Music Making in Iran: Developments Between the Sixteenth and Late Nineteenth Centuries
type: CreativeWork
description: The primary question in this study is how the long-established maqāmmodulatory schemes evolved into a set of seven or twelve large-scale performance formats (dastgāhs) and what socio-cultural forces were behind this development. In doing so, this dissertation draws on a variety of sources including musical treatises, song-text collections, court chronicles, travel accounts, biographies, paintings, nineteenth-century albums of photographs and the early Persian 78 rpm records. The first chapter provides a background on the role of courtesans and their accompanying instrumentalists in Iran between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. The influence of upper-class courtesans on the urban musical milieu was particularly strong throughout the seventeenth century. While they were always under control and supervision by the authorities,courtesansprovided a large amount of tax revenue for the government. Toward the end of the seventeenth century performance practice of art music found aprecarious position in Isfahan, mostly due to the association of music with courtesan culture. Hence the Safavid rulers frequently issued royal decrees forbidding performance of music along with drinking of wine, gambling, and activities of courtesan salons. In the second half of the eighteenth century a red-light district was established in Shiraz where a large number of urban and provincial courtesans were gathered catering to the refined taste of the nobility and military commanders. These courtesans were famous for their beauty, seductive manners, polished etiquette (adab), witty conversation and, above all, they were accomplished singers, instrumentalists and dancers. With the establishment of the Qajar dynasty, Tehran became the capital in 1775. The first two Qajar rulers brought a large number of courtesans mainly from Isfahan and Shiraz to Tehran together with their male accompanists, who primarily served as their teachers and composers. These professional male and female musicians s…
abstract: The primary question in this study is how the long-established maqāmmodulatory schemes evolved into a set of seven or twelve large-scale performance formats (dastgāhs) and what socio-cultural forces were behind this development. In doing so, this dissertation draws on a variety of sources including musical treatises, song-text collections, court chronicles, travel accounts, biographies, paintings, nineteenth-century albums of photographs and the early Persian 78 rpm records. The first chapter provides a background on the role of courtesans and their accompanying instrumentalists in Iran between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. The influence of upper-class courtesans on the urban musical milieu was particularly strong throughout the seventeenth century. While they were always under control and supervision by the authorities,courtesansprovided a large amount of tax revenue for the government. Toward the end of the seventeenth century performance practice of art music found aprecarious position in Isfahan, mostly due to the association of music with courtesan culture. Hence the Safavid rulers frequently issued royal decrees forbidding performance of music along with drinking of wine, gambling, and activities of courtesan salons. In the second half of the eighteenth century a red-light district was established in Shiraz where a large number of urban and provincial courtesans were gathered catering to the refined taste of the nobility and military commanders. These courtesans were famous for their beauty, seductive manners, polished etiquette (adab), witty conversation and, above all, they were accomplished singers, instrumentalists and dancers. With the establishment of the Qajar dynasty, Tehran became the capital in 1775. The first two Qajar rulers brought a large number of courtesans mainly from Isfahan and Shiraz to Tehran together with their male accompanists, who primarily served as their teachers and composers. These professional male and female musicians s…
author: Pourjavady, Amir Hosein
keywords: Persian music, courtesan culture, modal system, rhythmic cycles
date published: 2019-09-01T07:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:59:21Z
provider: City University of New York - Graduate Center
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York