Janissary Music
The Viennese probably heard Janissary bands during the 1683 siege of Vienna, and must have been impressed by their insistent percussive power. Janissary bands were primarily composed of percussion instruments—drums of various pitches, tambourines, bells, triangles, cymbals, and Turkish crescents. 18th century German musicologist Christian Schubart once said of Janissary music: "No other genre of music requires so firm, decided and overpoweringly predominant a beat. The first beat of each bar is so strongly marked with a new and manly accent that it is virtually impossible to get out of step."
In the 1820s the King of Poland was given a complete Janissary band by the Ottoman sultan. Soon European monarchs from Russia to Britain were scrambling for their own Janissary bands for use in military parades. Today Janissary instruments are still integral parts of most European military bands. In fact, the Janissary band is the ancestor of the modern symphony orchestra’s percussion section, which features drums, cymbals, and triangles with janissary roots.
Composers’ efforts to incorporate the percussive sounds of the Janissary bands—chiefly to evoke local color in Turkish-inspired music—resulted in a recognizable "Turkish style" during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century. This style usually consisted of a 2/4 march with a tonic pedal, lots of percussion, a melody peppered with dissonant grace notes, and simple harmonies. In fact, "Turkish effects" became so popular during Mozart’s day that piano makers responded to the fad by equipping special pianos with built-in bells, tambourines, cymbals, bass drums, and other noise-makers. The Janissary chorus in Die Entführung is a great example of the Turkish Style.
