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Adnan Saygun and his Oratorio 'Yunus Emre' |
 Adnan Saygun belongs to the first generation of the contemporary Turkish composers as the “Turkish five.”
The musical reform that Ataturk had envisaged was based on the concept
of combining the national values with contemporary techniques. Saygun
has given a most successful realisation of this principle in his first
major work, “Yunus Emre”.
One of the most distinctive features of the
Oratorio lies in its achieving a unique synthesis between the
contemporary Turkish music and Yunus Emre’s poetry which represents the
Turkish culture and humanism of the XIV. Century.
Yunus Emre, whose year of birth is not precisely known and the year of his death is assumed to be around 1320, was not merely a great folk-poet but also a philosopher who left his imprint on Turkish thinking. His whole life reflects a unique humanism woven with faith in God and love for humanity. For him, the path leading towards reality is not a single one. Every belief that leads one to the Creator is sacred. He says :
High in the heavens with Jesus
Up the Sinai with Moses
Through the staff in my hand
Shall I call your name, dear Lord.
Joining the wretched Eyyub in line with the weeping Jacob
With that love of yours, Mohammad,
Shall I call your name, dear Lord.
Yunus accepts not only all beliefs, but also all ideas and the whole humanity with the same indulgence :
Whoever does not look with the same eye upon all nations
İs a rebel against the truth, even if he be a saint in the law.
In an age when all creeds and free thinking were strangled in the hands of fanaticism, with these words Yunus Emre widely opened a window to into the light of humanism. Love of God and love for humanity have the same meanings for Yunus Emre. The only permanent thing in this temporary existence is brotherhood of all kinds. The “Joy” theme in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and the “Love” theme of the Oratorio are alike in their thematic structures. However, Saygun’s theme has been stylized from an old hymn.
The important point here is the fact that Schiller’s theme of “love for humanity” which inspired Beethoven’s music, and Yunus Emre’s verses from the XIV. Century which inspired Saygun’s work correspond to the same aspiration :
Our only enemy is “foe” itself
We never nourish hatred for anyone
We see the whole mankind as one.
and addressing to all mankind:
Let us get acquainted
Let us make it easy
Let us love and be loved
This world will not last for anyone.
From the CD cover of Yunus Emre Oratorio’s first recording in its original language. The recording was released in CD, cassette and long-play formats in 1991, the year of “Yunus Emre and Love” as announced by UNESCO, the article is prepared by Hikmet Şimşek.
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