppe Donizetti, elder brother of Gaetano. He was in the Ottoman palace from 1855 on. In 1856 he was finally appointed conductor of the Musıka-yi Hümayun by Abdülhamid II, where he served until his death in 1899. Some of the Turkish composers trained by Guatelli include Mehmed Zati, Mehmed Emin, Mehmed Ali, Mustafa Safvet, Pazı Osman, Faik Bey, Kazım Bey and Zeki Bey. After 1880 the Paris-trained Spanish composer D’Arenda (Aranda Pasha) became Guatelli’s assistant at the Muzıka-yi Hümayun, and later replaced him. He wrote two volumes of ‘westernised’ versions of Turkish melodies, for piano. Three of these can be found on Euro-Ottomania: 19th Century European and Ottoman Orchestral Music, the orchestral arrangement by Emre Araci. One of his works ‘Şarki’, is of particular interest, being an arrangement of a song by Sultan Selim III (1761-1808), who had a great interest – and proficiency – in music. He created makams, or melodic types, of his own and performed on the ney and tambour. Some of his compositions are still regularly played in modern Turkey. A remarkable man, he was a poet, an energetic patron of the arts and a member of the Mevlevi order of dervishes. ‘Şarki’ is a de

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