Mozart Turkish March [2021] Download
Joelle Ridgeway
At the time Mozart wrote Sonata No. 11, the music of Turkish Janissary bands was very much in fashion. These groups are thought to be the oldest form of military marching bands in the world. Indeed, at that time in Mozart's life, anything Ottoman was very much in vogue, and you can see the influence of the empire in his opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail, which is set in a seraglio - a type of Ottoman harem or brothel.
I practiced it every single day, sometimes for hours, trying to perfect the nimble fingering of the brisk allegretto tempo. It made me think of marching through grassy fields, a synchronized stomp teetering at the brink of a frenetic tearing away into frenzy and commotion.
It was ten years later when I realized how apt that mental image probably was. The name "Alla Turca" re-emerged out of my memory only after I began researching my Ph.D. dissertation, for which I wrote a chapter about the attempted invasion of Vienna in 1683 by Ottoman forces. "Turca" swam back into my head, as did the old mental images, and then I remembered that Mozart was Austrian. Some preliminary Googling revealed that the third movement imitates the sound of Turkish Janissary bands: steady strong tones with drums and cymbals, trumpets and bells, widely believed to be the oldest variety of military marching band. Now hold on a second, I thought. What business did an Austrian have imitating Turkish military music?
Mozart's use of a style of music traditionally played by Ottoman Janissary troops (elite infantry fighters made up of the Sultan's household soldiers and bodyguards, strictly trained from childhood and often made up of Christian subjects) straddles the line between cultural appropriation and subversion. It simultaneously borrows from and legitimizes (for a western audience) a long-standing musical tradition, while undermining its integrity by westernizing its themes to produce something only loosely resembling Janissary marching band music.
The piece is composed in three parts: two movements of fast-slow-fast and one movement of fast-slow. The first two movements make up the opening Allegro, while the final Allegretto features the Turkish March. The first movement is in the key of F major with a subdued character and including a difficult cadenza. The second movement is in the minor mode and features a more serious tone. The third movement opens with a solemn Turkish-style march in C major, with the main theme set against contrasting minor-mode episodes. The piece concludes with a short Allegretto finale.